Gospel According to Elihu (Job #16)

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Text: Job 33

Elihu is a man who will speak for God (vss 1-14)

Elihu is a comforter who will speak on God’s behalf. Look at verses 6-7 to begin to see the gracious nature of Elihu’s conversation. With the understanding that Elihu is not an accuser but a man who will speak for God, let’s take a look at these verses. How incredible it is that 1700 years before Jesus Christ walks this earth, in the oldest book in the world, God lays out His plan for salvation of mankind.
God’s words are spoken through a human vessel (vss 1-3)
- Elihu takes the role of a preacher and teacher of righteousness.
- Verse 2 seems repetitive as in how many ways can you say you’re talking? But you might add emphasis when you say something important too. You might say, “Read my lips.” You might say, “Put your phone down and listen to what I’m going to say to you.”
God’s words made flesh (vss 4-5)
John 1:14-18 And the Word was made flesh (This is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. His name before He became a man was the Word of God up in heaven.), and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
- Elihu is a type of Christ in that he is God’s representation in the flesh.
- Verses 5 and 32 go together showing the spirit with which Elihu speaks.
  - God is reasonable and God is good and God is infinite in His understanding. He is never put on the defensive by anyone. But interestingly enough, God is willing to consider the prayers and petitions of those who trust Him.
  - Woman petitions the Lord Jesus Christ for her daughter.
- Good news from God is brought in human vessels (vss 6-7)
- Elihu is a type of Jesus Christ the comforter.
  - Isaiah said concerning Jesus Christ’s coming, Isaiah 40:1-3 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned… 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
  - Jesus said the Holy Ghost is another Comforter beside himself.
- Job is cautioned (vss 8-14)
  - Comfort in knowing that God’s goal is not to hurt people. Verses 10-11 God’s end goal is not looking for people to terrorize and hurt.
  - There are many things God does and says that you don’t know about. The comforting news is this: whether you see God’s work or not, He is good and right. What you know of God is good and right. And rest in this that even what you don’t know of God is still good and right. It will always be wrong to accuse Almighty God of wickedness.
  - Verse 14 God speaks once and twice – He did exactly that in Job 1 and 2 and Job knew nothing about it.

God’s goodness in sending a messenger (vss 15-30)

God’s goal is deliverance
- Dreams that deliver man from his pride (vss 15-18)
  - Abimelech is warned in Genesis 20
  - Solomon dreams in 1 Kings 3
  - Nebuchadnezzar dreams in Daniel 2 and 4.
God’s good news comes when man is brought to the end of himself (vss 19-24)
- When a man is brought to the end of himself, then God is able to show his goodness to that man. The word gospel means good news. (vss 19-22)
- The presence of a preacher means God has found a ransom and will graciously declare God’s righteousness to the dying soul (vss 23-24).
  - If there be a messenger… to shew unto man his (God’s) uprightness… then…
  - Here are the elements of the gospel: the lost man headed to the pit, the saint as a messenger of righteousness, the righteousness of God, the grace of God to deliver from the pit, and the ransom!
Gospel according to Elihu (vss 25-28)
- Redemption – Incorruptible puts on incorruption, mortal puts on immortality (vs 25) – Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
- God is willing to offer His righteousness to man if man will look for it (vs 26)
- A sinner looks to God for mercy (vss 27-28)
- Translated from the power of darkness into the light! (vs 28)
- Even a resurrection in (vs 30)

Elihu has the heart of God (vss 31-33)

I desire to justify thee…
Like a parents wants to justify their children even when they are wrong.
The heart of the Lord is to justify sinners.
Romans 5:8-10 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.