After Job responds to Zophar’s unhelpful input he cries out “You are all worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be silent.” Job understands who the Great Physician is and that is God. And although Job is suffering greatly, he still puts his trust in the Lord saying, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.” Job doesn’t understand that it’s Satan at work, but Job does understand enough to know that he can trust God regardless of his inflictions.
Then Job says, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!” Job is aware that he is a sinner in need of a Savior. But in the midst of his pain, Job is longing for death and wrestling with the thought of afterlife – “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes.You shall call, and I will answer You.” Job doesn’t understand the reason for his pain nor does he understand all about life after death; but he does long for a change and he trust that the Lord will somehow or someway bring that change.
And thankfully, God is sending the One who will provide a change. Job only had a few stories from Scriptures to gain his hope from. We have the privilege of having the beginning all the way till the end of God’s amazing Story laid out for us in the Bible. Therefore, we can be certain that there is life after death. Those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ will live forever in heaven where there will be no more pain and suffering. And one day we will receive new bodies that are not accessible to illness and decay. Later in the Story, Paul will explain how Jesus’s death and resurrection gives final victory over death and the change Job is longing for – “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”
For those in Christ, there is a guaranteed expiration date to all suffering. Keep reading.
(Job 12:1-14:22)
Chronological Bible in Layman's Terms 