“Vindication” (Job 42:10–17) 8am April 6, 2025

“Vindication” (Job 42:10–17)

The parting eight verses of the book of Job is intended to paint the picture of godly vindication. These are God’s final words about Job, a righteous man, one who trusted Him through trials of the most unimaginable sort.

Job’s enemies killed his servants (likely hundreds of them) and stole his livestock (Job 1:14–15, 17). Job couldn’t get revenge, even if he wanted to because he ended up sick (Job 2:7). Circumstances seemed to conspire against Job in such a way that even his closest friends turned treacherously against him (Job 16:20–21; 19:19–22). Job knew that only God could help him (Job 3:23; 10:1–3).

Yet, when God stepped in, He didn’t punish Job’s enemies. He did not smite them. For those who handled Job most viciously, the Sabeans and the Chaldeans, God didn’t even mention them.

Instead, God focused all His attention on rewarding, elevating, and comforting His servant, Job. He got everything back and then some. Perhaps the most rewarding of all, the one thing he wanted most of all, he got: vindication.

The problem of unfair or unjust treatment is a universal one (2 Timothy 3:12; Matthew 5:45; 1 Thessalonians 3:3). The difference between heaven and hell, sinners and saints is how we handle unfair or unjust treatment.

The sinner wants vengeance or revenge (Genesis 4:23–24; Proverbs 24:29; Romans 12:19). His or her heart is fueled by bitterness, envy, and unforgiveness over their mistreatment. This person believes that someone hurt them (and they did), and now they want to make them pay.

On the other hand, the child of God wants vindication. Vindication is what Job desired more than anything else. He wanted to prove that his actions were right and just. He didn’t want to see anyone destroyed; he just wanted to clear his name and to show that he had indeed lived righteously (Job 23:10–12; 27:5–6; 31:1–4).

We have each been treated unfairly and unjustly. Do we want vengeance, or do we want vindication? In our own life’s story, are we the sinner who will die with bitterness in our hearts because we want to see our enemies suffer, or are we the saint who wants to be seen as just or righteous in the sight of God? Consider the following three points:

1. The children of God trust God.

• a. Job was blameless and upright (Job 1:1).
• b. Job would not have been able to get revenge because during those days, your servants served as your army (Genesis 14:14; 34:25). Job didn’t have anybody to fight with, then his own health failed him (Job 2:7).
• c. Satan’s whole point was to make Job so bitter that he would turn on God (Job 1:11, 2:5).
• d. Job didn’t feel His presence (Job 23:8–10).
• Job didn’t understand the plan and purpose of God through his suffering (Job 31:35–36).
• e. Job said, “I know He lives” (Job 19:25–27).
• f. Job said, “Even if He decides to kill me, I still trust Him” (Job 13:15).

2. The children of God forgive those who hurt them.

• a. Job said things that were out of character.
• i. He cursed the day he was born (Job 3:1–3).
• ii. He questioned God’s justice (Job 7:11).
• iii. He said that God had made a mistake (Job 10:3).
• b. During his hurt and questioning God, he still trusted Him (Romans 8:28).
• c. God commands that we pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
• d. In the Psalms, David, when under persecution, would pray to be “exalted” over his enemies (Psalm 18:48; 27:6).
• i. This had nothing to do with revenge. He wanted to be placed in a place of safety and honored before those who tried to destroy him.
• ii. This is the meaning of “thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5).
• e. Ultimately, Job would not only repent (Job 42:1–6), but also pray for those who treated him as a wicked person (Job 42:10).

3. The children of God are being made into the image of Christ.

• a. Christians don’t get to where they are going without being hurt (2 Timothy 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:3).
• b. Our trials transform us by renewing our minds (Romans 12:1–2).
• c. Job got a better view of God than the one he initially had (Job 42:5).
• d. God told Job’s friends that they had to go to Job and request his prayers (Job 42:7–9).
• e. Job’s prosperity wasn’t restored until he prayed for the very ones who accused him of being wicked (Job 42:10).

“Christ First, Christ Only, Christ Always”