“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!” (Job 19:25-27 NLT) [1]
Job said he knew his Redeemer lives. Who is Job talking about?
In the dictionary we find the definition of a redeemer as someone who redeems.
So what does redeem mean?
Below is the definition I found in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition:
re.deem ri-‘dem transitive verb
1 a : to buy back : repurchase; b: to get or win back; 2: to free from what distresses or harms: as: a: to free from captivity by payment of ransom; b: to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental; c: to release from blame or debt: clear; d: to free from the consequences of sin; 3: to change for the better: reform; 4: repair, restore; 5a: to free from a lien by payment of an amount secured thereby; 5b (1): to remove the obligation of by payment: The U.S. Treasury redeems savings bonds on demand; (2): to exchange for something of value: Redeem trading stamps; C: to make good: fulfill; 6a: to atone for: expiate; 6b(1): to offset the bad effect of (2): to make worthwhile: retrieve.
There is only one person who can fulfill most if not all of the definitions of a redeemer, and that person is Jesus Christ. Since Job is considered to be the oldest book in the bible, then this has to be the oldest prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ.
Job knew and trusted God but he must have felt like Paul who wrote:
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12 NRSV) [2]
We all see things dimly with our spiritual eyes. There is not a way we can fathom all that God is, but we will one day. That is the day we will see Him face to face. What a glorious day that will be.
Some of us physically see things dimly or not at all. I tell people that what I see with my eyes is like looking through a piece of opaque or frosted glass. I know that Jesus Christ can heal. We have accounts where he made blind eyes to see. Some were blind from birth and some had lost the sight that they once had. Jesus does not heal everyone here on earth. We don’t know why but one reason might be to be a better witness for Him in the condition we are in. I have been blessed to have had sight before and may receive my sight again, but what I will see when I get to heaven will not compare to what I have seen here on earth. So if I may paraphrase Fanny Crosby, the great hymn writer who lost her sight at a very young age, “If the next thing I see is Jesus Christ I’m okay with that!” Just think what it will be like to see Jesus face to face. I, like Job, am overwhelmed!”
Today Rae Goines and I sang the duet “I’ve Just Seen Jesus”. When we were finished something that came to my mind was that we have to see Jesus now to be able to see him later. Wouldn’t this be a fitting song for my funeral?
Dean W. Masters
dwmasters@earthlink.net Owner of the Masters List: http://shaned.net/mailman/listinfo/masterslist_shaned.net Unedited redistribution approved
[1] Holy Bible : New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1997. [2] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996, c1989.