Read Job 19:25-27 and compare it with John 1:18 and 1 Timothy 6:16. When and under what circumstances was he expecting to “see God”?
Life is not fair. We see this especially when we see the “good” suffering and the “unrighteous” prospering (see Psalm 73:12-17, Malachi 3:14-18). For example, Job was “blameless and upright” and “feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1, NKJV).
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Even so, God allowed Satan to afflict him in several disastrous ways. Physically, his body was ravaged by painful disease (Job 2:1-8). Materially, he lost large portions of his livestock and properties (Job 1:13-17). Within his household, he lost his servants and even his own children (Job 1:16, Job 1:18). And emotionally, he was surrounded by friends who accused him of being an impenitent sinner who deserved what he was facing (Job 4:1-5:27, Job 8:1-22, Job 11:1-20, etc.). Even his own wife stated, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9, NKJV).
Job did not realize that he had become the epicenter of a deep cosmic struggle between God and Satan. Afflicted by those struggles, Job regretted his own birth and wished that he had never been born (Job 3:1-26). Yet, his unconditional faithfulness to God is well expressed in the words, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15, NKJV). Even imagining that soon his life would end, he kept his assurance that death would not have the final word. With strong conviction he stated that although he would die, his Redeemer would one day stand up and he, Job himself, would see God in his own flesh (Job 19:25-27). “This is an unmistakable glimpse of the resurrection.” — The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 549.
What a glorious hope in the midst of such a tragedy! Surrounded by sickness and pain, economic collapse, social reproach, and emotional breakdown, Job could still anticipate the day when he would rise from the dead and behold his beloved Redeemer. Actually, Job’s statement about the resurrection was filled with the same assurance that centuries later Martha uttered to Jesus: “I know that he [Lazarus] will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24, NKJV). Job, like Martha, had to claim this promise by faith, even though, unlike Job, Martha would soon be given powerful empirical evidence for her belief.
| How can we learn to trust God even amid the harsh unfairness of life? |
(0)The post Sunday: “I Shall See God” first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Sunday: “I Shall See God” appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
