Till My Change Comes
Job had quite impressive faith. He believed in life after this body is put down in death. He said, "If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes" (Job 14:14). It is evident that Job believed in a change that will take place. A few verses earlier he said a man "breathes his last and where is he?" (Job 14:10), and "So a man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be aroused from their sleep" (Job 14:12). When a man dies his soul and spirit separate from the body, and the spirit goes to the unseen realm. Sheol (Hebrew term for the grave or realm of departed spirits) and Hades (Greek term for the unseen realm of departed spirits) speak to that place unseen to the human eyes.
But, despite the fact that all men go to that unseen realm at death, there is still yet a change, even from that state of being. Paul said, "we shall not all sleep" (a dead body looks asleep). To Christians, death is merely temporarily like going to sleep. Because Jesus came back from death and promised we will too, then we do not see death as the end, but merely sleep. We will wake up and be changed (I Corinthians 15:51-52). So, we will wait till our change comes! But, the change will not be good for all. There will be a resurrection of all, but for many, it will be a resurrection to condemnation (John 5:28f), and to the righteous, it will be a resurrection to eternal, glorious life. Job knew his change would be good because he held to his integrity and trusted in God. His suffering now would change for the better. Let us each make sure that our change will be a glorious and wonderful change. Preparation for that must take place now.
