My Redeemer Lives – A Funeral Service
Today is a day of sorrow. Today is a day of grief. I will not say that everything is all right – because it’s not. We hurt. And we know we will hurt for a long time. __________ has died and we feel pain – we feel loss. Those are normal feelings. God expects us to feel pain when something bad happens to us. He has made us that way. He has made us with the ability to have a relationship with Him and with one another. And when we lose someone we feel pain.
We are not the only ones who feel pain. It seems that pain and sorrow has been around as long as people have been on the earth. Yet so has joy and hope. I would like to share a word of hope with you today. It is found in one of the oldest books of the Bible. The book of Job. If you know the story of Job you know that it is a story of pain and of sorrow. Job suffers a loss of his wealth, of his health and of his children. Yet in the midst of the pain – Job cries out a cry of hope. It says in Job 19:25-27:
“I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold (Him).” Job 19:25-27 (NKJV)
Job tells us two important things.
1. The body is not permanent. Not one of us would doubt this fact. If you have lived any time on this earth you have seen the aging process. If you stick around very long here you will also experience it. We get older, we don’t see as well as we once did, or hear as well, or sleep as well. We don’t move as fast as we once did. Our hair changes color or leaves us. That is all a part of the aging process – because life on this earth is not permanent. Paul speaks of this fact in 2 Corinthians 4:16 when he says:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
Paul and Job knew life on this earth was not permanent yet they both had hope in the future. That brings us to point two.
2. Because there is a Redeemer there is life beyond the grave.
What is a Redeemer? It is one who pays a price. It is one who delivers from bondage. It is one who fixes things. It is one who sets things straight.
Did you know that God never intended for anyone to die? He never intended for anyone to get sick. He never intended for anyone to become crippled with age. Some of you may say, “How can Pastor Tom make such statements?” I can make these statements because Heaven is a place where there is no more death, no more sickness, no more affects of the aging process. It is a place where everything is as God intends it to be. Revelation 21:4 says:
“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:4 (NKJV)
Heaven will be a place where everything will be as God intends it to be. But it took a Redeemer. Job knew that someone would have to come and fix it. Someone would have to come to make things right. Someone did. That someone is Jesus Christ. He is the one who can fix things for your future – for your eternity – but you have to trust in Him. You have to believe in Him. You have to put your faith in Him. John 3:15 says:
“Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:15 (NKJV)
Job knew that there was a Redeemer. He believed – He had faith and because he had faith he could say:
“I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold (Him).” Job 19:25-27 (NKJV)
Let us pray.
