Job 38:4-15 - Homiletics

Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 1. Concerning the creation.

I. THE CREATION OF THE EARTH THE HANDIWORK OF GOD .

1 . An exclusively Divine work. Jehovah claims not simply to have been the Framer of the mighty fabric of the globe, but to have shared the honour of that stupendous achievement with no co-worker. Hence certainly not with Job. "Where wast thou when I established the earth?" Not taking part or even looking on, since thou wast not then in existence. That this terrestrial world, and indeed the vast universe of which it forms a part almost infinitesimally small, has not existed from eternity, and did not spring into being fortuitously and without adequate cause, hut was summoned from the womb of nothingness by the fiat of Omnipotence, besides according with the plainest declarations of Scripture ( Genesis 1:1 ), harmonizes more exactly than any other theory with the dictates of reason.

2 . A perfectly finished work. As in the Mosaic cosmogony Elohim is represented as beginning, carrying forward through successive stages, and completing the preparation of the newly made earth as man's abode, so here Jehovah advances a like claim in behalf of himself. Under the image of a building he describes the earth, in its construction, as having been planned by him: "Who," i.e. but me, "hath determined its measure?" founded by him: "Where wast thou when I established the earth?" erected by him: "Whereupon are the foundations," i.e. the bases of its pillars, "fastened?" finished by him: "Who hath laid the cornerstone thereof?"

3 . A firmly secured work. Not, however, in the sense of standing still and without motion (Caryl), but in that of being permanently established. The constitution and course of nature, though not unalterable at the will of him by whom it hath been decreed, is yet so definitely settled that man can reckon on its uniformity. It can be overthrown by neither accident nor design. The properties and laws of matter are so certain in their operation, that some reasoners have falsely concluded them to be immutable.

II. THE CREATION OF THE EARTH WAS THE SONG OF THE ANGELS .

1 . The singers: the angels. The race of spiritual intelligences who inhabit the heavenly world ( Psalms 68:17 ; Matthew 18:10 ; John 1:51 ), who are here described by:

2 . Their song : an anthem of creation. Which also is characterized in a twofold way:

III. THE CREATION OF THE EARTH A STUDY FOB MAN , As such it was propounded to Job, who was asked to receive lessons from it as to three points.

1 . The brevity of man ' s life as compared with the existence of God. "Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Thou wast not then born! Thy days on earth are as a Shadow. A few years ago thou hadst no existence. But I, thy Creator, whom thou dost foolishly arraign, bad a being before the world was!" Nothing is more fitted to impress man with a sense of the utter vanity and insignificance of this terrestrial existence of which he partakes than a contemplation of the eternity of God.

2 . The ignorance of man ' s mind as compared with the omniscience of God. Jehovah asks the patriarch if he could tell how the pillars of the globe were fastened in their sockets, or how either the foundation or corner stones of the stupendous fabric were laid in their places, and fixed so as to continue permanent and immovable. "Declare, if thou hast understanding." But all these were comprehended by eternal wisdom. How immeasurably foolish, then must it be for man to presume that he either can, or ought to be able to, understand the moral administration of a world of whose original construction he is entirely ignorant! Nothing is better calculated to humble the pride of human wisdom than we reflect both how small is the circle of knowledge surveyed by the wisest in comparison with the vast sphere of ignorance by which he is still encompassed, and in particular how infinitesimal is the largest quantity of science collected by man when weighed against the immeasurable omniscience of God.

3 . The impotence of man's arm as compared with the omnipotence of God. Vast in contrivance and execution as are many of the works of man, the building of the pyramids, the exploration of mines, the construction of locomotives, the tunnelling of mountains, and other mighty achievements of human genius, it is certain that man himself must regard these as puny and insignificant beside the gigantic works of nature, the piling up of Himalayas, the formation of oceans, the establishment of those mysterious influences which men in their ignorance denominate physical forces, the peopling of earth, air, and sea with their myriad forms of life. And yet these are all the handiwork of God, effected by his power with infinite ease and with such consummate skill that man cannot hope to improve them, cannot oven imitate them, yea, can hardly succeed in making a perfect copy of them. Nay, modern astronomy, by enlarging our conceptions of the stellar world, reminds us that stupendous a work as is the formation of this material globe, it is in reality one of the smallest of the productions that have come from his creative hand, being in fact but as a drop in a bucket, or as the small dust of a balance, in comparison with the boundless universe to which it belongs.

Learn:

1 . That the first of all beings is God.

2 . That the primal cause of all things is the power of God.

3 . That only the mind which planned the world can perfectly understand its government.

4 . That all God's works, in the moral world no less than in the material, are characterized by wisdom.

5 . That God's works should never fail to excite the admiration and rejoicing of God's children.

6 . That, though man cannot be saved, he may yet be instructed, by the angels.

7 . That if the old or material creation required the power of God, much more does the new or spiritual creation.