Our Case

I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
Job 23:4–5
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Our Case
Job longs for the opportunity to present his case before God.  He feels that he would be vindicated and that all which Eliphaz and his friends have accused Job of would be seen as foolishness.  Job wants an audience before God to prove his innocence.  We often travel down this same road. We believe ourselves righteous and deserving of that recognition, especially when we feel that we are suffering unjustly.  We play out the arguments in our minds and envision God agreeing with us. The truth be told, our sinfulness believes ourselves capable of presenting our case to God and securing a not guilty verdict.  The reality of the situation would be just the opposite, not grand court room admission would startle the jury. No star witness we could conjure up could ever reveal indisputable evidence of our innocence. We would simply be babbling fools, tripping over our words unable to make our case.  Every witness would testify against us and the only proper verdict would be guilty on all counts. Thanks be to God, however, that we are not the ones to argue our case. Christ does this for us.  He stands in our place and takes our sins.  He assumes the punishment for the guilty, death.  On the cross our sentence was carried out. Therefore now, when we stand before God, Christ robes us in His righteousness and we are declared innocent, our case having already been adjudicated. Even Job comes to realize that when given the chance to argue before God, it is best to remain silent (40:3-4), because Christ has already answered for us. His blood declares us righteous and innocent.