What is the meaning of Job 14:17? My transgression would be sealed in a bag - Job pictures God collecting every wrong he has done, tying them up, and sealing the bundle so it can never be reopened. When the Lord seals, no one can break the seal (Daniel 6:17; Revelation 20:3). - A sealed bag was used for valuables; Job longs for his sins to be permanently stored away, out of sight and out of circulation, much like Isaiah 38:17, “You have put all my sins behind Your back”. - The cross fulfills the image: “having canceled the debt ascribed to us… He took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). - Sealing means no future accusation can reach the believer: “Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?” (Romans 8:33-34). and You would cover over my iniquity - “Covering” is the language of atonement. Psalm 32:1 rejoices, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered”. - God’s covering is total: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). - Micah 7:19 echoes the thought: God “will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea”, hiding them beyond retrieval. - The Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed this covering (Leviticus 17:11), but Christ’s blood accomplishes it “once for all” (Hebrews 10:14). - Because sin is covered, believers enjoy the peace of justification: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). summary Job’s cry anticipates the gospel: God both removes the record of sin (sealed in a bag) and hides it from view (covered over). In Christ, that longing is fully met; forgiven people stand forever secure and blameless before a holy God. |
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