Wisdom Books Job

A Living Redeemer

Discover Jesus as: Promised Redeemer Job 19 Read on Bible Gateway (HCSB)

Day 377 of 730
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INTRO

Every book of the Bible should ultimately point us to Jesus. Jesus Himself said He didn’t come “to destroy the Law or the Prophets . . . but to fulfill” them (Matthew 5:17). Job 19 will point us directly to the Messiah by expressing Job’s hope for a redeemer. After losing his family, all his possessions, his health, and in the midst of struggling with his friends, Job looked forward to his Promised Redeemer as he responded to Bildad’s speech recorded in chapter 18.

TEACHING

Job 19:1–4: Constable observed that these verses highlight “the hostility of Job’s accusers.”1 Job reached a point where he was tired of his friends complaints. Their words had crushed him (v. 2), and he felt humiliated by their treatment (v. 3). Job argued that even if he had sinned it would have been no concern to his friends.

Job 19:5–12: Job brought forth seven images to describe the trials of his life. These images marked a transition, from Job describing the hostility of his friends, to describing the hostility of God 2:

  1. He felt like a trapped animal (v. 6).
  2. He felt like a criminal in court (v. 7).
  3. He felt like a traveler fenced in (v. 8). Job felt like his path had been filled with darkness by the Lord. In contrast, Isaiah prophesied, “Who among you fears the LORD, listening to the voice of His servant? Who among you walks in darkness, and has no light? Let him trust in the name of Yahweh; let him lean on his God” (Isaiah 50:10).
  4. He felt like a king dethroned (v. 9).
  5. He felt like a structure destroyed (v. 10).
  6. He felt like a tree uprooted (v. 10b). In Job 14:7, Job said there was hope for a tree that was cut down because “its roots would not die.” But there is no hope for a tree that is uprooted. Job saw no hope in his situation.
  7. He felt like a besieged city (v. 12).3

Job 19:13–22: This section of Job’s speech describes the hostility Job faced from his other acquaintances.4 Job complained that everyone close to him, including those he considered his “brothers,” his acquaintances, his family, and even his servants had all abandoned him (vv. 13–16). His family now found him repulsive (v. 17). Things had gotten very dark for Job. Oswald Chambers wrote, “Oh, the unspeakable benediction of the ‘treasures of darkness.’ It is not the days of sunshine and splendor and liberty and light that leave their lasting and indelible effect upon the soul, but those nights of the Spirit in which, shadowed by God’s hand, hiding in the dark cleft of some rock in a weary land, He lets the splendors of the outskirts of Himself pass before our gaze.”5

Even young people began to mock Job (v. 18). The treatment Job experienced resembled that of a leper. No one wanted anything to do with him and they kept him at a distance. His friends and those he loved turned against him. Job’s experience was remarkably similar to what the Messiah would endure. Isaiah prophesied, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn’t value Him” (Isaiah 53:3).

Job described the frailty of his current physical condition (v. 20). MacArthur noted Job “had escaped death by a very slim margin.”6 After experiencing such radical suffering, Job appealed again to his friends to “have mercy on me” (v. 21).

Job 19:23–29: Now, after outlining all the ways God and his acquaintances had been against him, Job began to express his confidence in God.7 MacArthur wrote, “At the point of Job’s greatest despair, his faith appeared at its highest.”8 Job knew God would redeem him. Other pictures of God being viewed as a living Redeemer are provided in the Old Testament:

Therefore tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh, and I will deliver you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and free you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment” (Exodus 6:6).

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

“He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious in his sight” (Psalm 72:14).

“This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: Because of you, I will send to Babylon and bring all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice” (Isaiah 43:14).

Job believed he would see and experience the Promised Redeemer (v. 27). In the midst of all of the chaos, Job remembered the promise of the living Redeemer.

CLOSING

Job may not have known what he was doing, but his expression of hope in a living Redeemer was an expression of hope in the coming Messiah, Jesus. No matter how desperate our situation may be, Jesus can redeem any of us: “They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

  1. Tom Constable, Dr. Constable’s Bible Study Notes: Job, p. 73; available at https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/job.pdf.

  2. Constable, p. 73.

  3. Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Wisdom and Poetry (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2004), pp. 39–40.

  4. Constable, p. 75.

  5. Oswald Chambers; quoted in Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Wisdom and Poetry (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2004), p. 39.

  6. John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005) p. 582.

  7. Constable, p. 75.

  8. MacArthur, p. 582.

Questions

  1. Job was tired of being insulted by Bildad (Job 19:1–5). It seems Bildad was more concerned about Job’s sins than his own. Where in Scripture do we find a proper response to another’s sin (Matthew 7:3–5)? Do you know someone like this?
  2. In Job 19:13–20, Job listed his woes. What did he list more than once?
  3. At the end of Job 19, Job said, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.” How powerful was that statement? Do you think you could have suffered as Job and still praised God, knowing you would see him?
  4. What did the Holy Spirit highlight to you in Job 19 through the reading or the teaching?

Next: the Daily Word →

Daily Word

Laura Martin Job 19:25–26

“But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh.”

Job responded to Bildad with exhaustion, saying: “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words? . . . He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me . . . My breath is offensive from my wife and my own family finds me repulsive.” Nevertheless, even in the midst of despair and exhaustion, Job found hope, saying: “But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last.” Yes, Job knew the living Redeemer, the one who was still to come, the promised Redeemer, Jesus. Job found hope.

Each day, you will walk through situations that may bring discouragement: spilled coffee on your computer, a lost phone, infertility, a friend who won’t speak to you, being confined to bed or your house . . . there are so many situations on any given day that can lead to discouragement. As you walk through these difficult moments, remember there is always a but. There is always the truth. You have a living Redeemer, Jesus Christ. He gave His life in order to set you free from sin and death. And now, your Redeemer lives. Even at the end of a difficult day, choose to say: “But I know my Redeemer lives.” Now you can face tomorrow, because your Redeemer lives. God’s got you, friend. Hang on to the hope in Christ t.

“But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh.”

— Job 19:25–26

FURTHER SCRIPTURE

  • Isaiah 43:1 — “Now this is what the Lord says—the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel—‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.’”
  • Romans 8:1–2 — “Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
  • Ephesians 1:7–8 — “We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”