107. Hast Thou Not Known? (1)

Posted on Posted in Sermon Notes, Prayer Meeting Tagged with , , ,

Hymns: RHC 10 Still, Still with Thee 80 The Day Thou Gavest 400 Every Moment of Every Day 

Job 38:12-24

12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; 13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? 14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. 15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken. 

16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? 17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? 18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all. 

19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, 20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof? 21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great? 

22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 24 By what way is the light parted, whichscattereth the east wind upon the earth?

Hast Thou Not Known (1) 

OUTLINE

  • God Who Commands the Morning Also Deals with the Wicked (v12-15)
  • God Who Created the Sea and the Breath of the Earth Also Determines the Place of the Dead (v16-18)
  • God Who Created the Lights Also Beams to Light to Show the Path that Leads to House (v19-21)
  • God Who Brings the Snow and the Hail and the Wind Also Direct the Course of Battles and Wars (v22-24)

INTRODUCTION

When our Lord Jesus came upon earth, His first words when He began His ministry was given in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) where He began to pronounce and declare the profile of the man that is blessed of God.

The first trait worthy of God’s blessing was “poverty of spirit” or “humility”, a humbleness of heart. Our Lord says of such is the kingdom of God. He went on to give the second trait – a repentant heart. Such a one will find true comfort. The third trait is a submissive spirit to do the will of God, meekness. Such a one is blessed with God’s power permeating to give life’s victories. The four trait is a hunger after God’s Word and Ways, thereby being endued with godly instruction and wisdom for life.

Matthew 5:3-6 (KJV) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

The underlining first principle is humbleness of heart. God sought to put Job in his place so that he would stop making demands to God and willing to submit to God’s goodwill for His well-being.

This the Lord did by asking Job “many puzzling questions, to convince him of his ignorance, and to shame him for his folly” [Matthew Henry] lifting himself to be as God. 

Our God has the right to govern His universe for His own glory, just as He pleases as the Potter over the clay, that He may mould that clay into whatsoever form He chosses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel to honour and another to dishonour. As we turn to God’s Word and are instructed, we discover, a fundamental principle which must be applied to every problem: Instead of beginning with man and his world and working back to God, we must begin with God and work down to man. Begin with the world as it is today and try to work back to God, and everything will seem to show that God has no connection with the world at all. But begin with God and work down to the world and light, much light, is cast on the problem. [AW Pink] 

  • God Who Commands the Morning Also Deals with the Wicked (v12-15)

12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; 13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? 14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. 15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken. 

It is God who caused the light to shine to dawn upon the night to give the first light of the morning. The darkness of the dawn as flat clay is turned to a seal with its many facted colours and visible form is seen with the coming of the morning.

As it comes a new day, God also work to deal with the wicked as the shaking of a cloth so the wicked is dealt with by Him.

It was not we, not any man that commanded the morning-light at first, or appointed the place of its springing up and shining forth, or the time of it. The constant and regular succession of day and night was no contrivance of ours; it is the glory of God that it shows, and His handy work, not ours. [Matthew Henry]

Psalm 19:1-2 (KJV) To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

It is quite out of our power to alter this course: Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? Hast thou at any time raised the morning light sooner than its appointed time, to serve thy purpose when thou hast waited for the morning, or ordered the day-spring for thy convenience to any other place than its own? No, never. Why then wilt thou pretend to direct the divine counsels, or expect to have the methods of Providence altered in favour of thee? We may as soon break the covenant of the day and of the night as any part of God’s covenant with His people, and particularly this, I will chasten them with the rod of men.

It is God that has appointed the day-spring to visit the earth, and diffuses the morning light through the air, which receives it as readily as the clay does the seal (v14), immediately admitting the impressions of it, so as of a sudden to be all over enlightened by it, as the seal stamps its image on the wax; and they stand as a garment, or as if they were clothed with a garment. The earth puts on a new face every morning, and dresses itself as we do, puts on light as a garment, and is then to be seen. 

This is made a terror to evil-doers. Nothing is more comfortable to mankind than the light of the morning; it is pleasant to the eyes, it is serviceable to life and the business of it, and the favour of it is universally extended, for it takes hold of the ends of the earth (v13), and we should dwell, in our hymns to the light, on its advantages to the earth.

But God here observes how unwelcome it is to those that do evil, and therefore hate the light. God makes the light a minister of His justice as well as of His mercy. It is designed to shake the wicked out of the earth, and for that purpose it takes hold of the ends of it, as we take hold of the ends of a garment to shake the dust and moths out of it. Job had observed what a terror the morning light is to criminals, because it discovers them (Job 24:13-16), and God here seconds the observation, and asks Him whether the world was indebted to Him for that kindness? [Matthew Henry]

Job 24:13-16 (KJV) They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

Because the wicked love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil (John 3:19), because the murderer and the adulterer prefer to do their evil deeds under the cover of darkness because evil is by nature secretive. [Christopher Ash]

No, the great Judge of the world sends forth the beams of the morning light as His messengers to detect criminals, that they may not only be defeated in their purposes and put to shame, but that they may be brought to condign punishment (v15), that their light may be withholden from them (that is, that they may lose their comfort, their confidence, their liberties, their lives) and that their high arm, which they have lifted up against God and man, may be broken, and they deprived of their power to do mischief. 

Whether what is here said of the morning light was designed to represent, as in a figure, the light of the gospel of Christ, and to give a type of it, I will not say; but I am sure it may serve to put us in mind of the encomiums given to the gospel just at the rising of its morning-star by Zecharias in his Benedictus (Luke 1:78, By the tender mercy of our God the day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are turned to it as clay to the seal, (2 Corinthians 4:6), and by the virgin Mary in her Magnificat (Luke 1:51), showing that God, in His gospel, hasshown strength with His arm, scattered the proud, and put down the mighty, by that light by which He designed to shake the wicked, to shake wickedness itself out of the earth, and break its high arm. [Matthew Henry]

  • God Who Created the Sea and the Breath of the Earth Also Determines the Place of the Dead (v16-18)

16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? 17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? 18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all. 

Knowest thou what lies in the bottom of the sea, the treasures there hidden in the sands? Or canst thou give an account of the rise and original of the waters of the sea? Vapours are continually exhaled out of the sea. Dost thou know how the recruits are raised by which it is continually supplied? Rivers are constantly poured into the sea. Dost thou know how they are continually discharged, so as not to overflow the earth? Art thou acquainted with the secret subterraneous passages by which the waters circulate?” God’s way in the government of the world is said to be in the sea, and in the great waters (Psalm 77:19), intimating that it is hidden from us and not to be pried into by us. [Matthew Henry]

Of the gates of death: Have these been open to thee? Death is a (v16) grand secret. We know not beforehand when, and how, and by what means, we or others shall be brought to death, by what road we must go the way whence we shall not return, what disease or what disaster will be the door to let us into the house appointed for all living. Man knows not his time.

We cannot describe what death is, how the knot is untied between body and soul, nor how the spirit of a man goes upward (Ecclesiastes 3:21), to be we know not what and live we know not how, with what dreadful curiosity does the soul launch out into the vast ocean of eternity and resign to an untried abyss!

Let us make it sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened to us on the other side death, and then we need not fear the opening of the gates of death, though it is a way we are to go but once. [Matthew Henry]

Of the breadth of the earth (v18): Hast thou perceived that? The knowledge of this might seem most level to him and within his reach; yet he is challenged to declare this if he can. We have our residence on the earth, God has given it to the children of men. But who ever surveyed it, or could give an account of the number of its acres? It is but a point to the universe? yet, small as it is, we cannot be exact in declaring the dimensions of it. 

Job had never sailed round the world, nor any before him; so little did men know the breadth of the earth that it was but a few ages ago that the vast continent of America was discovered, which had, time out of mind, lain hidden. The divine perfection is longer than the earth and broader than the sea; it is therefore presumption for us, who perceive not the breadth of the earth, to dive into the depth of God’s counsels. [Matthew Henry]

To be continued…