"IF I WAIT"

JOB 17:1

A. "IF I WAIT, THE GRAVE IS MINE HOUSE; I HAVE MADE MY BED IN THE DARKNESS. I HAVE SAID TO CORRUPTION, THOU ART MY FATHER; TO THE WORM, THOU ART MY MOTHER, AND MY SISTER. AND WHERE IS NOW MY HOPE? AS FOR MY HOPE, WHO SHALL SEE IT? THEY SHALL GO DOWN TO THE BAR OF THE PIT, WHEN OUR REST TOGETHER IS IN THE DUST"
  1. Thus Job pictures to his friends:
    1. What happens when man dies
    2. What death will do to man formed of the dust of the earth
    3. He sees no exception of any mortal - all are destined to die and to be dissolved by death
  2. What is mine hope?
    1. The Bible answers - is simple faith in Jesus Christ is our hope - John 3:16
    2. Said Jesus to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life" - John 11:25
    3. Man's hope centers in the first resurrection - Rev. 20:6 B. "IF I WAIT"
  3. Man's waiting place - where is it?
    1. There is great confusion among men as to man's waiting place
    2. Some say that when people die they wait in some prearranged place - either in Limbo a place of silence or Paradise or Purgatory - a place of purification of the soul before it can go to heaven
  4. The Bible answer as to man's waiting place:
    1. Job points to the grave as the place where one goes when one dies, "If I wait, the grave is mine house" - Job 17:13
    2. Daniel speaks of the dead that they sleep in the dust of the earth - Dan. 12:2
    3. Our Saviour says, that all that are in the graves shall hear His voice" - John 5:28-29
    4. In Ezekiel the Lord says, "Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves" - Ez. 37:12-13
    5. The Lord Jesus called Lazarus, not out of Paradise, nor from Purgatory, nor out of Limbo, but out of the tomb - John 11:39-40 C. THE APOSTLE PAUL GIVES US THE WORDS OF ASSURANCE AND COMFORT IN THE HOUR OF SORROW AND BEREAVEMENT
  5. He emphasizes:
    1. The second coming of Jesus Christ, and calls it "the blessed hope" - Titus 2:13
    2. He shows that the dead in Christ will rise first at His appearing - I Cor. 15:21-23; I Thes. 4:16
    3. He assures us further, that when we take our trip to heaven, all we go together - not as some suggest, each when he or she die - I Thes. 4:16-17
  6. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words":
    1. What words? - the words he wrote especially in I Thes. 4:13-18
    2. If Paul is correct and we sincerely believe that he speaks the truth in Christ, then those who seek to comfort the bereaved by telling them that their loved one is in Paradise - they hold out to them a false hope - a hope that has no basis in the word of God
    3. Said Jesus, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" - John 8:32
    4. What a terrible disillusionment it will be for the people to discover someday that the comfort they received from their shepherds was not true - Hosea 10:13; Zech. 10:2
  7. "If I wait, the grave is my house"
    1. Job spoke the truth; the Spirit of truth had given him this information - why not believe it
    2. Job's words are in harmony with the divine decree spoken to Adam, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" - Gen. 3:17-19
  8. True and reassuring comfort:
    1. Can come only from the God of all comfort - 2 Cor. 1:3
    2. This comfort is based upon the truth - the facts as revealed in the Bible; and not upon the fancy of some false prophet
    3. For Bible based comfort, let us look to the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the just for reassurance and comfort


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