Job's Hope

 Job 14:7-17

 

“For there is hope for a tree if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.  But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?  As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up, so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.
Oh, that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!  If a man dies, shall he live again?  All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal^[b] should come.  You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.  For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin;  my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.”

 

We need to be aware to whom Job is addressing, his Creator, and his God, and with that reminder shall we explore these eleven verses.  Being a person who likes to grow plants and trees, Job’s analogy of the tree being cut down and its stump dies and begins to deteriorate, and yet though the stump is almost gone if it gets the water its roots bring twigs like a sapling.  Job wants his Creator to know that he has an understanding of mankind and their time on earth is like a mist, here one day and gone the next. They are not coming back for a second chance.  It seems as if Job has no hope of eternal life, but in the next verse, he has a hope that death may not end for mankind.  

 

In verse 14 thru 17, Job begins with this question to God; “If a man dies, shall he live again?”  Job wonders could I rise from the grave, could I have fellowship with God?  We must recall that Job is on the other side of the cross and is looking forward to a Messiah that would take his case before a Holy God.  In that, you and I are this side of the cross and have had Jesus take our place we find rest in these words of Jesus. In John 14:1-3, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice