From the ministry archive
Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble
"Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? ... Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come" (From Job ch. 14). What a sobering, and powerful, and enlightening passage of scripture! And what a powerful dose of prophecy from Job, regarding the resurrection of the dead, and the glorifying of God's faithful. Job makes the point here about as well as it can be made, that we will have troubles in this life, and that we certainly are NOT going to remain alive in this world forever. We are going to leave this world, whether it be sooner, or whether it be later.
But let's look at the prophecy in this statement of Job: "So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more." The truth is that everyone in the history of the world who loved God, knew that there would be a resurrection from the dead. Job adds to this knowledge the fact that the resurrection will not happen "till the heavens be no more." We are told In 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 that both the 'dead in Christ,' and the living will be "caught up to meet the Lord" at his coming. But we are told in another place something else about what will happen when the Lord comes from heaven: "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together" (Rev. 6:14). Isaiah spoke of the exact same thing hundreds of years before the book of Revelation was written: "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll" (Isa. 34:4). So Job was absolutely on target in the holy Ghost when he said that the dead will not again rise "till the heavens be no more." Also his desire and request to be hidden in the grave until God's wrath is past, will be granted; because Isaiah again spoke of this very same thing in regard to the resurrection of the dead: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast" (Isa. 26:19,20). Isaiah actually speaks of Christ in this passage, without knowing it; because Jesus himself said that he IS "the resurrection and the life" (Jn. 11:25).
So the resurrection of the faithful saints will surely be the resurrection of their bodies to life again, along with Christ who rose from the dead in his body, and is the firstfruits of the resurrection from the dead (I Cor. 15:23). Because Jesus rose from the dead, and we are in him if we are baptized with his Spirit; then we are partakers of his resurrection, and we will be raised from the dead at his coming; provided we die in holiness, which is to say without sin in our lives (I Cor. 12:13; Rom. 6:3,4; Col. 2:12; Heb. 12:14). In regard to holiness being the prerequisite for being raised at Christ's coming, we have the beloved apostle's memorable admonition on the matter: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as [Christ] is pure" (I Jn. 3:2,3). It's really a simple equation to solve, as far as the necessity of our departing this life without sin, if we just look at what the scriptures tell us: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin...
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof... For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death... For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (From Rom. 6). The summary of that powerful passage is simply that Jesus came and died for us so that we could have the victory over both sin and its result, which is death. His resurrection from the dead was and IS that victory. So as the apostle stated, if we are baptized into Christ [i.e. by the Spirit, not water], then we are partakers of his death and his resurrection; as well as his victory over sin and death. That's just as good as it gets in this life, and then some! But back to Job, there is one more element of his prophecy that I haven't covered, and that is what happens to the faithful WHEN they are raised from the dead: "If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." This is vague language, but it is absolutely pinpoint truth as well. The 'change' that Job said he would be waiting for while in the grave, is the glorification of our body when Jesus raises us from the dead. Wow! This is where this just gets crazy good! The apostle Paul said it like this: "For our [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Philip. 3:20,21).
This is the same thing that John said in an earlier cited verse, where he said "we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is." My Goodness, what a promise to wait for! If we remain pure and refuse to be defeated by Satan and this world, whether dead or alive; we will literally have our bodies changed by the eternal substance of God, which is in fact his Spirit; and we will have a body exactly like the immortal body of Jesus. We will never age, or feel pain, or get tired, or be sick, or anything else that this world burdens our bodies with. Praise God! Paul spoke of this ultimate victory in another place like this: "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Cor. 15:51-54). So while the beginning of Job's statement was quite sobering, reminding us that we will have troubles in this world, he doesn't leave us hanging on that, but rather takes it to the most glorious promise and reality that exists; where all of those troubles will be "swallowed up in victory" for everyone who has given their heart, and soul, and body to Christ; and has never taken it back. Not only so, but Jesus has given us great and glorious promises FOR this life of troubles, like this one: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (Jn. 14:27). I count it a grand privilege to be able to update and expand on such a great word of prophecy from one of the mightiest and most beloved men of God in the history of the world. I look forward to seeing Job one day, and maybe having a long and sweet conversation about Jesus, while basking in the very presence of our Savior. Maybe Jesus would like to see and hear that as well. I really really look forward to seeing Jesus, don't you? God bless.
