Job 41:24

The scales on his head and body are, like pride, an armour nothing can get through. Each scale is linked to the next, and there is no "joint of the harness" where an arrow could pierce... In most animals the flanks are a weak point, since the ribs do not cover them. His flanks are compact and impenetrable. Within is a heart like stone, indifferent to all fear.

Now in Job 41 comes a still longer description of "leviathan," and I understand that to be the crocodile. The crocodile is a very formidable beast. It is not so shy of humans; on the contrary, it preys on men, women and children, if it can get hold of them.

"The folds of his flesh" are so joined as to make him invulnerable to attack (v.23), and underneath his heart is as hard as a stone. What a picture of the great champion of unbelief! He will arise because the world has rejected the faithful, gracious Lord of glory — and this beast will think of himself as the saviour of the world!

"The Beast" will have no weak "flanks" to be turned, as an army's flanks are turned. He will not know pity. From his stone-hard heart come hatred, scorn, death. Some have refused the tender pleading of the Heart of Love — of Him who said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." They will be crushed by the hard heart of the world-conqueror, who knows neither love nor pity.

What would you think of a man hoping to get into heaven by offering his corn and his wine to God? He supposes, like Simon Magus in Acts 8, that the gift of God can be bought. It would show that his conscience was as hard as the lower millstone. He would be completely insensible to the condition he was in, and to the character of God. The very worship of Cain proved the desperate, utter insensibility of his heart to the judgment of God against sin...

And will Job keep in his own heart even the seed of all this horror? Shall independence, self-will and pride find a resting place in him, to hatch out such offspring of hell?... Beneath the fair exterior of man such possibilities lie hidden. Even in the child of God a nature lurks which has these features.

God now shows Job, under the figure of leviathan, that the power of Satan is too great for him... But what could be God's purpose in describing the power of the adversary like this? Surely it was to lead Job into complete dependence on Himself. "I know," says Job, "that you can do all things."

For this, the heart of stone must be taken out of the flesh, so that they may have a heart of flesh — a truly feeling and tender heart. To this is added the blessed assurance: "I will put my Spirit within you."