Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:40:50 -0500
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manan (June 16); BP: Job 14; RBTTY: Acts 2:22-47; Neh. 4-6
June 16 “The Question of the Ages”
“If a man die, shall he live again?”
Job 14:14a
We really can’t live until we can answer this question with confidence.
Death.
It comes like a thief in the night. Its presence is always felt, lurking there in the shadows like some unknown assailant, wondering when and how it will come. We try to deny its presence and our appointment with it—but, inwardly we know that one day it will come knocking at our door. . .to place its icy fingers around our neck or that of a loved one. . .which leaves us frantic and fearful. . .always staying busy and keeping our minds occupied. . .and ultimately spending our wealth to save our health. . .yet knowing “It’s appointed unto man once to die—and after this the Judgment” (Heb. 9:27).
Job’s theology (and that of his friends’) was limited. Full-blown revelation of Who God is and what He has prepared didn’t arrive until Jesus came on the scene. Thus, their theological “box” included “You live a good life, you’ll be blessed; you sin, you’ll suffer.” Likewise, their view of the afterlife was limited to that of Sheol, the place of the shadowy existence of the dead, both good and evil.
Thus, his question in today’s Manna is really more of the mournful musing of one who’s longing for more than what meets the eye. In vv.1-2 he said, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and is cut down; he flees also as a shadow and continues not.”
He then ponders how a felled tree can still bring forth new life from what seems like a hopeless situation (vv.7-9). No doubt he’d seen such a sight of tiny sprigs sprouting from the trunk or root-wad of a downed tree, where part of its roots were still sunk deeply into the earth. If it could do that, why couldn’t it happen for man (vv.10-12).
Interesting question, isn’t it, Pilgrim?
Assuredly it is—and one with which we must grapple:
“If a man die—and he/she will—shall he live again?”
Oh, dear Pilgrim, can you answer that question in your own life? Can you say with confidence, “I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that Day” (II Tim. 1:12)? Are you resting in the calm assurance when you’re “absent from the body you’ll be present with the Lord” (II Cor. 5:8)? Can you say with confidence, “I’m now ready to be offered. . .and when that time comes I’ll have fought a good fight, finished my course, kept the faith and there’s a crown of righteousness that awaits me” (II Tim. 4:6-8)?
If so, praise the Lord; if not, shouldn’t you find out why? Anyone who knows the Risen Lord in the new birth and has been pardoned by His blood should always be able to say, “Yes! A thousand times yes!” if someone asks, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (cf. I Cor. 15:51-58). May the Spirit give us an opportunity to do so today.
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