My Redeemer Lives       Job 19: 13-27

Have you ever been the recipient of a “Pay it forward“? You went to pay and there was no dept to pay. Maybe someone had paid out a loan or paid a fine for you. How did you feel or how would you feel?

Today, we are looking at what a Redeemer is or, more importantly, WHO our Redeemer is. Redeemer = Someone who literally buys back, wins back or frees from distress; someone who rescues a victim from poverty or slavery. Example: A person who needs to sell everything and go into poverty/slavery: their redeemer would pay the dept/buy it all back and restore everything as it was.

In Bible times, the redeemer may have also raised up an heir or avenge the blood of a murder. WHO had the responsibility for this - the next of kin. This is where we hear the phrase “kinsman redeemer” and Boaz/Ruth/Naomi in the book of Ruth is the most well-known.

Back to Job

If anyone on this earth needed a redeemer, it was Job. He had had a rough trot. All his kids had died, all his stuff was gone, he had sores from head to toe. And on top of that, he had three dodgy friends who came over and literally got stuck into him.

What was God’s assessment of Job when all this happened? (Job 2:3 and 2:9)

A grand statement of faith. (Verse 25) “My Redeemer Lives.” Now, this cannot be a real-life person in Jobs life because of the preceding verses in chapter 19. Job also states about his Redeemer: He lives, he will stand on the earth in the last days and Job will see Him after he dies, in the flesh. I.E. God himself; the one who Job prayed to, who he honored, the one who called him righteous. God would be his Redeemer. He would stand up for him, pull him out of despair and refocus Job’s attitudes.

Our Redeemer

·       Our God has been called Redeemer throughout the Scriptures many times.

·       Psalms 19:14  “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” David wrote this. Didn’t he have some troubles God redeemed him out of?

·       Isaiah 47:4  Our Redeemer, the Lord Almighty is his name, the Holy one of Israel.

·       Psalm 78:35  They remembered that God was their Rock, God most high was their Redeemer.     Quote from the children of Israel about Egypt/wilderness.

We, as Christians, should be familiar with the idea of God as our Redeemer, but what about Job?

At this point, Job’s main beef was that God had turned against him and he had done nothing wrong to deserve all this. Severed God and lost everything. God is to blame. Have you ever felt like that/do you feel like that? Job said in Job19:6, God had done him wrong. We all know that God is not the creator of evil. But Job had a realization and went from blaming God to acknowledging him as his only hope, his only Redeemer.

How did it end for Job?

I think it is important to see how Job finished in the end.

·       Job continued to have a whinge.

·       His dodgy friends continued to say it was all his fault.

·       God stepped in and gave Job a reality check using His creation.

·       Job repented (Job 42:1)

·       God sorted out the “friends” using Job.

·       Job had restoration.

What About Us?

Do we, in 2023, need a Redeemer like Job did? If so, to redeem us from what? The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and fallen short, and the wages (debt) of sin is death. We are all in the poor house on this one.

A Redeemer had to pay the price for us; we couldn’t. The Redeemer was Jesus, and the price was high. His blood had to be shed and his life laid down to pay for you/me. Not only that, Jesus rose again. OUR REDEEMER LIVES: a higher price than buying a coffee for someone.

Romans 3:23-24     Ephesian 1:7       1 Peter 1:18-21

The only thing that can save us, and Job, from this suffering, misery, judgement is God’s love mercy and grace - His Redemption.

In the end, Job looked up to his God and not at his circumstances. He stopped blaming God. He realized the God he was blaming was the same God of grace and mercy who was his Redeemer.

But we must accept the redemption. It would be nuts to be in Job’s position and if someone came along and offered to pay back and restore everything, and you said no. It sounds illogical.

Job is a wonderful example to us today. Through totally human thoughts/feelings/ understandings, God taught Job, with grace and mercy, about our Redeemer.

Accept his redemption, the price has been paid.