Remember those math text books that had the answers at the back? You know, you could work through the problems and then flip to the back of the book to see if you had gotten them right. Or, as some of us did . . . (not me of course) . . . just go straight to the back of the book and copy down the answers . . . and be done with the homework . . . and go get on with life . . . but didn’t you hate having to “show your work?” Poor Job . . . he didn’t have the back of the book . . . just the problems to wrestle with. Today’s readings in Job and 1John collided in a wonderful way. The problem posed in Job, my first reading of the morning, is answered late in the Book, 1John, my last reading. Here’s how it came together . . .

” . . .how can a man be righteous before God? (Job 9:2) . . . God is wise in heart and mighty in strength (9:4) . . . He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number (9:10) . . . For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both (9:32-33).”

Job couldn’t know what was going on with his life situation. Why God had allowed such devastation to come into his life was a complete mystery. Though Job recognized that no man could boast of righteousness before a holy God, he also knew that he had faithfully served God and was blameless concerning flagrant disobedience. So, there was this gap between how Job thought God should treat a guy who was “doing his best” and how Job’s life had played out.
Thus, Job is feeling like he could really use a meeting with God. But Job’s not so arrogant (yet) to think that He and God could meet face to face in a court of justice to work it out. What Job needed, he thought, was a mediator . . . someone to work things out between he and God . . . someone who could lay his hand both on God and on Job . . . who could, as it were, have one foot in heaven and one foot on earth and bring the two together. Job needed a go between . . . someone to arbitrate his case . . . an umpire to make a call . . . someone to work through whatever needed to be worked through in order to bring a reconciliation. That was Job’s problem . . . no mediator . . . no answer . . . but then . . . flip to the back of the book.

” . . . if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1John 2:1) Yes! Praise God!

How can a man be righteous before God? Jesus! Who can lay a hand both on man and on God and re-establish communion between the Creator and the creation? Jesus! Who is the mediator? Again, Jesus!

And He’s not just a referee . . . while He’s an arbiter, He’s also so much more . . . He is our Advocate. He is our parakletos . . . the same word found only 4 other times in Scripture (John 14:16, 26; John 15:26; John 16:7) where Jesus announces the soon to be sent Holy Spirit as “the Helper” (ESV) . . . “the Counselor” (NIV) . . . “the Comforter” (NKJV) . . . literally someone called alongside to help . . . to plead one’s case . . . to intercede . . . to lead towards . . . ultimately, to establish relationship with the Father. Oh, had Job only known. But I know . . . I’m reading the back of the book. Jesus is the mediator Job sought. He is man’s advocate with the God of heaven. Jesus is the answer! Amen?

Through the blood He shed upon the cross, He is able to bring me into God’s presence by dealing with the penalty for my sin. Through His risen life residing in me through the One he introduced as “Another Helper” (John 14:16), He draws alongside and provides me what I need to put down the power of sin. And One day, true to His promises, He will again come alongside and deliver me from the presence of sin.

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus . . .” (1Tim. 2:5) He’s the answer! Oh, how I love flipping to the back of the book. To Him be all glory . . .