Intercession Requires Sacrifice
Job 42:7-9
After The LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has. So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”
So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”
So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as The LORD had told them; and The LORD accepted Job’s prayer.
Let's go over the back story here before we continue. What folly had Job's friends committed that God would need them to sacrifice so many animals in order that they would not be destroyed? Well, God allowed Job to be tested by Satan, knowing that Job trusted Him completely. First, Job's oxen and asses were stolen and his servants killed off, except for the one who reported this bad news to Job. [Job 1:15]
Second, fire rained down from the heavens, and Job's sheep and the servants tending them were consumed completely, except for one who returned to Job with the bad news. [Job 1:16]
Third, his camels were stolen and the servants tending them were killed, except for the one servant who came back to the house to tell Job of it. [Job 1:7]
Fourth, a great wind out of the wilderness toppled the house in which his sons and daughters were feasting, killing all ten of his children: seven sons and three daughters. Only one servant escaped the disaster and he reported this tragedy to Job, as well.
[Job 1:2, 18-19]
And what did Job do? Job 1:20-22 He tore his clothes, shaved his head to mourn his losses, and lay prostrate on the ground worshiping God. He stated that he brought nothing into this world and therefore he could take nothing out (vs 21a). He spoke out loud The Lord gives and The Lord takes away: The Name of The Lord is to be blessed (vs 21b). And The Word tells us that Job did not sin while he mourned and grieved.
Then The Lord allowed Satan to physically torment Job, perhaps because He knew that Job's strength was in Him and that this Strength would carry him through. As if that wasn't bad enough, Job's wife told him to just curse God and die because of the sorrow of her heart. ~It is hard enough to bury one child, let alone ten.~ Then in chapter 3 Job cursed the day he born. Such grief! More than a broken heart: an agonizing heart that cried out in unbearable pain. And then his friends came.
However, this was not so with the three friends who came to sit with him in his time of sorrow. Do you know friends like these three? The first friend, Eliphaz, a descendant of Esau, stated to Job that God was chastening him [Job 4, 5] and then accused Job of not fearing God [Job 15}. Who wants to hear that in their times of mourning?
The second friend, Bildad, a descendant of Shuah, son of Abraham, fares no better in comforting Job. The first thing he tells Job is that Job's children must've sinned [Job 6:4], so God had to punish them for their "transgressions". Some friend. Judging Job and his children, when he knew Job was a righteous man and ran/ruled a righteous household. Secondly, Bildad accuses Job of being a wicked man and deserving of these calamities [Job 18]. Thirdly, Bildad calls Job an unrighteous man [Job 25:4].
And lastly, Job's third friend, Zophar, whose ancestral history is unknown but is himself a well-known wise man of the area of Naamah; a man of wise counsels whom Job listened to. But, this friend accuses Job of an unrepentant heart and that he must repent immediately [Job 11] in order for his wealth to be restored.
Though Job defends himself against Zophar's biting words in Job 12-19, Zophar attacks Job's righteousness and informs him that the wickedness of his (Job's) heart required retribution on God's part [Job 20].
These are the sins, the follies, of Job's friends. And because of their sin, they could not approach God on His terms. Only Job, being a righteous man and carrying the added expertise of being the priest, could intercede for them. Which he did, but they had to bring the sacrifice (repent, sin offering) [2 Chronicles 29:21; Ezekiel 45:23; for the burnt offering (atonement)[Leviticus 1:4] which was required for them to be restored into His grace.
And when the sacrifices were accomplished according to the procedures which God had set up with Job, Job prayed for his friends and they were forgiven. This is intercessory prayer. This is love in action at the altar of God where the sacrifices He requires from us are brought? And just what are the sacrifices which God requires form us?
Psalm 51:15
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
Hosea 6:6
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel declared: “Does The LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams."
Proverbs 21:3
To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to The LORD than sacrifice.
Ecclesiastes 5:1
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
These are the sacrifices God requires of His people in order to hear their (our) prayers and be forgiven and restored. Let us draw near to our God even now, and bend our knees in worship; open our mouths in praise and thanksgiving to our God for His everlasting mercy and grace which He has bestowed on us. Let us hear His Word in faith and obey His Word in the love with which He has honored us. Let us fill our homes and our churches with worship and gratitude towards our God!
