"If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come."
Job 14:14
Part 2
Yesterday:
“If a man die.”
The death rate is 100% of the birth rate.
“Shall he live again?”
Jesus, in His Gospel, has made the answer to this question very clear. Yes!
Today:
The Gospel makes clear what the Old Testament saints only could understand dimly. Jesus has made all the difference!
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10).
“All the days of my appointed time will I wait.”
Job believed there was an appointed time that he would be in his grave. And he is willing to wait for what God has for him beyond the grave. It is interesting what this Hebrew phrase “appointed time” means, “literally ‘warfare, hard service’”[1] (JFB). In the grave, the moldering body is suffering “the hardship of being shut out from the realms of life, light…” as long as it remains entombed.
Overall, the Hebrew people believed that after death, they would spend their time in Sheol, awaiting the general resurrection.
“Till my change come.”
Job was confident that there will come a time when his body will be resurrected from the grave, and his “change come.” He did not know how long or when, but he was willing to wait. He saw his “change” “as a soldier at his post released from duty by the relieving guard…”[2] (Umbreit and Gesenius). This is the time that he was looking forward to.
Yes, everyone dies. But it is infinitely better to die in Christ! Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? Are you one of His lambs?
[1] Jamison, Fausset, and Brown. Jamison-Fausset-Brown’s Commentary, the electronic version in eSword. We need to remember that at the time Job wrote, neither Christ nor His Gospel had come yet. Christ had not gone to Calvary, nor been raised from the dead. The complete quote from JFB is… “appointed time — literally, “warfare, hard service”; imlying [sic. “implying”] the hardship of being shut out from the realms of life, light, and God for the time he shall be in the grave.” At the time, they did not know what it means to “die in Christ.”
[2] Umbreit and Gesenius, as quoted by Jamison, Fausset, and Brown. Ibid.