“Ransomed By The Mediator!”(Job 33:2÷-28).
Today’s text is part of Elihu’s response to Job. Elihu was younger than Job and Job’s three friends. All the while, he was sitting the sidelines listening to Job’s claim that he, Job, was suffering unjustly. Elihu had respected seniority by being silent. However, he became angry at Job for claiming righteousness. He was also angry with Job’s three friends for not countering Job. So he spoke up.
In this few verses, Elihu talks of the possibility of Job being delivered and restored based on a mediator who will arbitrate between God and Job(cf. Job 5:1). We note that arbitration is an important motif of the book of Job.
This passage is relevant in the context of Lent because it talks of a mediator who could tell a person what is right for him, being gracious to him, and telling God, “Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him – then his flesh is renewed…”
Such a ransomed person “prays to God and finds favour with him, he sees God’s face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state.”
Such a person makes a public confession as he comes to men and says, “I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.”
Elihu highlights God’s gracious response of forgiveness when there is sincere repentance. Important as repentance leads to forgiveness and redemption, Elihu is still ignorant of Job’s relationship with God. Job is justified in his claim of innocence, and truly so to us who know that his predicament is the result of a contest in heaven where God wants to prove Satan wrong in assuming that all human suffering is the result of sin! Elihu is also wrong, like the majority of Old Testament people who were living in partial revelation by thinking that death(going down to the pit) was annihilation – the end of human existence. With Christ as the full and final revelation of God, it is the second death that will occur during his Second Coming that spells blissful eternity for the righteous and eternal damnation for unbelieving disobedient ones.
It is only in the divine counsel that the full details of each life are known.
Bottomline:
- Where there is sin and genuine repentance, God’s grace abounds.
- Christ is our mediator who has won victory for us in the court of arbitration. With his blood, he has ransomed us from divine condemnation.
- Lastly, we have limited knowledge about the life of each person. What God knows about you is more important than what people think you are.
Weekend prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your amazing grace in Christ Jesus. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
28/03/2026.