01.3. Job's Third Question, "If a man die shall he

Job’s Third Question, "If a man die shall he live again?"

Job asks his third question in his fourth speech, where he also answers Zophar’s hard words. This man had called Job a prattler and had challenged him to put his wickedness away. In this, his attitude resembled that of the other friends. He points out that the hope of the ungodly (and such he considers Job) ends in the breathing out of life (Job 11:20). In other words the motto of the ungodly is, "Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die" (Isaiah 22:13). It is really astonishing to see what a lack of discernment Job’s friends showed at that time. But are we to-day more intelligent than they? Do we not often judge before the time? Do not the children of God very often judge according to appearance in spite of the solemn warning, "Judge not that ye be not judged." It is no wonder that Job, with biting irony, answers, "Truly ye are the people and wisdom shall die with you !" What was the use of reciting truisms in flowery language? Such speeches brought neither comfort nor light to the sufferer. "Who does not know the same?" asks Job, and then he shows that he had already long ago carefully thought over their questions and that he can develop them in all their variety not in a one-sided way as Zophar. "I also have understanding as well as you, I am not inferior to you." Yes, Job recognized the unsolved questions of man’s moral existence much clearer than these glib-tongued talkers, and quite rightly did he tell them plainly, "Ye indeed are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value." And then he turns again to the Almighty and seeks to justify himself before Him. He is convinced of his innocence and wishes to convince God. He desires rest and wonders whether he will find it in death. Man withers as does a flower, and dies off as a tree. "Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a young plant." The tree dies and lives again, but what happens to man, who clearly in this earthly life seldom gets what he deserves? For very often "a derision is the just and upright man," while the "desolators are in peace" (Job 12:4-6). The houses of the wicked are "safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them" (Job 21:9). If death is the end for both, then the motto of the godless ("Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die") is after all the best. But then, what would become of God’s righteousness? Would not mankind sink into a desperately hopeless selfishness, every man’s hand against the other for evil? None feels deep down in his heart that life on earth is the only or the final existence. Some may deny life after death, others may spend their days in indifference to this question; but the majority of men have, throughout the ages, demonstrated through the practices of their religions (wrong and corrupt as most may be) that in reality they do not suppose that all ends with death. From the mummies and pyramids of the ancient Egyptians to the ancestral worship of the Chinese (which to be sure is already thousands of years old) man shows that he believes in a resurrection or at least in a continuance of existence after death.

Certainly this belief is in most cases unconscious or else subconscious. It is misty and indistinct and seldom clearly formulated. The myths and fables of the nations offer no firm foundation for the faith of the heathen. Concerning the resurrection of the body, Job is perhaps the only one in the O.T. who clearly asks this question and who in Job 19:25; Job 19:27, through the Spirit, answers it. The wonderful words "I know that my Redeemer liveth and the Last he shall stand upon the earth. And (if) after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh I shall see God; Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another, my reins are consumed within me," may have been in Job’s restoration partially fulfilled, but doubtless they find their definite fulfilment m Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. And how precious it is for faith to find out that Job already in the prophecy was able to suggest how close the life of the Redeemer is connected with the resurrection. "Because I live ye shall live also," said the Lord before He departed from His disciples, and the apostle points out in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 that because Christ has risen those who sleep in Him shall be raised through Him. The life of the Redeemer is always in the present. He lives forever, as the Last One He will stand on the earth. He is the last Adam, a "quickening spirit." From all those whom the Father has given Him, He would lose none but raise them at the last day. Job had the assurance that he himself in his own person (not merely in spirit as some perverse dreamers fancy) would see God. And our Redeemer says in His so-called high-priestly prayer, "Father (as to) those whom Thou hast given Me I desire that where I am they also may be with Me that they may behold My glory."

What a blessed hope! What a glorious outlook! No wonder that Job in the consciousness of his present sufferings adds, "My reins are consumed within me." The contrast between such a glorious hope for the future and the torture he had to bear in the present was so great that he nearly fainted for the longing after this unspeakable bliss. But after his restoration and recovery it is certain that he often strengthened himself with this hope. Surely many a time did he think over, and enquire as to what the full significance of those wonderful words might be which the Spirit of Christ had revealed to him. But he had to satisfy him self with the assurance that God was ruling all in wisdom and righteousness and that He would yet bring all to a glorious end. Only at the appointed time could God’s counsel with regard to the resurrection be fully revealed. Now there is no more excuse for the fools who raise stupid questions concerning the resurrection. There is a kind of ignorance that is criminal. It springs from the preconceived disinclination to learn about things which might disturb man’s false security. He who believes in a resurrection of the dead, must arrange his life in the light of eternity. He who waits for the "last Adam" will prepare himself for His reception. But he who has to fear a reckoning after death acts often like the ostrich when he is pursued and sees no escape; he hides (so they say) his head in the sand and denies the presence of the hunter. An unpleasant truth simply does not exist for that class of people. The judgment on such fools will be dreadful but deserved.