For There Is Hope of a Tree
Job 14:9 – “Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant (the water of the Word can bring it back).”
Job was one of the sons of Issachar (Gen. 46:13), and the grandson of Jacob. It is believed that Moses, in collaboration with Job, wrote this great Book. As well, many theologians believe that Job was the first Book of the Bible to be written. If that is true then Job is the oldest Book, not only the Bible, but the oldest Book in the world.
THE THEME OF JOB
The theme of God’s Word is man’s Creation, man’s Fall, and man’s Redemption through Christ’s Sacrificial Atoning Death on Calvary’s Cross. However, it’s interesting to note that Job’s theme, if in fact it was the First Book of the Bible to be written, is not the conversion of a sinner, but the Sanctification of the Saint. The Holy Spirit wanted us to see what it takes to live for God.
George Williams, a noted Bible scholar, born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1850, wrote of Job in his book, “THE COMPLETE BIBLE COMMENTARY”, saying:
“Job presents to us the discovery of the worthlessness of self, which should be the first step in the Christian experience, and the worthfulness of Christ, the last step."
“Job does not symbolize an unconverted man, but rather a converted man. It was necessary that one of God’s Children should be chosen for this trial; for the subject of the Book is not the conversion of the sinner, but rather the consecration of the Saint. It is evident that an unconverted man needs to be brought to the end of himself; but that a man who feared God, who was perfect (not sinless perfection, but doing his best to live for God), and who hated evil, should also need this, is not so clear; nevertheless, it is a Scriptural fact. Here we see in the mystery of the Book, God using Satan, calamity, and sickness to be His Instruments in creating character and making men partakers of His Holiness. Such were the Instruments; but the Hand that used them was God’s; and the facts of this Book explain to Christian people, who, like Job, are conscious of personal integrity, why calamities, sorrows, and diseases are permitted to afflict them."
“The effect of the Divine action was that Job abhorred himself (Job 42:5-6). This language shows that he had thought well of himself. His creed was orthodox for he approached God through sacrifice (a type of Calvary), and his conduct was faultless, for he was a just man and eschewed evil. But these sharp trials, and especially the anger, which the unjust accusations of his friends stirred up in his heart, revealed to himself unknown depths of moral ugliness; and finally, his being challenged to measure himself with God, made him conscious that in him, that is, in his ‘flesh’ there dwelt no good thing. This is a deep and painful experience, which all Christian people have reached.”
Williams closed out his comments on Job in Chapter 40 by saying:
“Everybody had to change except God! Job had to humble himself and to pray for God to bless these three Christians who had so despitefully used him and persecuted him."
“Job’s latter end was better than his beginning. God gave him twice as much as he had before; and such is even the result in the Spiritual Life."
“Thus this Book sets out the Action of God in Leading His Children into a higher Christian experience. The subject of the Book is not how God justifies a sinner, but how he sanctifies a Saint; and, hence, none but a good man could have been chosen for the process, or profited by it. It is plain to all that a wicked man should die to self, but that a perfect man should also need to die, is not so clear. And yet, this is the offense of the Cross. All that goodness and beauty which men recognize in themselves, and in others must be nailed in death to the Cross; and the only Man that is to live must be in the Risen Man, Christ Jesus.”
SELF
Self-will is the Believer’s greatest obstacle and death to self is never pretty, pleasant, or desired. Actually, we really can’t see “self” in us until we are squeezed just as Job was. John would say, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30). The dying to self is a process, it’s not instant, and no matter what the Lord must do, must use, or allow, is worth it if we become more like Him.
"FOR THERE IS HOPE OF A TREE”
Job is a broken man, his children dead, his wealth gone, his body riddled with sores, his supposed three friends calling him evil and a hypocrite, and even little children mocking him. He sees no way out but death. He is the tree that is cut down. Yet in the midst of what looks like destruction, the Holy Spirit speaks through him and says, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs (limbs) like a plant” (Job 14:7-9).
What the Holy Spirit is saying is when the “water of the Word” is applied to the stump, the Word of God through the Power of the Holy Spirit, “will bud, and bring forth boughs (limbs) like a plant.”
We all at times are cut down, the adversities of life weigh on our shoulders, but no matter what Satan says, no matter what false friends may do, if we don’t quit, if our Faith remains in the Lord and His Word, “The tree will sprout again.”
HOW IS THIS DONE?
The Holy Spirit is God and He can do anything. However, we must never forget that the Holy Spirit works exclusively within the parameters of the Finished Work of Christ, i.e., Calvary.
The Cross of Christ must ever be the Object of our Faith.
The Cross of Christ is God’s Way, and His Only Way, therefore, our Faith must be squarely centered up in what Christ did at Calvary’s Cross.
Don’t give up, “For there is hope of a tree.”
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