Where Were You?
Job • Sermon • Submitted
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Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
Last week, I mentioned that the reference to a whirlwind in verse 1 sort of takes us back to the very beginning of the book of Job, where we read that all of Job’s children died when a powerful gust blew their house down. Yet, the Lord’s response to Job in today’s text takes us even further back in time— it takes us all the way back to the beginning of world. The Lord asked, Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
I cannot emphasize enough how important the doctrine of creation is for the Christian faith. Unless we get the beginning right, nothing else can stand. How can we consistently maintain that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he died physically on the cross, and that he rose triumphantly from the grave, if we believe that the first chapters of the Bible cannot be trusted? The answer is, we can’t.
For this reason, the Bible often draws us back to creation. Psalm 104 is another example of what I mean. It also celebrates the fact that God brought all things into being. Verse 5, for example, reaffirms what God said to Job , plus it also emphasizes the permanence of God’s decree. The Lord laid the foundations of the earth, and his sovereign will secures it forever.
Today, we’re going to look at creation from the perspective God’s questions to Job. Our subjects are the foundations of the earth (vv. 4–7), the doors of the sea (vv. 8–11), and the start of each new day (vv. 12–15). And all of this is prefaced with the question, Were you there? That is, what is your basis for thinking that you have any answers to the difficult questions of life?
The Earth’s Foundations
The Earth’s Foundations
First, let’s consider the Lord’s questions to Job regarding the foundations of the earth. He focused on three different points, each of which was designed to expose Job’s ignorance so that he might humble himself before God. That’s what true religion is all about. How much did Job really know about the world? He could see the end product, but he didn’t know how it was formed? Had he observed the invisible hand bringing it all to pass?
The Bible uses a lot of different images to impress God’s creativity on our feeble minds. Being Calvinists, we like the image of a potter because it emphasizes the fact that God forms and fashions every part of creation, including men, for his own purposes. Paul wrote about this in Romans 9,
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Other passages picture God as a weaver. But in today’s text he’s a builder, who carefully laid the foundations of the earth, marked off the locations of its pillars, and then began putting the whole thing together.
So, the first question that God asked Job was this:
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Of course, Job wasn’t there when God formed the world, and therefore he had no wisdom to offer. His speeches were nothing more than a darkening of God’s counsel by words without knowledge. He was an amateur, lacking essential information, yet speaking as if he were full of light.
Then the Lord asked Job a second question:
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
The prophet Isaiah asked something similar to this in Isaiah 40:12. He said,
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
The question here is, Who drew up the blueprints? Or perhaps even more importantly, Who has the right to do so? Did Job have the right to write his own biography before it happened? Could he include in his life the things he wanted and exclude what he didn’t want? No way! The book of Job tells just a small part of his story, and he couldn’t even get that much right. How could he possibly have mapped out the entire universe in such a way that guaranteed that his life would be ideal and perfect just, as he defined these terms?
The blueprints are God’s. He alone has the authority to ordain whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:11), and he has done exactly that. His planned the entire life of every human being, including both our joys and our sorrows. He also mapped out everything else in creation. And speaking specifically to Job’s concern, he did it all with perfect justice. There isn’t a flaw or blemish anywhere in God’s government of the universe.
And the third question that God asked Job is in verse 6:
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
This continues the metaphor of a building. Once it’s completed, the foundation is mostly invisible. The builder knows what’s there, but most others just take it for granted. The builder knows whether the pillars are in the right place and whether they’re secure. But what about the foundation of the universe? The morning stars, i.e., the angels, were there and apparently have some idea of how things were put together. They even shouted for joy. But man, not so much. Job and his friends, were no exception. The only thing we get from them is dark counsel.
As for the angels, remember that they not only rejoiced at creation, but also rejoiced at its purpose. They sang at the coming of redemption when Jesus was born:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
The Sea’s Doors
The Sea’s Doors
Now, after asking about the foundations of the earth, the next group of verses concern the sea. Verse 8 says,
Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
A lot of commentators want to connect this to the sea mythology of the ancient Near East, in which the pagan gods Marduk and Baal fought with the sea gods for control of the water. But they’re looking at it all wrong. The Bible didn’t get its ideas from Israel’s neighbors; rather, Israel’s neighbors perverted the truth of God and came up with fanciful tales. Here the meaning is fairly simple. In the Bible, the sea is often a picture of chaos. Just think of how quickly storms on the Sea of Galilee threw everything into confusion. As the cold air came down over the mountains and hit the warm surface of the water, the wind and the waves kicked up almost immediately. These storms were crazy violent. It’s no wonder that they made the disciples afraid.
But here the question is, Who controls the sea? Who set its limits so that it could go only so far but no farther? The only answer in our text is in verse 9, where God says, I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it. Elsewhere the Bible states unequivocally that Jehovah is the only master of the sea. Speaking of the sea Psalm 104:9 says,
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
In fact, the seas, which seem at times to rage out of control, are simply doing God’s bidding. They’re afraid to do otherwise. Psalm 77:16 says,
The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
The New Testament gives us an even more amazing picture. On one occasion when a storm arose on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus was in the boat with his disciples. As their fears grew, do you remember what he was doing? Mark 4:38 says that he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. He could sleep because he was just as much in control of that storm when he was sleeping as when he was awake. Remember that he’s the same person who once governed the world from a manger and later from a grave. And we know that he was charge because, when his disciples went to him and said, Master, carest thou not that we perish? the next verse says,
And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
In our text, the sea is so much under God’s control that it’s spoken of at first as if it were an infant shut up in its mother’s womb. Later, it was born and grew into a mighty force that had to be contained behind doors and bars. But it’s okay for it to be powerful because God still controls it. According to verse 10, it lives within his decreed place — the bounds that he appointed for it.
Before this, Job assumed that something was wrong somewhere. But God taught him here that all is right and just, even when it seems out of whack. The intensity of his suffering prevented him from seeing this, but his inability to understand didn’t make it any less true.
Each Day’s Morning
Each Day’s Morning
And finally, we come to the third section of this morning’s text, verses 12 through 15. This section is about the dawn. On the first day of creation God commanded light to shine, and on the fourth day he might light-bearers — the sun, the moon and the stars. But here the question isn’t so much about what happened during the days of creation but what’s happening now. Since the day that Job was born, had he ever commanded the morning to start? Had he ever told the sun to appear in the east? Had he done this even once?
The obvious answer is no. Only God can cause the sun to come up. Jesus said that our heavenly Father is the one who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good (Matt. 5:45).
Moreover, the coming of each new day is also important for another reason. It exposes the sins of the night.
The seminary that I went to was located at that time in west Philadelphia. Although you could hear fire engines and police sirens occasionally throughout the day, there were far worse at night. In the late spring and early fall, it was hard to sleep in the dormitory because it seemed like the scream of the sirens never ended. The people never tired of hurting one another.
Jesus explained why this is so. He said,
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
In fact, sinners love darkness so much that they actually confuse it with light. Isaiah wrote,
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
There are countless examples of this kind of madness in our day. The evil known as abortion is praised as a choice, a liberty, when it’s really nothing but infant murder. The sin of same-sex unions is now called marriage and love. In reality, it’s extreme hatred. And socialism, which denies the right to private property and obliterates a Biblical work ethic, is promoted as the answer to all human woes.
Sadly, the church often gets sucked up into this way of thinking. Because of this, Jesus encouraged his disciples to be filled with light. He said,
Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
Wrong ideas are always more attractive the right ideas, and they’re a lot harder to shake off because they’re so deceptive. That’s why we teach our children songs like, “Be careful, little ears, what you hear. For the Father up above is looking down in love. So, be careful, little ears, what you hear.”
But when the morning comes and drives away darkness, not only does the light expose the beauty of God’s world, it also sends evil men into hiding. Wicked people are far less likely to engage in certain kinds of behavior during the day because they don’t want to be seen or identified. In that sense, the dawn has a sort of cleansing power. As the Lord said to Job in our text, it’s like a maid taking a tablecloth outside to shake out the crumbs. It shapes the world, as wax takes the form of the seal pressed into it.
Could Job cause the sun to shine? Did he have the power to expose wickedness and drive it from the face of the earth? Could he shake out the crumbs? No, this too is exclusively the work of God.
In a sense, this also a partial answer to a question that had been nagging Job for a while. Several times he had expressed his concern that the wicked often prosper (cf. chs. 21, 24). The Lord responded to this by showing that the wickedness of men is not unchecked; rather, God uses ordinary things like the dawning of each new day to keep it under control. Even the presence of sin, which he hates, is not outside of his just government.
Now, if there’s anything these verses in Job teach us is that men are puny. We’re infants in understanding. We should never be proud or boastful in our own opinions because there are too many ways we could be wrong.
And this is especially true when it comes to suffering. How much do we really know about it? We can learn a few things along the way. Twenty-twenty hindsight offers a little help. Yet, it’s only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
That’s why we need Jesus — not just for salvation, as important as salvation is, but also because he is the universe’s God and creator. The answers that we lack, he has. The questions we haven’t even thought to ask are already answered in his omniscient mind. Job may not have been there when the world was made, but Jesus, our always faithful Savior, was. Amen.