Original Secession Magazine Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. This, it need not be said, is not an hypothetical inquiry as to what may be in this life, as if it was a possible thing that a man might not die; for a little before, he said of man in relation to the law of his appointed mortality, "his days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee, Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass" (ver. 5). The inquiry has reference to what shall be, or shall not be, after death. And what, it has been asked, was Job's own view? Directly opposite opinions have been entertained in regard to it. One writer of considerable note says, "The answer which Job's consciousness, ignorant of anything better, alone can give is, No, there is no life after death. It is, however, no less a craving of his heart that gives rise to the wish; it is the most favourable thought — a desirable possibility — which, if it were but a reality, would comfort him under all present suffering, 'all the days of my warfare' (of my appointed time) 'would I wait until my change came.'" Farther on he says "even Job is without any superior knowledge respecting the future life. He denies a resurrection and eternal life, not as one who has a knowledge of them, and will not however know anything about them, but he really knows nothing of them: our earthly life seems to him to flow on into the darkness of Sheol, and onward beyond Sheol man has no further existence." Entertaining such views, it is not at all to be wondered at, that in these words Job is viewed as asserting his belief that death is the extinction of being, and that for man there is no waking and no rising for evermore (vers. 7-12). Others have entertained a very different opinion as to the answer which Job would have given to the question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Crushed as Job was by his afflictions, both in body and in mind, I do not think that he entertained such a cheerless view of death, and of a future state. Possibly they mistake Job's hope and prospects for the future, not less than his three friends did his character and the probable design of his sufferings, who do not know, or who are unable to perceive, that it was his hope of a future life, and of complete vindication, implying honour and happiness in a future state, which almost alone sustained him under his unusual load of troubles. There are several arguments that might be urged to show that Job believed in a future state, both of rewards and of punishments, or generally, of a life beyond the grave. First, Job's sacrifices, when he was afraid that his children had sinned in their feasting, show that he both knew the evil of sin, and had faith in the only atoning sacrifice of a Redeemer. Second, Job showed that he knew of, and believed in a future state of retribution and in the last judgment, when he said, "Be ye afraid of the sword; for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment" (Job 19:29). And again, when he said, "The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath" (Job 21:30). Third, Job's words cannot be explained in any consistency with his aspirations, unless we admit that he believed in the resurrection of his body, when he said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," etc. In the context preceding that inquiry, "If a man die, shall he live again?" we readily admit that Job asserts the incontrovertible truth that when a man dies, he lives no more at all again in this world, when he says, "But man dieth, and giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" Yet at the same time we maintain that as Enoch the seventh from Adam was enabled to speak of, "the Lord coming with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all," so might Job be enabled by the same spirit of inspiration, to use words which expressed his belief in the resurrection of the dead at the dissolution of all things, and that probably he did so when he said, "Man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of sleep" (ver. 12). What has been said indicates what must be our ultimate conclusion in respect of the inquiry, "If a man die, shall he live again?" But there are some things which would suggest a negative answer to the inquiry. As for example — 1. The structure and development of man's body do not give us reason to think that if a man dies he shall live again. There are many expressions in Scripture which are fitted to remind us of the frailty of our bodies. Thus it is declared "that all flesh is as grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of grass." So in like manner, our bodies are not formed of the harder substances in nature, such as stone and iron, but they consist of flesh, and blood, and bones, which are perishable in their own nature. They are also not only very susceptible of injury, but are very liable to be crushed, or destroyed by accident or by disease. There is not in our bodies any self-sustaining energy of power. We need food, and clothes, and sleep, to nourish and refresh them, and to repair their wasted energies; but all these suffice only for a short time. The gradual development of man's body also, through infancy and manhood, to old age, with its sure and unavoidable decay, seems to indicate a completed existence, which being fulfilled can have no continuance. 2. Observation and experience generally, say, No, in answer to this question, or that if a man die he shall not live again. Temporal death is the cessation of life in the present state of being. And who is there, that upon looking at the lifeless frame of one who is dead, at the motionless limbs that were once so active, and at the pale countenance once so full of intelligence and expression, but now so ghastly and so changed, could from anything that appears, entertain the slightest, hope that such an one shall ever live again? But personal observation in regard to this matter is confirmed by the general experience of mankind, from age to age. As a matter of fact, if a man dies he does not live again. None of those also whom death has gathered during all the ages that are past, are to be found restored to life again as mingling, with the inhabitants of this world, for "from that bourne no traveller returns." 3. The original cause and nature of death afford no reason to think that if a man die he shall live again. There is no information to be obtained from the light of nature as to the original cause and origin of death, although reason may arrive at the conclusion that it may be, and indeed must be, a penal evil. It is the Word of God alone, that is our only sure guide and instructor in regard to the original cause of death, and the circumstances and manner in which it entered into our world. "By one man," it is said, "sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death hath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Again we are told that "the wages of sin is death." It is then manifest from the Word of God, that death is the penalty of sin, of man's disobedience to the only Righteous Lawgiver, and of his rebellion against his Creator and King. An attentive consideration of death, might lead us, to the conclusion that it is and must be a penal evil inflicted upon our race. Man is dying from the moment of his birth. Does not "every circumstance bespeak the wrath of God against the work of His hands? He destroys it as if it were loathsome in His sight. This is not the chastisement of a father, but the vengeance of a judge." The original cause therefore, and the penal nature of death, do not afford ground to think that if a man die he shall live again. 4. The testimony of nature is not equal, and therefore while there is a possibility there is no certainty that if a man die he shall live again. It must be granted that in nature there are many deaths, and resurrections, which are very closely connected together. In the light of God's Word, we may view some of them at least as emblems of the resurrection of our bodies. But the simple occurrence of these conveys of itself no certainty to us that if a man die he shall live again. 5. The powers and faculties of the soul render it not improbable that if a man die he shall live again. Man is constituted in his present state of being, of a body and of a soul. These mutually act upon each other, but they have distinct properties. Man is capable of the knowledge of God, and of His will, or of moral and religious truth and duty. He can entertain the conception of glory, honour, and immortality, in a higher and future state of being. Man has a conscience, which can be presently actuated in the discharge of the duties he owes to himself, and to his fellow men, and above all to God, by conceptions of God, and of what is right and wrong towards Him. Conscience can be presently filled with the dread of His wrath, or tranquillised by assurances of His favour, based upon grounds which are rational and not upon the imagination or fancy. It is probable, therefore, that though the body dies, the soul must live forever, for all these powers would be useless if the soul were at death to "lie down in everlasting darkness, and mingle with the clods of the valley." 6. The Word of God gives us the most explicit assurance of the future existence of the soul. 7. That the Word of God declares to us not only the immortality of the soul, but the certainty of the resurrection of the body. (Original Secession Magazine.) Parallel Verses KJV: If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. |
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