Thoughts on Job 14:21, 22

THE fourteenth chapter of Job is a wonderful testimony to the sleep of man in death; "So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Verse 12. This plainly declares that the sleep of man shall continue till the heavens pass away, which Peter says, shall be with a great noise. 2 Pet. 3:10. David said he should be satisfied when he should awake with the likeness of the Lord. Ps. 17:15. So David is yet asleep, and the time for him to be satisfied has not come. Acts 13:36; 12:34.

But does not the close of Job 14, forbid the sleep of the real man in death? His soul within him shall mourn. Does not this plainly indicate consciousness in death? Let us read the last two verses of the chapter:

"His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Verse 21. This is the sleep of death, certainly. Now does the next verse contradict this?

"But HIS FLESH upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn." Verse 22. The first clause of this verse shows that the condition of man in death is not the subject matter of the verse, while his soul within him mourns, his flesh upon him has pain. This text, if it relates to man in death, proves that his flesh is in a state of conscious suffering, an idea that is absurd, and that no one believes.

What then do the words of verse 22 signify? One of two views must be taken. It either relates to man before his dissolution, and is descriptive of the pains of death, or it has reference to man when raised from the dead to suffer for his sins. In the first case, it might pertain to mankind in general, i. e., to both the righteous, and the wicked. In the latter case, it can relate to the wicked only. But in either view, it cannot relate to the man while sleeping in death. It is the whole man that is conscious; his flesh suffers, as well as his mental nature.