A Job Experience # 12

The Perfect Timing of God's Full Purpose In Christ Was Being Worked Out in Job's Life

Now, before we go on in our study of Job's life, let us have a word of explanation concerning why the Holy Spirit inspired the Book of Job to be written in poetic form. Job is the first of the poetic books of the Bible that the Holy Spirit chose to record in poetry. The books considered to be poetry are: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, and a great deal of Jeremiah.

The poetry in the Bible is completely different from the poetry of the world, and this is because the poetry of the world is inspired by the soul of man, but the poetry in the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit: for "All Scripture is inspired by God ... Every Scripture is God-breathed ..." (2 Timothy 3:16). In the Holy Word of God, the poetry is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it flows out of the Essence of All That God Is.

Now the Holy Spirit inspired the Book of Job after Job had had the life-experience that is recorded there. In Job we have one of the most detailed interchanges of dialogue going on between human beings in the whole Bible; and the Holy Spirit inspired this record to be written in poetic form. No one believes that Job and his friends actually spoke in poetry all those many months, but the Holy Spirit inspired their experiences  to be written in poetic form; and He did this because what comes out of a man reveals the heart of man (Luke 6:45). And "Job's experiences" revealed and laid bare the very depths of Job's inner being; and it also revealed that which was in the depths of his friends.

In the Book of Job, much of the poetry is written in what is called "parallelism," which means that some of the statements are repeated two or more times in different ways in order to emphasize a point. However, the Holy Spirit is not just using some grammatical techniques when He inspires the Living Word of God to be written. No! by using the figure of speech called "parallelism" as He inspires the Book of Job, the Holy Spirit is showing us that more is taking place than that which is being observed in the earthly realm. He is showing us that at least three different things are taking place at the same time. 1. God is with perfect exactness and timing continuing to bring forth His Full Purpose in Christ. 2. God is dealing with His servant Job in accordance with His Full Purpose in Christ. 3. And a great unseen battle in the battles of the ages is taking place between God and satan because of the man God calls, "My servant Job."

Therefore, the poetry that is found in the Scripture reveals and expresses the Heart of God, the Triune God; and because of God's Purpose in Christ, the poetry in God's Word also reveals and expresses what is in the heart of the redeemed man and in the heart of the unredeemed man.

Furthermore, because of the spiritual warfare that has continued, and will continue, throughout the ages against God and His Purpose in Christ, it is very important for us to realize that the poetry in the Bible reveals the iniquitous heart and characteristics and strategy of the archenemy of God - satan himself.

Over the centuries, Bible scholars have tried to make the ordinary techniques of poetry fit the inspired poetry of the Bible, but there is no set or continuing poetic pattern that man recognizes in the Inspired Word of God; and the reason for this is that the poetry inspired by the Holy Spirit flows out from the depths of God's Heart - and it is accented and emphasized and punctuated by the breath of God - and the metric exactness,and the rhythm of the verses and stanzas, flow measuredly in accordance to the perfect timing of God's Eternal Plan In Christ.

So we begin to understand that God had important and eternal reasons for writing the Book of Job in poetic form. The metric exactness and the perfect timing of the poetic flow tells us that the perfect timing of God's Full Purpose in Christ was being worked out in Job's life. And, beloved, the marvelous, unsurpassable, exactness of the poetic form and flow, used by the Holy Spirit to tell us of Job's experience, also assures us that no matter what the enemy may cause, or do, God is in full and absolute control.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 13 - "Job and His Friends")