The God who stands on the dust

Job 19:25

Job 19:25 LEB

25 But I myself know that my redeemer is alive, and at the last he will stand up upon the earth.

The background for this verse is Job lamenting how He is separated from God and doesn’t have a way to address him.

He feels the hand of God weighing heavy on him.

He also utters one of the most relatable verses in the whole Bible.

Job 19:17 HCSB

17 My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own family finds me repulsive.

Job is a book full of suffering.

It’s a book that wrestles with the question “Is God good?”

Job calls out to us from the earliest days of human history as a a man with an intense need.

Job loves God,

but He knows something is missing.

Embedded in our bones is a deep need to stand in the presence of our creator and redeemer.

What was lost in the garden was communion with God.

We were not made to fly solo.

We were actually made for the service of a loving God.

And Job, because He loves God and wants to draw near to Him,

has a clear understanding that there is something in-between Him and God.

He can’t just approach Him.

That’s why, when the nation of Israel is formed and God institutes their worship, their is a big curtain that literally and symbolically separates the sinful people from a Holy God.

Job says I need a mediator!

And I don’t have one!

But he deduces something...

and he speaks prophetically from the past...

If God is good,

then I know my redeemer lives,

AND

He will stand on the dust in the last days.

Job knew,

because He had heard the stories of Adam and Eve,

that once, in the past,

human beings had truly walked with God.

So when Jesus, is born in Bethlehem, it’s cause for rejoice!

In our culture we really emphasize the celebration of birthdays.

Especially for kids.

At the core, what are we doing on those days?

We’re celebrating the anniversary of that persons arrival in our lives, and with each passing year, we are piling on more and more celebration over the fact that they are still with us, and thanking God for all they have accomplished.

With Jesus, we are celebrating the anniversary of His arrival amongst us, but we are also celebrating 2023 years of a world in which God is with us.

“Christmas is the incarnation of a promise whispered ages ago, and the Righteousness which had been slowly rising from its prophetic slumber; in a phrase, poetic justice. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son and the old wineskins burst. Even old promises could not contain this new wine; distilled from eternity, yet more fresh than every successive tomorrow. Ancient names crowned the Newborn who was from everlasting. Immanuel: “God is with us!” In our world. In our midst. In our flesh. God kept his word; God gave his Word. Yeshua: “God is for us!” For us and for our salvation. He shall save his people from their sins. Infinity in infant form. Grace and Truth has ten tiny fingers and toes. Held in the arms of his mother, yet upholding all things by the word of his power.  People who imagined vain things wrung helpless hands. Kings who propped themselves on pretended thrones trembled. Rulers who took counsel together paced empty halls on sleepless nights. God laughed as he placed his Son into the arms of Mary, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee.”  Their Son was already unsettling the world, and this great unsettling would settle everything.” -Brandon Meeks

What happened in Bethlehem some 2 Millennia ago was a real thing, my friends.

It was not a silent night There was blood on the ground You could hear a woman cry In the alleyways that night On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean And the cobblestones were cold And little Mary full of grace With the tears upon her face Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain It was a cold sky above But for the girl on the ground in the dark With every beat of her beautiful heart It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph by her side Callused hands and weary eyes There were no midwives to be found On the streets of David's town In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed Shafts of moonlight on his face But the baby in her womb He was the maker of the moon He was the Author of the faith That could make the mountains move

Everything about Christmas is REAL.

And it’s cause for celebration.

An Incarnational Christmas

I want to encourage you to have an incarnational Christmas.

Our celebration of the birth of our King among us, in the middle of history should be stunning.

[The Jews really know how to party!]

They know how to party and they’re still waiting on their Messiah!

Christians should throw the best parties.

Christians should have the best feasts.

Christians should make the best food and the best drink.

Christians should sing the best songs.

In an article titled “Go Overboard Celebrating Christmas” written for Christianity Today back in 2012,

Doug Wilson, expressing the same sentiment puts it this way...

“Celebrate the stuff. Use fudge and eggnog and wine and roast beef. Use presents and wrapping paper. Embedded in many of the common complaints you hear about the holidays (consumerism, shopping, gluttony, etc.) are false assumptions about the point of the celebration. You do not prepare for a real celebration of the Incarnation through thirty days of Advent Gnosticism.”

I’m glad he brought up Gnosticism.

Gnostic “Christians” were people who, operating out of a different story than the Bible, said that Jesus was not a fully human person,

that He was a sort of spiritual projection on our world.

I think we sometimes treat Jesus like that today.

As if He’s just some idea that we ascend to in our minds, and to truly enjoy him we have to sit with our eyes closed in prayer for 16 hours a day.

No!

Job said I know my redeemer will stand on the earth!

And Isaiah tells us that He will be “Immanuel”.

God. With. Us.

King Charles Trolled

“My government will continue to take action to bring down inflation, to ease the cost of living for families, and help businesses fund new jobs and investments.” -King Charles first Speech to the House of Lords while wearing a crown worth $57 Million

And what do we get?

We get a living, breathing salt of the earth blue collar carpenter.

A wedding delighting,

feast enjoying,

wine imbibing,

children uplifting,

nation loving,

death disrespecting

Son of Nazareth.

He stood on the earth.

Just as Job prophesied He would.

And then what Job could have never imagined...

The way He became redeemer was by being lifted up from the earth on a cross.

The God who made Adam from the dust,

who took on flesh and stood on the dust,

would now be laid in the dust.

...

...

But He got up.

And He stood on the earth again.

Job 19:26–27 HCSB

26 Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. 27 I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.

Job deduced, because of the goodness of God,

that what was lost in the garden,

would be restored one day,

and that death was not the final answer.

Our future is incarnational, church.

We are not awaiting a return of Christ that will result in some ethereal heavenly experience.

Read the end of the story,

we don’t go up to heaven,

heaven comes down to earth.

And we will stand,

with Job, and his children,

and Abraham and his children,

and Peter, and his children,

and all who have placed their faith in the Redeemer,

and we will see Him.

And we won’t be strangers.

We will be friends.

We will be brothers.

The embrace will be real.

The peace and the life will be eternal.

And we will feast with our King.