Job 1-2 recounts the worst three days in Job’s life. They were not necessarily sequential (each time it merely says, “And there was a day”), but by condensing the story of Job into three days, we are being encouraged to see the whole of Job’s sufferings as a three day descent into hell!
And it is all God’s fault!
There are some interesting parallels with Jonah – who spent three days in the belly of the fish. But in Jonah’s case, while it was true that God was the one who had done this, it would be easy to see how Jonah had (if anything) deserved worse of God. But Job has done nothing to deserve what happens to him.
It’s all nice and good to say, “Oh, but Job was a sinner!” The problem is that the text disagrees with this diagnosis. After all, when they asked our Lord Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answer was, “Neither!”
The story of Job is the story of God’s suffering servant. Job is all that Israel was supposed to be — and he endures a sort of exile, abandoned by God to torment and despair. And during his exile, God is silent. God does not explain anything until Job has passed through the ultimate test. But when Job passes the test, the LORD restored the fortunes of Job. There is an eschatological message in the book of Job: the suffering servant must wait patiently, because the LORD will make all things right in the end.
And because our Lord Jesus Christ waited upon the Lord, and endured all that Israel was called to endure, he has been raised up in glory — and we who are called by his name are now called to endure patiently through our “light and momentary” trials because Jesus has already been seated in glory — the Lord has restored his fortunes, and has given us his Holy Spirit as the guarantee of the full inheritance!
