Footsteps of Mercy

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

Job 33:23-24

If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man his uprightness:…

I. When God has, in the way of providence, prepared any human heart for a work of grace, one of the first means of blessing the chosen man is TO SEND HIM A MESSENGER. I suppose the passage before us may be primarily referred to Christian ministers, who become, through God the Holy Ghost, interpreters to men's souls. But I prefer to believe, with many expositors, that the full meaning of these words will never be found in ministers of mortal race; we must rather refer it to the Great Messenger of the covenant, the Great Interpreter between God and man, whose presence to the sin-sick soul is a sure prophecy of mercy. Another description that belongs to Him, as I believe, is an interpreter. Jesus Christ is indeed a blessed interpreter. An interpreter must understand two languages. Our Lord Jesus understands the language of God. He knows how to speak with God as the fellow of God, co-equal and co-eternal with Him. He can make out the sighs and cries and tears of a poor sinner, and He can take up the meaning, and interpret them all to God. Moreover, Jesus understands our language, for He is a man like ourselves, touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and smarting under our sicknesses. This messenger, then, this interpreter, is He not "One among a thousand"? O peerless Jesus! who among the sons of the mighty can be compared with Thee?

II. Now, secondly, wherever this Divine messenger comes, according to the text, HE REVEALS GOD'S UPRIGHTNESS.

III. The third stage is this — "THEN HE IS GRACIOUS UNTO HIM." God deals with convinced sinners in a way of grace. Every word here is weighty. "Then He is gracious unto him." Mark the time — then! God is gracious to a man when, Christ having come to him as a messenger and an interpreter, he is led to discern his own sin and God's uprightness. The way as well as the time demands your notice. It is through the messenger that God is gracious. Then — that is when the messenger comes. When Jesus interposes then God is gracious.

IV. Let us proceed to the next stage — GOD DELIVERS THE SINNER. "He saith, Deliver him from going down into the pit."

V. The last thing is that GOD EXPLAINS TO THE SINNER WHOM HE DELIVERS THE REASON OF HIS DELIVERANCE. "Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom." "I have found a ransom" — a covering. You notice these words, "I have found a ransom." You do not find it for yourselves. You could not ever have discovered it, much less have brought it into the world.

worlddic.com