Job on the STATE OF THE DEAD

"Note that Job 7:9-10 tells us that he who goes down to the grave

“does not come back up” (until the resurrection, of course—For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 

Job 19:25-26)." F.D. Nichol

Creation Moment 3/14/2025 - How God Presented Himself to Job

He Presented Himself to Job as CREATOR

"Job had pleaded for an interview with God in which his innocence could be established (Job 13:3).
The Lord plies Job with one rhetorical question after another, emphasizing God’s greatness as Creator:
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell Me, if you have understanding. 

Who determined its measurements—surely you know! 

Or who stretched the line upon it? 

On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? …Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 

Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? 

Declare, if you know all this” (38:4–7,17–18)." 

CMI

Creation Moment 4/30/2024 - Job's Astronomy Series: Arcturus

Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Job 38:32

"God described Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. God challenged Job to “guide Arcturus with his sons.” With this challenge, God appeared to be saying, “Hey Job, you think you can direct Arcturus anywhere you want? Well, I can!” 

While Arcturus certainly appeared in antiquity to be a single star, in 1971 astronomers discovered there were 52 additional stars connected directionally with Arcturus (known now as the Arcturus stream). 

Interestingly, God described Arcturus as having “sons” and Charles Burckhalter, of the Chabot Observatory, (again quoted in Wonder Worlds) said “these stars are a law unto themselves.” 

Serviss added, “Arcturus is one of the greatest suns in the universe, is a runaway whose speed of flight is 257 miles per second. Arcturus, we have every reason to believe, possesses thousands of times the mass of our sun… Our sun is traveling only 12 ½ miles a second, but Arcturus is traveling 257 miles a second…” 

Burckhalter affirmed this description of Arcturus, saying, “This high velocity places Arcturus in that very small class of stars that apparently are a law unto themselves. He is an outsider, a visitor, a stranger within the gates; to speak plainly, Arcturus is a runaway. Newton gives the velocity of a star under control as not more than 25 miles a second, and Arcturus is going 257 miles a second. Therefore, combined attraction of all the stars we know cannot stop him or even turn him in his path.” 

Arcturus and “his sons” are on a course all their own. 

Only God has the power to guide them, just as described in the ancient book of Job." 

J.W. Wallace

Creation Moment 4/29/2024 - Job's Astronomy Series: Orion

Canst thou .... loose the bands of Orion? Job 38:31

"God once again challenged Job, this time to “loose the bands of Orion.” God was referencing the “belt” of Orion; the three stars forming the linear “band” at Orion’s waist. 

God appeared to be challenging Job in just the opposite way he had in the first portion of the verse. 

*Rather than bind the Pleiades, God challenged Job to loosen Orion. It’s as if He was saying, “Hey Job, you think you can loosen Orion’s belt? Well, I can!” 

Orion’s belt is formed by two stars (Alnilam, and Mintaka) and one star cluster (Alnitak). Alnitak is actually a triple star system at the eastern edge of Orion’s belt. 

These stars (along with all the other stars forming Orion) are not gravitationally bound like those in Pleiades. Instead, the stars of Orion’s belt are heading in different directions. 

Garrett P. Serviss, a noted astronomer, wrote about the bands of Orion in his book, Curiosities of the Sky: “The great figure of Orion appears to be more lasting, not because its stars are physically

connected, but because of their great distance, which renders their movements too deliberate to be exactly ascertained. Two of the greatest of its stars, Betelgeuse and Rigel, possess, as far as has been ascertained, no perceptible motion across the line of sight, but there is a little movement perceptible in the ‘Belt.’ At the present time this consists of an almost perfect straight line, a row of second-magnitude stars about equally spaced and of the most striking beauty. In the course of time, however, the two right-hand stars, Mintaka and Alnilam will approach each other and form a naked-eye double, but the third, Alnita, will drift away eastward, so that the ‘Belt’ will no longer exist.” 

Unlike the Pleaides clusters, the stars in the band of Orion do not share a common trajectory. 

In the course of time, Orion’s belt will be loosened just as God told Job."

J.W. Wallace

Creation Moment 4/28/2024 - Job's Astronomy Series: Pleiades

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades... Job 38:31

"God challenged Job’s ability to “bind the sweet influences of Pleiades.” 

It’s as if He was saying, “Hey Job, you think you can keep Pleiades

together? Well, I can!” 

As it turns out, the Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters) is an open star cluster in the constellation of Taurus. 

It is classified as an open cluster because it is a group of hundreds of stars formed from the same cosmic cloud.

Most importantly, they are bound to one another by mutual gravitational attraction. 

Isabel Lewis of the United States Naval Observatory (quoted by Phillip L. Knox in Wonder Worlds) said, “Astronomers have

identified 250 stars as actual members of this group, all sharing in a common motion and drifting through space in the same direction.” Lewis said they are “journeying onward together through the immensity of space.” 

Dr. Robert J. Trumpler (quoted in the same book) said, “Over 25,000 individual measures of the Pleiades stars are now available, and their study led to the important discovery that the whole cluster is moving in a southeasterly direction. The Pleiades stars may thus be compared to a swarm of birds, flying together to a distant goal. This leaves no doubt that the Pleiades are not a temporary or accidental agglomeration of stars, but a system in which the stars are bound together by a close kinship.” 

From our perspective on Earth, the Pleiades will not change in appearance; these stars are marching together in formation toward the same destination, bound in unison, just as God described them."
J.W. Wallace

Job 19:26: The "sum and substance of heaven"

In my flesh shall I see God. Job 19:26

"Mark the subject of Job's devout anticipation "I shall see God." 

He does not say, —"I shall see the pearly gates, I shall behold the walls of jasper, I shall gaze upon the crowns of gold," but "I shall see God." 

This is the sum and substance of heaven, this is the joyful hope of all believers.  

They love to behold Him in communion and in prayer; but there in heaven they shall have an open and unclouded vision, and thus seeing "Him as He is," shall be made completely like Him. 

Likeness to God—what can we wish for more? 

And a sight of God—what can we desire better? 

---Think not that this will be a narrow sphere for the mind to dwell in. It is but one source of delight, but that source is infinite. 

All earthly brightness fades and darkens as we gaze upon it, but here is a brightness which can never dim, a glory which can never fade—"I shall see God."

Charles Spurgeon

Underlying Lesson of the Book of Job

Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, 

Doth Job fear God for nought? 

Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, 

and about all that he hath on every side? 

thou hast blessed the work of his hands, 

and his substance is increased in the land. 

But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, 

and he will curse thee to thy face. 

And the LORD said unto Satan, 

Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; 

only upon himself put not forth thine hand. 

                                     And Satan answered the LORD, and said, 

Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, 

and he will curse thee to thy face. 

And the LORD said unto Satan, 

Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

Job 9-12/2:4-6

1) Job's friends blamed Job. They thought he ticked off God.......
Eliphaz- Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.But now it is come upon thee,

and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Job 4:4,5,7
Bildad- Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: Job 8:20
Zophar- If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. Job 11:14

2) Jobs servants and wife thought it was God's doing......
Servants- The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned

up the sheep. Job 1:6
Wife- And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. Job 2:8,9

***But it was Lucifer who was behind it all......

So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, 

and smote Job 

with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

Job 2:7

SUMMARY: 

1) We bring evil upon ourselves by our choices: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7 or 

2) Lucifer does: So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job. Job 2:7

Lesson of Job's First Prayer

O that I knew where I might find Him! Job 23:3

"In Job's uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The longing

desire of an afflicted child of God is once more to see his Father's face.

His first prayer is not "O that I might be healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my body!" nor even "O that I might see my children restored from the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from the hand of the spoiler!" but the first and uppermost cry is, "O that I knew where I might find HIM, who is my God! that I might come even to His seat!"

Job's desire to commune with God was intensified by the failure of all other sources of consolation. 

--The patriarch turned away from his sorry friends, and looked up to the celestial throne.

--He bids farewell to earth-born hopes, and cries, "O that I knew where I might find my God!" 

Nothing teaches us so much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we learn the emptiness of all besides. Turning away with bitter scorn from earth's hives, where we find no honey, but many sharp stings, we rejoice in Him whose faithful word is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb." 

Charles Spurgeon

The Flood in Job

"Job’s friend, Eliphaz, said: “Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood” (Job 22:15,16). Referring to God’s promise after the flood, Job said: “He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end” (Job 26:10).

The general atmosphere of the entire book of Job seems to reflect the

conditions shortly after the flood. 

Modern skeptics deny that such a flood ever occurred, but it was a real and terrible event to those whose immediate ancestors had gone through it! 

Today, its testimony is preserved not only in the Bible 

--and ancient traditions, 

but also 

--in the flood sediments themselves, now seen everywhere as the fossil-bearing rocks of the earth’s crust." HMM

So Just How Bad Was Job's Physical Condition?

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place;....And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, .....they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

Job 2:11,12

Job's Q & A on State of the Dead

"If the grave is such a place, and if death is a sleep, is it, as atheism and infidelity assert, an eternal sleep? 

 

Job puts the question direct:  

Q: If a man die shall he live again? 

This is the very question at issue; and he answers it in the language that immediately follows; 

A: All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. Job xiv,14. 

 

Turning to some further testimony of Job's, we read, If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 

And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? 

If he once went into a state of death, where was his hope? 

If he waited, the grave was to be his house.  

This shows us, plainly enough, 

--- that the waiting to which he refers, is waiting in the grave; 

--- and that the change that is to follow is the change that takes place from that condition. 

 

Q: And what is that change? 

A: Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. 

That is it. The Lord will call him from his lowly resting-place. 

Man, the noblest work of God, will not be forgotten and left to perish.  

The Lord will have a desire to the work of his hands. 

The voice of the archangel and the trump of God, will be heard, calling them forth, and they will arise at the summons. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee."

Uriah Smith

Mire

 Can the rush grow up without mire? Job 8:11

 

"THE rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is

no substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence; for this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution. 

 

The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root; let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. 

 Is this my case?

 

 Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable? 

Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from His hands? 

If so I am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys....

---The rush cannot grow without mire, 

---but plants of the Lord's right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought. 

 Lord, let me find my life in Thee, and not in the mire of this world's favor or gain." Charles Spurgeon

Digging Deep into That "Change" of Job 14

"Job says: "All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my

change comes" (Job 14:14).

This change is at the resurrection, for says Paul, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet" (1 Cor. 15:51, 52).

Again says Job: "If I wait for the grave as my house, if I make my bed in the darkness, where then is my hope?" (Job 17:13-15).

Here it is: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27)."
A.T.Jones

Is there Something You Need to Do Today? [Job 22:23]

If you return to the Almighty,
---you will be restored;
If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent..
Job 22:23