(The recording contains a brief report of the 1995 annual ‘Ministers’ Week of Prayer’)

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,” Job 38:1.

The debate about Job’s afflictions had been raging now for some time. Job had answered and silenced his three comforters, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. He in turn has been silenced but not convinced by Elihu. Now the Lord speaks to Job. Job, who had held his ground before his three friends and had been unchastened by the words of Elihu now melts before the words of Jehovah.

We are told that the Lord spoke to Job out of a whirlwind. The action of a whirlwind is to gather the dust of the ground and lift it heavenward. That was the case with Job. He is drawn upward to a higher plane as God stoops to speak with him.

God’s answer to Job takes the form of many questions, some sixty all told. Whatever questions we may feel we have for God, He has many more for us. The very first question God asks of Job, verse 4, shows how unqualified we are to question God’s dealings with men generally or with ourselves in particular. As God says in verse 2, we only darken His counsels by our words without knowledge. Our observations and questionings, if made independently of God’s word, serve only to increase darkness rather than bring light upon the subject. I wish to consider what is implied in that verse 1.

I. THE LORD WILL HAVE THE FINAL SAY ON ALL MATTERS

If this were not so, then all would end in confusion and darkness. The disputes of the ages would remain unresolved. But God is the grand and glorious arbitrator of all disputes and questions. Just remember, when we have voiced our opinions and are living according to them, God will yet have His say. We have all to give an account to Him. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God, Romans 14:12.

1. God had listened to all that had been said. Verse 2-3, 42:7. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment, Matthew 12:36. If God will demand an answer to those words that were carelessly and thoughtlessly said how much more those words spoken deliberately in defiance of Him?
2. The Lord answered Job. Here was a personal answer to Job’s questions and challenges. Job 31:35.
3. God answers in detail all that had been said. How little we know. What grounds have we for challenging God? The series of questions asked of Job indicates that God will leave men without any response. Job 40:3-5. We cannot question God and His ways without expecting God to question us and examine our ways. Who is there among us who can contemplate such an encounter without dread and shame. Matthew 22:12. I Sam 2:9.
4. An acquaintance with this truth will enable us to bear with patience those false views and notions that men may form of us. I Cor 4:5.

II. THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF MEN IS FORESHADOWED HERE.

1. There was a visible manifesting of God’s power and glory. The whirlwind is frequently used as a symbol of God’s power and glory in judgment, Isa 66:5, 14-16; Jer 23:19-20; 25:29-33; 30:23-24, Nahum 1:3.
2. It presents a picture of swift and terrible destruction. “And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD,” I Kings 19:11. A whirlwind can, in an instant, scatter and destroy the most stable and enduring things of nature and of man’s constructing. It often times comes suddenly. Though the signs are there for all to see yet men in their carelessness ignore them as did the people in the days of Noah, Matt 24:37-39, Luke 21:33-35. The tempest out of which The Lord spoke to Job seems to have been gathering for some little time and Elihu seems to make reference to it on occasions, 37:1-2, 9. Preachers need to draw attention to the coming whirlwind of judgment.
3. It results in a terrible uncovering. The contents of houses are swiftly unveiled as walls and roof are removed. So it shall be in the day of the Lord’s power and glory. Job found his heart unveiled before God, 40:4, 42:6.

III. THIS PORTION REMINDS US OF THE RESULTS FOR BELIEVERS OF GOD’S FINAL DEALINGS WITH MEN.

Two things were accomplished for Job.

1. He was shown his faults. Job acknowledges that which he would not acknowledge for any other.
2. He was vindicated before his critics. 42:7-8.

A full vindication of believers will never be granted in this life but it shall come. To this day, many of God dearest saints are maligned and slandered, ie., the reformers and martyrs. but a day of full vindication is coming. II Thess 1:7-10. It will be seen that the grace of God was in them.