We have been doing a series of messages about Job, the patriarch from the Old Testament. The title of the series is “Job: Patient Endurance and Faithfulness.” Last time, we talked about Job’s declaration of faith…. “Though He (God)slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job 13:15
And today we're moving on to Job 19. There has been an ongoing conversation with his comforters telling him: you must be guilty of some sin or you wouldn't be suffering. And Job is saying, “I'm righteous in all of this if only I could prove it to you and prove it to God.”
But by this time,Job is getting beaten down; mentally and emotionally and spiritually because of the barrage of accusations from his comforters. And so, he cries out to his friends to pity him and to stop the accusations against him.
Job 19:21“Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me!
It seems like at this juncture of the story that he is at the end of himself and he wants to make some things known about what he believes about God…..Job wants to state some things; kind of like writing your epitaph on your tombstone…. What would it say about your faith in God? And that's exactly what Job is saying here: you can write this down, engrave it on a stone…. This is my eternal epitaph.
Job 19:23 “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! 24 That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever! 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
1) My Redeemer Lives. This is personal; Job says this with certainty. Even tho’ the Redeemer (Jesus) is 2000 years away from coming to earth, Job knows his Messiah will come and pay the price through his death to purchase his Redemption.
2) My Redeemer is Returning. Job says that in the last days Christ will stand on the earth. Job is a prophet; he not only sees Jesus coming as Messiah with the binoculars of prophecy; but now he's got the hubble telescope of prophecy out and he sees Jesus returning in the future.
3) I Will be Resurrected. Job somehow understood the mystery of the Resurrection. That even though his body would become food for maggots in the grave, that somehow his body would be brought back to life… resurrected, and that he would see God.
4) Jesus will be Revealed to me. The Bible is full of stories of people who had had a revelation of God, but that was their revelation- Job says and I want my own eyes to see him for myself.
5) I’m Ready. My heart yearns for that day when I shall see him. As the song says: “O want to see him look upon his face there to sing forever of his saving grace. “
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “An Eternal Epitaph.”
Blessings,
Kevin
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