“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” ~ Job 19:25
In human terms Job had suffered at levels of unmatched intensity, severity and breadth. His wealth, his livelihood, his children, his spouse, his personal health, his trusted advisors…
Dignity, reputation, confidence, love and life had been pummeled in the crucible of pain and suffering. Job had been rocked to the core and with his fists at his side, Satan kept swinging.
Condemnation swirled with accusation. Pain converged with blame. The misery; unprecedented in it’s magnitude was not only catastrophic; it was his fault! Friends became Pharisees. Advocates became enemies. Tears found no solace. Grief met no comfort.
Misery met isolation.
Job’s language became the vocabulary of lament. The pain had long ago dissolved any varnish. Job was raw and authentic and transparent. He ached… body, mind and soul.
He didn’t hide his tears or mute his voice… he wept and cried out. He wailed and mourned.
He voiced his confusion. He pled for help. But God remained silent, and his friends only magnified the confusion.
And at the apex… as the pain and condemnation were at a peak… he squeezes the fingers of his soul into the tiniest of cracks and he clings to a vision…
“I know that my redeemer lives.”
My redeemer. Job’s rescuer. His healer and hero. Job knows.
Not after the pain, but in it. Not post-redemption, but in desperation. Not after he polished up his rhetoric; but while his words of complaint and question were still hanging in the air.
“I know.”
Job knew that he had a redeemer. A friend. An advocate. A defender. A comforter. Long before an infant was born to a virgin… Job knows. Centuries before a blood-stained cross… Job knew. Long before Isaiah articulates his vision… Job saw the light.
Not in spite of the pain, but because of it. Not beyond the suffering, but in it. Job knew.
Yes; Job got it right. His redeemer lives. Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God as Satan threw down the challenge… Jesus heard his name. Not from the angel Gabriel, but from the lips of the tormented saint. From Job.
Redeemer.
The redeemer. My redeemer. Our redeemer. Your redeemer.
Not after the pain, but in it.
I know.
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