The wrath of God was satisfied

At the end of Job God addresses one of Job's three comforters, a man called Eliphaz. He gives Eliphaz an unusual instruction. Eliphaz is to take seven rams and seven bulls to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Here we witness something that is evidenced throughout the Old Testament—the death of a substitute for sin, an innocent victim for the wrong that has been done.

Earlier Job had cried out for an arbitrator between himself and God, and spoken of his witness in heaven. Now Job serves as a living picture of the sort of mediator that we need. The LORD tells Eliphaz that after he and his friends have made their sacrifice, my servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.

A minster wrote to Keith and Kirsten Getty about their song ‘In Christ Alone.’ He said that he had a problem with the line ‘the wrath of God was satisfied.’ Yet here we see an example of the wrath of God satisfied. God is angry at their sin, demands the death of a substitute, provides an intercessor, and so withholds punishment. Does that sound familiar? These principles all point to Christ. We should sing with thankfulness that the wrath of God was satisfied.