As we think about the resurrection on this Easter Sunday, I want to take you to a very special verse from the Old Testament. It is Job 19:25, which reads, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”
I do not know if you have ever had the experience of gaining an insight or receiving a revelation so important that you have wished that it could be preserved forever. But if you have, or if you have experienced that even in a partial way, you will immediately understand the tone in which Job was speaking as he wrote these lines. We hear something said in a particularly vivid way, and we say, “Oh, if I could just remember that!” Or we have an insight, and we say, “If I could just get that written down so I won’t forget it!”
Well, this was what Job experienced just before he said this. He had suffered a great deal, as we know, first by the loss of his possessions, then by the loss of his ten children and eventually, his own health. His friends came to comfort him but actually abused him, charging that his misfortunes were the result of some particularly outstanding sin in Job’s life. Then in the midst of one reply he gave vent to this insight.
It was an insight that his story was not being told completely in this life and that a latter day would vindicate him. In fact, it was an insight that there was an individual who would vindicate him, even the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Job calls “my Redeemer.” This individual would stand in some future day upon the earth, would raise Job from death, and would enable him to see God.
Can you imagine Job’s excitement as he received this revelation and gave expression to this profound hope? There were not many who shared it in Job’s day, and few would understand it. So Job said that he wished that his words might be preserved. “Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book; that they were engraved, with an iron pen and lead, in the rock forever!” (Job 19:23-24). Fortunately for us, Job’s wish was fulfilled. Not only were his words preserved in a book; they have been preserved in the Book of books, the Bible. That book will be preserved forever. “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” This revelation is for ourselves and our children forever.
We need to look at this statement word by word, and the first part that we need to look at is its key word, “redeemer.” Now, this is a rich and particularly illuminating term. In Hebrew the word is goel, which refers to a relative who performs the office of a redeemer for his kin. We must visualize a situation such as this. A Hebrew has lost his inheritance through debt. We would say that he has mortgaged his estate and that, because of a lack of money to meet the debt, he is about to lose it or has already lost it. This happened, you will recall, in the case of Naomi and Ruth so that, although they had once possessed land, they had become impoverished. In such a situation it was the goel’s duty, as the next of kin, to buy back the inheritance; that is, to pay the mortgage and restore the land to his relative. Boaz did this in relation to Ruth.
Now, this is what Job refers to in his great expression of faith in his divine Redeemer, and it is why this passage must refer to Job’s own resurrection. As Job speaks these words he is in dire physical condition. He has lost family and health. He must have imagined that he is about to lose his life too. He will die. Worms will destroy his body. But that is not the end of the story, he says. For his body, like his land, is his inheritance; and there is one who will redeem it for him. Years may go by, but at the latter day the Redeemer will stand upon the earth and will perform the office of a goel in raising his body. He will bring Job into the presence of God.
