My Redeemer Lives!

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

You remember the story of Job, don’t you? The Bible says in JOB 1:3 He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. That’s pretty heady stuff. Satan went to God and said he had been "roaming the Earth to and fro.....and God said, like a proud Father, have you considered my servant Job? Job was a righteous man, dedicated to God. He was blessed to have riches, a fine family, and good health. What else could anyone want?

Of course, Satan had to try to come in and mess things up. Did you ever notice that every time you think everything is gonna be OK, Satan tries to take it from you. He is the great destroyer of mankind, isn’t he? Anyway, Satan told God that the only reason Job was so prosperous and faithful to God was because God had "put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has" (VS 10) It was agreed that Satan could test Job...the only rule was that he couldn’t kill Job. Before Job’s time of testing was over, he wished he WAS dead.

The first thing that happened was his donkeys and oxen were stolen and all but one servant was killed. While Job was being told this news, another servant came in and told Job that his camels had been stolen and he was the only one to make it out alive. "They put the servants to the sword" is how he said it. While he was still speaking, the Bible says, another messenger burst in and told Job that a big wind had blown down his oldest son’s house, collapsing the house and killing all of Job’s children. (That’s what they get for drinking wine and feasting too much).

So how did Job react? Well....he shaved his head and got naked! (vs 20-21) But...he never blamed God. And that was just the first test! In Chapter 2 we see Job afflicted with sores from his head to his feet. He was sitting on a pile of ashes, scraping off his sores whenever his wife came to him.....that’s just what he needed! She told him to curse God and die! You know what he said? Vs 10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" I have always been bothered by this woman’s attitude. However, as I thought about all that she had endured, I could just begin to sympathize with how she must have felt. After all, she has just lost her ten children, she is no longer the "first lady of the east." Her husband, once the greatest man of the east is sitting on a garbage dump scraping his disease ridden body with a piece of broken pottery. No wonder she is a little upset.

Then Job’s three buddies came...vs11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

Well...at first they were his buddies. I want to point out a couple of things here....When Job’s three friends arrived, they didn’t recognize old Job. He looked so bad to them that he seemed like someone else. It seems that the trials of Job’s life were enough to change his very appearance. Your trials will do the same to you if you allow them to. They will rob you of your joy. They will steal your smile. They will replace the look of hope with the lines of worry. It is evident when people are troubled. Often, you can see the worry and the strain in their faces.

Let’s talk about Job’s buddies for a sec...Eliphaz - This is the man of Testimonial Experience. He has already been there and done that. No matter what you go through, this kind of person has had it worse. Know anyone like that? I knew a guy that no matter what story you told, he had one better. Drove everybody crazy! We used to "embellish" (that means make up) stories just to try to better him. Never worked, he could always out-do your story!

Anyway, back to Eliphaz...we see in Chapter 4 what kind of friend he is. The first thing he does is tells Job what a blessing he has been. He really butters old Job up.But then, he turns right around and accuses Job of hypocrisy! He tells Job in vs 8 that Job must have done some kind of evil for this to befall upon him. Even tells Job in VS 19 that he lives in a "house of clay".Then he goes on in Chapter 5 to REALLY lay it on poor Job.