The Coming Promise Of Our Redeemer

The Believers hope as seen in the man Job

The English poet Alexander Pope wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest.” But where does man turn when hope dries up' The director of a medical clinic told of a terminally ill young man who came in for his usual treatment. A new doctor who was on duty said to him casually and cruelly, “You know, don’t you, that you won’t live out the year?” As the young man left, he stopped by the director’s desk and wept. “That man took away my hope,” he blurted out. “I guess he did,” replied the director. “Maybe it’s time to find a new one.”

Commenting on this incident, Lewis Smedes wrote, “Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation is hopeless? That question leads us to Christian hope, for in the Bible, hope is no longer a passion for the possible. It becomes a passion for the promise.”

Christians above all people should be people who are filled with this passion for the promise ( Not the possible). One such Biblical character is of course Job who lost everything his wealth, his family, his friends, here was a man who never lost his Christian hope, everything else may of well fell apart around him yet his hope sprang eternal, because it was placed upon promises yet to come which he believed by faith.

As we approach Christmas it’s a reminder to believers of those promises which have been fulfilled and more yet to come, today we are considering our coming of the Saviour our Redeemer! I want us to unpack the believers hope with you as seen through the man Job in the Bible. And if your hope this morning is placed in the possible, I want you to consider , isn’t it’s about time you find a new one, because the possible can often become impossible, like that young man who was terminally ill.

Last week was advent Sunday: comes from the Latin word ‘adventus’ means arrival or coming of a Saviour or Messiah. It counts downs the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Advent was first celebrated by Christians in the 4th century, it was viewed not only as a affirmation of Jesus birth his 1st advent looking back. But also filled with anticipation, looking forward to his 2nd advent & of his earthly return & reign.

But we also see from many OT prophecies that God’s people also looked forward to the coming of a Saviour & King ( Isaiah 7:14 , 9:1-2, 6-7, Micah 5:2) & specifically Job, believed to be one of the oldest books chronologically , it is thought he lived around the time of the patriarchs 2000 BC. In Job 19:23-27 we see a believer whose hope springs eternal he was filled with expectancy despite his circumstances, his hope was in the promises of God applied to his heart.

Read together Job 19:23-27 “Oh, that my words were recorded,

that they were written on a scroll,

24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on[a] lead,

or engraved in rock forever!

25 I know that my redeemer[b] lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.[c]

26 And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet[d] in[e] my flesh I will see God;

27 I myself will see him

with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

1. The believers hope - Jobs affirmation (declaration of truth) . V23 -24. (Objective truth)

Have you ever got something on your chest or heart that you have desired to speak out, but more than that, you have felt it so important you’ve desired it to be written down kept for prosperity, it’s of such importance an affirmation of what’s on your heart to be shared with future generations ( family letters, tress, books) .

Well I believe Job here has got something on his chest, something on his heart, which he can’t keep in any longer, he deeply desires to express his true hope despite all the injustice & false accusations of his so called comforters, he wants his inner thoughts to be expressed in word & written down for prosperity, so that he we can be vindicated at a future point.

Notice he mentions two methods of recording his affirmation

a) to be written down, upon a scroll (portable, shared in a book)

b) or inscribed with an iron tool on lead or engraved in rock forever, (Also public & permanent monument)

He wants his words to remain as a witness as an affirmation to future generations to come to the believers hope, he wants us to know despite all that might happen to the believer, where our hope needs to be placed not in the possible but in the promises of God, which he goes on to express.