In the last few weeks I have been speaking on First Corinthians.
One of the threads has been “The results of Christ’s work on the Cross” and all that flows from that great work on our behalf. It is said that Chafer identified 33 different things that take place when we accept the Lord as our Saviour.
The Resurrection is one of those things that flows from His great work.
As I was preparing a message on the Resurrection, my thoughts were taken to the book of Job where this dear man wrestles with what was going on in his life. He was not aware of the “behind the scenes” story.
I was struck by two of his statements:
In 14:14 he asks: “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes.” Of course, this is not the whole of his query; it is much longer than that; but it sums it up quite concisely. This is a question we all ask from time to time. Is our physical death the end of the story?
The other statement comes in chapter 19, and is the one we often refer to. I want to quote the pertinent part of his answer to Bildad:
Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me!
Why do you persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
This is a remarkable statement. There is debate as to the time Job was written; whether in the days of Moses; perhaps in the days of the Patriarchs; perhaps in the days of Solomon; or at some other time. The debate focuses on the style of writing, the geographical regions mentioned, and so on. We can’t be sure. We each have our own idea, I know I have mine!
What is remarkable are the things he says about “his Redeemer” and what he says about the resurrection:
He tells us that the Redeemer was alive when he said these things. He tells us that the Redeemer would stand on the earth at last. We might also gather that he attributes deity to the Redeemer by his statement that he would see God.
Concerning the resurrection, he tells us it is a bodily event: “in my flesh I shall see God.” He also gives us an indication that it is a new body, since his skin would be destroyed. This reminds us of what Paul wrote in First Corinthians: what you plant is not what comes up. God gives it a body as He pleases.
It’s no wonder our Saviour told the Sadducees they neither knew the Scriptures nor the power of God in their denial of a resurrection. Of course, they did not give the same authority to most of the Scriptures as they did to the “Five of Moses.”
Does our heart yearn within us as we think on these things?