Job 7:9 – As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

Job 7:10 – He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

Job 7:11 – Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

They don’t come back … hello readers, continuing with the book of Job today, and skipping forward a bit in Job’s response to Eliphaz to something worth highlighting today. But basically where we are at is that Eliphaz had accused Job of having done something hideously wrong to get God angry at him for all this evil to have happened to him. Job was cursing life before that so Eliphaz stepped in saying hey God is good, how about get right with him?

The thing is, evil can happen to you without God being angry with you … that was one of his friends faulty presumptions.  Jesus said in this world we would have tribulation. Jesus came to save us from our sins, not from the trouble that we all face as human beings living in a sin cursed body in a sin cursed world. Eve took of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that’s the story of this world … we all get to know evil well. But through all this God would teach Job to trust him. He didn’t tell Job why, but Job realized he should shut up and just trust God. We all need to do that.

What this story shows is if you believe in or follow Jesus Christ for the wrong reasons, you will get shown up. If you follow God for good times, when bad times hit you’ll go cold on him. God gives us each day to choose to trust him or not. Faith is what pleases God, it is in fact impossible to please him without faith. Boy was Job’s faith tested, dead family, burnt business, covered in boils … and not just physical affliction, but emotional and spiritual anguish.

But today we are talking about the fact they don’t come back. What does that mean? Well in the verses quoted above that’s what Job is saying. He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. When you die, that’s it. There is no coming back. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27,28 – And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

If you are communicating with the dead, or praying to the dead, or thinking you see the ghost of departed loved ones … well you are mistaken. Job here was saying that since when you die you don’t come back, well I’ll say my piece! David in times of trouble said in Psalms 6:5 – For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? At the outset this all might seem depressing to you, but for someone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ death has no victory and the grave has no sting. Hebrews 9:28 quoted above gives us the key, if you have Christ death doesn’t reign over you.

In some ways it is a relief to know that once gone, there is nothing that has claim on you. That can be a good thing? Jesus said in Luke 12:5 – But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. You see, man can’t kill you after you’re dead, you’re beyond their grasp. But in death you are not beyond God’s judgement. People think they can escape God in death … but they can’t. Revelation 9:6 – And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. They think death is an escape, but it isn’t. Psalm 139:8 – If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

In death is a complete escape from this life. But it is not a termination of existence, far from it … it’s just what next. And what next? If you die in your sins, it’ll be going from this place to a far worse place. If you die a hard hearted unrepentant sinner, death is not good news. You see, right now you are able to get saved. Once you die, you cannot. Revelation 22:10,11 – And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. For you reader right now, the time is at hand. The Bible says now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation. If you die unjust, you will be unjust still. If you die filthy, you will be filthy still. You will take your current spiritual condition to your eternal state.

Death means you have no chance to go back in time to this life to put things right. That is depressing huh. But for Jesus Christ we’d all have no hope. However we have all the hope in the world. In fact the Bible calls the gospel the gospel of hope. Colossians 1:5 – For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. And the Bible says we have been begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ Jesus the Bible says. Death reigned from Adam … it has reigned over us all. But there is one which death had no hold on. Guess who that is? The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has done what noone else in existence could do. He got victory over death. He can get back that which is lost. You see, although you may not be able to go back, although you may not be able to tell a loved one sorry or how you feel or whatever, through Christ we have hope. God is the God of the living Jesus said. He can and does redeem that which is lost. He is the restorer, the redeemer, the healer.

So they don’t come back. That’s true. But in Jesus Christ we wait for a resurrection. A resurrection of life. And so through Jesus Christ we more than come back. I recommend reading 1 Thessalonians 4:13 – 18, but the end of those verses says to comfort one another with these words. What is the comfort … well is is the promise of resurrection and reunion in Christ at what is known as the rapture of the church. You see death can make us depressed, but we have real comfort and a real hope. Death isn’t the winner for a born again child of God. How many people “sleep” in Christ, but one day, we look for that blessed hope of a new glorified body. And if you die saved, you are in Christ, you actually never see death. Unsaved people experience death, THE death, but saved people sleep in Jesus Christ. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

What a hope, and I’ve barely done it justice in this blog. Death is such an enemy the Bible says, it’s been there from the start since man sinned, and it seemingly had no answer, but for Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead and is ascended into the heavens to die no more. That’s why you should believe on him and trust him, he will give you forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Job wanted to speak because he knew after his death, he wouldn’t be returning, so might as well say it. Well the old saying goes, only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last. Something like that, but time is short, we have all been given a chance to trust Jesus Christ and make our life count, and death doesn’t need to be the final death knell, it’s finality completely shattered by the risen Saviour.

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