By: Obed Pineda
Assigning monikers to inspired amanuenses is a rather common practice among Bible pundits. For example, John is frequently referred to as “the Beloved Disciple,” because in his Gospel account he refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved…who also had leaned on His breast at the supper” (John 21:20). However, this is not the only nickname that is used when speaking about John. He is also mentioned as “John the Theologian,” among Bible communities due to his profound, spiritual teachings found on the pages of his writings. Another example of this prevalent exercise is the prophet Jeremiah’s well known cognomen of “the Weeping Prophet.” Studious disciples of Christ recall that this surname is given to Jeremiah because of how often he wept for his Jewish kinsmen inevitable demise. His appellation very likely was secured when he was confirmed as the inspired scribe of Lamentations. Isaiah has been dubbed as “the Prince of the Prophets,” because his book contains an overabundance of Messianic prophecies. Although the application of monikers is a common trend today, this has been the case throughout history. In fact, one can find this common practice being carried out on the sacred pages of Holy Writ. Curiously, in one of the prophecies revealed to Isaiah he utilizes the following description: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isaiah 53:3). Today, we know that this designation was given to Jesus of Nazareth because Scripture has already been fully revealed and given to mankind by God (cf. 2nd Peter 1:3, Jude 3b). Remember that this was not the case in ancient times when the Holy Spirit was actively working in those holy men who would write what was revealed to them (2nd Peter 1:19-21). Furthermore, it is unwise to assume that those men inspired by God to pen those prophecies shown to them, automatically understood their meaning. The apostle Peter clarifies that, “of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1st Peter 1:10-11). Therefore, understanding this to be so it should not be surprising that the identity of God’s Chosen One was unknown among the people during the first century, or that there were prophecies such as Isaiah 53 that were not understood to be about the long awaited Messiah (cf. Matthew 16:13-14, Acts 8:26-34). It is highly likely that many Jewish Rabbis were mistaken in believing that the “Man of sorrows” found in Isaiah’s writings was nothing more than a self-characterization of the writer himself. While we know now that the “Man of sorrows” is Jesus the Christ because of Phillip’s explanation to the Ethiopian eunuch, this moniker could also apply to another man who is referred to by some today as “the personification of patience” (cf. Acts 8:34-35, James 5:10-11). It is judicious to evoke to memory that one essential trait of prophecy is that it is foreshadowing the future. Prophecies are truths that are kept under the cloak of mystery until the right time to unveil them arrives (cf. 1st Corinthians 2:6-10). Time and again godly men from the Old Testament were used as “shadows” of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Moses assured the children of Israel that “the LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Peter and Stephen would later manifest that Moses’ prophecy looked forward to Jesus, the fulfillment of said prophecy (cf. Acts 3:11-26, 7:35-37). In other words, Moses was a type (“shadow”) of Jesus (“caster of the shadow”). Curiously, Job is another (lesser known) shadow cast by the Spirit of the Lord. He is the person mentioned previously by this author upon whom the surname of “man of sorrows” fits. James pointed to Job’s endurance as an example to follow when we find ourselves in the fiery trials of life (cf. James 5:11). Job’s steadfastness against Satan’s flurry of attacks indeed announced Jesus’ victory of the ancient Serpent on the cross. Nevertheless, how Job triumphed against the devil is not the only way in which he foreshadowed the Lord. The inspired Psalmist, looking ahead, wrote, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” and in another psalm, “reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none” (Psalm 41:9, 69:20). Job understood very well the sting of abandonment and betrayal by those who called themselves friends. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had originally arrived to comfort Job during his great loss, but instead they became “miserable comforters” to him through their baseless accusations that his woes were the consequences of his “sins” (Job 16:2b, 6-11, cf. Job 2:11). This link between Jesus and Job is described by Isaiah when he stated that men would consider “Him as stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4b). Yet, this rejection Job endured by his friends would set up the stage for the greatest way in which he would exemplify the Lamb of God. At the conclusion of Job’s trial, Jehovah God reproved Eliphaz the Temanite and his two friends for their misrepresentation of Him in their unfounded accusations against Job, and commands them to “go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has” (Job 42:7-8). Jesus came to earth to serve as the “one Mediator between God and men” when He offered Himself up as an acceptable sacrifice to God, to obtain justification for mankind (1st Timothy 2:5, cf. Romans 3:21-26). Job, like Jesus, served in the office of priest by offering to God the required sacrifice that would appease His righteous wrath against the sinner (cf. Job 42:9, Hebrews 9:11-15, 10:5-18). Not only did Job foreshadow the Christ by interceding on behalf of his three friends, but it is clear that he did so by passing over their transgressions against him as well. It would correct to surmise that God had left Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar at Job’s mercy since He would not accept from them sacrifices they could offer for themselves. Job had to agree to offer the commanded sacrifices on their behalf, which meant he would have to willingly forgive them for their wickedness against him. Verily, Holy Writ reveals that Jesus implored “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” concerning those who had hung Him on the cross to die (Luke 23:34). There is no doubt that Job prefigured Jesus in many other ways, but how wonderful to learn that the Christ who was in Job, is in us today as well if we truly are imitators of Christ (1st Corinthians 11:1).