Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/82

74 God not only hid him from the destruction of the old world, but reserved him for the reparation of a new world. The bodies of the saints shall not be forgotten in the grave; there is a time appointed, a time set, for their being inquired after. We cannot be sure that we shall look through the darkness of our present troubles, and see good days after them in this world; but if we can but get well to the grave, we may with an eye of faith look through the darkness of that, as Job here, and see better days on the other side it, in a better world.

2. A holy resolution patiently to attend the will of God both in his death and in his resurrection; (v. 14.) ''If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait until my change come''. Job's friends proving miserable comforters, he set himself to be the more his own comforter; his case was now bad, but he pleases himself with the expectation of a change. I think it can not be meant of his return to a prosperous condition in this world. His friends indeed flattered him with the hopes of that, but he himself all along despaired of it. Comforts founded upon uncertainties, at best, must needs be uncertain comforts; and therefore, no doubt, it is something more sure than that which he here bears up himself with the expectation of. The change he waits for must, therefore, be understood, either, (1.) Of the change of the resurrection, when the vile body shall be changed, (Phil. iii. 21.) and a great and glorious change it will be; and then that question, If a man die, shall he live again? must be taken by way of admiration. "Strange! Shall these dry bones live! If so, all the time appointed for the continuance of the separation between soul and body, my separate soul shall wait until that change comes, when it shall be united again to the body, and my flesh also shall rest in hope," Ps. xvi. 9. Or, (2.) Of the change at death. "If a man die, shall he live again? No, not such a life as he now lives; and therefore I will patiently wait until that change comes, which will put a period to my calamities, and not impatiently wish for the anticipation of it, as I have done." Observe here, [1.] That it is a serious thing to die, it is a work by itself. It is a change; there is a visible change in the body, its appearance altered, its actions brought to an end, but a greater change with the soul, which quits the body, and removes to the world of spirits, finishes its state of probation, and enters upon that of retribution. This change will come, and it will be a final change, not like the transmutations of the elements, which return to their former state. No, we must die, not thus to live again. It is but once to die, and that had need be well done that is to be done but once. An error here is fatal, conclusive, and not again to be rectified. [2.] That therefore it is the duty of every one of us to wait for that change, and to continue waiting all the days of our appointed time. The time of life is an appointed time; that time is to be reckoned by days, and those days are to be spent in waiting, for our change. That is, First, We must expect that it will come, and think much of it. Secondly, We must desire that it would come, as those that long to be with Christ. Thirdly, We must be willing to tarry until it does come, as those that believe God's time to be the best. Fourthly, We must give diligence to get ready against it comes, that it may be a blessed change to us.

3. A joyful expectation of bliss and satisfaction in this; (v. 15.) Then thou shalt call, and I will answer thee. Now, he was under such a cloud, that he could not, he durst not, answer; (ch. ix. 15, 35.—xiii. 22.) but he comforted himself with this, that there would come a time when God would call, and he should answer; then, that is, (1.) At the resurrection; "Thou shalt call me out of the grave, by the voice of the archangel, and I will answer, and come at the call." The body is the work of God's hands, and he will have a desire to that, having prepared a glory for it. Or, (2.) At death; "Thou shalt call my body to the grave, and my soul to thyself, and I will answer, Ready, Lord, ready, coming, coming; here I am." Gracious souls can cheerfully answer death's summons, and appear to his writ. Their spirits are not forcibly required from them, (as Luke xii. 20.) but willingly resigned by them, and the earthly tabernacle not violently pulled down, but voluntarily laid down; with this assurance, "Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands; thou hast mercy in store for me, not only as made by thy providence, but new-made by thy grace; otherwise he that made them will not save them. Note, Grace in the soul is the work of God's own hands, and therefore he will not forsake it in this world, (Ps. cxxxviii. 8.) but will have a desire to it, to perfect it in the other, and to crown it with endless glory.

16. For now thou numberest my steps; dost thou not watch over my sin? 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. 19. The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. 20. Thou prevailest for ever against him; and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. 21. His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

Job here returns to his complaints; and though he is not without hope of future bliss, he finds it very hard to get over his present grievances.

I. He complains of the particular hardships he apprehended himself under from the strictness of God's justice, v. 16, 17. Therefore he longed to go hence to that world where God's wrath will be past, because now he was under the continual tokens of it, as a child, under the severe discipline of the rod, longs to be of age. "When shall my change come? For now thou seemest to me to number my steps, and watch over my sin, and seal it up in a bag, as bills of indictment are kept safe, to be produced against the prisoner." See Deut. xxxii. 34. "Thou takest all advantages against me, old scores are called over, every infirmity is animadverted upon, and no sooner is a false step taken, than I am beaten for it." Now, 1. Job does right to the divine justice, in owning that he smarted for his sins and transgressions, that he had done enough to deserve all that was laid upon him; for there was sin in all his steps, and he was guilty of transgression enough to bring all this ruin upon him, if it were strictly inquired into: he is far from saying that he perishes being innocent. But, 2. He does wrong to the divine goodness, in suggesting that God was extreme to mark what he did amiss, and made the worst of every thing: he spake to this purport, ch. xiii. 27. It was unadvisedly said, and therefore we will not dwell too much upon it. God does indeed see all our sins, he sees sin in his own people, but he is not severe in reckoning with us, nor is the law ever stretched against us, but we are