Job 19 - A Living Redeemer

Find true hope beyond the ash heaps in life.

SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Job has been given many unhelpful lectures from his so-called friends, and Job 19 records one of his responses that deals with how he sees his dire situation, but gives one of the most beautiful visions of hope in the middle of this book.

Job 19:23–29 (NIV)

²³ “Oh, that my words were recorded,

that they were written on a scroll,

²⁴ that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,

or engraved in rock forever!

²⁵ I know that my redeemer  lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

²⁷ I myself will see him

with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

²⁸ “If you say, ‘How we will hound him,

since the root of the trouble lies in him,’

²⁹ you should fear the sword yourselves;

for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,

and then you will know that there is judgment.”

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 45

Q. How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?

A. First, by his resurrection he has overcome death,

so that he might make us share in the righteousness

he won for us by his death.

Second, by his power we too

are already now resurrected to a new life.

Third, Christ’s resurrection

is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection.

Summary

In Job 19, we find Job at his absolute all-time low. In chapter 19, he describes a total social, physical, and spiritual bankruptcy: his friends "crush him with words," (v. 2) his brothers have been "alienated," (v. 13), his wife is offended by his stinking breath (v. 17), and even his own body is "nothing but skin and bones” (v. 20). He feels trapped in a "net" (v. 6), and to top it off, feels God himself is angry with him and out to get him.

But in this darkness, a "beam of light" breaks through. Job moves from asking why he is suffering to declaring who will save him. He calls for a Redeemer. In ancient Israel, the Redeemer was the next of kin responsible for defending a family member’s honor, buying them out of slavery, or avenging their blood.

Job realizes that no human friend will play this role, and he has recounted how he has no one left to defend him. But God mercifully helps him look past his current agony, past his crumbling skin, and even past death itself and Job makes a staggering confession of faith: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (v. 25).

He isn’t just looking to justify himself before his friends, but before God. He knows there is still someone left who has not forsaken him and can personally restore him. He is certain that despite all the current earthly evidence, he will see God with his own eyes—not as an enemy, but as his Friend.

  Dig Deeper  

Job 19 teaches us that while suffering can isolate us from everyone else, it cannot isolate us from our Savior. When you are "unpitied" by the world—or even when your own friends’ words crush you, or your body fails you—remember the ascended and glorified Christ who lives and intercedes your case in heaven and is acquainted with your griefs and sorrows.

In Job’s “dim hope” within chapter 19, we can see the brightness of our “living hope.” Jesus Christ is our true and living Redeemer. He took to himself our flesh and blood to stand on the earth and to pay our debt and release us from the slavery of sin and the curse of death. He bought this freedom not with gold, but with His precious blood. And because He lives and is in heaven in human flesh, we can know that our bodies will be made new and fit for everlasting glory just like his.

When we prepare for the when of suffering, we don’t just rely on tidy philosophies or cliched platitudes like “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” We endure with the power of a Savior who has defeated what ails us. Because Jesus Christ lives and entered glory after the valley of death, we can face the trials of life knowing that our Good Shepherd will lead us through.

In the courtroom-like scenes that take place in the book of Job, Job is not only vindicated against the accusations of the devil, but is promised a more glorious future with God. As one author wrote, “Christianity is not a way to cut a deal with God for an easier life now. Christianity is what renews us to live for our real payoff in the future that God has promised.”

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The God who is on your side and gives us a Redeemer in Jesus Christ our Lord;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Engrave in your heart the words and vision Job describes of our living Redeemer;

  ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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