JOB: MY REDEEMER
JOB 19 VERSES 23-29
When the Berlin wall came down and when communism fell one of the amazing things that happened was that people had access to the files that the secret police had kept on them. For many people it made uncomfortable reading. People whom they trusted had betrayed them – family members, husbands, wives, children etc. they thought they knew these people but they were wrong. It left them wondering: What can I know for certain? Truth is there is very little we can know for certain. I believe the only certainty we truly know is that one day we will die. That is where we encounter Job in our this morning. Job was a man who had everything and lost it all. He had family and friends, health and wealth, position and purpose. But in a few short weeks it was all taken away. His health failed, his wealth disappeared, his family turned their backs and his friends did nothing but criticise him. Job was a man who lost everything. Now in and of itself that is not unusual nor remarkable. But Job is remarkable in that he wants the answer to the question Why? He wanted to understand what was going on. He was not satisfied to just shrug his shoulders and retreat into a cocoon. Job wanted to know that his life meant something. His friends put before him all sorts of arguments but none of these answer his questions. Job wanted to know, hard as it is to know anything, that his life could be anchored. And in Job 19 verses 25-27 he tells us what he knows. When he speaks these words he sitting on top of the town dump scraping the sores on his body with a piece of broken pottery. The only thing that had been said to him was some pious prattle that he must have sinned against God and if he would only straighten up then all this would turn out right. There was no evidence in his circumstances or what he had heard which gave him grounds to state that he would be redeemed from this bondage. And yet he states: ‘I know my Redeemer lives.’ How did Job know? What did Job mean?
What Job knew in his heart by experience, by instinct and by faith I proclaim to you today by name – Jesus Christ. So let us take a closer look at these verses and learn from this servant of God.
VERSES 23-24 – Job believes he is close to death. It is a pretty fair conclusion for him to come to – it is the wrong conclusion at this time though. However, Job knew that one day he must die. Job knows that the words he is about to utter may not be heard, heeded or understood by those gathered around him at that moment but he desires for them to be recorded – not for posterity but that future generations would benefit from the truth contained therein. He desires that somehow what he is about to say will not die with him but live on because the truth to which they witness, namely that his redeemer lives, is of eternity – eternal truth, value and consequence for those who hear them. So what Job is about to speak is of such importance to him that he wants it recorded. It is basically his last will and testament. The whole dialogue to this point has been Job seeking to defend and justify himself before his friends and their accusations. He now speaks with a secure knowledge and experience which comes from only through faith.
VERSES 25-27 I KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVES!
Verse 25 actually begins with ‘But’ –omitted from the NIV. What Job is about to say is in contrast, set over and against all of the arguments that have gone before. All their dialogue over suffering, sin, blessing and curse by God is to be seen as empty and futile in light of the statement that is about to follow. Job says ‘But, this I know’. I cannot answer all your questions. I cannot defend myself against all your accusations and arguments. I cannot justify myself in your eyes but this I know. Not this I think, this I believe but this I know. It said with emphatic certainty. Without a hint of doubt or disbelief but certain assurance that what is being spoken is the eternal truth. In the midst of despair, in the midst of loss, in the midst of personal pain and suffering Job speaks with hope and assurance. Job looks not at the past, nor at the present but he looks to the future and confidently states ‘I know my Redeemer lives.’
‘I’ we have here a settled personal conviction. ‘I, yes I, know.’ Here is personal knowledge of what he is speaking about. Not ‘we’, not ‘you’ but ‘I’. This is personal knowledge gained from a living relationship with God.
‘Know’ = knowledge, not speculation. To know something is to understand, to be acquainted with, to declare, to teach and to learn. All of these Job could say about his redeemer.
‘My Redeemer’ = again it is personal. My redeemer – mine personally. Intimate personal knowledge. My redeemer speaks of a personal relationship and that is the vital key to understanding this statement. Let us look for just a moment at the OT understanding of a ‘Redeemer’. We find the teaching about a ‘Redeemer’ mainly in the Law. The Redeemer had both a civil and a criminal understanding and role in society.
Criminal – ‘blood avenger’. In Numbers 3515-21 the Law of God laid down the stipulations concerning the ‘kinsman-redeemer’s’ responsibility if a member of his family was murdered. He had the right to avenge the taking of their life. He was not to seek revenge but justice.
Civil Redeemer. Again it was in relation to a member of the family. In Leviticus 25 God lays down the law of redeeming a family member who through poverty has entered into slavery. The kinsman-redeemer was to buy him /her back from bondage. He was also to buy back any family land that had been sold by his poor relation. Added to this there was a responsibility placed on the kinsman-redeemer to marry a widow who had no children so that an heir could be born. We see that in the story of Ruth and Boaz – where Boaz is the kinsman-redeemer.
In both these cases the kinsman-redeemer ‘buys back’ that which was taken or sold. To redeem something is to buy it back. So that which was lost has been bought back but it could only be done legally by a kinsman – and that is very important as we shall see in a moment.
‘Lives’ – not will you not that he lived, or will live but now lives. It is a present ongoing relationship and task. Job speaks of one who is alive and carrying out the very work of a kinsman-redeemer on his behalf at that very moment and also will do so in the future after his death.
‘At the last he will stand upon the earth.’ It is in light of this statement that Job can say what he does in verses 28-29. where he calls on God to vindicate him and to be the judge of those who accuse him and condemn him. It is in light of the fact that his redeemer lives and will stand on the earth when all men have gone back to dust that Job has confidence in calling this One to be his redeemer.
But now Job moves beyond simply stating that his redeemer lives and speaks of his own resurrection from the grave. Listen to these words of verses 26-27 READ. To you see hear what he is saying? Job knows that he is going to die. He knows that his body, his physical body will decay and become dust from whence it came – but in spite of that look what he says. There will be a day when I, again personal pronoun, will see God with my own eyes. Job says yes I will die. Yes my body will decay but I will see God with my own eyes. Job is here speaking of the resurrection on the last day. It is a physical resurrection he is speaking of because he says with my own eyes I will see him even though my body has decayed yet because my redeemer lives I will live to see him on that day. My flesh informs me that I will die and yet I will see God. This is Job’s comfort and assurance in the midst of total despair, loss and grief.
SO WHERE IS JESUS IN ALL OF THIS?
KINSMAN-REDEEMER.
Here is Jesus Christ. A kinsman-redeemer had to be related to you in order to redeem you. God became man in the form of Jesus Christ. When Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist he publicly identified himself with us in our sins. He became man so that he might redeem man. I know I have told you before about Anselm’s conundrum, but I am going to tell you it again – just in case you have forgotten it.
Man needs to make a sacrifice for sin because he has sin, but the sacrifice must be perfect. God can offer the perfect sacrifice but he does not need to because he has not sinned. Man needs to but cannot, God can but need not – so the answer is someone who is both God and man – Cur Deus Homo – Godman = Jesus Christ. So Jesus became man so that he might be related to us, become part of our family so that in redeeming us we might become part of his family.
Redeemer – both criminal and civil. He redeems us from the power of sin which is death. He redeems us with his own blood in that he pays with his life the debt we owe to God on account our sins – which deserve death. He purchases us from poverty of spirit and eternal death. He ransoms us from the slavery and bondage of sin. We through our sins lost the land of Paradise – he through his obedience and death has bought it back for us. He is our kinsman-redeemer. As the author to the Hebrews writes it is only the blood of Christ that could atone for man’s sin – not the blood of bulls or goats. As the song says ‘nothing but the blood of Jesus.’ The OT kinsman-redeemer could only resurrect his brothers name our kinsman-redeemer can and does resurrect our very lives.
The Redeemer who stands on the earth on the last day.
Well again this is Jesus. The disciples are told at the Ascension of Christ that he will come again to judge the world. Jesus himself stated in Matthew’s gospel that one day the clouds will part and the Son of Man will come with great power and majesty. John in his revelation speaks about that last day and the dreadfulness and awesomeness of it. On that last day he will stand on the earth and as Paul says in Philippians ‘every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.’ Job prophesied that his redeemer would stand and we proclaim that Jesus will stand as judge on this earth on that last day. We will like all the rest of creation be bowing before him – some in adoration for our Lord and Saviour, others in fear and trembling before their Judge.
Resurrection – I will see him with my own eyes.
He rose from the grave and overcame death so that one day he will raise us from the dead. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 he became the firstfruit of the resurrection from the dead. One day Christ will raise our mortal bodies to be reunited with our souls and be transformed into the likeness of his glorious body. On that day we with all creation will shout that the victory is his and his alone. On that day we shall see him with our own eyes.
We like Job know that one day we will die. We like Job know that our bodies will see decay. But here is the real question: Do we like Job know that our Redeemer lives and that one day we shall see him with our own eyes? Job could only speak with the eye of faith. We can speak as people with a fuller revelation – Christ has come and God has revealed to us in His Word that he is the Redeemer – the Saviour. Job in the midst of all his despair had this eternal hope – do you? Job said his very heart yearned within him in the knowledge of his redeemer – does yours?
Amen.
