Job was still blindly headed down the road to destruction when Elihu started throwing up detour signs and warning signs to indicate that he was on the wrong road: repent, turn around and go the other way! My dear friend, consider this: Are you on the road of self-righteousness, self-vindication and self-complacency? If so, please realize it is the road to self-destruction. God isn't destroying you, your family or your possessions; it is Satan who is destroying you, and you are the one giving him permission to do so by the very words of your own mouth. For you to simply be warned is not enough, you need to know where to turn and why.
This book will aid in pointing out the possible and definite hazards along the way and what is needed for the journey. If you have not put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, you are presently on that road to destruction. Matthew 7:13-14 You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it. John 14:6 Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Sinners need to be told that there is only one road that leads to eternal life, the one that leads to a contrite heart and genuine repentance. That road is paved with humility and at its end there is nothing but that pure and precious Grace of God and the forgiveness and healing that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. Please hear me! There is nothing but wrath and death for the self-righteous - nothing but grace and life for the self-judged. After listening to Job's rant, we may understand why Elihu's wrath was kindled against him. Elihu was entirely on God's side. Job was not. We hear nothing of Elihu until Job 32, though it is very evident that he had been an attentive listener to the whole discussion. He had patiently listened to both sides, and he found both wrong. Job was wrong in seeking to defend himself; and his friends were wrong to condemn him.
How often is this scenario played out in confrontations and controversies? We take turns condemning each other or defending ourselves. A little brokenness on one side, or a little softness on the other, would go a long way towards settling misunderstandings and strife. This is not the case when we are dealing with God's truth. In that case one must be bold, decisive, and unyielding. To yield or apologize where the truth of God or the glory of Jesus Christ is concerned would mean disloyalty to the One to whom we owe everything. He did not hesitate to sacrifice everything including His life to secure our place in glory.
If we are expressing a claim or proclamation of our Lord, we should never balk or shrink back with timidity, but speak with the authority He imparted to those who believe. God forbid we should water down the Gospel for fear of offending someone or to appear seeker friendly. Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they which love your law: and nothing shall offend them. Ephesians 6:10-20 Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel nor did he ever shrink back; rather he opened his mouth boldly that his speech and his preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1Corinthians 2:4-5
Paul also proclaimed: I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and for what his crucifixion and personal sacrifice means to me. I have disregarded everything else, counting it all as dung, compared to knowing Jesus Christ and becoming one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ Jesus to save me. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends only on faith. As a result, I can truly know Him and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with Him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience that resurrection power! Philippians 3:8-11
Much like the dedication of Paul to the service of God through Christ, there is something divinely striking and prevalent in the ministry of Elihu. He mirrors the divine righteousness of God as opposed to Job's three friends. His name is translated "God is he," which leads us to believe he was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, sent to show Job the truth and reveal God's Light, such as He did in delivering the Truth and Light of the new covenant in taking our place by dying for our sins.
He brings God into the picture, stopping the mouths of both Job and his friends. Elihu never mentions experience, appeals to tradition, or wields the hammer of legality; he simply shares the law, justice, divinity and mercy of God. This is the only way to squelch strife and dissolve controversy, stopping the mouth, and ending the war of words. Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Psalms 19:7 For the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.
When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled. In all their reasonings, and arguments, in all their references to experience, tradition, and legality, still there was "no answer." Job's friends had said many true things, made many feeble attempts using many vain words to convince Job of the error of his ways; and a fool's voice is known by his many words (Ecclesiastes 5:3), but be it carefully noted, they found "no answer." A heart that is not regenerated or contrite is quick to give an answer or reply. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath (James 1:19) ... for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking (Matthew 6:7). Yet, Job's friends found "no answer." And Elihu answered and said, I am young, and you are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and dared not show my opinion. I said, let experience speak first...they either do not speak at all, or they speak a quantity of error and folly, and I would have thought that a multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding.
No sooner does Elihu speak that everyone's mouths are stopped. We are listening to a man that knows God personally-a man who is righteous and just, one who stands in God's Divine presence. It is not a man speaking with the enticing words of man's wisdom drawn from his own wretched, self-centered, self-righteous, one-sided experience; nor is it a man appealing to an elusive, shady, questionable antiquity, or to pathetic traditions, or the ever conflicting and contradicting voices of the many self-absorbed fathers. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things you do. (Mark 7:8) Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
No, we have before us a diligent, faithful, bold ambassador approved to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Timothy 2:15) who invites us into the very presence of "the inspiration of the Almighty," our Judge and Deliverer.
Great men are not always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment. (Job 32:9) It is quite obvious at this point that Elihu has not come to judge or condemn Job, but to correct and encourage. He simply tells Job the truth; he rebukes, but does not punish him. Elihu manifests the power of "the still small voice"- he soul-soothing, heart-melting virtue of Godly Grace. Job has voiced many self-righteous opinions about himself, and his self-proclaimed innocence had sprouted from a root of pride to which the Word of Truth had to be applied. For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) Surely, says Elihu, you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of your words, saying, "I am clean, without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me."
Such words for any mortal sinner to utter! Surely, though, "the true light" in which Job should walk did not shine into every corner of his soul. You might marvel at such a matter-of-fact profession of innocence. And yet notice what Job says. Although he professes to be so clean, so innocent, so free from iniquity, he feels free to judge God by assuming his trials and tribulations are from Him. Here he hurls three of his total of 77 false charges against God such as: He finds occasions to count me for His enemy. He puts my feet in the stocks, He marks all my paths.
Here is a blatant discrepancy. How could a holy, just, and righteous Being count a pure and innocent man His enemy? Impossible! Either Job was deceived, or God was unrighteous; and it isn't long before Elihu, the prophet from God, is pronouncing a judgment and telling us which is which. Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer you, that God is greater than man. What a simple truth! And yet how often misunderstood! If God is greater than man, then, obviously, He and not man must be the Judge of what is right. This is what the corrupt, deceitful, infidel heart refuses to accept, hence the constant tendency to sit in judgment upon the works and ways and Word of God-upon God Himself.
Man, in his fallen and sinful nature, pronounces judgment upon the worthiness and righteousness of God, to decide upon what God should and should not say or do. He proves himself utterly ignorant of that most simple, obvious, necessary truth, that God is greater than man. So who is right, Job or God?
Job is now, where we all end up at one time or another, at the end of our rope! This is the place where you have only two choices: Form the end of the rope into a hangman's noose or let go and let God!
