Job 19:25-27 - The Divine Redeemer.
Job 19:25-27 (NIV) I know that my Redeemer
lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the
earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in
my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him
with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my
heart yearns within me!
INTRODUCTION
At the heart of the book of Job comes his
ringing affirmation of confidence: "I know that my
Redeemer lives." In ancient Israel a redeemer was a
family member who bought a slave's way to freedom
or who took care of a widow (see the note on
Ruth 3:1). What tremendous faith Job had,
especially in light of the fact that he was unaware of
the conference between God and Satan. Job
thought that God had brought all these disasters
upon him! Faced with death and decay, Job still
expected to see God"and he expected to do so in his
body. When the book of Job was written, Israel did
not have a well-developed doctrine of the
resurrection. Although Job struggled with the idea that
God was presently against him, he firmly
believed that in the end God would be on his side.
This belief was so strong that Job became one of
the first to talk about the resurrection of the
body (see also Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel
12:2, 13). [Life Application SB]
COMMENTARY PEARLS
I opened the small black box Aunt Joyce
had mailed me and gasped. "Honey, look at this,"
I said to my husband, Kevin. The pendant I
held up to the light was crafted in two different
colors of gold and was shaped like an angel in
flight. "What a lovely gift!"
Aunt Joyce had recently been cleaning out
her jewelry box and came across the angel. It
was a uniquely fashioned gift from a friend many
years before. She told me, "Since you're my angel,
I feel you should have it."
I wiped away happy tears as I thought of
the miracle this gift represented. When I was
fourteen, I lived with Aunt Joyce and Uncle Dwayne.
They gave me a stable home during a rough patch
in our broken nuclear family. At first Joyce,
Dwayne, and I lived in harmony. But my teenage
insecurities and my aunt's ways soon clashed. When I
returned home to my parents after only seven months,
the feelings between Aunt Joyce and me were
anything but angelic.
Over the decades, Jesus changed both our
hearts. I grew up and acknowledged the world didn't
spin to please me, and Aunt Joyce softened. We
became friends - good enough friends that she
considered me her angel. Wow.
My favorite quality of Jesus is how He
loves to take the broken places of our lives and
fix them. But He doesn't simply repair wounded
souls. He mends and heals and makes them better
than before. I believe the word for that is
redeemer. Jeanette Levellie
Faith Step: Find a drawing or painting of
an angel. Thank Jesus that His power to redeem
your brokenness is greater than every angelic
force in the universe. [Mornings With Jesus 2022
Devotional by Guideposts and Zondervan]
I understand that this earthly life
includes problems and troubles, but honestly, some
seasons of our lives are especially hard, aren't
they? My husband and I have just passed through a
year that seemed to bring one crisis after
another: unexpected job termination, serious illness
and hospitalization, the turmoil of relocating
again, the death of a parent. If I include my
extended family, that adds other major crises to the
list.
During such unsettling times, it's easy
to get shaken by the uncertainty of life,
especially when our minds are filled with questions.
Why is this happening? How will I ever get over
this? What does the future hold? Will my life ever
resemble "normal" again? Surely these questions also
filled Job's mind during his period of severe
trials, when it seemed that everything good was
stripped away from him. Yet even in the midst of
expressing his grief, confusion, and pain, he
occasionally burst forth with a statement of faith.
Regardless of his feelings and circumstances, one thing
Job knew: He had a living Redeemer whom he would
see face-to-face one day.
It's okay to question why things happen
to us. While we may never understand all the
reasons during this lifetime, we can cling to what
we do know: Jesus loves us so much that He died
for us. He holds our present and our future in
His hands and is working out everything for
good. Meditating on these truths puts our earthly
trials in perspective. by Dianne Neal Matthews
Faith Step: Make a list of your favorite
Bible verses. Choose a few to be your designated
statements of faith for when you go through a Job"
season of life. If you find yourself struggling to
pray, begin with one of these affirmation verses.
[Mornings With Jesus 2018 Devotional by Guideposts and
Zondervan]
CLOSING THOUGHT
One of the most solemn and yet most glorious
truths revealed in the Bible is that of Christs
second coming to complete the great work of
redemption. To Gods pilgrim people, so long left to
sojourn in the region and shadow of death, a
precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in the promise
of His appearing, who is the resurrection
and the life, to bring home again His
banished. The doctrine of the second advent is the
very keynote of the Sacred Scriptures. From the
day when the first pair turned their sorrowing
steps from Eden, the children of faith have waited
the coming of the Promised One to break the
destroyers power and bring them again to the lost
Paradise. Holy men of old looked forward to the advent
of the Messiah in glory, as the consummation of
their hope. Enoch, only the seventh in descent
from them that dwelt in Eden, he who for three
centuries on earth walked with his God, was permitted
to behold from afar the coming of the
Deliverer. Behold, he declared, the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute
judgment upon all. Jude 14, 15. The patriarch Job
in the night of his affliction exclaimed with
unshaken trust: I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth: in my flesh shall I see God: whom
I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall
behold, and not another. Job 19:25"27. The
coming of Christ to usher in the reign of
righteousness has inspired the most sublime and
impassioned utterances of the sacred writers. GC299-300
SUPPLEMENTARY THOUGHTS
Job's Longing
Job longed for his words of woe to be
etched into granite so that people through time
could enter into all the things he was enduring.
He thought his words would be forgotten. He had
no idea that his words would survive him. Yet,
think of it, God chose to include them in His
eternal Word! Along with Scriptures like Genesis 1,
Psalm 23, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 13, and
Revelation 22, we call to mind Job 19:25"27 to this
day!
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last He will take His stand on the
earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my
flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold,
and whom my eyes will see and not another. My
heart faints within me! (Job 19:25"27)
Thanks to Handel's Magnum Opus, every
Christmas season we hear that message over and over
again. Little did Job realize in his dreadful
anguish that his Lord would honor his name by
preserving his words for all the world to hear and
sing!
I need to pause right here and speak to
you whose God is distant and silent. And,
perhaps (like Job), your friends have begun to turn
against you. There is a future that is brighter than
your wildest dreams! As Job will one day
experience, justice will win out, God will replace evil,
and right will eclipse wrong. In the end, God
wins. And so will we. Job will be vindicated and
remembered and respected. And all the Zophars, Bildads,
and Eliphazes will be judged, silenced, and
forgotten. "Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so
that you may know there is judgment" (Job
19:29).
In all his misery, Job had not lost sight
of who was right and who was wrong. He reminded
all three men that "judgment and punishment are
not coming my way; they're coming yours."
Focus on the future! [Chuck Swindoll
www.insight.org.]
Hope in Dark Places
I love music! Choral music, instrumental
music, popular music, classical music folk
tunes, ballads, country western and bluegrass
the patriotic and romantic. For me, music is a
must.
Like you, I have my favorite hymns - the
ones that hold some special meaning for me or
evoke grand and vivid memories of significant
events. Invariably, those things pass in mental
review as I become "lost in wonder, love, and
praise" in my worship.
While thinking of the glorious message of
the Resurrection recently, I found myself
suddenly overwhelmed with the music that has
accompanied the celebration of the empty tomb for
centuries. Various scenes crossed my mind. I saw myself
as a lad holding my mother's hand in a little
Baptist church in South Texas. I remembered a
sunrise service on the island of Okinawa when I
fought back tears of loneliness. Another hymn took
me to Chafer Chapel on the campus of Dallas
[Theological] Seminary, where 350 young men preparing for
ministry stood side by side and sang heartily of the
Savior we'd soon be proclaiming.
During my nostalgic pilgrimage, at each
geographical spot revisited, I gave God thanks that Job's
words were mine as well: "I know that my redeemer
liveth" (Job 19:25 KJV).
Gloria Gaither's familiar lyrics then
brought me into the seventies: "And because He
lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all
fear is gone." It is Jesus Christ - the
miraculously resurrected Son of God - who remains the
Object of our worship, the Subject of our praise.
That hope has kept believers strong in
the darkest places.
"Thus far did I come, burdened with my
sin. Nor could ought ease the grief that I was in
'til I came hither. What a place is this! Must
here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the
burden fall off my back? Must here the chains that
bound it to me crack? Blest cross! Blest
sepulchre! Blest rather be, the Man who was put to
shame for me" (John Bunyan). [Chuck Swindoll
www.insight.org.]
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY
Psalm 34:18-19 - The Blessings of Adversity.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2012/20120220-2245.html
Acts 14:22b - Tribulation for Entrance to
the Kingdom.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20210810-1026.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Most Important Decision in Life:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0
A Man without Equal by Bill Bright:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo
Steps to Peace by Billy Graham:
https://stepstopeace.org/
Seeking God Made Real:
http://vimeo.com/31489782
Prayer Made Real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE
LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies:
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
Amazing Facts Bible Studies:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx
Voice of Prophecy Discover Bible Study
Guides:
https://www.voiceofprophecy.com/study/discover
Glow Tract Video Bible Studies:
http://www.bibleresearch.info/
LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS
Unlocking Bible Prophecies by Cami Oetman of
Adventist World Radio: https://www.awr.org/bible
Panorama of Prophecy with Pastor Doug
Batchelor: https://www.panoramaofprophecy.com/
Hope Awakens by John Bradshaw of IIW:
https://itiswritten.tv/programs/hope-awakens
Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657
