I Know that My Redeemer Lives

Summary Book of Job

Job was a righteous man in the eyes of the Lord, and he was a wealthy man, too, in the eyes of the world, for he had many possessions. But he was a man who was blessed of God, and he worshipped the Lord with all his being. But one day Satan stood before God, and the Lord asked Satan if he had considered the Lord’s servant Job, “that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” 

But Satan’s response was to say that Job was only righteous because God was protecting him and because the Lord God was blessing him. So Satan said to God, “But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And so the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

At first Satan arranged that all of Job’s servants (except for maybe a few), and all of his animals, and all of his children would be killed. But when Job received the news of all of this, he fell on the ground and he worshiped God. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

After this, Satan had another encounter with the Lord, and this time Satan said to God, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” So Satan “went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.”

Then Job’s friends came to console him, and they sat with him on the ground seven days and nights, “and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” And then Job was in much anguish, and so great was his suffering that he wished he had never been born. So he said, “For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.”

Then Job’s friends began to speak, one by one, but not to encourage him, but to accuse him falsely of sinning against the Lord, and of that being the reason for his suffering. And no matter what Job said to them to try to convince them otherwise, they would not relent from accusing him of sin and to advise him that he must repent of his sin to God. And this only added on to Job’s sufferings, for his friends did not believe him. (see Job 1-37)

Then the Lord responded to Job, and the Lord scolded him for questioning the sovereignty of God over his life (Job 38:1-41; Job 39:1-30; Job 40:1-2). And then Job responded to the Lord in all humility (Job 40:3-5), and then God responded to Job (Job 40:6-24; Job 41:1-34). Then Job answered the Lord again where he acknowledged the sovereignty of God over all things, and where he confessed that he had spoken of things he did not understand. And he repented in dust and ashes for his unwise words (Job 42:1-6).

And then God spoke to Job’s friend, Eliphaz, “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” Then he instructed Eliphaz to go to Job and to offer a burnt offering for themselves, and that he would have Job pray for them that the Lord would not deal with them for their folly, “For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (see Job 42:7-9)

And that is the book of Job, in a nutshell, but not including everything that took place, but hitting just the highlights. So that is to give you some understanding of Job’s words in today’s passage from Job 19:23-29, for this was what was going on his life when he spoke these words:

“Oh that my words were written!

    Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

Oh that with an iron pen and lead

    they were engraved in the rock forever!

For I know that my Redeemer lives,

    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

    yet in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see for myself,

    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

    My heart faints within me!

If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’

    and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’

be afraid of the sword,

    for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

    that you may know there is a judgment.” (Job 19:23-29 ESV)

So, what is the essence of Job’s words that he spoke here? Well, first of all he was answering his accusers (his friends) and their charges against him. For they were tormenting him with their false accusations against him and with their refusal to believe the truth coming from his mouth. And they were not ashamed that they were wronging him. And then he went on to describe for them what God was allowing to happen in his life, including, “My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me.” (Job 19:14)

Yet, in all that he suffered – which was not for any wrongdoing that he had committed, but because he had led a righteous life, and because God was putting him to the test – he did not curse God, i.e. he did not reject God as his Lord, but he spoke with confidence that he knew that his redeemer lives, and he knew that, when he died, that he would see God. For he knew, even if no one else did, that he was not suffering because of sin against God.

Then he warned his friends that if they continued to pursue the course they were on with their false accusations – which felt to Job like vicious attacks against himself and against his character – that it would not go well for them with God. And he told them that they should be afraid of the sword, which was the judgment of God, if they continued to pursue Job in that manner, and if they continued to accuse him of sin he did not commit. 

And if we follow the Lord Jesus with our lives, in surrender to his will, in truth and in righteousness, we also will have our faith tested, and we will have friends and family and neighbors and fellow professing Christians and pastors and elders turn against us and falsely accuse us of wrong we did not commit. And this will be because they are not seeing things through the eyes of God but through the eyes of the flesh and through worldly thinking.

But in all that we suffer, we are not to lose sight of God and of his sovereignty over our lives. For our Lord does not promise us a life of ease if we follow him, but he promises a life of suffering, rejection, persecution, false accusations against us, and the like. So we must keep our focus on the Lord through all the trials that come our way, and keep pressing forward in obeying the Lord, no matter how others treat us. And we will be blessed.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

What a Savior

By Marvin P. Dalton

Once I was straying in sin’s dark valley

No hope within could I see

God sent from heaven a loving Savior

To save a poor lost soul like me

He left the Father with all His riches

With calmness sweet and serene

Came down from heaven and gave His life blood

To make the vilest sinner clean

Death’s chilly waters I’ll soon be crossing

His hand will lead me safe o’er

I’ll join the chorus in that great city

And sing up there forevermore

O what a Savior, O hallelujah

His heart was broken on Calvary

His hands were nail-scarred

His side was riven

He gave His lifeblood for even me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRWCM-PFO8Y

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