INTRODUCTION …

Whilst not being well up in the world of sport, I do know that some over-enthusiastic football supports have been known to cry “Kill the Umpire!!” when their side is discriminated against.

Which reminds me of an Old Testament text …

1. PROBLEM !

The ancient patriarch could not understand just why one calamity after another had befallen him ... theft of his property, death of his children, and his own incredible disease-smitten body. But we know.

In chapters 1-3 we catch a glimpse behind the scenes. Satan says to God that Job only serves Him because He blesses him. To which God replies, “take away his prosperity and his health … and he will still love and serve Me.”

Thus it is the body and soul of Job become an arena for a great cosmic battle. Will he remain true to God … or not? His three ‘friends’ accuse him of being punished for having some great sin in his life. And even Job’s theology was that God sent such suffering upon those who sinned against Him. But he knows that he is “blameless” and that he has offered the animal sacrifices God requires (Job 1:1-5).

His theology and his experience do not square up!!

So there are times, it is true, when his faith sags. Terribly! But then it rises again and he clings to his belief that in the end … ultimately … he will be vindicated (Job 19:25).

His cry in chapter 9:32-33 is for a “daysman” to act as his in-between …

“For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgement. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.”

Job desires a mediator betwixt him and God. Someone to present his case. An advocate to prove his innocence. Or, as The Living Bible translates it … “an umpire!”

But he knew of no-one who could act thus … and that was Job’s problem.

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2. PROVISION

In the fourth century the church faced a tremendous split “over a dipthong!” At the Council of Nicea 318 bishops gathered to debate whether the Lord Jesus was … and these are the Latin words … HOMOOUSIOS or HOMOIOUSIOS? One meant that Christ’s nature was “the same as” that of God the Father. The latter meant that His nature was “like” that of the Father. In other words, was Christ GOD … or only a lesser god?

The “Homoousios’ party carried the day. Christ is God! It was enshrined in the creeds. We still sing it in our hymns … “Thou art the Everlasting Word … true image of the Infinite…” And again, “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity…”

And it IS important.

For if our Lord Jesus is simply man and not truly God, He is ‘a bridge broken at the farther end.’ Or if He be God and not truly man then He cannot meet human need. But as the God-man … He is able to lay His hand upon us and reconcile us to our Heavenly Father.

He is our Mediator. He is the Umpire for whom Job pined. It was at the Cross Christ made it possible for man to be brought back into fellowship with God.

Like a fanatical football crowd, so the angry foolish mob at the foot of the cross cried out, “If you come down from the cross, we will believe You are the Christ” (Matthew 27:41). But, as one has said, “We believe He was the Christ because He stayed there!”

He could have called 10,000 angels

To destroy the world and set Him free…

But He suffered there …

For you can me.

They clamoured for His death … “Kill the Umpire!” … little realising that by that sacrifice He was providing the salvation they so desperately needed.

And the salvation that I needed. And you … and all mankind.

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3. PEACE

We must not imagine from all this that Job was unsaved. True, he was wracked with fears and doubts, and had lost the “peace of God” in his soul … but the animal sacrifices he offered were a testimony to his faith. Just as we look back to Calvary for our salvation, so Job was looking forward to Calvary as he offered the blood sacrifices of animals. They were a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God who was to come.

But, alas, like Job, there are Christians today … those whose faith is in the Saviour … and yet who live a life of turmoil and worry. They forget …

God is still on the Throne

And He will remember His own;

Though trials beset us

He’ll never forget us,

He never will leave us alone.

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CONCLUSION …

Despite the problems that crash in upon us time and time again in the Game of Life, it is good to remember that we have Someone to act as our Advocate with the Father … a fair and just ‘Umpire’.

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