“If a man dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14 NASB).

This is a fundamental question we all need to ask, because our answer will affect how we live. If we are only here for a few fleeting decades with nothing after death, then this life is ultimately hopeless. In such a case, we ought to despair.

But there is life after death. There is hope because of the One who created us, and we ought to trust Him with our lives. Even in the midst of difficult, painful circumstances, we can know God has our good and His glory at heart (Romans 8:28).

Job’s Struggle

Job wrestled with this question throughout his time of suffering. He wanted to trust in God, but as his suffering continued, he began to doubt. It was difficult to trust in God and live out of hope when he could not understand the purpose of his suffering or see the way it would end.  Although he had retained a right perspective on God at first, the long days began to wear him down.

Because of this, Job constantly returned to the idea of where his hope was. He longed for relief from his suffering, but he did not yet want to die because he did not understand what comes after death (Job 17:13–16). He thought it would be the end of everything—of his suffering, yes, but also of his hope.

Our Redeemer Lives

As the cycles of debate continued, Job grew more and more frustrated with his friends’ responses to his difficulty. Finally, out of his frustration, he spoke these words:

Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last, He will take His stand on the earth.
Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I will see God,
Whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself,
And whom my eyes will see, and not another. (Job 19:25–27)

Job hardly knew what he was saying. After all, the resurrection had not yet been revealed to believers on earth. They had only small pieces, but not the full picture given after Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection (Colossians 1:26).

But even though Job did not fully understand, his words speak profound truth about the resurrection. No matter what trials we have in this life, we can have hope in the midst of them, for God gives us present joy in Him as we wait for Jesus’ return and the new heavens and the new earth.

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