Job thought that he could not win his case, even though he was righteous and perfect (vv. 15, 20-21), because God is mighty and does not turn back His anger in His judgment (vv. 13-24). This indicates that Job expected that he and God would go to a law court to be judged. Job would be the plaintiff, and God would be the defendant. Here Job as the plaintiff had a wrong concept, thinking that God the defendant was dealing with him in anger. However, God's dealing with Job was not God's anger but God's good pleasure. It was not God's judging but God's stripping, consuming, and tearing down that He might rebuild Job with God Himself.
Job considered that he was a man living in the days which were fleeing away and that he could not be judged together with God and be held innocent (vv. 25-35).
Job complained that God, knowing that he was not wicked and not acquitting him of his iniquity, ill-treated him without cause on his side and attacked him again and again according to what was hidden in God's heart (10:1-17). Job said to God, "Make known to me why You contend with me" (v. 2b). In verse 13 he went on to say, "You have hidden these things in Your heart;/I know that this is with You." This indicates that Job could not find the reason for God's treatment of him, but he believed that there had to be some reason hidden in God's heart. Job was right; something was hidden in God's heart. Ephesians 3:9 tells us of the mystery hidden in God. This is the mystery of the ages.
According to Job 38:7 the angels of God (the sons of God) shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth. The angels might have wondered what God's purpose was in creating the earth and man. Adam himself did not know why God created him in His image after His likeness (Gen. 1:26). God kept His intention hidden throughout the ages, not telling Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, or any of the prophets. The Creator did a lot in His creation, but before the New Testament time He did not unveil to anyone what His purpose was.
The hidden mystery is that God in His Divine Trinity desires to be dispensed and wrought into His creation, man, to make man His duplication, to make man His expression. Not knowing this, Job misunderstood God and thought that God was angry with him and was judging him and punishing him. God's intention was not to judge Job or to punish him but to tear him down and then rebuild him with Himself. God knew that after Job had passed through a time of suffering, he would be rebuilt and become another person—a new man in God's new creation. This is the answer to Job, to the book of Job, and to Job's vindication.
The Bible of sixty-six books is for only one thing: for God in Christ by the Spirit to dispense Himself into us to be our life, our nature, and our everything that we may live Christ and express Christ. This should be the principle that governs our life. In a practical way, it should be today's tree of life for our enjoyment.
The Bible is not mainly a book of prophecy, teaching, or types. The Bible is a book of God's economy. To say merely that the Bible is a book consistently on Christ is not adequate. The Bible is on Christ in God's economy. God's economy is to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity in Christ by the Spirit into us that we may have Him as our life, nature, and everything. When we experience this, it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). This is the tree of life.
Job wished that he had died at his birth and expected that God would let him alone that he might be somewhat revived before he went to the shadow of death (Job 10:18-22).
Job's unyieldingness was due to the fact that he was devoid of the divine revelation and was thus unable to comprehend that God's dealing with him through disasters was not in the realm of ethics, that is, did not depend on whether he did good or evil, or on whether he was right or wrong, but was in the sphere of God-gaining that he should be turned from seeking perfection in ethics to seeking and gaining God instead of anything else.