14. Unbiblical Vision

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Hymns: RHC 41 God Is Still On the Throne, 255 Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart, 256 The Bible Stands

Job 4:12-21

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. 13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: 16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, 17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? 18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: 19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? 20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. 21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom. (Job 4:12-21 KJV)

Unbiblical Vision

OUTLINE
(1) Unbiblically Invoking God’s Authority (v12-16)
(2) Misrepresenting God’s Name (v17-21)

INTRODUCTION
Eliphaz has begun discrediting Job, putting to question his past actions of piety. Mr Counsellor is himself troubled and despondent. It goes to show that his claim of being a God-fearer, one who places his confidence in God and lived a life of uprightness is a vain show. “Look at yourself now,” Eliphaz points out to Job, “you are now fainting and troubled. You are disquieted! What happened to your faith in God? Has it now caved-in? Goes to how shallow is that faith that you profess!” This was how Job was discredited. His testimony in God called to question – “You comforted others but now look at you, do you not now wallow in self-pity too?”

This was to force a confession from Job, a sly ploy of Satan, to persuade Job to confess himself a hypocrite. If Job had capitulated, Satan would have won his case with God against Job.

Because Job was discomfited, he showed himself impatient under pressure, this was brought as evidence against him.

If Job is indeed a good man, why would these afflictions have come to him? It is not logical. He must have sinned against God.

It was a spiritual test for Job. He was not afflicted as a judgment for sin. Eliphaz concluded that Job’s present predicament has been a result of his sin. He is reaping the evil he has sown.

God will surely not cut off the righteous. The reason for his present suffering is that he has been unrighteous. If he has been a good man, all this calamity would not have befallen him. This was faulty theology.
Suffering and affliction is allowed of God to prove the faith of God’s people. This was evident in the testimony of the church in Thessalonica.

2 Thessalonians 1:3-6 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

All this while, his life has been living in self-righteousness. This included all the times when he counselled others. It was not righteous counsel, according to God’s Word, but his own wisdom! The unrighteous is cut off by God. This is clearly when I have seen says Eliphaz. This must be what happened. Job is suffering because he deserved it. He has sinned against God. For if Job had done right, things would have gone well. This is God’s punitive measure upon Job. God’s judgment for the wrong he has done. Surely this must be the explanation.

The book of Job was written to debunk such Eliphaz-type theology, suffering comes because of man’s wickedness. This is the only explanation there is to man’s suffering. This is erroneous theology. Suffering can come because of man’s sin but it can also be God allowing Satan to try His servants. A spiritual test!

Eliphaz’s argument comes from his experiences. He used his experience, by what he observes to happen around him to formulate his theology. This is extremely harmful and detrimental to those at the receiving end of their faulty theology.

It is so sad to read how Job had to defend his integrity at the moment of greatest loss and yet the Lord enabled him for His glory!

We can observe that he had a clear mind to realize that what his friend Eliphaz had said was wrong and had misrepresented God.

And God’s judgement is either a swift one or he allows the sinner prolonged suffering.

God is judging Job by a slow death! He has gotten his wealth by oppression and unjustly and now God has taken them all away.

How devastating for Job to hear such untrue allegations of his condition by Eliphaz.

We can observe that he had a clear mind to realize that what his friend Eliphaz had said was wrong and had misrepresented God.

The Word of God is the only infallible guide for counseling. And it has to be applied in the light of true understanding of a person’s predicament. We know that the conversation between God and Satan in the heavenly realm was not known to Job and his friends. Hence, it was wrong for his friends to jump to conclusion to judge Job without full knowledge of the truth. It is most unbecoming. May we learn from this negative example not to follow!

His theology was built upon his experience by way of his observation of the phenomenon of the natural world and his vision.

Two thoughts as we continue to study Eliphaz’s allegations:

(1) Unbiblically Invoking God’s Authority (v12-16)
(2) Misrepresenting God’s Name (v17-21)

(1) Unbiblically Invoking God’s Authority (v12-16)
There was no authoritative voice of God during Job’s time, in the sense that the Word of God was not written, unlike our time when we have the full canon of God’s revelation from Genesis to Revelation. In those days, the book of Hebrews explained that

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

The Hebrew “Hendiays” described the process of God’s revelation to man “in many parts of time and in many various manners from of old” which produced the Old Testament Scriptures that is available in the hands of the Jewish Christians and also available for us today. The use of the adverbs as the first words in the order of the sentence showed that the author is putting emphasizing the method of God’s revelation rather than on God, the originator of divine revelation is God.

The entire Old Testament Scriptures were revealed to the forefathers of the Jews when God spoke in time past to them. Revelation came at different times and in various stages, a progressive revelation of God to His prophets. God spoke by dream, by signs, in different ways to different men (Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah to Malachi)¹, in manifold or various ways and modes, of old or long ago. Hewitt observed accurately of Old Testament Scriptures contrasting the shadowy revelations by the prophets before the advent of Jesus Christ Yet the prophetic revelations were fragmentary, occasional and progressive, for no single one of them, not all of them, contain the whole truth.²

The Apostle Paul wrote:

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Tim 3:16-17 (KJV)

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God”. The phrase “given by inspiration of God” in our King James translation is one word in the Greek – God-breathed. All Scripture is God-breathed is the literal translation of the verse 16a. It is from the very breath of God that these words are given. It describes the divine origin and source of Scripture.

It is the voice of God speaking through Scripture. The utterance of the Eternal God, as if the heaven were to be opened and we heard God speaking to us with human voice. It carries with it the divine authority of God. When Scripture speaks, all must stand corrected, all critics silenced. Paul did not write “all the scripture” but “all scripture”.

The absence of the definite article emphasizes the quality and character of Scriptures. The Bible carries the credentials of the Almighty God.

And the Apostle Peter wrote:

2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

But for Eliphaz, it came not from the Holy Ghost because the theology was faulty. It misrepresented God.

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. 13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: 16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

Eliphaz had a vision one night and a voice spoke to him. It was a mysterious, frightening encounter even eerie. It caused him to be trembling and he described that it was so bad, all his bones did shake. He claimed that God has spoken to him. He invoked God’s authority. He felt the presence of a spirit as it was brushing before his face and his hair stood up. And that spiritual being not in clear form, though he sensed an image was before his eyes and there was silence before a voice spoke.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Be aware of false prophets for “there are evil spirits; there is a devil who is so clever and subtle that he can transform himself into an angel of light. If you are confronted with the Holy Spirit only, there is no need to test the spirits, but the very name ‘Holy Spirit’ suggests other spirits, devilish spirits – and there are such powers.”

(2) Misrepresenting God’s Name (v17-21)
17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

It seemed an obvious point of truth. Can a man be more justified than the Just God? It was a statement to put man in his place.

Do not act like you are truly holy, can a man be more just or purer than God, His Maker? You are not surely a mere mortal. Admit your frailty and sinfulness. You are a guilty sinner being judged by God. You have no excuse, you can’t explain away your condition.

18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

Is it true that God out no trust in his servants? We know Job to be one such example whom God approved. Eliphaz and Job did not know, but we do, we have read Job 1-2.

1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

“Perfect and upright” – holy and blameless, not sinless but he examined himself and confess his sins before God.

“Fear God and eschewed evil” – understood that God will judge sin and understands the holiness of God and seek not to fall under God’s wrath. He hated every evil and wicked way. His piety prepared him for the adversity to come.

God did not brush off Satan’s accusations but allowed Satan to prove Job to authenticate God’s assessment of His servant to be a true man of God.

19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which is crushed before the moth? 20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. 21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

It is indeed true that man was made out of the dust of the ground and will return to dust, and frail as man is he can destroy like the “swatting” of a moth or pulling down of a tent. Wiersbe observed well, “But man is also made in the image of God, and the God who made him is a God of grace and mercy as well as a God of justice.”

Their life is short, and in a little time they are cut off. It lasts perhaps but from morning to evening. It is but a day (so some understand it); their birth and death are but the sun-rise and sunset of the same day. In death all their excellency passes away; beauty, strength, learning, not only cannot secure them from death, but must die with them, nor shall their pomp, their wealth, or power, descend after them. Their wisdom cannot save them from death: They die without wisdom, die for want of wisdom, by their own foolish management of themselves, digging their graves with their own teeth. It is so common a thing that nobody heeds it, nor takes any notice of it: They perish without any regarding it or laying it to heart. [Matthew Henry]

Man is of no importance at all in the sight of God. He comes and He goes and all ends there.

Psalm 139:14-15 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Psalm 8:4-6 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

Man, the psalmist says, is crowned with honour and glory by the Almighty God.

Spurgeon in the Treasury of David observed well, “These verses may set forth man’s position among the creatures before he fell; but as they are, by the apostle Paul, appropriated to man as represented by the Lord Jesus, it is best to give most weight to that meaning. In order of dignity, a man stood next to the angels, and a little lower than they; in the Lord Jesus this was accomplished, for he was made a little lower than the angels by the suffering of death. Man in Eden had the full command of all creatures, and they came before him to receive their names as an act of homage to him as the vice-regent of God to them. Jesus in his glory, is now Lord, not only of all living but of all created things, and, with the exception of him who put all things under him, Jesus is Lord of all, and his elect, in him, are raised to a dominion wider than that of the first Adam, as shall be more clearly seen at his coming. Well might the Psalmist wonder at the singular exaltation of man in the scale of being, when he marked his utter nothingness in comparison with the starry universe.”

We know that we are the most important of God’s creation.

God the Father and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ personified as Wisdom that was with Jehovah (the LORD) in eternity past before the world was ever made (Prov. 8:22-26). It teaches the eternal relation of the Son (Wisdom) to the Father.

The creative purpose of God is for the sons of men enjoy the fellowship with His Creator, Jesus and vice versa. It was a relationship of greatest joy for a man to commune and fellowship with His Creator, until the fall.

When God created the universe, the earth was the focus. When God created the earth, the man was the focus. The man was very special because man only was made in the image of God. That’s Genesis 1. Then, the focus from here would be upon the chronological history of man.

In 6 literal days, God completed His creation of the universe. In the first three days, God created light, the firmament and water, land and vegetation. This forms the structural form of the universe. Then God created in the last three days sun, moon and stars (day 4), fowl and fish (day 5) and animals and finally man (day 6)!

You would notice that God would make the earth such a habitable place before He placed man. All of God’s creation was for the benefit of man. God made the sun and since its creation is expending itself, spending itself away, providing heat and light to sustain human life.

CONCLUSION

Eliphaz’s understanding of man is faulty! God highly regarded man because man is made in the image of God. You are precious in God’s sight!

¹ Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1932), 327.

² Thomas Hewitt, Hebrews, (London, The Tyndale Press, 1968), 49.