Job 14:1-22
Man Days Are Determined
1 “Man born of woman
is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He springs up like a flower and withers away;
like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
3 Do you fix your eye on such a one?
Will you bring him before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one!
5 Man’s days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired man.
7 “At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
10 But man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more.
11 As water disappears from the sea
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12 so man lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, men will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.
13 “If only you would hide me in the grave
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal to come.
15 You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made.
16 Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin.
17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.
18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place,
19 as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy man’s hope.
20 You overpower him once for all, and he is gone;
you change his countenance and send him away.
21 If his sons are honored, he does not know it;
if they are brought low, he does not see it.
22 He feels but the pain of his own body
and mourns only for himself.”
Job 19:25-29
My Redeemer Lives
25 I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
28 “If you say, ‘How we will hound him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him,’
29 you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment.”
John 11:21-27
Our Redeemer is the Resurrection and the Life
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Revelation 21:1-5
God Will Wipe Away All our Tears
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
In the Book of Job, Job looks at life and his life...This is hard to do, because we know are days are numbered...Job speaks of the brevity of life...We will all die...Even our Redeemer died on a cross...He left the earth, and the ones that He loved around Him...And this maybe is the hardest part of leaving and passing...We leave others behind...And others have left us behind...A there is this feeling of being apart, that rips into the heart and tears our heart apart...Our families, our friends, our loved ones leave us one by one...We mourn, we cry, and we feel pain...
We cannot stop death or cure it...Nor can we stop the suffering in life...So should we avoid it, and take our thoughts off of these things with aversion, and not even think about it like Job did...Each of decides on these things..
Man's days are determined by God...Man and woman live a life that goes by in a blink and is often full of trouble...The trouble is that sin gets in our way...And sin and trouble go hand in hand...Man is young but once, and he springs up like a beautiful strong flower and then he withers away as he ages and like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure...Man, is like this withering and dying flower, as he grows in years and suffers and dies...Then we go to the next world...So man’s days are determined; God has decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed...So should we look away from God...And should Go look away from us as man puts in his time like a hired hand?...We work as the hired man works...We put our time in, and then we are gone...Man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more...
Life on earth is not permanent -Job lays that out very frankly....God has made earthly life that way...“But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy man’s hope...You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away...If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it...He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”...And then He is gone from this earth...Nothing on earth stays permanent...
If a man dies, will he live again?...Job says after all the days of his hard service, I will wait for my renewal to come...But where does this renewal come from when we breath our last breath?...It comes from the One who resurrected from the dead...It comes from the One who has risen...It comes from One who calls Himself the Resurrection and the Life...The One who Job knew as his Redeemer...And Job knew that His Redeemer still lives, as does ours...Job knew that in the end his Redeemer will stand upon the earth...And that after his (Job's) skin had passed and been destroyed, that in his flesh he would see God...Job believed one day he would see God with his own eyes...And as we suffer through death and mourning and crying and pain, God is near...How Job's heart mysteriously yearned to see that holy day, when He would see His Father!!!...
God created life and gives life...He heals all things, everything...He even heals death...He healed death with the resurrection of His Son...When His dwelling place is among us and when He is with all His children -things will change...Our Father will wipe every tear from each of our eyes...There will be no more death’, no more mourning, no more crying, and no more pain...For the old order of earthly things will have passed away...He will make us new and full of life...No more suffering or tears...There are things that are sacred and holy...