Easter 2026 - Job 19:19-27
The cross and the resurrection are inextricably linked. Only those who put their faith in Jesus will have everlasting life!
Job 19:19-27...
Job was a good man. Satan tested his faithfulness, causing him to lose everything.
His friend Bildad was offended by Job's faith in God, accusing him of hidden sin (which must be there, to his thinking, because of the bad things happening to Job).
His friends should have had his back, but they didn't. Jesus faced this same betrayal, yet never stopped loving us. He even asked the Father to forgive them as he hung on the cross!
The story of Job points to the only truly blameless man, Jesus.
Job was treated as a scoundrel. He believes God is trying him, but really, Satan is the one doing him harm. God is allowing it, knowing it will produce good fruit in Job!
Job realizes no one is going to come to his defense. In v25, he states he knows his redeemer lives, and will stand upon the earth, upon the dust, upon death! He's anticipating his death, but knows God will make him whole again!
That's our text.
Chapter 19 ends with the question... How long can this continue? Which is answered: he knows his redeemer lives!
1. My redeemer lives...
Our current political climate is nothing new: Satan was a liar and author of confusion from the beginning. The truth has always been buried in lies.
So what do we actually know? "My redeemer lives!!!" That's what we ground ourselves in. The Lord is faithful and true!
1 Corinthians 2... "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Paul proclaimed what we do know!
What does your soul need, what does the world need? The message of the cross! That Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead! We have a redeemer!
Mark 10:45... He can't to serve and give his life as a ransom for many!
We are dirty, imperfect, and we need his redemption! So we follow him to the end, and follow him in death!
Job is surrounded by lies, confusion, betrayal... and he anchors his hope in what he does know: that he has a living redeemer! Don't anchor your heart in things you don't know, but I'm what you do: today you are a sinner Jesus loved, died, and rose again for!
2. He will stand upon the earth/dust/death/grave...
Job talks about the resurrection as vindication. Jesus's resurrection proved he was telling the truth, the ultimate vindication.
In the day of judgment, every Christian will be vindicated before God and Satan!
3. v26-27: "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."
When we're in heaven, we'll be given new bodies! We will be raised from the dead, because we belong to him and will be reunited to him! He is the resurrection and the life! It's not possible for you to stay dead! You'll close your eyes, and open them in the presence of our redeemer!
1 Timothy 2:5... One God, and one mediator, Jesus!
So...
What do you know? He is risen indeed! Our redeemer lives! Life gets hard and complicated. So we ground our hope in the truth of the Gospel!
On the day you die, know that your redeemer lives! Whoever believes in him, though he may die, will live!