LIVE DISCUSSION: "Shall Any Teach God" - (Job 21:22-27), Part 1/4

The Book of Job has a way of ruining our favorite explanations, especially the ones that sound spiritual but flatten real life. We camp out in Job 21:22-34 and let Job ask the cutting question most of us avoid: “Shall any teach God knowledge?” From there, we challenge the impulse to treat suffering as a sure sign of guilt and comfort as proof of innocence. If you’ve ever wondered why the wicked prosper or why faithful people suffer, this passage speaks with blunt honesty and surprising clarity. 

We also explore what it means that God “judges those that are high.” No leader, nation, or cultural powerhouse sits outside God’s authority, and even modern debates about who has the “right” to exist get reframed under God’s providence. Then a live interruption shifts the tone into a real-time clash over certainty and objective truth, exposing how quickly conversations about God turn into deeper questions about authority, eternity, and conviction. 

Finally, we return to Job’s two portraits of death: one person leaves this world healthy and at ease, another dies in bitterness, and both end in the same grave. The takeaway is not despair, but humility and urgency. God’s justice is not absent, but it is not a formula we control, and mercy is found in Jesus Christ. Subscribe for more verse-by-verse Bible teaching, share this with someone who wrestles with the problem of evil, and leave a review with your biggest question from Job 21.

Transcript

Opening And Scripture Reading

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Christians. Good evening. We're going to be in the book of Job, chapter 21, and verses 22 through 34, or the end of the chapter. We're going to be continuing our exposition verse by verse. And um I trust that the subject matter will be a blessing to your soul as much as it has been to mine. So that being said, we'll start by reading Job chapter 21, verses 22 through 34. Job 21, 22 through 34. And the word of God reads as follows. Job says, Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing that he justifies or that he judges those that are high? One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet, and his breasts are full of milk and his bones moistened with morrow, and another dies in bitterness of soul, and never eats with pleasure. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall overcome them. Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me. For you say, Where is the house of the prince? Where are the dwelling places of the wicked? Have you not asked them that go by the way? And do you not know their tokens that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him for what he has done? Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. How then do you comfort me in vain, seeing in your answers that there remains falsehood? So here we have the reading of the Word of God in Job chapter 21, verses 22 through to the end of the chapter. And so we will begin our exposition beginning at verse 22. Brother Jeffrey, how are you doing tonight? How are you doing tonight, brother?

SPEAKER_02 2:58

I am well, my friend. I am very happy that you have your wedding band back. Uh I would imagine that Roxanna is probably glad that you have it too. But uh, man, brother, our God is a miracle-working God, isn't he not? He's a great God, man. He really is. I'm so glad you got it back. You may when I read that today, and you sent that to me, I cannot tell you how it made my day. I shared that with Joni, and we both just laughed and smiled and rejoiced. That's how God is.

Can Anyone Teach God Knowledge

SPEAKER_04 3:29

He's good. I have to give him next, I have to give him next. He's a good God. All the time, brother. All the time. All right, so we are in Job 21, and we're at verse 22. And Job says here, shall any teach knowledge? Shall any teach God knowledge?

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 3:53

Oh, you mean for that dude right there? That guy right there that was on there?

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Jeffrey? Yes. Yeah, for getting rid of him. That he needed to go.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

Oh yeah, oh yeah. All right. So here we go. Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judges those that are high? So, so Job has already, and it this is him speaking, and Job is still addressing his friends Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad. And they have been making a case about Job being a wicked man, as we all know, and we have rehearsed over and over again, so it is not surprising to any of us. This is not news now. And then they continue by saying that judgment, punitive judgment, and retribution from God comes swift, and it comes regularly swift upon those who are like Job, wealthy, prosperous, and powerful. And their argument is that it always happens and it happens fast. Their wickedness is always dealt with and is always dealt with speedily. And in chapter 21, Job is arguing against that notion, and he is saying to them, basically, and in so many words, that the way God deals with folks, but it's not formulaic in the way so many people like to construe it. There's not this set pattern, this set formula that he always deals. One thing that you can count on is that God will exact justice to whomever he will exact justice, and then God will give grace to whoever he will give grace. Those two things are inevitable. But the when and the how and the timing of it all and the severity of it all is all left to God, and it is not something that can be, it is not something that can be made to be put in some kind of a formulaic way of doing things. So in verse 21, Job continues, and he says, Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those that are on high? And so now Job changes his argument, and he turns from the prosperity of the wicked to the sovereignty and to the wisdom of God and how he governs the world. And this is what he's dealing with right now. Hallelujah. And so Job points out that God does not govern the world by a set of human rules or rules that men have decided God should operate within, and then complies with that. Nor does God require instruction from his creatures. And Job is essentially telling these guys, you guys are just making stuff up now. You're just making stuff up. There's no precedent for this position, there's no guideline, there's no doctrinal tenet that we can refer to. You're just making stuff up because you want to feel that you are right when it comes to the condition of my affliction and the reasons for my affliction. And this is what Job is talking about. Men often speak with great confidence and boldness about how God must deal with the righteous and the wicked. We see this in our own day. Everybody's an expert on what God does and how he acts. Lord knows I've had my interactions or my dealings with thinking the same thing myself, that I knew so much about how God does things. And the reality is I don't, and the reality is none of us know.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

None of us know. So so would you say that nice to meet you, host. Thanks for having me up. So would you say that that none of us know as far as like the objective whatever's gonna happen, what reality is gonna be when you pass away. Would you say that we're all guessing?

SPEAKER_04 8:18

I think that I think that that one thing is for sure. When we when we die, there's gonna be two outcomes for every single person that dies. The outcomes are gonna be either eternal life or eternal condemnation. That's an inevitable fact.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

No, you can't say fact, dude. If you're honest, if you're intellectually honest, you can't say fact. Okay. You can say that's what you believe, but you what if there was no judgment?

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Alright, well, if you if that's what you want to feel, you're you're good with that. You can run with that. I'm not gonna stop you. So if you I mean, if you hold to that, that's fine. Go for it.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

I'm not gonna give you away.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

I mean, just to say fact. It's like, hold on, dude, reel it in a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

My name is Jonathan Buddy. My name is Jonathan, by the way. You don't have to call me dude. It's Jonathan. My name's my name's Josh. Nice to meet you, Josh. Pleasure, man. It's just how I speak. Sorry. No, no, no problem at all. And like I said, you you're you're fine to hold that position if you want to. I won't try to dissuade you from that other, but this is what I believe the word of God does teach. And so uh I got I have to stick to that as well. So we we we have to go different ways.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

And you're staying true to yourself.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

So stay true to yourself, man.

Nations Exist By God’s Permission

Live Debate On Certainty And Truth

SPEAKER_04 9:36

Thank you, brother. I appreciate that. So, Job is showing and demonstrating that such confidence that his friends have had, they forget that God is of infinite wisdom. God's wisdom is infinite. And so, while we may not know how long the wicked will live, or how long the righteous will live, there's no set guideline that God has set. There's no set standard. In other words, a wicked man may live to be 100 years old and may have nothing in his life go wrong. A righteous man may be plagued with disease, loss of job, and loneliness. And so the issue is we don't know how God is dealing with the individual hearts of every single person. So we have to be careful about this. And Job is warning his friends about this very thing. God's judgments are formed by knowledge which go far beyond the understanding of man. And we all have to acknowledge that God is able to do things that go contrary to the way we think they should go. And so we have to understand that God, being God, being sovereign, has the latitude to do with his creation whatsoever it is he pleases, and he will do so. And he will do so. So this verse also adds that God judges those that are high. And what this means is that even the greatest and the most exalted people on this earth fall under his authority. There is not one single person on earth who does not fall under the authority of God. Not one. Your station in life was determined by God. Whether or not you are saved was determined by God before the earth was created, let alone before your birth. Before the foundation of the world, God has called all things that will take place that are come under the guard the auspices of his providence. And there is nothing in this life that does not come underneath his providence. He is sovereign and he is in control of all things, and he is the one that determines life and death for all of his creatures. And not only life and death itself, but the means of getting there. The means of getting there. So whether the references to powerful rulers on earth or even heavenly powers, none stand beyond God's judgment. I made a post today in response to one of the stories that I've heard in the news over and over again. You see these people in these interviews, and when they talk about there's been a lot of talk in the news about, for instance, Israel. And one of the big questions that so many people are asking, those who are like over the top in their um supportive Israel, they will say, they ask that they'll ask the question Does Israel have the right to exist? This is a big question. Does Israel have the right to exist? Because the idea is that if you oppose that, not only are you anti-Semitic, but you are saying that there's something about their existence that they deserve. That they deserve. So when the question is asked, does Israel have the right to exist? My answer is no, they don't. America doesn't have the right to exist. China, Russia, Korea, they do not have the right to exist. No one on earth, no nation, no human has the right to exist. Existing is a privilege that is granted by God. Our existence is not a right, it is a privilege granted by God. And we are entrusted with what God has granted us to use our existence for his glory. In fact, it is our mandate to use our life to glorify God. We are servants of the Most High, every single one of us. Every person, every living soul is here to do one thing, to serve God, and not just the Christians, but the unbelieving. They are here to serve God and service to him, they will do. Atheists, you may call yourself an atheist, but let me tell you one thing you are here to serve the Lord. And whether you realize it or not, everything that you do, even in your opposition to him, you are here to serve him. And this is what I got a question for you. This is what all the world is going to understand. Brother Eternity, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Does certainty equal objective truth?

SPEAKER_04 15:31

Does certainty equate to objective truth? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Because you strongly believe in something. You're willing to, you know, end it all for it. You you would you would take this and you would gladly be unalied for this.

SPEAKER_04 15:52

I don't understand that. And no, I don't I don't I don't understand the question, really. Um I believe that truth is I believe that truth is absolute. Yes. Period. It's absolute. And I believe that I believe that that that whatever truth determines, whatever God's truth determines is going to happen, is certain.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

So you're certain about that? I'm absolutely certain about that. Yes. 100% no shadow of the doubt. 100%. Certain. 100%. You unlied for your truth.

SPEAKER_04 16:25

What do you mean, unlied for my truth?

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Alright. Let's move on. So But you would you wouldn't denounce, you know, pew pew to your head, you wouldn't denounce Christ. I'm not going to commit suicide, no. No, I'm saying it. Say somebody was trying in some weird way, trying to be like, say Jesus isn't Lord. You know, you would you would go to the grave saying, I cannot deny my Lord and Savior.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

I would not. Exactly. So you you are certain of that to the degree that you would lose your life for it.

unknown 17:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

If it's not some weird way you're ever caught in that situation.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

Yeah. I'm not going to renounce my Lord. That's the simple question you're asking. I'm not going to deny Christ ever.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 17:19

Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

So that's a certainty that you hold within yourself.

SPEAKER_04 17:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

There are people that believe in other things that are super certain just as much as you are.

SPEAKER_04 17:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

Why does it why does the Muslim or the Hindu that believe and are just as certain as you?

SPEAKER_04 17:36

That's not my concern. That's not my concern. I'm not a believer to compare myself to other people. I'm a believer who responds to the to the one God who I know to be the only one and true God. And so him I will never denounce. Allah is not God.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Yes. So what do you think they're doing?

SPEAKER_04 18:02

That's not my issue. All these people, all these people that worship, that worship other gods, they have to reconcile with the one and only God about why they were worshiping false gods. So my qu so the question is here. Because you have a lot of questions that I'm I'm I am beginning to believe are contrary to what I'm talking about here tonight. And so for whatever reason, you feel that this is a good place for you to come up here and talk about this whole thing. So I want to understand something. Where are you coming from? Let's get down to brass taxes.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Yes. I just want to know.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Are you a Christian?

SPEAKER_03 18:47

I would say I I believe in Jesus. I believe Jesus rose to be had him.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

Do you believe that are you a do you believe Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior and He's the only God?

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Um I believe yes. But not a Lord and Savior. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Right. Okay, so that's what we are. So then so let me let me ask you this thing for just for a second, then. Let's leave that where it is right now because you and I, we could go on all night with this because we're not on the same side of this.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Yes. I didn't mean to derail your life. If you got a whole thing going on, then I'm sorry for trying to derail. No, brother, don't, don't, don't feel bad about that. Don't feel bad about that at all. It's just that we, you know, we I'm going through a verse by verse to the book of Job. Okay, so if you're teaching something, dude, I didn't mean to interrupt, man. No, no problem. Yeah, and then we'll have to pick up the. I'm gonna catch you one of these days when when you're just you know just fresh off and I'm gonna have to have a discussion.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

I'd love to I'd love to do that. Do do me a favor and follow me, and then I'll follow you back, and then we'll have a conversation.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

All right, man. All right. Have a good night, dude. I'd love to jump for you sometime. All right, likewise. I'd love, I'd love to do that. Yeah, yeah. Have a good one.

Why We Cannot Judge By Appearances

Two Deaths That Break The Formula

SPEAKER_04 19:56

All right. I gotta say, the gentleman was a gentleman about it. He he's he's he's a different opinion, but he is at least he was respectful, and I can I can I can give him a lot of credit for that, and and I appreciate his uh his coming up. So now uh continuing this thing about Job. We're in Job chapter 21, verse 22, and we're gonna hopefully get to the get through to the end of this chapter tonight. So we're talking about how God judges those that are high, meaning those who are in high authority. And so um, and so that means that regardless of how elevated a person may be or how low they may be, God is is everyone falls under his authority, and all creatures are subject to him, whether they are in willfully in willful submission to him or not. All mankind serve God from the atheist to the most righteous among us. All men do. So what Job is pointing out to his friends is that it is unreasonable for men to dictate how divine justice must appear in all circumstances. God deals differently with different people at different times and in different ways. The ways of God are governed by perfect, absolute wisdom. Even when those ways remain mysterious to those of us who are just mere onlookers. So you can't look at and so and this is what Job is going back to. He's making this case and trying to tell his friends you are you are making a grave mistake by making a wholesale assumption based on the circumstances that you currently see me in, the circumstances about me that you can observe. Job is telling them, You are wrong in viewing me this way. I am not wicked. I fear God. I reverence God. I depend on God. I pray to God. I made sacrifices to God on behalf of my children. I taught my family. I taught the men in the streets. My heart is right with God. There is no outstanding scandal that you or anyone else can point to and say that I have gone contrary to God based on how you see my current circumstances. This is what Job is continuing to make the case about. Verse 23. Now we start dealing with the prosperity or the prosperous death of one man or the man who dies in this prosperity. In verse 22, or verse 23, Job says, One dies, one man dies in full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. Job continues his argument by presenting two contrasting examples of individuals who die. And here is the first one. This man dies in full strength. His vitality remains intact until the very last day. His life was not gradually destroyed by suffering or weakness. He didn't have cancer. He wasn't poor. He wasn't depressed. His life, for all intents and purposes, from those who look on, was a life of genera of being generously prospered by the Lord. Nothing wrong. He can be a wicked man, and yet he can live long life. No diseases, many children, all graduates at Ivy League schools, cars, homes, vacations, family reunions, no one sick. This can be the lot of a wicked man. And he can live his days in total fullness. We don't know why God does what he does. We can look at a wicked person, a righteous person. They can be on earth for 20 years, plagued with disease, plagued with loss, plagued and overcome with depression. And God takes them early. And then you can take the same two people and flip the script. And what happens to one can be what happens to the other. And the whole idea that Job is making is that there is no set formula for how God deals with his creatures. Instead, he departs while still possessing vigor and prosperity that he enjoyed during his life. This is how a man can go. He can go his whole life, no problems at all. And it says here in verse 23 that he is described as one who is completely or wholly at ease and quiet. His life is marked by comfort, not distress, comfort. We see people like this that from the outside, it seems that no matter what they do, everything seems to work out. Even if they are openly wicked. They're prosperous. Nothing seems to go wrong for them. They live long lives. They do things that would that would kill other people. They're healthy. Troubles do not overwhelm these people. His death is not surrounded by visible signs of divine judgment. And notice visible signs. Visible signs. There's nothing visible that we can look at and go, oh, he's getting his comeuppins. Nothing visible. This example contradicts the claim that the wicked men are always overtaken by calamity before they die. And this is the argument that Job's friends are making about Job. They're telling Job, this is you. You are cut off early because your sin, according to them, has found you out. Yet they had no accusation, no charge that they could level against Job. They based the fact that there must be a charge to be made because that would be evidenced based on the fact that he lost everything. Job, because you lost everything, that means that there is something about you that is nefarious, that is wicked, and that is evil. But what Job is trying to make these guys understand is that some leave this world in a condition of outward peace and prosperity. But make no mistake about it, as we discussed last evening, even if he dies, when he dies, he will know that his destruction has fallen upon him, and he will see it with his own eyes. He will see it with his own eyes. Verse 24. It says that his breasts, the same guy who had nothing but ease and quiet in his life, in verse 24, it says, His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. The description continues with this figurative language portraying health and abundance for this man. It says that his breasts are full of milk. This symbolizes nourishment. It symbolizes he has everything that he needs to live. Nourishment and prosperity is his, and he feeds on it regularly. He feeds on it. And what this also suggests is that his resources and his provisions are overflowing and plentiful. He has more than enough. As wicked as he may be, he has everything that any of us would love to be able to enjoy. And so he dies at ease. He dies at ease. It says in this verse here in verse 24, it says that his bones are moistened with marrow. It's talking about his physical strength, his vitality. He's not a diabetic. He's not a cancer patient. He doesn't have liver problems or pancreas problems or kidney problems. He has perfect health all of his life. There are certain people, regardless of whether they are wicked or righteous, they live to what seems to us forever in a die in relative comfort and ease. Nothing seems to have plagued them at all in their life. But there is coming a day of reckoning. And it will happen the moment they shut their eyes on this earth and wake up on the other side. And this is where everything will be exacted, according to God's mercy or according to God's justice. One is coming for each one of us, justice or mercy. And if you would have mercy, you will only get that here and now. And this is why we urge the sinner to believe the truth, to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe. Don't worry about men laughing at you, teasing you, and mocking you and scorning you because you believe that what we're talking about is real. God is real. He sent his real son to die for real sinners, to take away real sin and to impart real righteousness in order to give to man who believe real reconciliation. Reconciliation to God that once reconciled can never be severed or broken again. Let them laugh. Let the sinners mock. Let them tease, let them wax eloquent and intellectual over why these things should not be believed and how foolish it is for us to believe them. But let us remain the fools that they think we are, for trusting in the one and only Savior whom God has sent to redeem us from our sins. Amen. That's right, sister. This is why we believe. Let these people speak on. They have nothing that they can take from us that the Lord has given us. His bones are moistened with marrow. And marrow within the bones, it represents its essence of bodily vigor. This was an ancient expression that just addresses this outward perspective of absolute health. This person is one who is healthy and wealthy through and through. And they live this way even till the end of their lives. And so this image here, it depicts a person who has been, whose life has been full of prosperity, full of health, full of satisfaction in every aspect of their lives. And I know that we believe it sure would be nice to try living like that. But one thing that it does, sometimes that kind of health and wealth and prosperity can have a tendency to be a scourge, a scourge of the worst kind. The kind that distracts you from faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. The kind that distracts you from the dependence that we need to have upon him. Because once you lose that dependence upon him, or if you never gain that dependence upon him, your life will be full of woe. And even if your life continues to go on till the very last day, the woe that I'm talking about will follow when you wake up in hell. And I'm trying to say that as gently and as softly as I can. Because talking about people going to hell, no matter how or what the tone is you may speak about it in, people consider it to be aggressive. But it is nonetheless the truth. It is true. So this example strengthens the argument. Some men pass through life enjoying both prosperity and strength and without experiencing any visible judgments that others have or expect. There's not a set formula. God hasn't given us one, and we don't know of any. But so many people, so many people believe they know how God works. They know what He's going to do. And I'll tell you, I can admit that there have been many times in my Christian life where I've made the mistake of making an assessment about a situation or person or individuals that I should not have done. Because the reality is we don't know. And that's the benefit of getting older and growing in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has a way of humbling you. Brother Jeffrey, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

No, Jonathan, I just wanted to add that a limited, finite human mind cannot fully comprehend an infinite, an eternal God who is without beginning and without an end. There is only so much of God we can understand. Yes, we have the word. Remember it. Live it, yes, of course. So even Jonathan beyond that. He is infinite and eternal. We are limited in what we can understand about him. So that's why we live by faith. And not by sight. Thank you for re-emphasizing that to all of us tonight.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Amen, brother. Brother Pat, what do you think so far?

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Well, I it hits close to home. Um we live in this world where uh it sure seems like the wicked are running the show, doesn't it, Jonathan? It does. It's um you turn on the news and uh they're up to big things by world standards. They uh they seem to have no regard for taking of life and controlling life and everything else. But luckily, we're not of this world.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

That's right. That's right, brother. That's what Christians have to keep reminding ourselves and each other. We don't belong to this world. We belong to another realm, as Paul speaks about in Romans 6. This is not our home. And yet so many people are staunch, even so many of us believers are advocates for this world, defending this world, defending the men in this world. It shouldn't be. Shouldn't be. We serve the Lord and Him only. Him only. Sister Mariah, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Yeah. Um, when you were speaking about that, I was thinking about um there's one of the Ross childs, he's very old. He's had like seven heart transplants. And I'm just like, wow, I all the things that we know of them and all the evil. I'm just like seven. Some people who are, you know, uh a child of God don't even have the the pleasure.