The Happy Ending (Job Sermon 30)

Turn in your Bible to Job 42. We’ll walk through the last verses that we’ll be looking at. As I said, next week, we’ll go one more time over the entire book. But today, we get to look at these final words. As I do, I remember reading this and thinking about this in terms of a happy ending. Everyone loves a happy ending, especially if the story has been filled with peril, with suffering and extreme valor, and many obstacles overcome. Obviously, there are some super, mature literary folks, perhaps even in our midst, from time to time that require a more convoluted and murky end to the stories that they love. They look on the standard happy ending as trite and overworked maybe. So the hero of the tale dying unfulfilled with the quest not having been achieved and without him making it safely home, they get excited about such stories. They seem to them more realistic. I think those folks are weird. They say, “After all, we’re not children. We don’t always have to have the happy ending.” I don’t know about you, but I do. I want the happy ending. I think amazingly, God agrees with all of us children. Jesus himself said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” So this little child wants a happy ending. Amen? And children’s bedtime stories always have happy endings. The usual fairytale ending is, and they lived happily ever after.

J. R. R. Tolkien understood the need for happy ending for within his famous Hobbit stories. Bilbo Baggins is the historian of the whole proceedings and he is speaking to Gandalf the wizard describing how he wanted to finish his life. “I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains, and then find somewhere where I can rest in peace and quiet without a lot of relatives prying around and a string of confounded visitors hanging on the bell. I might find somewhere where I can finish my book and I’ve thought of a nice ending for it: And he lived happily ever after to the end of his days.” Well, that sounds pretty good. A happy ending to our story, but it’s only according to Bilbo to the end of our days, the standard fairytale, I think has it a little better. They lived happily ever after. That sounds to me infinitely better, happy ever after, that means for all eternity. Now the book of Job ends on a triumphant note. Job was completely vindicated by Almighty God, vindicated in every way. Job’s friends, “friends”, were rebuked soundly. Job’s earthly wealth was restored double, Job and his wife had the joy of 10 more children. Job lived to a very old age. But then what? Then what? Job got none of his questions answered in this life, it seems at least not in the text. Job and his wife did have 10 more children, but any parent knows that new children cannot in any way replace dead children.

We also know that Job understood the vulnerability of all earthly situations better than he ever did before. If the first pile of wealth can be taken away in a single day, then so can the next one. True security cannot be found in this world, in this present age of pain, sorrow, and death. The book of Job, as we’ve seen, does not give all the answers. The problem of death. The problem of eternity are not clearly addressed in this book, but the Holy Spirit has assigned to different books of the Bible, different dimensions of the story. And we know that the final chapter of Job’s life actually is unending: eternity in the presence of God, glorious, wealthy with a wealth that can never be taken, with perfect relationships with his wife and children that can never end. Christ Jesus the savior, the Lord of heaven and earth must come along in the fullness of time and write Job’s final chapter with his own blood on the cross and in his own mighty triumph over death at the resurrection. To Christ alone must belong the right to open wide the gates of eternity and give the true final chapter to the lives of all of his elect children. Eternity in resurrection bodies, in a resurrected world called the new heavens and the new earth, dwelling in a glorious eternal city called the New Jerusalem with an eternal education and the glory of God, which will include, I believe a backward history lesson in which all of God’s purposes are eternally revealed and explained to the everlasting joy and satisfaction of his people. Now that sounds like a happy ending. Amen? Amen.

“True security cannot be found in this world, in this present age of pain, sorrow, and death.”

Job’s final chapter was not written therefore in the book of Job, but will be an eternity. All questions answered, all love relationships restored, all wealth perfectly secure, all health perfectly and eternally guaranteed. This is the happy ending the Bible promises all believers in Jesus Christ. And that’s where we’re heading in this morning sermon: Job living happily ever after to all eternity, not merely to the end of his days.

I. God Vindicates Job

So we begin with God vindicating Job, and it starts with God severely rebuking Eliphaz, and his two friends look at verse 7, “After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz The Temanite, ‘I am angry with you and your two friends because you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.’” Imagine having the great God, the almighty God, the God who had just spoken to Job out of a mighty whirlwind. Now speak to you directly and say to you, “I am angry with you.” But what terror could be greater than that? Jeremiah 10:10 says, “But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God, the eternal King, when He is angry, the earth trembles, the nations cannot endure his wrath.” Again, Psalm 104:32, “He who looks at the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.” Well, we don’t know if Job heard these words that were spoken to Eliphaz, or if God spoke them later to Eliphaz, maybe directly or maybe in a dream we don’t know. In any case, Eliphaz must have been stripped of all pride and leveled by these words, how humbling this must have been. And God refutes Eliphaz’s doctrine and establishes Job’s doctrine in its place. Eliphaz has his faulty doctrine, which is as we saw the simple application of the law of retribution, “You reap what you sow.” God sees to that. God blesses the righteous with earthly blessings. And he curses the wicked with earthly curses. That’s the simple law of retribution. That was their theology. Well, according to God, it’s faulty about God, “You have not spoken about me what is right.” It is of course, partly true. We noted that at the time, God does sometimes reward the righteous with earthly blessings. And he does sometimes bring immediate earthly judgments on the wicked. But as theologian, J. I. Packer said, “A half truth, masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.”

The sheer authority of almighty God is on display here, to shut down these three men and all their river of words, just like that. You are wrong. End of debate. Notice that God does not directly vindicate Job concerning the wicked things that Eliphaz had said about Job, like, “Is not your wickedness endless.” Remember that one? Job 22:5. God doesn’t focus on that. He didn’t say, “You have not spoken what is right about my servant Job.” No, the issue is their view of God. “You have not spoken what is right about me.” he says. Yet God does vindicate Job, doesn’t he? By calling him, “My servant.” And not just once, but several times, “My servant, my servant.” Just like at the beginning of the book, when he said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Now in effect, He’s saying the same thing to Eliphaz and through Eliphaz to Bildad, and Zophar. And through the three of them to the entire community, who knew Job. They will all hear of God’s words, concerning Job. God’s vindication of Job. Now, furthermore, God vindicates Job’s doctrine. Again, multiple times, verse 7, “I’m angry with you and your two friends because you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.” And then again, in verse 8, “You have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.” It’s emphasizing that. Now we know that God is not here validating everything Job said, that’s just not true. Oh, if that were true, then why would God have begun talking to Job with these words in Job 38:2? “Who is this that darkens my counsel by speaking words without knowledge?” That’s not God vindicating everything job said, not at all.

And why then also Job have repented of his own words saying in Job 42:3, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things that were too wonderful for me.” So then the question remains, how then did Job speak what was right about God? Well, I think we should go back to the beginning of the book to see that. Remember where it said that in all these things Job did not sin in what he said against God. So back in Job 1:21, it says, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.” So I would start there. That’s true. According to God, that’s true. And again, in Job 2:10, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” I think we would say the same thing. That perspective is accurate. It’s right. All things come from God. So that was Job at his best. And it did line up with reality. It seems, according to God.

God also then honors Job as his servant. He honors him. It is powerful vindication for God to say, “My servant Job, my servant Job, my servant Job.” That’s powerful vindication. What could be higher commendation than that? And I believe in heaven, the essence of our rewards, the best part of our rewards will be commendation from almighty God. Amen? Praise from God. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” You’ve been faithful, to have God say that to us. Or as Jesus himself said in John 12:26, “Whoever serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant also will be, my Father will honor the one who serves me.” We will not get higher commendation than that, higher reward than that to have almighty God honor us for how we serve Christ. And so won’t that be something to have almighty God, speak your name from his throne and call you by name his servant. What higher commendation could there be? What higher vindication in all eternity?

Then God restores Job’s ministry as intercessor. Just as powerfully, Eliphaz is humbled by God requiring him to go back to Job to intercede for him. Verse 8, “Now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” So remember at the beginning of the book, Job’s piety was established by his intercessory life for his children. Remember how he would send and have them purified thinking perhaps they had sinned in their hearts, cursed God in their hearts. Job was a prayer warrior for his children. Now that role has been reestablished, actually enhanced because God specifically spoke of it. And how humbling for Eliphaz and for Bildad and Zophar, to have their lives and their prosperity, now in Job’s hands as intercessor, there is a clear threat from God. “If you don’t go to him, I will deal with you according to your folly, I will deal with you according to your foolish words. But if Job intercedes for you, I will restore you and you will not be dealt with as you truly deserve.”

Also notice, whenever you have animal sacrifice, whenever you have this kind of intercession by a godly man for others, you have a foretaste or a shadow of Christ’s priestly ministry for all of us. A picture of what Christ does for all of us. In Hebrews 9:13-14, it says, “The blood of goats bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean, sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God.” Jesus is the great mediator, the great intercessor, his sacrifice, the perfect, final end to animal sacrifice- his intercession. He constantly lives at the right hand of God intercede for us. And on that basis, we are made right with God and God doesn’t deal with us according to our folly.

II. God Restores Job’s Earthly Blessings

Secondly, God restores Job’s earthly blessings. So this is the sequence: first Job prayed then God blessed him. So Job was under obligation too; he had to act as an intercessor for his friends. Look at verse 9, “So Eliphaz The Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.” To some degree, it seems like Job’s own restoration awaited his intercession for his friends, they would be restored together. And so this is a picture of how vital it is for us when we pray, to set aside any bitterness or any un-forgiveness that we may have toward anyone else, or God will not hear our prayer. As he says, very plainly in Mark 11:25, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Mark 11:25. So Job has to put aside any bitterness he may have toward his friends and pray for them and all of them, the four of them together to some degree restored at the same time.

God made then Job prosperous, again, a twofold or a double restitution. Look at verse 10, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as before.” All of his earthly prosperity was restored and actually doubled. Verse 12, “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yolk of oxen and 1,000 donkeys.” So if you go back to Job 1, you realize that the chapter did the math for us. Isn’t it wonderful that math always works. Math is math. It will always be the same. So in case you had trouble with that or needed your calculator on the whole doubling thing, it just does it for you. From 7,000 sheep to 14,000, that’s pure doubling. From 3,000 camels to 6,000, again, doubled, from 500 oxen to 1,000 and from 500 donkeys to a 1,000.

Now, we need to realize this didn’t happen all at once. Like the next morning he awoke and poof, there they were. Now that would be something. Some instant donkeys, some instant camels and all that. I think not. I think this was an unfolding, developing prosperity that God did over many years. This is just how it ended up. Year by year Job got to see this happening before his very eyes, the prosperity of the Lord. And God also, more significantly, healed Job’s reputation in the community. One of the bitterest aspects of Job’s trial was his loss of reputation. The public shames, one of the things we fear the most and with good reason. Before all of this came upon him, before any of these trials came upon him, remember Job was like a prince in that city. He was the primary citizen of that city. He was honored at the city gate. Men used to come to get his wisdom and help them make key decisions. Back in Job 29:24-25 it says, “When I smiled at them, they could scarcely believe it. The light of my face was precious to them. I chose the way for them and sat as their chief, I dwelt as a king among his troops, I was like one who comforts mourners.” That’s what it used to be like, he said. Well, all of that went away when his sufferings came upon him. It seems that the friends in their attitude toward Job were representing the normative view of the community about Job. “He must truly be a wicked man. His wickedness must be great to have this level of trial come upon him.” They all bought into that, it seems. Remember he said his wife couldn’t stand him. Job said his breath was offensive to her. It seems like his family, his extended family all stayed away from him, had nothing to do with him. Remember how he lamented, how his name had become like a laughing stock, in Job 30:9-10 he said, “But now their sons mock me in song. I have become a byword among them. They detest me and keep their distance. They do not hesitate to spit in my face.” So that must have been incredibly difficult for him to lose all of that esteem from other people. But when God spoke and vindicated Job, all of that was reversed. Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Who cares who’s against you if God is for you. But his family understood the significance of his vindication and his family, both close and extended family and many others from the community. Now they wanted to get near him again, they wanted to come and be with him again. Look at verse 11, “All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before, came and ate with him in his house. They comforted him and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought upon him.”

Now Job could have been bitter. He could have said, “Where were all of you when I needed you? Why didn’t you believe in me then? When I needed you the most, you kept your distance from me.” But he didn’t. He accepted their changed demeanor toward him with grace and dignity. And I think it’s appropriate for a man who’s been humbled by God; he’s not going to be arrogant toward others. When you get vertically humbled by God you realize who you are in the sight of God, and yet God loves you through Christ, horizontally, you’re going to be gracious toward the sins and failings of others. How could you not? And so that’s how Job is. He’s very gracious with them. And then God used them to begin restoring Job’s wealth. Again, a long time frame, look at verse 11. It says, “They comforted and consoled him over all the troubles the Lord had brought up on him and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.” So these are significant gifts. One preacher I listened to, as I was working on this sermon said, this was something like the ancient version of a GoFundMe account set up for Job. All the families showed up with a little starter money for him, because he’s just stripped, doesn’t have anything left. And so they all want to contribute to the pot. The hat was passed and they dropped in some money. They wanted to help. But these gifts were significant under the blessing of God, I would think. And there’d be a connection between these initial gifts. And then they have ultimate prosperity that God brought in his life. And so it came back to him gradually over a long timeframe. Then God blessed him and his wife, it seems, with children.

“When you get vertically humbled by God you realize who you are in the sight of God, and yet God loves you through Christ, horizontally, you’re going to be gracious toward the sins and failings of others.”

Verse 13-15, “He had also seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemima the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. And nowhere in all the land were found women as beautiful as job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.” Job’s wife is not mentioned here, but I think it’s best to assume that it’s the same woman, the same wife, maybe she died, we have no reason to think- so let’s assume it’s the same one. And so she was elevated back to joy and back to honor along with her husband. And again, the number of children is significant 10, 10 children. And the same thing with the son, seven sons and three daughters, all of that’s significant. I’ll speak more about them at the end of the sermon. But this shows how gradually God restored Job’s earthly blessings. You don’t get 10 children in a month, that doesn’t happen.

So this restoration to earthly prosperity unfolded over years, even over decades. It’s also note- noteworthy how prominently Job’s daughters are mentioned. The Bible is generally, especially Old Testament, written from a masculine point of view, a male centered perspective, especially in genealogies. The genealogies tend to focus on fathers and sons. Occasionally daughters are mentioned, but often not. They’re barely mentioned at all, but Job’s daughters are singled out above their brothers. You don’t know the brothers’ names, but you know these daughters’ names. And we also know that they’re stunningly beautiful and that Job dearly loved them and gave them an inheritance along with his sons. Again, this is very unusual for the time. I don’t know why this is, and this is just maybe me speaking as a dad, but there’s nothing like a daughter, especially in your old age, which I haven’t reached yet, but I anticipate there’ll be nothing like a daughter in my old age, but there’s something tender about that. And maybe that’s why the daughters are singled out. Job was a happy man to have such lovely, comforters and such lovely blessings in his life to lavish attention on him. And he did love them. And then it says, God blessed Job with a long life. And with descendants, even to the fourth generation, verse 16, “After this job lived 140 years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.” So that’s just the language, that Old Testament language of blessing. Wealthy, prosperous, family, esteem in the community, long life, but look at the final verse, “And so he died old and full of years.” Is that a happy ending? I think not. We need to understand what death is. Death is an enemy. Death is an enemy. And God must have the final victory over that. And we’re going to get to that in a minute, but I’m just telling you that’s how this account ends. So we’re waiting. We’re waiting for the happy ending, the true happy ending.

III. God Uses Job’s Story for the Rest of Time

Now next in providence in redemptive history, God in his wisdom and his goodness uses Job’s story in every generation from now until this day. Job could never have known how much his suffering would strengthen the family of God over those generations. The larger purpose of God was hidden from Job. How could he have understood it? God could never have told Job how many of his despairing children, God’s despairing children in every generation for centuries and centuries would go back to this book of Job and read it and derive strength and nourishment from it. How could Job possibly know how many of Job’s spiritual children? So we look on him somewhat like a father Abraham figure, Job is one of the good fathers of the Bible, maybe one of the best fathers of the Bible. And we are to some degree his spiritual children. How many of us would be strengthened in suffering by his example, taught to persevere, taught to trust in the Lord and never give up just by reading this story? Job’s mind would’ve been overwhelmed by the testimonies. They would be in the hundreds, in the thousands, in the tens of thousands, even in the millions lined up as far as the eye could see to the horizon coming one after the other and saying, “I want you to know what your story meant to me in my life. I want you to know how your story enabled me and my wife to walk through burying one of our children. I want you to know that. I want you to know what it was like for us to be destroyed by a tornado and have all of our crops destroyed, but then to realize from the book of Job of God’s good purposes and all of that. I want you to know my story, how God used the book of Job to walk me through the cancer treatments for my wife over two years and then she finally succumbed and died. But you gave me a comfort in God’s ultimate purpose in all of that.” So God positioned Job for that role in our lives.

And the Holy Spirit recorded this book for every generation of his elect to read. James, James makes this plain. James 5:11, it says, “As you know we consider blessed those who have persevered, you have heard of Job’s perseverance or patience and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” So James in the New Testament just assumes you’ve read the story. You’ve heard of it. You know that story right? Centuries later, and God has used Job’s experience of extreme suffering to strengthen every generation of God’s people since then. It’s almost incalculable how many people have been blessed and sustained in their sufferings by the wisdom of this book. Now, James in the NIV it says, “You have seen what the Lord finally brought about.” but the Greek is the telos of the Lord, the perfected or purpose of God in all this, there is a final purpose in Job’s story.

And God’s final purpose in Job’s suffering is the salvation of His people. God’s purposes go beyond earthly blessings. It says in Romans 8:28, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose.” God actively causes all things, including all of our sufferings to work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, his telos, his final end. And what is that final purpose? The next few verses Romans tell us, Romans 8:29-30, “For those God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers and those he predestined, he also called and those he called, he also justified and those he justified, he also glorified.” That’s God’s purpose.

And God then, going back to Romans 8:28, God causes all things to work together for good to the end that his elect will be glorified in heaven. And he uses sufferings to do that. That’s the point of Job’s story. 2 Corinthians 4:17, Paul said it in a different way there, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” It’s a typical Pauline sentence, thick with logic and theology. He calls our sufferings light and momentary, but he also says they are achieving the final glory that God’s working. They’re intrinsic to getting us there. And so that’s the lesson of the book of Job. As James made it plain earlier in James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you’ll be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

So job’s example of patience in the face of suffering is powerful for us. All Christians must display perseverance in many afflictions. If we do not persevere, we are not genuine Christians. We are like the stony ground hearers that Jesus mentioned in Mark 4:16-17, “Others like seed stone on rocky places hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word they quickly fall away.” As Jesus said, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” And so God’s purpose is the salvation of all the elect. God had the long view in mind, dear Christian brothers and sisters. He had you and me in mind. He had you and me in mind. He used Job. I mean, say that with great emphasis. He used him to help us. You can imagine Job saying, “You used me.” Yes, I did. “You used me to help all of my brothers and sisters.” Yes, I did. Do you think now he thinks it was worth it? Yes, I do. And so God used Job. God wanted to feed your soul with strength, with wisdom and with the example of Job. His sufferings, you know it, are greater than yours, his wrestling and his anguish and his words took you on a much needed journey. God’s powerful speech in the whirlwind spoke to you a necessary humbling wisdom, but God’s final word always is Christ, Christ whose righteousness is infinitely greater than Job’s, whose sufferings were also infinitely greater than Job’s, who actually did die when God had forbidden Satan from taking Job’s life. But Christ did die. The big picture was always God’s plan. And so the scripture is given here, these 42 chapters, to feed your faith to the end of your final salvation.

“You can imagine Job saying, “You used me.” Yes, I did. “You used me to help all of my brothers and sisters.” Yes, I did. Do you think now he thinks it was worth it? Yes, I do. “

IV. God Blesses Job Eternally

Fourth, God blesses Job eternally. So the vindication and restoration of Job was dramatic. It must have been so moving to Job to have God’s speak such words of vindication to Job’s friend Eliphaz, and through him to the other two friends and then ultimately to the entire community and his family, all of that. And it must have been so powerful to see his earthly blessings accumulate, not all at once, but in the end, that twofold blessing. So this is an earthly, earthly, earthly happy ending. However, the vindication and restoration of Job was incomplete. And in no way, finally satisfying. There is the matter, the simple matter of his 10 children, the 10 children. Well, which 10 children? Well, that’s the point. Any parent knows, any parent that has lost a child to death knows that the later birth of another child can never take the place of the dead one. Children are unique and the 10 new children Job and his wife had must have filled their hearts with joy, but they could never drive away the memories of their 10 lost children. Those lost children were fully grown. They were into their adult lives. They had developed personalities. They each had stories of their own and Job had a loving relationship with each one of them. And all of that was taken in a moment.

Now he would have new relationships developing with his new children, but the pain of loss of death, the final enemy, could not be fully assuaged by having 10 new children. Furthermore, as we said, Job gets no explanation at all from God about his sorrows, no description of the original challenge from Satan in the heavenly realms, no explanation of the saving purpose he had towards subsequent generations of believers, and no word at all. He just had the overpowering might of God appearing to him in a whirlwind saying, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” That’s what he got. And Job knew, as never before, how vulnerable all earthly blessings are. There was no guarantee that these replacements would not themselves be subsequently taken from him in an instant. Everything earthly is temporary. 2 Corinthians 4:18, “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” James 4:14, “You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Or again, Proverbs 23:5, “Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” So Job’s true vindication and restoration must be eternal, not earthly in the new heavens and the new earth. And here is where we must finally end up. Everything in this world is temporary. For us Christians, earthly blessings are truly gifts from our loving Father. And in some sense, they are foretastes of heavenly joy, some sense. But we cannot build our lives on earthly blessings for everything that you own, everything you interact with, with your five senses is temporary. All of it. However, we know that there is a new world coming. Amen? A new world is coming where all of the sorrows will be swallowed up in victory. As 1 Corinthians 15 says, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?” Or again, Revelation 21:1-5, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things as passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ And then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and they are true.’” So the future resurrection of Job into that resurrected glorious world is Job’s final vindication and ours as well, ours as well.

Now, one last detail about Job’s children, we noticed that all of Job’s earthly blessings were doubled, right? All of them. You got double this double, that double the other, but he just got 10 children. Children were not doubled. He lost 10 children. God gave him 10 children after his restoration. But what if all 10 of the children that died in the first attack by Satan were themselves pious, godly people? It’s quite possible. Remember that Job prayed when a period of feasting had run its course, prayed for them if perhaps they might have sinned and cursed God in their hearts, what does that tell you about their lifestyle? Godly, pious, righteous, at least apparently, but he’s worried about the heart. Wouldn’t it be marvelous if Job spent eternity with all 20 of his children? And would spend eternity with that doubled blessing of a perfect and final relationship with each one of the 20. Now, I don’t know that actually happened, but I- wouldn’t it be an awesome final addendum to the story of Job?

V. A Final Invitation

Now, as I conclude now, I just want to give you a final invitation. Next week we’re going to fly over this book one more time. I’m going to preach on every single chapter in detail, all 42 of them. So bring your lunch, bring a sleeping bag. No, I’m not doing any of that. Best thing I can do in closing today is to invite all of you to come to Christ, to come and trust in Christ. Only for Christians is there this final vindication, only for Christians is there this final eternal happy ending. We’re not universalists. We don’t say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe. It doesn’t matter how you live.” we don’t say that. Judgment day is coming and the justice of God will rise up. And the wrath of God will rise up against all sins that have not been atoned for by faith in the blood of Christ. And so all that is happening here and around the world, week after week, as the gospel is being proclaimed is sinners are being told how they can, amazingly, be vindicated by a holy God saying, “You are one of my children. Your sins are forgiven. Enter now into the joy of your Master.” All you have to do is acknowledge that you’re a sinner, repent of your sins, turn away from wickedness and turn to the mercies and the kindness of God. And let him give you that final vindication and eternal rewards through faith in Christ.

Close with me in prayer. Father thank you for the time that we’ve had to study, not just today, but 42 chapters of truth, it’s overwhelming. And Lord, I thank you for the lessons that we’re going to look at, God willing, next week. Father strengthen each one of us, help us to realize that our time of suffering will most certainly come. Maybe it won’t be as bad as Job’s, it probably won’t be, but it’s still going to be painful. Help us to be ready to put into practice the things we’ve learned from this incredible book. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Everyone loves a happy ending… especially if the story has been filled with peril, with suffering, with extreme valor and many obstacles overcome. Obviously there are some super mature literary folks in our midst from time to time that require more convoluted and murky ends to their stories. They look on the standard happy ending as trite and overworked. So the hero of the tale dying unfulfilled, without the quest having been achieved or without him making it safely home… they get excited about such lofty stories. It seems to them more “realistic.” After all, we’re not children… they might say.

But amazingly, God agrees with all us children. Jesus himself said,

Matthew 18:3 “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

And children’s bedtime stories always have happy endings. The usual fairy tale ending is “And they lived happily ever after.” JRR Tolkien understood the need for a happy ending, for within his famous Hobbit stories, Bilbo Baggins is the historian of the whole proceedings. And he was speaking to Galdalf the wizard, describing how he wanted to finish his life:

“I want to see mountains again, Gandalf – mountains; and then find somewhere where I can rest. In peace and quiet, without a lot of relatives prying around, and string of confounded visitors hanging on the bell. I might find somewhere where I can finish my book. I

have thought of a nice ending for it: and he lived happily ever after to the end of his days.”

That sounds pretty good… a happy ending to our story. But it is only “to the end of his days.” The standard fairy tale has it a little better… “they lived happily EVER AFTER.” That sounds infinitely better—happily ever after, for all eternity.

The Book of Job ends on a triumphant note… Job was completely vindicated by Almighty God. Vindicated in every way. Job’s friends were rebuked soundly. Job’s earthly wealth was restored DOUBLE. Job and his wife had the joy of ten more children. Job lived to a very old age. But what then? Job got none of his questions answered in this life. Job and his wife did have ten more children, but any parent knows that new children cannot replace dead children. And we also know that Job understood the vulnerability of all earthly situations better than he ever did before. If the first pile of wealth can be taken away in a single day, so can the next one. True security cannot be found IN THIS WORLD… in this present age of pain, sorrow, and death.

The Book of Job, as we’ve seen, does not give all the answers. The problem of death and eternity are not clearly addressed. But the Holy Spirit has assigned to different books of the Bible different dimensions of the story. And we know the final chapter of Job’s life is actually UNENDING… eternity in the presence of God, glorious, wealthy with a wealth that can never be taken, with perfect relationships with his wife and children that can never end. Christ Jesus, the Savior, the Lord of Heaven and earth must come along in the fullness of time and write Job’s final chapter with his own blood on the cross and his own mighty triumph over the grave. To Christ alone must belong the right to open wide the gates of eternity and give the true final chapter to the lives of all his elect children… eternity in resurrection bodies in a resurrected world called the New Heavens and New Earth, dwelling in a glorious eternal city called the New Jerusalem… with an eternal education in the glory of God which will include a BACKWARD HISTORY LESSON in which all of God’s purposes are eternally revealed… to the everlasting joy and satisfaction of his people.

Job’s final chapter was not written in the Book of Job, but will be in eternity. All questions answered. All love relationships restored. All wealth perfectly secure. All health perfectly and eternally guaranteed. This is the happy ending the Bible promises all believers in Christ.

That is where we are heading in this morning’s sermon! Job living happily ever after, to all eternity!

I.   God Vindicates Job

A.   God Severely Rebukes Elihu and His Two Friends

Job 42:7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

Imagine having the great God, the Almighty God, the God who had just spoken to Job out of a mighty whirlwind, now speak to you directly, and say to you “I AM ANGRY WITH YOU!!”

What terror could be greater than that?

Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

Psalm 104:32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

We don’t know if Job heard these words… or if God spoke them later to Eliphaz in a dream or some other way

In any case, Eliphaz must have been stripped of all pride and levelled by these words

B.   God Refutes Elihu’s Doctrine, and Establishes Job’s Doctrine

Eliphaz’s faulty doctrine—the simple application of the law of retribution, “You reap what you sow… God sees to it! God blesses the righteous with earthly blessings, and he curses the wicked with earthly punishments” that simple doctrine is FALSE ABOUT GOD!

It is partly true… God sometimes does reward the righteous with earthly blessings and he sometimes does bring immediate earthly judgments on the wicked

but as theologian J.I. Packer said “A half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.”

The sheer authority of Almighty God… to shut down these three men and all their river of words just like that. “You are wrong!”

1.   Notice that God does not directly vindicate Job concerning the wicked things Eliphaz said about him… like “Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?” (Job 22:5)

2.   God doesn’t focus on that… “You have not spoken what is right about Job!” No… the issue is their view of GOD—“You have not spoken what is right about ME!”

3.   YET, God DOES vindicate Job by calling him “My servant”… and not just once but twice

4.   Just like at the beginning of the book, when he said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Now, in effect, he is saying the same thing to Eliphaz… and through Eliphaz, to Bildad, to Zophar, and to the entire community who knew Job… they will all hear of God’s words concerning Job

5.   Furthermore, God vindicates Job’s DOCTRINE… again, TWICE:

Job 42:7 “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

Job 42:8 You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

6.   Now we know that God is not here validating EVERYTHING Job said about God! Else why would God have said this about Job:

Job 38:2 Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?

7.   Else why would Job have repented of his words:

Job 42:3 Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

8.   So, how did Job speak what is right about God? I think just go back to the beginning:

Job 1:21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

Job 2:10 Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

This was Job at his best… and it did line up with reality!

C.   God Honors Job as His Servant

1.   It is powerful vindication for God to say “My servant Job, my servant Job”

2.   What could be higher commendation than that?

3.   The essence of our rewards in heaven will be praise from God… commendation from the Lord

John 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

4.   To have Almighty God speak your name from his heavenly throne and commend you as a faithful and true servant is the highest vindication one could ever experience in time or in eternity!

D.   God Restores Job’s Ministry as Intercessor

1.   Just as powerfully, Eliphaz is humbled by God requiring him to go to Job to intercede for him

Job 42:8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.

2.   Job’s piety was established at the beginning of the book by his intercessory life for his children… he would “send and have them purified, thinking perhaps they had sinned in their hearts”… Job was a prayer warrior!

3.   Now that role has been reestablished, and actually enhanced, because God specifically spoke of it

4.   And how humbling for Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar… to have their lives in Job’s hands as intercessor!

5.   There is a clear threat from God… if you don’t go to him, I will deal with you according to your folly, your foolish words; but if Job intercedes for you, I will restore you and you will not be punished as you truly deserve

6.   Also notice, this is a foretaste of the priestly work of Jesus Christ for us… only he offered up his own blood as a perfect, final sacrifice, and he always lives to intercede for his people:

Hebrews 9:13-14 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

II.   God Restores Job’s Earthly Blessings

A.   Sequence: First Job Prayed, Then God Blessed Him

Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

To some degree, it seems like Job’s own restoration awaited his intercession for his friends… they would be restored together!

Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

B.   God Made Him Prosperous Again: Twofold Restoration

Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.

All of his earthly prosperity was restored and actually DOUBLED!

Job 42:12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.

If you go back to Job 1, you realize that this chapter did the math for us… from 7000 sheep to 14,000 (doubled); from 3000 camels to 6000 (doubled); from 500 donkeys to 1000 (again, doubled)

We need to realize this did not happen all at once… it took time for his flocks and herds to grow; but Job could watch it happening year by year

C.   God Healed His Reputation

1.   Remember one of the bitterest aspects of Job’s trial was his loss of reputation… the public shame

2.   Before all this came upon him, he was like a prince in the city… he was honored at the city gate, and men came to get his wisdom and help them make key decisions

Job 29:24-25 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them. 25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I dwelt as a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.

3.   All of that went away when his sufferings came upon him

4.   It seems the friends were representing the normal view of Job’s sufferings—he must be a truly wicked man to have such an immense set of sufferings

5.   His wife couldn’t stand him—Job has his breath was offensive to his wife; and it seems all his family kept away from him

6.   Remember how he lamented how his name had become a laughingstock

Job 30:9-10 And now their sons mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. 10 They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

7.   But when God spoke and vindicated Job, all of that was reversed!

Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?

8.   His family—both the close and the extended family, and many others from the community as well—now wanted to be close to him

Job 42:11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him

9.   Job could have been bitter! He could have said, “Where were all of you when I needed you the most?!” But he didn’t. He accepted their changed demeanor toward him with grace and dignity

D.   God Began Restoring His Wealth… (Long time frame!)

Job 42:11 They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

One preacher I listened to said this was something like the ancient version of a “Go-Fund-Me” account set up for Job! This once wealthy man was now destitute… they wanted to help

These gifts were significant… and perhaps became the basis of the Lord’s restoration of his earthly wealth. It came back to him gradually, over a long time-frame

E.   God Blessed Him (and His Wife) With Children

Job 42:13-15 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

Job’s wife is not mentioned here… but we should assume it was his same wife as earlier. So she was elevated back to joy along with her husband.

Again, the number ten children is significant. I will speak more about them at the end

And this shows how gradually God restored Job’s earthly blessings… you don’t get ten children in a month! This restoration to earthly prosperity unfolded over years, even decades.

It is also noteworthy how prominently Job’s DAUGHTERS are mentioned; the Bible is generally written from a masculine point of view, as especially seen in the genealogies… sons are listed, daughters sometimes skipped or barely mentioned at all

But Job’s daughters are singled out… we know their names, and none of the names of his sons; we also know that they were stunningly beautiful, and that Job dearly loved them and gave them an inheritance along with his sons… again, very unusual

There is nothing like a daughter to an older man, to comfort him in his old age! Perhaps that was part of the reason for them being singled out. Job was a happy man to have such lovely daughters to lavish attention on him!

F.   God Blessed Job with Long Life, and Descendants—fourth generation!

Job 42:16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

G.   BUT… He Still Died! (More in a moment)

III.   God Uses Job’s Story for the Rest of Time

A.   Job Could Never Have Known How Much His Suffering Would Strengthen the Family of God

1.   The larger purpose of God was hidden from Job

2.   God could never have told him how many of his despairing children in every generation for centuries and centuries would derive strength from this Book of Job

3.   How could Job possibly know how many of his spiritual children, for his is somewhat a father in faith to us all… how many of us would be strengthened in suffering, taught to persevere and trust in the Lord and never give up… just by reading his story

4.   His mind would be overwhelmed by the testimonies… they would be in the hundreds and hundreds of millions in heaven, coming to him to greet him and tell him, “By your example, the Lord gave me strength when my child died.” Or “Reading your story enabled me to see the kindness and compassion of God when I had to walk with my wife through two years of cancer treatments, only to see her succumb in the end.”

5.   God positioned Job for this role by the Holy Spirit recording this book for every generation of his elect to read

B.   James Makes This Plain

James 5:11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

James refers to Job as his story is clearly known… “You have heard of Job” … the story is well-known to you, centuries later.

God has used Job’s experience of extreme suffering to strengthen every generation of God’s people since then. It is almost incalculable how many people have been blessed and sustained in their sufferings by the wisdom of this book

“You have seen what the Lord finally brought about” is NIVs translation of a phrase “the telos of the Lord”—telos is the purpose, the final end, the goal, the destination

God’s final purpose in Job’s suffering is the salvation of his people

C.   God’s Purposes Go Beyond Earthly Blessing

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

God actively causes all things, including our suffering, to work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose…

And the next verses in Romans tell us what God’s purpose is:

Romans 8:29-30 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

God’s purpose for the elect is to shape them and prepare them for eternal glory.

He uses our suffering to prepare us for that glory

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

James says the story of Job is part of that process, teaching the people of God to have patience

As James made plain earlier:

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Job’s example of patience in the face of suffering is powerful for us… all Christians must display PERSEVERANCE in many afflictions

If we do not persevere, we are not genuine Christians… we are like the stony ground hearer:

Mark 4:16-17 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

As Jesus said,

Matthew 10:22 he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

D.   So God’s Purpose: Salvation for All the Elect

1.   God has the long view in mind… dear Christian brothers and sisters, he had you in mind

2.   He used Job to help you… he exchanged Job’s children and his wealth and his health to assist you in your salvation

3.   He did it knowing full well that Job would receive it all back DOUBLE… so Job himself suffered no permanent loss

4.   But God wanted to feed your soul with strength, with wisdom… with the example of Job

a.   His sufferings are greater than yours

b.   His wrestling and anguish and words took you on a needed journey

c.   God’s powerful speech in the whirlwind spoke to you a necessary wisdom

d.   But God’s final word always is CHRIST… Christ, whose righteousness was infinitely greater than Job’s, whose sufferings were also infinitely greater than Job’s, who actually DID die, when God would not allow Job to die

e.   This big picture was always God’s plan… so that the scripture might FEED YOUR FAITH in your own time of sorrow

IV.   God Blesses Job Eternally

A.   The Vindication and Restoration of Job was Dramatic

1.   It must have been so moving to Job to have God speak such words of vindication to Job’s friend, Eliphaz… and through him to the other two friends and to all the community around Job

2.   And it must have been so powerful to see his earthly blessings accumulate—not all at once, but in the end two-fold blessing

3.   So this is an EARTHLY happy ending

B.   However, the Vindication and Restoration of Job was Incomplete and in No Way Finally Satisfying

1.   There is the simple matter of his ten children

2.   Any parent that has lost a child to death knows that the later birth of another child can never take the place of the dead one

3.   Children are unique… and the ten new children Job and his wife had must have filled their hearts with joy; but they could never drive away the memories of their ten lost children—those lost children were fully grown, with developed personalities and Job had his own loving relationship with each one

4.   Now he would have new relationships developing with his new children… but the pain of loss, of death the FINAL ENEMY, could not be fully assuaged by these new children

5.   Furthermore, Job got NO EXPLANATION AT ALL from God about his sorrows… no description of the original challenge from Satan in the heavenly realms; no explanation of the saving purpose he had toward subsequent generations of believers… no word at all—just the overpowering might of God in the whirlwind saying

Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”

6.   AND Job knew as never before how vulnerable all earthly blessings are

a.   There was no guarantee that these replacements would themselves not be subsequently taken from him

b.   Everything earthly is temporary…

2 Corinthians 4:18 what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

James 4:14 you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Proverbs 23:5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

C.   Job’s True Vindication and Restoration Is Eternal… in the New Heaven and New Earth

1.   Here is where we must finally end up

2.   Everything in this world is temporary… for us Christians, earthly blessings are truly gifts from our loving Father and in some sense a foretaste of the eternal and heavenly ones

3.   But we cannot build our lives on earthly blessings, for everything earthly is temporary

4.   HOWEVER, we know that there is a new world coming, where all the sorrows will be swallowed up in victory

1 Corinthians 15:54-55 “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

Revelation 21:1-5 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 ¶ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

D.   Could Job’s Two-Fold Blessings Include His Children?

1.   One last detail

2.   We have noticed that all of Job’s earthly blessings were doubled when they were restored

3.   However, his children were not doubled… he lost ten children; God gave him ten children after his restoration

4.   But what if all ten of his children were truly believers in Almighty God as their father was? It seems like they may have been godly, because Job only worried about heart sins in their case—there was no open pattern of wickedness

Job 1:5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

5.   Wouldn’t it be marvelous if Job spent eternity with BOTH his original ten children AND the ten new children God gave him

6.   Then even that blessing would have been doubled in the end! Twenty godly children with whom he could share the New Heavens and New Earth, with whom he could feast for all eternity!

V.   A Final Invitation

Next week, we will fly over this Book of Job one more time to draw out some timeless lessons

The best thing I can do in closing today is to call all of you who hear me to a living faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world

His sufferings were done for us… his death was in our place, his resurrection victory was ultimately ours

IF YOU TRUST IN HIM, turning away from all sin in repentance, and if you cast yourself on him for the salvation of your soul, then nothing earthly can ever truly threaten you

You will have overcome the world by faith in Christ:

1 John 5:4-5 everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

As an overcomer, as a conqueror, you need fear nothing that will come upon you:

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.