By Henry Mahan
Job 19:21-27
Suppose I took you to a fine home in the suburbs, beautifully landscaped, the mother in the kitchen preparing the evening meal, healthy children playing in the yard, and the father returns home with the news that he has been promoted and given a raise. As they all gather about the table that evening to give thanks and the father says, 'The hand of God hath touched me,' you would probably agree with him. But here in Job is a true believer whom God called, 'my servant, one that feareth God and shuns evil,' who was once wealthy but is now poor, once healthy but now sick, once powerful and influential but now alone and deserted (Job 19:9-20), and he says, 'The hand of God hath touched me.' He did not say Satan hath touched me, but he declared, 'God hath touched me.'
This is a mystery that natural men do not understand, only those who have been touched first in regeneration by God (1 Cor. 2:7-14). In the natural world the way up is up, but in the spiritual world the way up is down. 'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted' (Luke 14:11). In the natural world, to live is to live; but in the spiritual world the way to live is to DIE (Matt. 10:39). In the natural world men find satisfaction in their own strength; but Paul declared, 'When I am weak then am I strong' (2 Cor. 12:10). The greatest thing God can do for a person (whatever the cost) is to show him in heart and soul the vanity of all things in this world (Eccles. 1:2, 14) and to turn his interest, affection, love, and concern from the world to Christ (Matt. 5:3- 12) . To be full is to be emptied of self, to be wise is to become a fool for Christ's sake, to be clothed is to be stripped, to receive is to give, to reign is to serve, and to be rich is to become poor.
This was Job's experience. He knew what it was to possess all that the world can afford, then he felt the full impact of watching it all fade away and being reduced to ashes! With everything gone, in the dust, at the bottom, with no place to hide and no arm to lean upon, he rejoices in the sinner's only hope-- his redeemer! (Psalm 73:25). Several things stand out in Job's testimony concerning Christ, our Redeemer.
1. Job had absolute certainty in an uncertain world
He could say, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth.' Like Abraham, Job believed God's word. 'All flesh is grass and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field, but the word of our God shall stand forever' (Isa. 40:6-8). There is nothing certain in this world but its destruction; but we know that God is, that God is in Christ, and that God is in Christ reconciling us to himself (1 John 5:20).
2. Job had a true friend among false friends
'I know that my Redeemer liveth. This is the word that stands out from all the rest. There is no name of the Messiah which is more significant, more comprehensive, nor more endearing than Redeemer. The word signifies 'a near kinsman who has the right to redeem.' This is what the book of Ruth is all about--the kinsman Redeemer! He has the right to redeem, being a near kinsman; he has the will to redeem because he loves; he has the price to redeem.
This is what Job is saying about our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. He has the right to redeem in that he took our flesh and was numbered with the transgressors.
2. He has the will to redeem, for he loves us with an everlasting love.
3. He paid the full price with his own blood (1 Peter 1:18-19).
3. Job had the promise of life eternal even in a land of death 'I know that my Redeemer liveth.' Our Redeemer was then living: for he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 'He was in the beginning with God' (John 1:1).
Our Redeemer liveth because he is the life (John 1:4; John 14:6).
Our Redeemer died and rose again and lives forever (Rev. 1:17-18). Because he lives we shall live also, for he is 'the resurrection and the life.'
4. Job had the promise of victory over the grave and a real inheritance on the real earth
v. 25. He shall stand on the earth. He once walked this earth as our representative and sin-offering. He will come again and stand upon the new earth, and we shall stand with him (John 14:1-3).
v. 26. 'Though I shall die,' Job declared, and this body shall go back to dust, yet I shall rise from the grave and I shall see him in his glory as one of his redeemed ones' (1 John 3:1-3).
v. 27. Job expected to be raised from the grave himself and with a glorified body live forever with his Redeemer (1 Cor. 15:50- 57).
