MY SERVANT JOB by Max Hill

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 17, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 16.

"MY SERVANT JOB."

By Max Hill

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 turned away from evil." "Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan also came among them." This was evidently a meeting of the representatives of different parts of God's great universe. The true representative of the earth had proven himself unfaithful to the trust reposed in him, and man was no more a representative of the earth; he had surrendered his rights. Neither was Satan a fit representative of the earth, for tho he was master, it was by usurpation; and the purpose of God in the creation was by no means changed, tho for a time interrupted.

But Satan came, presenting himself at the council. "And Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Who, he reasoned, has a better right than I to represent the earth? It is mine, for man has yielded it to me; I walk up and down in it unmolested; none disputes my authority there.

Then Jehovah reminded him of one who was more fit than he to come to the council, "Hast thou considered My servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil." Satan could not dispute that Job was a righteous man, but with a suspicious sneer he asked, "Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not Thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? . . . But put forth Thy hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will renounce Thee to Thy face."

Thus challenged, Jehovah answered the prince of darkness, not to satisfy his charge, but to demonstrate to the universe, the representatives of which even then stood in His presence, that man could and would obey Him: "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thy hand."

So Satan went forth from the presence of God to afflict Job. Seeing Job's servants plowing, he sent the Sabeans to rob him of his means of support; he brought fire down from heaven to destroy his goods; the Chaldeans carried away his wealth; and last of all a mighty wind demolished the house of his sons and all were killed. All was gone, everything was swept away; and Job "arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped; and he said, . . . Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."

"Again it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan came also among them." Jehovah met him with the question, "Hast thou considered My servant Job? . . . He still holdeth fast his integrity." Again Satan challenged Him to still further grieve Job: "Put forth Thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce Thee to Thy face." Once more the faithful, long-suffering man of God was subjected to the Satanic touch; boils covered his body, and utterly miserable and full of pain and sickness, he sat among the ashes. His own wife and hitherto faithful friends turned against him, declaring that God had also forsaken him. Still he exclaimed, "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

Thru all the afflictions that came, tho wife and friends reviled and discouraged him, tho ravages of disease oppressed, tho his own feelings of weakness and sin bore him down, still he trusted God. And in that time of affliction, God taught him wonderful lessons of faith and trust, of the goodness and majesty of God. And tho his flesh cried out for the pain and the trial, "in all this did not Job sin with his lips." "And Jehovah accepted Job." Wonderful love!

Glorious reward for true faith! "So Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning," in riches, in children, in length of days.

The last book in the Bible contains the account of a people whose experience is parallel with Job's experience. A remnant people is found, in whose mouth is no guile, whose garments are not stained with sin. These, too, are accused falsely before God and the world. "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Still he boasts that the earth is his, for still he walks up and down in it.

Hast thou considered My people, "they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus"? The record indicates that there is such a people, and in the working out of the plan of salvation before the anxious universe, God's children are sorely tried. "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them." Yet "here is the patience and the faith of the saints."

Still they are faithful. Fiercely the enemy of righteousness assails the faithful servants of God. "He doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men." He takes away their means of support, "that no man should be able to buy or sell," save only those who are of the world. Then must the faithful, afflicted one lean heavily on the almighty arm of his God; then must he exclaim, as did Job of old, "Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah."

And who are these, these children of God, these who, when the enemy brings accusations against them are designated as those "that keep the commandments of God"? —The bearers and the believers in the three great messages of Rev. 14: 6-12. A reading of the chapter is sufficient to make it clear. That message has been heralded to the world for half a century and more, and still goes in every land with mighty power; an army of faithful messengers bears it onward.

What next?—"And I saw, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud I saw One sitting like unto a Son of Man. . . . And He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped." Rev. 14: 14-16. In Jesus' own words (Matt. 13: 39), "the harvest is the end of the world." "Jehovah accepted Job." "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."