Job 13:13-14:22

“If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.” (Job 14:14, ESV)

Job knew that his days were short, and they were determined by the LORD. He could feel himself wasting away and figured it was only a matter of time before he lay down not to rise again.

“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?” (Job 14:10, NLT)

Job did not have the revelation of the afterlife that we have. He thought that the soul slept after death (v. 12). He did not have the teaching of Jesus that there is consciousness in Hades (Luke 16:19-31). Believers in Christ today have confidence that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Nevertheless, Job had a glimmer of hope. He believed that after he waited, his renewal would come. God would long for the creature whom He had made (v. 15).

But unbelievers have no such hope in death. To them it is only darkness, uncertainty and fear. Believers in Jesus Christ, on the other hand, have real hope of everlasting life based upon the death and resurrection of Christ and the promises of God. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we know that our Good Shepherd is with us.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25–26, NKJV)