Restoration and Resurrection

The Apostle Paul famously wrote to the Corinthians about the necessity of the resurrection. 

1 Corinthians 15:19 (ESV) If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

He's right. If we only have this life, we are sad people. Religious practice is a lame hobby if we are only gathered in our own midst and singing to a God we will never meet. 

Here we are just after the annual celebration of Christ's resurrection and we come to the end of Job's journey. He's been God's instrument to bring peace to his friends by offering sacrifices. Now, as a type of Christ, he experiences a sort of resurrection.

First the restoration process of God:

Job 42:10–11 (ESV) And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

I always think, where were these brothers and sisters while his friends were driving him mad? They were absent and here they seem so pleasant for the man. 

Now comes an interesting note on the restoration process of Job:

Job 42:12–13 (ESV) And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

Remember what Job had at the beginning of this story?

Job 1:2-3 (ESV) There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

In the end, Job received double his possessions but only the same number of children. And you may think, why did God not give him double the children? The reason? Because there's a resurrection coming. Now while his possessions will not be part of that, his children will be. In the next life, he will have double the children. This is also a type of Christ in this sense. Christ has a family in the Old Covenant and a family (after His suffering) from the New Covenant. Both are made up of the nations and the Jews. Both will be home with Him in heaven.

Scholars remind us that Job was probably the first piece of scripture written. So here we have in the oldest test of the Bible (perhaps), the first hint of a bodily resurrection. This drives home the final answer to all suffering - this life is not the end, and God will bring you home to be with those you love. 

If this is not true, suffering has no resolve and we are miserable. 

But it's true. And therefore we are of all people - most blessed!