Joni Eareckson Tada once spoke to a former pastor on the phone. He had broken his neck in a motor cycle accident. As a result he had to resign from his pastoral position. He was deeply depressed. His wife had asked Joni to contact him. She shared her own life story with Ron and read him scripture over the phone. There was no response. She sang to him and there was still no response. Finally she asked him “did you see the movie The Shawshank Redemption?” The movie is about a man called Andy DuPhrane who was unjustly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. One day in the prison yard he instructs his friend Red, that if he is ever freed that he was to go to a certain town and under a tree in a certain cornfield, to push aside some rocks. He would discover a tin can with some money. He was to use that money to cross the border to a little Mexican fishing village. Red does what he is told and in that tin can he found a note from Andy DuPhrane which said; “Red, never forget. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.” At that moment, Red realises that he has two choices. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” As Joni shared these words with the former pastor he spoke for the first time. A few months later he attended a Joni and friends family conference and shortly after was wheeled behind a pulpit to preach again.
JOB POINTS US TO OUR ULTIMATE HELP – READ JOB 19
In vrs 1, 2 Job castigates his friends for tormenting him with their words. In vrs 9-12 Job bares his soul and says that he feels as if God is against him. In vrs 10-12 he says; he tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies. His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent. In vrs 14, 19 he laments the loss of friends, in vrs 15, 16 he complains about servants disrespect. In vrs 18 he says even the children scorn him. In vrs 17 he turns the spotlight on his own family; my breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers. In vrs 20, 21 he laments his weakened physical condition. I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth. “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. I guess we can safely say that Job is suffering from spiritual depression. Nevertheless even in the doldrums he still has hope. He would have understood the words “get busy living or get busy dying.” In vrs 23, 24 he says that if he were given a hammer and chisel and a piece of rock he would know exactly what to chisel on his tombstone. He would chisel vrs 25-27. What hope filled words! I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! It is often said that there is no real expectation of the afterlife in the OT. While the resurrection of the body is certainly not as pronounced as in the NT there are definite OT references that point us to our hope beyond the grave. In Isaiah 26:19 we read; but your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. In Daniel 12:2 we read; multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Notice three quick thoughts about this hope.
- It is a personal hope
As Isaiah 26:19 says we will not just rise in ones or two’s but the entire company of the dead will rise. In 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 notice the references to being with one another in the resurrection. In vrs 14 we are told; God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. In vrs 17 we see that after that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds. These words imply ongoing personal relationships. - It is a material hope
The Scriptures do not just say that our souls will go to heaven but that our redemption involves our bodies. Notice Job’s insistence that after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. Christianity does not promote a spirit only future, but a renewed heavens and earth – a perfected material world devoid of suffering, tears, disease and death. We will not be immaterial – floating around like ghosts – we will walk, eat and hug. Job grasped this and this was part of the hope that sustained him. - It is a beatific hope
Lastly, and most importantly Christian hope is a beatific hope. What was it about the resurrection that thrilled Job the most? It was not the possibility of ongoing human relationships or even the renewal of close human relationships. What thrilled him the most? In vrs 26, 27 he says yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! It was this wonderful expectation of seeing and being with God that gripped him and gave him hope. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, 18 Paul is intrigued at the prospect of being with loved ones again but what gripped him the most? And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
If Job, could experience such hope in the midst of such despair we have all the more reason to. We can look to a risen Lord and declare along with the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 1:10 that he has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.