MY REDEEMER LIVES!
Job 19:25-27
25 "As for me, I know that my Redeemer
lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26 "Even
after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 Whom I
myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart
faints within me!”
Let us first ask: Why have we come
around the Word here now? – And why do we come around the Word, at all?
Yes, to be strengthened in our faith or a long to start believing and we
seek this confirmation in the Word that we are sitting down to listen
to. – And that is a good thing.
But what we maybe are not so aware of is that there is always a
risk by sitting down and listen to a man explaining the Scripture, and
it is not a little risk – it is your life, the eternal who is at
stake. That is what it is about, every time!
Then it starts to dawn on you, how important it is what you
are listening to, right? – Because
what you hear will send you one of two ways, whereas one of them
leads to an open door in heaven, to Jesus standing and waiting for you
by the Fathers right hand, to an open Father embrace – and the other to
a closed door, to the utter darkness, down to the pit of iniquity. – And
just think what a terrible pain for you, if you suddenly realized this
to the full, without any trace of doubt anymore: Heaven is closed for me
forever! – I did not reach the goal!
What has Jesus to say to you, now when
you sit down to listen to what is being preached? Listen carefully
because now it is Jesus own words you hear, just as they were declared
here on earth one time: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15).
And: “Little children, make sure no one deceives you.” (1 John 3:7),
writes the Lord's apostle.
Look, here you have words to you from Him whom so heartfelt bear
your soul on His heart, that He did not spare anything to save you.
First directly from His own mouth and then through his apostle. It is
like He is calling your name now, and always where you engage yourself
with what belongs to the spiritual and the eternity: “Thomas! Eve! John!
– Be aware of the false prophets! – Make sure no one deceives you!”
And notice the wording: Be aware! – Do not let! You become jointly
responsible! Iti s not only the seducers fault, but also yours, if you
let yourself be seduced!
That is exactly the problem today - the Christians are so naive –
they sit down and receive everything that is being served, and
especially – and here lays especially the danger for us all – when it
tastes good for our flesh, when it opens a wider and more comfortable
way for us. One does not have to take it so seriously; one can keep on
living in and practice this or that, which one has felt a judgment over
till now, one does not have to be persecuted and taken as a crank of
others, and one does not have to be put outside of the good team and so
on…
We cannot go into every kind of seduction
here, it would go too far. – Satan is truthfully a multi artist, so we
should have quite a long way to go if we put it to action – but our dear
friend Job, points very clearly to one of them for us here – and we
should notice carefully as it is one we constantly meet today.
“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will
take His stand on the earth!” (v.25).
Listen to Job’s great boldness: I know! – He says. There is
not revealed any doubt – no, my redeemer will at the last take His stand
on the earth. When everything else has gone to the ground, He shall
still be standing.
And it is not only that Job believes this about this mighty person
– he believes in something more than that, and we can see that in this,
he calls this mighty conqueror over all for my redeemer. Just as
certain he is that the Lord will conquer and stand again as a conqueror
over everything, he is certain over his own salvation.
Do you see that? – You who also have put your hope in Him.
Is it His victory or is it yours you have as the foundation for the
certainty of your own salvation. Is it something you have found in
yourself, in your own? Any quality, any faith or something that the Lord
has worked in you – yes, then you have let yourself be seduced. But is
it Him, what He is for you as a human and what He has done for you as a
human – yes, then you can also be certain like Job, and say the same
words, with the same boldness. Then you have the same true certainty of
your salvation!
When God’s Word speaks about our victory, it is not spoken of
anything then this that we by faith – which is a God’s gift – stay in
the Word about Jesus. Exactly the message about His salvation and
victory!
But what kind of seduction and false teaching does Job unveil by
this bold utterance? And now you shall be aware of that it is God’s Word
you are dealing with, and not just different opinions in different
directions inside the Christian life. Then it is usually called: Yes, I
know that the Lutherans mean that, but the Pentecostals mean this etc..
– No, this is something God’s Word reveals for us, and it is
pretty simple. What kind of condition did Job find himself in
when he came with this utterance? You know that right? – Job’s situation
on the outside is known for us all – it was a suffering almost beyond
compare, and even when it became so unbearable for Job, that he failed,
and he cursed the day he was born, the Lord still refers him as: My
servant Job! He was a man who through it all was the subject for God’s
favor and blessing. And then they (many preachers today) dare saying
that a believer shall not be sick! – Not suffer here on earth! That it
is because they have too little faith. Was it little faith that was
behind Job’s statement? It was an utterance every Christian has to take
a leap to repeat after him.
But then they would probably say: Yes, but Job lived in the old
covenant, everything became different when Jesus had been here!
We shall first ask: Did Job’s utterance spring up from that his
heart was living in the old covenant? – Wasn’t it exactly Jesus
he saw, and testifies about here? Yes, of course it was like that. Just
as it was with Abraham and the other saved in the old time, as Jesus
says: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it
and was glad.” (John 8:56). He saw it so clearly, and he was glad!
But just to take the sting out of this argument once and for all,
let us move to the time after Jesus had been here on earth. First
we hear of Paul, where he in one place writes about his fellow workers:
“Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at
Miletus.” (2 Tim. 4:20). Oh dear, he was sick! It must’ve been a
terrible Christian, and a bad faith! And not even Paul, he who even
resurrected from the dead could help him in this case.
And then we read another place where Paul writes to Timothy: “No
longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of
your stomach and your frequent ailments.” (1 Tim. 5:23). That was
terrible! – Not only was there a bad stomach, but ailments – that is,
several different – that he often was suffering from!
This must’ve been a terrible Christian! Let us hear what Paul has
to say about him: “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my
beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my
ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.”
(1 Cor. 4:17). It cannot be just anybody Paul speaks of and uses like
this! Another place we read: “Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with
you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord's work, as I
also am.” (1 Cor. 16:10). As I also am, says the Apostle.
Again another place: “And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's
fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you
as to your faith.” (1 Thess.3:2). No, would you think about that,
they sent the weak and fragile Timothy, him with all the ailments, to
strengthen them and admonish them about their faith!
You can yourself look up in a bible dictionary and see what else it
says about Timothy. – We will only mention one more place where Paul
writes to the Philippians, that he will send them Timothy, and so we
read: “For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be
concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests,
not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of his proven worth, that he
served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his
father.” (Phil. 2:20-22). Not only does Paul praise him, but he puts him
before everyone else! – And then Timothy, with the bad stomach and all
the ailments!
I have often thought about it, when I hear this false
teaching: What do these people think they are going to die from one day,
when a Christian shall not even become sick at all? – In an accident?
I will stop some more with this. They say that we should not have
decease, because Jesus carried our deceases. But Jesus also carried our
death! And our sin! But who are so spiritual blind and
incredible that he will claim himself without sin and that he never will
retire with the physical, bodily death? And if you shall not be sick at
all, then it must concern all sickness, right? Shall you not even catch
a cold? Or is it just more serious sickness it is talk about, like
cancer for instance? Let it be enough.
What will you do considering this preaching? – You shall not go
where it sounds. And if it sounds where you are, then you shall escape
from there as you would do for a snake! Do not play with this, do not be
naïve!
Listen to Job’s testimony: “As for me, I
know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on
the earth." Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall
see God.” (v.25-26).
There is not much doubt to trace here. – And that despite Job’s
needed situation. And what was the cause of this: Yes, that he had the
focus where he should have it. He trusted God! – In Jesus!
Let us take an example: Just imagine that
you and I was out walking, and then suddenly we meet someone who comes
over to you and tells that he has just been to the bank and transferred
a big amount of money to your account. As we continue walking, you say:
I doubt that. What would I think about him whom we just met? I must have
thought that he was nothing but an unreliable guy. He knew you and told
you with clean words, but still you won’t quite believe it.
What has the Lord told you? – Hasn’t He told you that He is the
atonement for all the sin of the world! Why do you doubt that it is
about you then? Is He unreliable? If you have to answer no to that, just
think what it then must mean to you. Then you can say like Job: “I know
that my redeemer lives!”
I know that my ---. Oh,
mercy upon mercy! He is my redeemer! Jesus is your
redeemer! That is what the Word of God preaches unto you!
Job knew this! – And this produced something certain in him. Just
listen: “My heart faints within me!” (by longing! Norw. transl.). – It
produced a deep longing after the Lord. And this knowledge and this
longing keeps us as Christians from being trapped by sin and worldliness.
“(The mercy ) Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and
to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.” (Titus
2:12). It does! – Praise be to God!
So remember now as well the eternal seriousness that Jesus put in
you, as He said: Be aware, and make sure no one deceives you! Something
is resting upon you right here! He will not let the one go astray who
remains in Him, but the one who is arrogant or naive, so that he takes
risks, he can risk of being taken consumed by the powers that he has
been warned against. Because Satan has always something that is tasty to
our flesh – but the flesh shall die, so the spirit can live! Therefore
will the life here never be without suffering. – Just do not think that
Jesus has left you for that reason! – He does not bring forth a teaching
who hits the wretched, the one who is incapable of making it work, on
the contrary: He sees to the wretched! “For He will deliver the
needy when he cries for help, The afflicted also, and him who has no
helper.” (Ps. 72:12).
E.K.
Holy Bible New American Standard Version
Translator: Benedicte Holtan Smart |
