Broken Clock Theology (Job 25)

Transcript

JR 42
5/18/2025
Broken Clock Theology
Job 25
Jesse Randolph

Well, sitting in the corner of my office here at the church is one of my more prized physical possessions. It’s actually a grandfather clock. It is a clock that was built by my great-grandfather. That would be my grandfather’s grandfather, no, great-great grandfather, that’s it. He built it many many, many years ago. It’s sort of a family heirloom. It’s made its way from Iowa to California, back to the Midwest, so it sits here in the office. And it is an item I value, but I must admit it’s not an item I’ve taken very good care of. Because the clock doesn’t work. It’s a clock that’s not running. It’s a clock that’s not ticking. It’s a clock that’s not chiming anymore. I would categorize it right now as broken. Now, Bill Moseman has done a gracious job of coming by every once in a while and trying to revive this thing. He comes in and has played with things to get the clock to work. But then, he leaves me to my own devices, and the clock goes back to not working . . . to being broken again. And it just sits there, silent in the corner of my office . . . stuck at 3:04. That’s how it reads all the time . . . 3:04. Now, I’m sure that many of you have heard the old adage that even the broken clock is right two times a day, right? It’s true! It’s true of my clock. It sits there its 3:04, and guess what? At 3:04 it is right . . . 3:04pm when I’m there, and 3:04am when I’m not. It’s accurate. The clock is doing its job in those two moments. But for the remaining 1438 minutes of the day, the clock is not working properly. It’s not functioning.

Well, the text we’re going to be in this morning is an example of what I would call “broken clock theology.” This text records the words of the man who thought he had all the right answers. A man who, as he was face-to-face with the grief of another . . . thought it best to spout off all sorts of theological data. And in doing so, he happened to stumble into a few correct answers . . . the way that my grandfather’s clock, when it’s 3:04, actually says 3:04. But his same man, as we’re going to see, ended up getting a lot more wrong than he got right. And in doing so, he pointed the man to whom his words were directed . . . he pointed him in the wrong direction more often than the right direction. The way that my clock is wrong most of the time, for 1438 minutes out of every 24-hour period.

I do think this is going to be a helpful text for us to work through as a church here this morning. Because, while we are certainly known as a church that is known for knowing its doctrine. A church that is known for having all of the right answers. A church that is rightly putting the ministry of the Word in a place of prominence in all that we do. Sometimes, I fear, in our zeal to dish out the right Bible answers, we can serve up the wrong answers. Or we can serve up the right answers at the wrong time and end up being ineffective, broken clocks.

We’re going to be in the book of Job this morning. Specifically, in Job 25. Where a man named Bildad . . . “Bildad the Shuhite”, not to be confused with the other Bildads you’re thinking of. Offers the book’s namesake – Job, an earful of “broken clock theology.” So, turn with me, if you would, to the book of Job. Find the book of Psalms right there in the middle of your Bibles. And then, right before Psalms, is the book of Job. Again, we’ll look at Job 25, as we take this one-week break from the Gospel of Luke.

Here’s our text, Job 25:1-6 – God’s Word reads:
“Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, ‘Rule and dread belong to Him who makes peace in His heights. Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise? How then can mortal man be right with God? Or how can he be pure who is born of woman? Behold even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in His sight; how much less mortal man, that maggot, and the son of man, that worm!’”

Now, note how right away . . . standing on their own, there does seem to be some truth ringing out from Bildad in these verses. He speaks of God’s omnipotence, His power – “. . .rule and dread belong to Him” he says.
He speaks of God’s sovereignty – “Is there any number of His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise?” He speaks of man’s sin – “. . . how can he be pure who is born of a woman?” He speaks of that great gulf that exists between God and man – “Behold even the moon has not brightness, and the stars are not pure in His sight; how much less mortal man, that maggot, and the son of man, that worm!” I mean that will preach. Those words sound a lot like the words that we preach around here. God is holy and majestic and transcendent and supreme. And man is a depraved, wicked creature who has no hope of saving himself. And sin has plagued the world, leaving man in his corrupt condition, highlighting his need for cleansing and forgiveness. On first read . . . I want to invite Bildad to be a guest preacher here one of these days.

Well, we’re going to see. Bildad was actually a broken clock theologian. He was a bad theologian. And we know that he’s a bad theologian because God Himself says so. Turn with me over to the end of the book of Job, to Job 42. This is the last chapter of Job. Here we see Yahweh giving His divine commentary on the words of Job’s three counselors, including Bildad. Look at Job 42:7, it says:
“Now it happened after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, that Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, ‘My anger burns against you and against your two friends because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. So now, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.’”

In other words, Bildad wasn’t a good theologian. He was a poor theologian. Bildad was not a wise counselor. He was an unwise counselor. He got a few things right. But as we’re going to highlight this morning, he got a lot more wrong. He was a broken-clock theologian and he was totally unhelpful to Job in the moment.

Now, we’ve jumped ahead in the story. We’ve already been looking at Job 25 and Job 42. But of course, the story of Job begins in Job 1. Go ahead and turn with me over there, to the very opening chapter of Job. I’m sure this is familiar to many of you, Bible students. But Job 1, I will give some of the background for those who are a little less familiar. Job is wildly thought of as being the oldest book in the Bible. Meaning, the first that was actually written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It’s set before the days of Moses. It is likely set before the days of Abraham. And we know that because the author here makes no mention of Israel. No mention of Abraham. No mention of Moses. No mention of the Ten Commandments. No mention of the Mosaic law. No mention of any Judges, kings, prophets, priests. Then the Hebrew of the text is also noticeably very old. So, the book of Job is old. It’s a very old book. A very dated book. It’s a pre-Mosaic book, likely a pre-Abrahamic book. Some say it might have been written as long ago as 2000 B.C. some 500 years before the giving of the Mosaic law.

Now, this book, Job, is categorized as wisdom literature. Meaning, as the book bounces back and forth between these long speeches involving Job and his friends, his counselors. And then these artful stanzas of Hebrew poetry that are interlaced throughout. What’s happening is, the book teaches various wisdom principles. Principles like the nature of man, and the character of God. Principles related to questions of right and wrong . . . sin and judgment . . . reward and punishment. And of course, the book goes into this question of theodicy. Which is really just a big word to describe the question that mankind has wrestled with forever . . . which is “How can evil exist in a world that is upheld and governed by a good God?”

Now, while the book of Job is weighty theologically and while it does weigh in on these theological subjects . . . we can’t lose sight of the fact that it is actually about a man. It’s also narrative. It’s a story about a man named Job. A real man who lived in real time . . . who had real problems . . . who really suffered . . . and who had a real lesson to learn from God, through his suffering. That’s all segway into Job 1 here, where we see the kind of man that Job was. Job 1:1 says:
“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions also were 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the sons of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. Now it happened when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, that Job would send and set them apart as holy. And he would rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, ‘Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus, Job did continually.”

So here we have these statements about who Job was. He was “blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil.” Those are highly complementary words, that tell us that Job was this man of unusual piety. Who was wholeheartedly given over to pleasing and serving God. Who was single-minded in his devotion to God. We’re also told about the ways that God blessed Job with riches and family and possessions. Sons and daughters and servants and livestock. Then of course, we’re told what he did there in verse 5, how he was apparently with a sensitive conscience, offering sacrifices and burnt offerings for the sins his sons and daughters may have committed. In other words, Job seemed to have it all. He was this blessed and humble and Godly and dependent man. But Job wasn’t perfect. The text does tell us that he was “upright”, and he was “blameless.” But that does not mean that he was sinlessly perfect. Not at all. Rather, he was very much, Job was, a child of Adam just like you and I are. He, like we do, has that root of evil in his heart. Though he was “fearing God.” Though it says he was “turning away from evil.” He was still fallen and depraved, the way that you and I are. He still needed to have his sin exposed, the way that you and I do.

So, we see next . . . that God saw fit to test Job . . . “upright” Job. God saw fit to do this refining work in Job . . . “blameless” Job. He saw fit to do so by hand-picking and delivering this trial for Job. If we think to ourselves, that’s odd. Is it really, I mean, Hebrews 12 tells us that the Lord disciplines those whom He loves.

It actually fits with what we see throughout the scripture and that’s what God does in this book . . . He tests Job. He challenged Job. And He did so by the means of Satan. Look at Job 2:1, moving on in the narrative, it says:
“Again, it was the day that the sons of God came to stand before Yahweh, and Satan also came among them to stand himself before Yahweh. And Yahweh said to Satan, ‘Where do you come from?’ Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.’ And Yahweh said to Satan, ‘Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity. So, you incited Me against him to swallow him up in vain.’ Satan answered Yahweh and said, ‘Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, send forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You in Your face.’ So, Yahweh said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your hand, only spare his life.’ Then Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh and struck Job with terrible boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.”

So, Job goes from this position of being this man who is seemingly sitting on the top of the world . . . to being this man who is now covered from head to toe in “terrible boils.” And next, we’re going to see he’s scraping himself with ceramics to remove these festering boils from his skin. And God allowed this to happen. God allowed this to happen by means of the agency of Satan. That then raises the question . . . this is the major question that’s bubbling underneath the surface of the entirety of the book of Job . . . Why? Why would a good God allow a great man like Job to endure suffering like that? Why would God let Satan off his leash, so to speak, so that he could bring that type of pain and suffering and calamity to a man like Job?

Well, that’s where Job’s friends, his counselors come in. Job’s friends, his counselors, had an opinion or two. They had many opinions on the subject. And they’re introduced at the end of Job 2:11says:
“Then Job’s three friends heard of all this calamity that had come upon him. So, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to console him and comfort him. Then they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.”

It’s been said that these men were doing the greatest service to Job in this moment . . . when they were sitting silently with him. I don’t know the title of the song, I only know the lyrics, but it says something like: “you say it best, when you say nothing at all.” I think Job would have agreed with the sentiment in that moment and Job’s friends initially got that. They were ministering to their friend who was struggling so deeply and so understandably and he’s in so much pain and he’s in so much misery. Note what they do to begin with. They don’t start by theologizing. They don’t start by pontificating on the sovereignty of God. No. They simply sat with him. And grieved with him, wept with him and they did so at length . . . seeing, as it says there, “that his pain was very great.” Have you ever had that moment where you simply don’t know what to say to a fellow believer who is grieving? Have you ever had that moment where you just sit with a hurting Christian, not machine-gunning Bible verses at them, but simply putting your arm around them in silence? Have you ever had that moment where you’re just sitting in silence for what seems like an eternity and you don’t know what to say, but you’re actually ok with that? That’s where these men started. They started as these silent, compassionate, empathetic counselors.

But then, starting in Job 3 . . . they couldn’t help themselves any longer. Their desire to debate became overwhelming. They began to see Job less as a soul, and more as a sparring partner. First, there’s Eliphaz . . . who was more this sensitive, mystical type. Then there’s Zophar . . . who was more the fiery, hot-headed zealot. Then, we have Bildad . . . our guy who was more of the logical, staunch traditionalist. I like to think of them this way. If these men had vehicles, if they had cars back in these days. If they had cars that these men were driving, 4000 years ago. Eliphaz would be like the Subaru driver who puts his left foot out of the window as he’s driving . . . to get a little sun on the five toes. Just kind of hanging out as he’s cruising. Zophar would be the guy in the lifted F-150 with the flames on the side, with the pedal to the metal. And our guy, Bildad, would be like the Oldsmobile driver, holding at a 10-and 2, very conservatively all the time. That’s just to give you a sense of the personalities involved here.

But these guys start talking. They start sharing. They start counseling. As they’re doing so, it becomes more and more evident that they counsel that they’re sharing with Job, their friend, is bad. It’s wrong. It’s false. And we’re not going to have time to go through all of the discourses here. All of the speeches here. But just blend them all together and summarize them for you, for our purposes this morning. The essence of these men’s counsel was: Good things happen to good people. Bad things happen to bad people. It isn’t possible for bad things to happen to good people. It will never be possible for God to find good in bad people. Bad people, the wicked, will one day go to a place that is going to be filled with loneliness, despair, and hopelessness, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. That’s their argument and there’s more to be said, of course, its nuance, but those are some of the basics.

These arguments come in these three cycles. Cycle one is in Job 3 through 14. Cycle two is Job 15 through 21. Cycle three is Job 22 through 25, which is where we land. Now, in terms of the way in which these men presented their arguments. Rather than speaking to Job with sensitivity and patience and understanding. These men, as you read their speeches, you realize they come with the subtlety of a shotgun blast. That’s how they ministered. That’s how they counsel. In terms of the theological answers they’re supplying, they’re like those broken clocks . . . occasionally sounding kind of right. But more of the time, it’s wrong.

That’s no doubt true of Bildad. In fact, Bildad’s first two speeches are recorded in Job 8 and 18. We’re actually going to take a quick look at those. Just to get a feel for Bildad and the way that he counseled in general. Look at Job 8 for Bildad’s first speech. As we turn here, I want you to put yourself in Job’s shoes. Actually, put yourself in your shoes. Think of the most tragic set of circumstances that you could face, imaginable. You’ve lost a parent. And then as you’ve learned about the loss of the parent, your spouse serves divorce papers. Then after your spouse has served divorce papers, you’ve been hit by a car, and you’re paralyzed. Now, you’re in the hospital, laid up paralyzed. As you’re sitting there, you get papers, a pink slip from your boss, saying we’ve had layoffs, and sorry, you’re one of them. And then as you get the pink slip, your neighbor comes by and says, oh, your pet cat, I just saw being hauled off by a coyote. Ok, put yourself in that set of circumstances, ok?

Now, Bildad comes in. Bildad, your friend. Bildad the counselor. Job 8:1 – imagine him saying this to you:
“Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, ‘How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right? If your sons sinned against Him, then He sent them into the power of their transgression. If you would seek God earnestly and plead for the grace of the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, indeed now He would rouse Himself for you and make your righteous abode at peace. Though your beginning was insignificant, yet your end will increase greatly. Please ask of past generations, and establish the things searched out by their fathers. For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, because our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you, and bring forth words from their hearts? Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water? While it is still green and not cut down, yet it dries up before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless will perish, whose confidence is fragile, whose trust a spider’s web. He relies on his house, but it does not stand; he holds fast to it, but it is not established. He thrives before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden. His roots wrap around a rock pile; he looks upon a house of stones. If he swallows him up from his place, then it will deny him, saying, “I never saw you.” Behold, this is the joy of His way; and out of the dust others will spring. Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor will He strengthen the hand of the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouting. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no longer.”

Now, are Bildad’s words impressively poetic? No question. Are some of those words true? No doubt. Now, is all of what Bildad is saying here true? No at all. Now, would this be the timeliest time to give this type of counsel to someone who is grieving and struggling and hurting? No way.

Look at Job 18, this is the second speech that Bildad gives Job, as they go back and forth over these matters. As Job continues to hurt. And again, imagine him sharing this with you at your bedside while you’re hurting. Job 18:
“Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, ‘How long until you put an end to your words? Show understanding and then we can talk. Why are we regarded as beasts, as dense in your eyes? O you who tear yourself in your anger – for your sake is the earth to be forsaken, or the rock to be moved from its place? Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, and the flame of his fire gives no light. The light in his tent is darkened, and his lamp goes out above him. His vigorous stride is shortened, and his own counsel brings him down. For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, and he steps on the netting. A snare seizes him by the heel, and a device snaps shut on him. A rope for him is hidden in the ground, and a trap for him on the path. All around terrors frighten him and harass him at every step. His vigor is famished, and disaster is ready at his side. The firstborn of death eats parts of his skin; it eats parts of him. He is torn from the security of his tent, and they march him in step before the king of terrors. There dwells in his tent nothing of his; brimstone is scattered on his abode. His roots are dried below, and his branch is cut off above. Memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name abroad. He is driven from light into darkness and chased from the inhabited world. He has neither offspring nor posterity among his people, nor any survivor where he sojourned. Those in the west are appalled at his fate, and those in the east are seized with horror. Surely such are the dwellings of the unjust, and this is the place of him who does not know God.’”

Now, what would you say, as the sufferer, in reply, having heard that as the counsel that your counselor gives you in that hospital room? I would have said something like: “Thanks, Bildad.” “A simple, I’ll pray for you’ would have been sufficient.” I would have said something like: “You can leave the card and the balloon and the teddy bear on the chair, and I’ll see you next time.” That’s what I would have thought at that moment, if I were Job.

Well, that’s all the background. Getting to our text, Job 25. I’m bringing all that in so that you can get a feel for the kind of counsel this man was receiving through this particular counselor. But in Job 25, we have Bildad’s third speech, the last of Bildad’s speeches . . . but also the final of all of the speeches of Job’s counselors. Undergirding Bildad’s words here . . . are a perspective on God and a perspective on man, as we’re going to see, that was skewed and imbalanced. Again, there’s no question that some of what Bildad says here . . . he’s stumbling into statements that resemble the truth, the way that a broken clock “happens” to tell the right time two times a day. But ultimately, what Bildad offers here is bad counsel. Though his errors are subtle, and by the way, that’s how bad theology works . . . doesn’t come with a warning label, it’s always subtle . . . he was a bad counselor.

What we’re going to see in these six verses are statements which in some ways were theologically true . . . but in the greater context . . . were profoundly unhelpful. Let’s dig into it, verse 1 says: “Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said.” We’ve already been introduced to Bildad. But note that it says that he was giving an “answer.” What was it he was answering? Who was it he was answering? Answer? The words of Job, in Job 24 . . . where Job, in Job 24, is making various different accusations against God. At the core of Job’s accusations against God is that God is aloof and God is uncaring. God is not paying attention to the worries and the injustices that go on in this world. Look at Job 24:12, here’s an example of the type of argumentation Job offers, he says: “From the city men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out; yet God does not pay attention to such offense” and so bold and so confident is Job and his accusations against God . . . that he says this in verse 25 of chapter 24:“Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar, and make my speech worthless?”

Well, it’s in response to Job’s bold accusations that Bildad “answers” here in Job 25. And in Job 25, Bildad goes into these two major topics of discussion. His third speech really rests on these two pillars: The Glory of God and the depravity of man. Now, no doubt those topics are great ones. Those are great topics to work through . . . the glory of God, and the depravity of man. They are great topics for a theology discussion. They’re great topics to talk about at a coffee shop. But this was hardly the right time to make this type of argument to this “upright” and “blameless” man, Job . . . in the middle of his calamity and his distress.

Now, as we get into it . . . we will see that there are a couple of these “3:04” moments, where Bildad comes close to saying that which is actually true, theologically. But in reality, what Bildad is doing here is painting this incomplete picture of who God truly is. Which is only made worse by the insensitive and untimely nature of his comments. To see what I mean, look at verses 2 and 3. Bildad says: “Rule and dread belong to Him who makes peace in His heights. Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light does not rise?” Now, so much of that sounds like it’s right on target. I mean, those first few words: “Rule and dread belong to Him.” That’s referring to the fact that God has total dominion and authority over the whole earth. He is absolute reign and kingship and sovereignty over the entire earth. Amen to that! Bildad’s words sound like Psalm 115:3 – that “. . . our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” Or Psalm 33:8 says – “Let all the earth fear Yahweh; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.” Scripture after scripture testifies to the fact that God does rule, God does have authority, God does have dominion, and He alone is worthy of dread and fear and awe.

But here’s the thing . . . in the middle of dialoguing with his hurting friend, Job, over these subjects, Bildad is blowing right past the fact that Job has already acknowledged these very truths. In fact, go with me back to Job 9. Job 9 is Job’s reply to Bildad’s first speech in Job 8. Look at what Job says in Job 9:5. He says:
“God is the One who removes the mountains, they know not how, when He overturns them in His anger; the One who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; the One who says for the sun not to shine, and sets a seal upon the stars; who alone stretches out the heavens, and tramples down the waves of the sea; who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; who does great things, unsearchable, and wondrous works, innumerable. Were He to sweep by me, I would not see Him; were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him. Were He to snatch away, who could turn Him back? Who could say to Him, “What are Your doing?”

In other words, Job has already agreed with Bildad’s assessment in Job 25:2, that “rule and dread”, dominion and awe belong to God and God alone. Job had already agreed with Bildad that God is eternally clothed with majesty . . . and worthy of supreme devotion and honor. So, really, what was the point of Bildad making this case again, other than to score a couple of theological points? Well, Bildad continues to droop the doctrinal bombs on Job in verse 2, after mentioning that “rule and dread” belong to Him. He says: “who makes peace in His heights.”

Now, we see that word “peace” and we might think Bildad here is talking about the “peace” that God has within Himself . . . as all of His attributes work in perfect concert with themselves, with each other. Or maybe he’s talking about the “peace” that God will one day bring to the earth. Or the “peace” the He offers to those who have a right relationship with Him. As Christians, of course, we think of the “peace” that’s offered through the blood of our Savior’s cross. But that’s not the type of “peace” that Bildad is referring to here. Rather, the “peace” that he’s referring to in this his final speech . . . is the kind of “peace” a dictator offers. It’s dictatorial peace. The peace that’s offered by a dictator who hears no arguments. A dictator who hears no appeals. A dictator who has zero concerns with his subjects. A dictator who rules with an irresistibly domineering manner. A dictator who is a tyrant. A dictator who has an iron and unloving fist. A dictator who puts His boot down and of course maintains peace.

You know who has “peace”? North Korea. That’s the kind of peace that we’re talking about here. A peace that allows for no opposition. A peace that doesn’t even allow for conversation. But the problem here is that by couching God in these terms . . . Bildad was presenting God as this harsh and cruel despot. Not as a God who is a God who is personal. Not as a God, who people like us can have a relationship with. Not as a God that people like us can talk to. Not as a God that we can think of as our Heaven Father. In other words, Bildad painted this picture of God for Job, that was blurry and incomplete, and inaccurate.

We see more of this type of language from Bildad in verse 3, where he next asks Job these two questions: “Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise?” This is an example of Bildad doing more theologizing, as he points his hurting and grieving friend to the reach of God’s reign. Now, that word for “troops” there in verse 3 is referring to God’s heavenly host. His angels, who are continually doing God’s deeds, following His commands, doing His bidding, worshiping Him. By asking Job that question: “Is there any number to His troops?” Bildad is already giving you the implied answer. The answer is “no”, there’s no number. God’s angel armies are enormous. No one can number His forces in the heavens. His rulership, in other words, is vast . . . vaster than we can know or think or conceive.

Then comes this second question, still in verse 3: “And upon whom does His light not rise?” That’s not so much a question as it is a statement. A statement about God’s perfect knowledge. God’s perfect awareness. His omniscience . . . concerning all that happens over all the earth. Just like the British Empire . . . they say of it . . . the sun never set on the British Empire. The sun never sets over that which God is sovereign. That’s what Bildad is communicating here. Meaning, He rules over everything. He is sovereign over everything. He sees everything, everywhere, all of the time.

Now, I read those words . . . you read those words . . . having been raised and trained up in this church, and we think “amen!” Bildad’s got it right. He’s got a high view of God . . . what’s wrong with that? Why are we calling him a “broken clock” theologian? Well, the issue is one of completeness and totality. See, Bildad was not presenting a complete, total view of God as He actually is and God, as He actually revealed Himself. He, again, had certain traces of truth in what he was communicating here. But Bildad left out many other truths about the character of God. He offered an imbalanced, one-dimensional view of God.

Like many theologians in our day. Bildad was skilled at talking about those divine attributes of God, which he does not share with us. The things that make Him totally different from us. Like His omnipotence. And His omniscience. And His omnipresence. Those are always fun to talk about, big word time, right? But he wasn’t as good as talking about those things, those attributes that God does share with us and does show us. Like His mercy. And His compassion. And His love. Because those things are hard to talk about. Those require getting involved in people’s lives, as you share the character of the God they serve. But when we read the scriptures, we see that both types of attributes are continually in view. Both the attributes God does not share with us and the attributes He does.

For instance, is scripture, God’s omniscience, His all knowingness is paired with His patience.
Proverbs 15:3 – “the eyes of Yahweh are in every place, watching the evil and the good.” He’s patient towards one.
In scripture, God’s omnipotence is paired with His mercy.
Isaiah 12:2 – “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not dread; for Yah – Yahweh Himself – is my strength and song.”
In scripture, God’s omnipresence is balanced out by His love.
Psalm 33:5 – “The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Yahweh.”
Bildad, in other words, failed to present a fully-orbed, what we would call a “biblically balanced” perspective on who God truly is. He painted this picture of God who is a distant and removed God. A sovereign but unloving God. A tyrannical and dictatorial God. Bildad had no room in this theology for thinking of God as a father who cars for us. He couldn’t conceive of God as caring about us as we go through our trials. He couldn’t conceive of a God who cared for people who had broken hearts, or broken spirits, or who had real worries or real fears. Bildad’s God was far more one-dimensional. A God who only demanded blind service and heartless duty to Him. I think of the words of Alexander Strauch, who talks about the problem of theology today being those whose theology is as clear as ice and twice as cold. That’s the kind of God that Bildad created in his mind. It was no God at all . . . it was an idol.

With that one-dimensional, idolatrous view of God, really clouding his assessment of the situation. Bildad then asks these questions in verse 4:
“How then can mortal man be right with God? Or how can he be pure who is born of woman?” Now, in one sense, we read his questions, and we might be tempted as Christians, living today to think Bildad munt have known the words to Amazing Grace. He was conceiving already of the possibility of once being “lost” and now being “found.” Of once being blind and now seeing. When we read these words in verse 4, through a Christian lens, through New Testament eyes, we might be tempted to think that he’s talking about Jesus here. He’s already looking forward to a “virgin conception”. He’s already talking about a “Jesus here would make a way for us to right with a holy God.”

But that’s not what’s happening at all. First, Bildad speaks here some 2000 years before Jesus. He has no concept of who Jesus would be or what He would come to do. Not only that, but he’s also operating from this very narrow mindset, again, of God being this distant, removed deity. This dispassionate, disinterested God who is unconcerned with the cares and affairs of the world. According to Bildad’s caricature-like depiction of God. God as only interested in bringing His hammer of justice down on the world.
He would bring His hammer of justice down, according to Bildad’s way of thinking, even faster and more fiercely the more wicked the person was.

So, according to Bildad’s way of thinking, his broken clock way of thinking, he’s thinking, not about redemption. He’s thinking of punishment. And when he asks that question: “How then can mortal man be right with God? Or how can he be pure who is born of woman?” He’s not suggesting that there’s a way forward here. He’s actually resigned to the fact that there is no way, ever, for a man to be made right with God. He’s got a bleak and barren theology. His theology has no room for redemption. He’s excluding any possibility with that question, those questions there, of man unclean, impure as he is . . . ever having an opportunity to be purified and made right and forgiven by God.

Well, in verses 5 and 6, he continues with this very dark and incomplete assessment of both God and man. He says: “Behold even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in His sight; how much less mortal man, that maggot, and the son of man, that worm!” So, he’s still working from that same two-pronged framework, where he’s highlighting the glory and the majesty of God. And he’s also highlighting the depravity and the wickedness of man. He starts by describing the “moon” in verse 5 . . . which in God’s sight, “has no brightness.” And “the stars” . . . which in God’s sight “are not pure.” What Bildad is saying here is that both of those celestial beings, the moon and the stars, are bright and they are dazzling from our vantage point, as we look up there. But they’re nothing to God. They are nothing in His sight. That’s how glorious and majestic God is. Then comes the comparison. If the “moon” and the “stars”, those glorious luminaries, those shining orbs, if they have “no brightness,” if they “are not pure” in God’s sight, then how low are we, as humans? That’s what he’s driving at. He gives his answer in verse 6: “How much less mortal man, that maggot, and the son of man, that worm!”

Now, I guarantee you, if you’ve spent a lot of time reading the Puritans. If you’ve read a lot of Puritanical work. You’re going to read Bildad’s words here. And you’re going to say: “Amen!” “Bildad’s on the money.” “I am a vile worm.” “I am a maggot.” “I’m disgusting.” “I’m scum.”
That’s what you will think. But is that actually the testimony of scripture? No. The Puritans may say it that way. The Bible doesn’t. Now, to be sure, the Bible describes mankind as fallen, and sinful, and alienated from God, and hostile to God.
Jerimiah 17:9 – “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can know it?”
Ecclesiastes 7:20 – “. . . there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”
Psalm 51:5 – “. . . I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
Psalm 58:3 – “. . . the wicked are estranged from the womb.”
Romans 3:23 – “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 5:12 – “. . . through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men.”
Romans 6:23 – “. . . the wages of sin is death.”
And on and on it goes. That is the truth of scripture. That we have inherited a sin nature. That we are sinners. That we are sinful, and that we do sin.

But Bildad, here in Job 25, is portraying mankind as much more than being sinful and is much more than being sinners. He’s describing man as being pathetic and insignificant and worthless in the eyes of God. Like a “maggot”, a “worm”, a created object or being. Friends, that is not true. Human beings are not maggots. God’s image bearers are not worms. The Puritans may have said so, but the Bible doesn’t. Yea, what does the Bible teach us? The Bible teaches us that we are image bearers. We are created as the pinnacle of God’s creation, in the Genesis account. Right? Then, we know that there is a fall, and we fall into sin. But then you have even David, like in the scripture reading this morning . . . indicating not that we’re worms . . . not that we’re maggots . . . he’s still appreciating the massive gulf between God and man. But what he [David] does, is not go down the path of “maggot” theology, he goes down the path of majestic theology . . . as he worships and praises the God who is. It’s a place of praise, not the worm’s eye view that Bildad was presenting here.

Somehow, I want to bring us back to the analogy of the “broken clock.” Bildad being this broken clock theologian. In being this broken clock theologian, Bildad did provide this incomplete and inaccurate picture of man and God. An unhelpful picture of man and God in the context. But in reality, like the broken clock that’s occasionally right, there was still some truth to what Bildad said and I mentioned this at the beginning. Like we would, here at our church, Bildad did speak of this majestic, transcendent God and he did speak of sinful man . . . even if he overshot the mark with the “worm” reference. He did speak of this wide chasm that exists between God and man. But what Bildad left out, ultimately, was hope. What Bildad couldn’t have known about, was the hope that God would one day offer sinful man, through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. We have all had to wrestle, at some point, with the very question that Bildad askes in verse 4: - “How then can mortal man be right with God? Or how can he be pure who is born of woman.”

Well, some 4,000 years after Bildad lived, we’ve been given that answer. That answer is Jesus Christ. Who came for us . . . who died for us . . . who rose for us . . . and in doing so, secured forgiveness for our sins. And the hope of eternal life. Through Jesus, we have hope. Like Job, though he was called “blameless,” we’re sinners. In our natural condition, our sin has separated us from God.
Isaiah 59:2 – “. . . your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” That God that we’ve sinned against is holy. “God is light [says 1 John 1:5] and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Because God is holy, He does not and cannot tolerate sin in His presence. And because He is just, His justice demands that sin be paid for. Sin was paid for. Our sin was paid for, at the cross.

God, we praise You and thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son on our behalf. We praise You and thank You for His atoning death. We praise You for the great love that You have shown us, by allowing His life to leave His veins by the way of His precious shed blood. God, may we never treat the shed blood of Christ, trivially. May we always remember it and the cost of the sacrifice, the great sacrifice that was made, so that our sins might be forgiven. So that we might have the hope of glory with You. And that right relationship with You, restored. God, I pray that today’s message helped us calibrate our thinking around the Word of God, about how who You are, rightly. You are holy and transcendent. You are sovereign and good. You are merciful and loving and compassionate. And we are sinners and sinful, and we do sin. And we do deserve hell and punishment, eternally in hell. But we praise You, Oh God, for what You accomplished on our behalf, through the shed blood of Your Son. “Oh, precious is the flow, that makes us white as snow. No other fount [we] know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.” It’s in His name we pray. Amen.