Do Job’s Questions in Job Chapter 17 Have an Answer?

Job’s friends had been wrongly minimizing his severe difficulties. They were dealing superficia1ly with his deep problems and this caused Job in Job 17:12 (NIV) to say—These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness they say, "Light is near." Does that sound a little bit like they were glibly telling Job, "Brace up, Old Friend, it’s all going to work out O.K."? Job knew that all would ultimately turn out all right (vs. 9—KJV: .he that hath clean bands shall be stronger and stronger), but he did not need these friends mouthing pious platitudes in the face of his own personal disaster.

Job had already chided them for their inappropriate and ill-chosen counsel: Job 17:10 (NIV) — But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you." And he had tried to make them aware of his disturbed mental and physical condition when he said: Job 17:11 (KJV)—"My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart."


In verses 13-14, Job continued to address these friends by asserting that if four propositions were true, four serious questions would emerge. Job’s four "iffy" propositions will be labeled I 2, 3, and 4. Then the letters a, b, c, and d will be used to designate each of his resulting question. The propositions and the questions will be paraphrased from the NIV.

IF:

1. Job’s only home in years ahead was going to be Sheol,

2. he would be unrolling his bed in darkness,

3. Job were slated to acknowledge decay or corruption to he his father, and

4. maggots were to become his mother and his sister,

THEN:

a. Where is my hope?

b. Who can see any hope for me?

c. Will it (my hope) go down to the gates of Sheol? And

d. Will we (perhaps meaning Job and his hope?) descend together into the dust?

From your knowledge of the rest of God’s Word, do you think that Job’s four propositions (1, 2 3, and 4) were going to become permanent situations? If those conditions were not to be permanent, Job did not know this as well as we do today. Answers to Job’s four questions (a, b, c, and d) can be found in God’s later revelations to mankind. Check it out.

It all seemed futile to Job when he asked (a) where then is my hope? Job, such hope is located in God the Son, Jesus Christ—Matthew 12:21 KJV)... And in His name shall the gentiles trust [hope]. Matthew 12:21 is one of the many OPEN ENDED promises of the Bible, promises that some folk try to limit by misusing other scriptures that deal specifically with the fact that God does not reconcile all people NOW, during this age—some are lost and will face God’s wise judgment.

In I Timothy 4:10, for example, Paul said that there is a special salvation for those people who are NOW possessing a God-given faith in Christ. In that same verse, however Paul also said that God is the Savior of all human beings! God’s salvation of believers now does not negate His reconciliation of all lost people later---after the judgment. The simple statement in Matthew .2:21 has no limitations whatsoever. It clearly implies that all the many nations (past, present, and future) will somehow, someday be putting all their hope in Christ.

Christ supplies the faith and the grace that allow us to…stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2, KJV). Paul had more to say concerning this hope in Romans 5:5 (NIV): And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us.

God the Son is Jesus, the Christ, and He gives us access to hope. Hope turns our attention to the glory of God (God the Father). The Bible also says that God pours love into our hearts by the work of God the Holy Spirit. Do these verses of Romans 5 suggest that all three persons of the triune Godhead are somehow involved in answering Job’s question—"where is hope"? Whatever your answer is, the Key Player in supplying hope is God the Son. Check any concordance of the KJV and you will discover over 55 references to hope in the New Testament alone. Most of them focus on Christ’s work and the future He has prepared for us with Him!

           (b) Who can see any hope for me? God can, Job, because He is the God of hope---(Romans 15:13, KJV) Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and pence in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit]. Christ in the believer is the One who "sees" hope for us and it is He who also engenders that same hope (Colossians 127)…Christ In you, the hope of glory.

The hope itself is a living hope, because Christ came back from the grave---(I Peter 1:3, NIV)…In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. That hope will lead us to a special grace and fulfillment when Christ is revealed [in His return]---(1 Peter 1:13, NIV)…set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

           (c) Will it [my hope] go down to the gates of Sheol? Do Job’s words here sound like he believed that "hope" somehow centers in a person? If so, we have seen in other passages that hope does hinge on the person of Christ and on all three Persons of the Godhead, for that matter. Did Job wonder if this "hope-personified" would enter ("go down to") the gates of sheol with him? If so, Christ fills the bill. As a Person, He actually tasted death for every other human being---Hebrews 2:9.

Remember that the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek noun Hades are equivalent terms, both designating the imperceptible condition of the dead. Neither of them has anything to do with a "place of everlasting torment" that is so widely promoted by believers who ignore the fact that God will ultimately reconcile all people---Colossians 1:20. Job’s question, therefore, does not concern hell but death itself. Other verses tell us that no one goes to hell forever!

Would this "hope" be able to go to the very place that Job and all of us fear to enter--- down to and through the very gates of death? Yes---Christ entered those deadly gates (Hebrews 2 14), and He thereby freed every individual who has ever lived in the bondage and fear of death! And, Christ not only went down to the very gates of Hades, He also holds the keys to that domain of the dead and will liberate all people---Revelation 1:18

Christ’s body is the Church and he said that (Matthew 16:18, NIV…The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. The "it" here is the Church, which means that those who are believers will be vivified, not all at once of course (1 Corinthians 15:23, NIV) But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Christ Himself went down to the gates of Sheol, which is death, and Sheol was unable to prevail against Him or His Church. Job’s hope will go down to the gates of Sheol!

           (d) Will we descend together into the dust? Job’s last question is very similar to the previous one and, like it, finds clear answers in God’s Word. Although Christ died, it is clear that his body was vivified after only three days, and thus it did not undergo corruption (decay)---Acts 13:25, NIV:…You will not let your Holy One see decay.

Because His body did not see decay, it did not return to dust our dead bodies will return to dust (Ecclesiastes 12:7). But because "our Hope entered the grave, we will be raised from the dust of decay: Isaiah 26:19, NIV---But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy…the earth will give birth to her dead. Psalm 22:29 (NIV)…all who kneel in the dust will bow down before him---those who cannot keep themselves alive.

Paul also noted that it is God…who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17, NIV). (1 Timothy 4:9-11)…we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things.

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