This Is Not The End

I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.   Job 19:25

Job turned to his friends: “You have seen the tough situation I’m in, but I’m absolutely sure of two things: I have a Redeemer, and I know that my Redeemer lives.”

If they had asked him who this Redeemer was, he wouldn’t have been able to answer. All he knew was that God had somebody somewhere who would have the will and the means to do whatever was necessary to deliver Job from this mess.

Job’s physical condition was getting so bad he was beginning to feel he might well die before this Redeemer appeared on the scene. But that would make no difference. He was convinced that this Redeemer would come, and even if he did not come until long after Job had died, he would still be able to deliver Job from ultimate loss.

Can you imagine the Son of God listening to this? There were at least another two thousand years before Jesus Christ came into the world. But here was a man already looking for him, staking his life on it.

After Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that someone would come to get men and women out of the mess they were in, and Job held on to that promise. He believed that the pain, suffering, and loss of life in this fallen world would not be the end.

God looked at this sinful world and said, “I can’t leave them there like this. I must go down and rescue them.” That took God giving up his Son. The cross tells us that when the Redeemer came, he did something more difficult than anything else God had done in all the history of the world.

The Redeemer has come and paid the price. “God paid a ransom to save you. . . . And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). And on the third day, he rose again. So even through your tears, you can say with absolute confidence, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

For further reading, see Hebrews 7