My Redeemer Lives!

Job 19:1-29 

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "How long will you torment my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?

3 These ten times you have reproached me;
You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.

4 And if indeed I have erred,
My error remains with me.

5 If indeed you exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,

6 Know then that God has wronged me,
And has surrounded me with His net.

7 "If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard.
If I cry aloud, there is no justice.

8 He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.

9 He has stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.

10 He breaks me down on every side,
And I am gone;
My hope He has uprooted like a tree.

11 He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And He counts me as one of His enemies.

12 His troops come together
And build up their road against me;
They encamp all around my tent.

13 "He has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14 My relatives have failed,
And my close friends have forgotten me.

15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
Count me as a stranger;
I am an alien in their sight.

16 I call my servant, but he gives no answer;
I beg him with my mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

18 Even young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.

19 All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.

20 My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,
And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

21 "Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me!

22 Why do you persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?

23 "Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

28 If you should say, 'How shall we persecute him?'—
Since the root of the matter is found in me,
29 Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
That you may know there is a judgment."

Job looked forward to seeing his Redeemer face to face after his suffering ended at the grave.  His friends offered only reproach and judgment for his great adversity of suffering, seemingly without any shame, while he reasoned back with them concerning their behavior.  Job reminded them that he was alone responsible for any sin, and their prideful assaults would not alter his predicament.  He answered to God who had taken everything from him and allowed him to suffer so, apparently in wrath and retribution.  Job could not see the heavenly battle arrayed against him by the adversary, so he assumed that God was doing these things because he deserved it all.  Job had no friends, family, or even a wife who did not blame him and turn their backs on him as if he deserved what he received from Him.  Job therefore cried for pity instead of judgment, mercy in place of persecution.  He desired for his words to God and to them to be recorded for history as a witness of his sincerity and their condemnation, as well as God’s hand in it all.  His hope then turned to God again as he spoke those prophetic words of knowing his Redeemer not only lived, existed eternally and sovereignly, but also that he would be before Him eventually after suffering and death.  He would see God face to face, with his own eyes as He is and as Job was, not as others depicted Him.  He knew that hope of a resurrection or life beyond death, and was driven by his heart to desire that day with all his being!  Then Job reminded his friends that they will answer for their persecution of God’s servant, for there is an eternal judgment for all to face after death.  This is a picture and type of the gospel, the wrath of God on all our sin, no matter how much or how little, and the resulting judgment or joy in facing the LORD after death as Hebrews 9:27-28 clarifies for us (Romans 3:23, 6:23).  Only through God’s declaring us upright, righteous, in Christ the Messiah anointed by God’s Spirit, can we face our Redeemer on that day.  Oh, what yearning we have in our hearts who know His reconciliation and redemption (Revelation 21:3-4, 22:3-4), and how sad those facing Him on that judgment day apart from Him (Revelation 20:12, 15)!  Such grace to redeem us and know our Redeemer lives, whom we will see face to face and dwell with forevermore!  This echoes Job’s hope of eternal life with the exclamation, “My Redeemer Lives!”  This is the hope of the gospel as revealed in part to Job, and fully to us in Christ.