Job 14:13–22 – A glorious future awaits us I

In the earlier verses, Job gave us a picture of what he thought of earthly existence. His conclusion was drawn from his experience and perhaps also the instruction of the sages of old. He felt that life was not only brief but also tumultuous. Somehow sin seemed to hold sway of mankind and gave him a tendency to sin. And even if one should be able to identify his flaw, yet he was totally powerless and incapable of cleansing himself. Meanwhile God, he insisted, is watching and He is the final arbiter of man. To Him alone are all man accountable. 

Job then gravitated to contemplate about life after its earthly existence. To him death does not end one’s existence. After death, a person continues to exist as a spirit being, in a spirit world known as Sheol. Job wished Sheol would be a place of refuge for him till God’s wrath over him had passed.  Job questioned whether a dead person could live again. His question was: “If a man dies will he live again?” Job lived many years before Christ, unknowingly he was wondering about the resurrection. For us living after the death and resurrection of Christ, Resurrection is our hope. For Christ had risen from the dead, and so all of us would be too, on the last day. For Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:42, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body”

In verse 16, Job returned to think about his own condition. He felt that God had scrutinized him and took note of every sin he had committed. He felt as if all his wrongs were put together and sealed in a bag and preserved. Job concluded that he was being judged for the collective sins he had committed. Any hope of recovering from his condition seemed gone. He felt hopeless

In this first round of dialogue Job had with his three friends, Eliphaz said that God is morally pure, Bildad said that God is totally just, while Zophar insisted that God is all knowing. Job was insistent on his innocence despite his friends’ arguments that it was his sin that had caused his suffering. Job surely would be glad to bear with his suffering, if he only knew that there was indeed a better life prepared for him. Praise God! for we have this assurance which Paul revealed in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” This present earthly body is just a temporary tent. There is coming a more permanent dwelling for us. Christ urges us not to be troubled. He has gone to prepare a place for us and will come back and receive us to Himself. So that where He is there we shall be also.