Job 9 - Understanding the Distance

“If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together” Job 9:33 NIV

The judge sat high on his bench, listening intently to the arguments below. Two individuals, two stories, the two seemingly worlds apart. How could the chasm of difference be so great? But the judge's job remained, to bridge that impossible gap and bring unity and harmony to the situation through wise administration and application of the law. So is the daily life of a judge, a mediator of the law. But a mediating judge does much more than just bang a gabble and declare innocent or guilty. A mediator stands between two parties in sharp disagreement. A mediator must be free to settle the case fully and permanently. A mediator must be someone that can fully relate to both parties. And a mediator must have the desire to see a fair and equitable settlement for both parties. And to do this one critical factor must be present, a mediator must be accepted by both parties. And it is just this mediator that Job longs for in his case with God.

By chapter 9 Job is in dire straits. In his agony and anguish, he is searching his world for God as never before. And in his searching, he comes to a harsh yet accurate realization. God is God and man is man. And to quote Kipling, “and never the twain shall meet.” Job’s pain takes him on a new journey and the severity of it takes him to a new destination. A journey that all of us must take. He realizes that in the courtroom drama of life one cannot merely approach the bench of God and argue your way to heaven. You see, God made the stars in the sky and man merely exists below them. God created man and his thought capacity, man merely exists within them, limited in the thinking he has been afforded. And God created a deep yearning within man to find his creator, a need that only springs forth when man can fully understand the great distance between himself and his Creator. And when one fully understands that great distance, only then will they see the desperate need for a way across it. And it is in this moment of realization that we see Job’s light bulb illuminate in his acute need for a mediator between himself and Almighty God. The need for Jesus Christ is thus mentioned in one of the earliest penned books in all of God’s Word.

The need for this mediator has never ceased to exist since the days of Job. Regardless of how far you think mankind has advanced in his technology and civilization, his sin nature is as static today as when Adam and Eve took that first bite. Man’s sin nature has not changed, nor will it ever. And God has not changed either. As a result, the need for a mediator is as relevant today as the day Job lamented for one those thousands of years ago as he sat in the city dump nursng his wounds. And praise be to God, One exists. God sent His only Son Jesus here as the perfect mediator over 2000 years ago. Jesus perfectly creates the bridge that crosses the great chasm between a prefect God and a sinful mankind. Jesus, being both God and man, stands in the gap between the two parties in sharp disagreement, perfectly relating to both. The perfect righteousness of God and the imperfect sin of man has a mediator. A mediator that, having died and been riased to life, has the authority to settle the dispute fully and permanently. But a mediator must be accepted by both parties for the process to find a solution. Has the need for a mediator between you and God registered with you today? Do you freely and openly admit that you are a sinner before God? Do you, as Job, long for a mediator that can unite you with Almighty God, your Creator? Jesus is that mediator...the only one (John 14:6). Cry out to Jesus Christ today and He is faithful to save all that call upon His name (Romans 10:13). For He is the only mediator between God and man that is capable.

Understand the distance, realize the need…call out to Jesus today.

Blessings ~ Dan

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5

la paloma (the pigeon), Puebla, Mexico