CERTAIN OF A REDEEMER

Job 19:25 “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.”

When the Berlin wall came down and when communism fell one of the amazing things that happened was that people had access to the files that the secret police had kept on them. For many people it made uncomfortable reading. People whom they trusted had betrayed them – family members, husbands, wives, children etc. They thought they knew these people but they were wrong. It left them wondering: What can I know for certain? Truth is there is very little we can know for certain.

Job was a man who had everything and lost it all. He had family and friends, health and wealth, position and purpose. But in a few short weeks it was all taken away. His health failed, his wealth disappeared, his family turned their backs and his friends did nothing but criticize him. Job was a man who lost everything. Now in and of itself that is neither unusual nor remarkable. But Job is remarkable in that he wants the answer to the question - Why? He wanted to understand what was going on. He was not satisfied to just shrug his shoulders and retreat into a cocoon. Job wanted to know that his life meant something. His friends put before him all sorts of arguments but none of these answer his questions. Job wanted to know, hard as it is to know anything, that his life could be anchored.

When he speaks these words he is sitting on top of the town dump scraping the sores on his body with a piece of broken pottery. The only thing that had been said to him was some pious prattle that he must have sinned against God and if he would only straighten up then all this would turn out right. There was no evidence in his circumstances or what he had heard which gave him grounds to state that he would be redeemed from this bondage. And yet he states: ‘I know my Redeemer lives.’

Job believes he is close to death. It is a pretty fair conclusion for him to come to – it is the wrong conclusion at this time though. However, Job knew that one day he must die. Job knows that the words he is about to utter may not be heard, heeded or understood by those gathered around him at that moment but he desires for them to be recorded – not for posterity but that future generations would benefit from the truth contained therein. He desires that somehow what he is about to say will not die with him but live on because the truth to which they witness, namely that his redeemer lives, is of eternity – eternal truth, value and consequence for those who hear them. So what Job is about to speak is of such importance to him that he wants it recorded. It is basically his last will and testament. The whole dialogue to this point has been Job seeking to defend and justify himself before his friends and their accusations. He now speaks with a secure knowledge and experience which comes from only through faith.

We like Job know that one day we will die. We like Job know that our bodies will see decay. But here is the real question: Do we like Job know that our Redeemer lives and that one day we shall see him with our own eyes? Job could only speak with the eye of faith. We can speak as people with a fuller revelation – Christ has come and God has revealed to us in His Word that he is the Redeemer – the Savior. Job in the midst of all his despair had this eternal hope – do you? Job said his very heart yearned within him in the knowledge of his redeemer – does yours?