site logo
  • About Us
    • Our Staff
    • Our History
    • News
  • Contact Us
  • FREE!
    • FREE Digital Mag
    • Weekly Downloads
    • Resources
  • Print Subscriptions
  • NEW! CC Churchlink
Homepage > Bible Study Tools > Bible Reading Plan > Glimpses of future glory--Job 19:25-27
November 18, 2012  |  By Mike

Glimpses of future glory–Job 19:25-27

c_rr
Print

By David Faust

 

Did you ever try to blow out one of those stubborn birthday candles that refuses to quit burning? I’ve seen people nearly hyperventilate while trying to extinguish them. 

For a determined believer, faith is like an unyielding candle. When the winds of hardship blow, the flame may flicker but it won’t go out. 

Job endured one hardship after another, but the light of faith kept burning in his heart. Job 19 contains a confession of faith that’s remarkable in light of his painful circumstances. Job said, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (Job 19:25). Filled with prophetic overtones, this memorable text inspired a beautiful aria in Handel’s Messiah: “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth.” 

 

Our Redeemer Lives

Each phrase of Job 19:25 is packed with relevance for those who recognize that in the fullness of God’s plan, his Son came to be our Redeemer with a capital “R.” 

“I know.” Despite Job’s questions and confusion, his core convictions remained strong. He voiced the confident assurance expressed by the apostle Paul, who wrote, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12) and by the apostle John, who insisted, “you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). 

“My redeemer.” Redemption isn’t just a religious theory. It’s a personal matter, something we must accept for ourselves. “For you know it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18, 19).

“My redeemer lives.” He’s not a figure in the distant past who is now dead and gone. Our redeemer is alive and well.

“In the end he will stand on the earth.” Did Job fully comprehend how centuries later God would send his Son and the Word would become flesh? Probably not. Nevertheless, Job’s forward-looking faith makes us think of Jesus’ first coming when he stood on the earth teaching and performing miracles. And they remind us that Jesus is coming again in glory, and “he will stand”—in the posture of triumph befitting a king.

 

We Will Live Too

Job went on: “And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:26, 27). These Old Testament glimpses of future glory foreshadow the New Testament’s teaching about the resurrection of our bodies. Job’s yearning to “see him with my own eyes” brings to mind Jesus’ Beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8) and John’s vision of a heavenly home where we “will see his face” (Revelation 22:4).

When your faith encounters a storm of opposition, don’t let the flame burn out. Let the words of an ancient sufferer put things into perspective. Say with Job, “Problems may bring me down, burdens may weigh me down, and people may let me down, but my Redeemer lives. Circumstances may discourage me and hardships may disappoint me, but my Redeemer lives. Friends may reject me, but God still accepts me. Temptations may assail me, trials may assault me, and Satan may attack me, but I will never give up my faith—because my Redeemer lives.”

CONSIDER:

1. What does it mean to be redeemed? (See Psalm 19:14; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14.)

2. Is your faith like a candle that nothing can snuff out?

 

David Faust is president of Cincinnati Christian University, Cincinnati, Ohio, and past Executive Editor of The Lookout.

 

Use this guide to read through the Bible in 12 months.  Follow David Faust’s comments on the highlighted text in every issue of The Lookout.

The Lookout.’s Bible Reading Plan for November 18, 2012

John 11:45–57

1 John 4:1–6

Job 15:17–35

Ezekiel 42—44

 

John 12:1–11

1 John 4:7–21

Job 16

Ezekiel 45—47

 

John 12:12–19

1 John 5:1–12

Job 17

Ezekiel 48

 

John 12:20–36

1 John 5:13–21

Job 18

Daniel 1, 2

 

John 12:37–50

2 John 1–13

Job 19

Daniel 3, 4

 

John 13:1–11

3 John 1–14

Job 20

Daniel 5, 6

 
David Faust Glimpses of future glory Job 19
Previous StoryWhere You Live — for November 18, 2012
Next StoryRemember!

Comments: no replies

Join in: leave your comment Cancel Reply

(will not be shared)

Search

Helpful Resources

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get the latest news, plus links to new posts at LookoutMag.com directly to your inbox every month.





Christian Standard Media

We provide true-to-the-Bible resources that inspire, educate, and motivate people to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. For 150 years we have been serving the Christian community with products that have but one purpose: bringing the Bible to life.

Contact

16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202
Parker, CO 80134
800-543-1353
Lookout@christianstandardmedia.com

[contact-form-7 id=”24009″ title=”Subscribe for Free!_copy”]

Magazine WordPress Theme made by ThemeFuse