My Redeemer Lives — Part 1: April 1, 2024

Broadcast

                      My Redeemer Lives - Part 1
                             Job 19:23-27
                              04/01/2024


        23   Oh that my words were written!  Oh that they were
             inscribed in a book!
        24   Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were
             engraved in the rock forever!
        25   For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last
             he will stand upon the earth.
        26   And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in
             my flesh I shall see God,
        27   whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall
             behold, and not another.  My heart faints within
             me!  (ESV)

        Yesterday, Easter Sunday, commemorates the event which has
   defined the Christian Church.  Jesus Christ, rising from the
   dead, is the most important event in history.  Even the way we
   tell time and count the days are affected by the life, death, and
   resurrection of Jesus.

        Long before the women discovered the empty tomb, those with
   faith in the One True God confessed their belief in a physical
   resurrection.  Job, whose suffering is related in the book named
   after him, expressed his hope in God's grace, trusting in the
   resurrection of the body.

        Oh that my words were written!  Oh that they were
        inscribed in a book!  Oh that with an iron pen and lead
        they were engraved in the rock forever!  For I know
        that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand
        upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus
        destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I
        shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not
        another.  My heart faints within me!


        From the depths of human misery, even when he thought that
   he was dying, Job spoke of his faith in God.  No human could take
   his place, no human could cure his ills.  The language Job uses
   for ``Redeemer'' is the same sense we find in the book of Ruth,
   where Boaz is called a ``kinsman redeemer.''  Through Boaz, the
   property of Ruth's deceased husband is preserved.  Through the
   Almighty's intervention, Job has hope for the future.

        This week, while studying Job's words, we will come to know
   that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, our Deliverer from sin, death,
   and the power of the devil.

        Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia.  Amen.