How does Job 20:25 illustrate the consequences of wickedness in our lives?

Setting the Scene

• Job 20 records Zophar’s warning that the apparent success of the wicked is brief and ends in sudden judgment.

• Verse 25 captures the climax of that judgment:

“He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver; terror comes over him.” (Job 20:25)

• The image is literal—an arrow lodged deep within, then wrenched out—showing both the pain of sin’s payback and the certainty that it will come.

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What the Arrow Teaches About Wickedness

• Wickedness eventually turns on its practitioner.

– Psalm 7:15-16: “He digs a hole and falls into the pit he has made.”

• The judgment is personal and penetrating.

– Proverbs 5:22: “The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.”

• Attempts to flee cannot outrun divine justice.

– Numbers 32:23: “Be sure your sin will find you out.”

• Once the wound is felt, terror replaces the fleeting pleasure of sin.

– Isaiah 48:22: “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.

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A Three-Fold Pattern of Consequence

1. Piercing: Sin strikes back—often at the very core (“liver”) of life and vitality.

2. Exposure: The arrow is pulled out; what was hidden becomes public.

3. Terror: Fear floods in; the conscience awakens under God’s righteous anger.

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The Unbreakable Law of Return

• Galatians 6:7-8 affirms the same principle: “Whatever a man sows, he will reap.”

• Romans 6:23 underscores the ultimate end: “The wages of sin is death.”

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Living in Light of Job 20:25

• Recognize that wicked choices set unalterable consequences in motion.

• Repent promptly; only the atoning work of Christ removes the arrow before it destroys.

• Pursue righteousness daily, knowing God delights to bless obedience (Psalm 1:1-3).