Loren Robinson Memorial

Job 19:25-27

I spent a lot of time thinking about what passage to share with you all today. There are many wonderful texts of Scripture that speak to the love of God and the comfort of our God, especially in times like these. But I think, especially when we speak about the death of a beloved saint, that there is nothing more precious than the message of redemption and resurrection.

You know, some would call us silly that we believe in the resurrection of the dead. It is a pretty obvious fact, at least on the surface that the dead do not come back to life. But is that a fact?

I want to draw your attention to the book of Job today. Job is a very old book, perhaps the oldest book we have. Job lived a very long time ago. And you know what Job experienced? The same types of human tragedy, sickness, and sorrow that we all know today. There’s nothing new under the sun.

But in Job’s case, he experienced it all at the same time. Overwhelming pain and suffering. And Job had some friends who sat with him in his suffering quietly for a while. Eventually they started to talk to him, blame him for everything, and explain to him that it was time to give up.

Hard to call these “friends.” They go back and forth, but here in chapter 19, Job responds to them with some of the most profound words ever written. Now here is what I find fascinating… We can be encouraged by the words of a suffering man from 4000 years ago… Why? Because his hope was in the same unchanging God who loves us and gave himself for us today.

He knows that his Redeemer lives. Loren knew this, and knows it more clearly now. See when Job says “my Redeemer,” he is making a statement about God and about himself. About himself: he needs to be redeemed. He’s a sinner. Oh but about God: he’s a redeeming God. He takes the guilty and covers them with his own payment, the death of Jesus.

Job believed that. He believed, he says, that his redeemer will stand upon the earth. He did stand upon the earth. His redeemer came and lived and died and was resurrected.

The apostle Paul tells us that we should be thought of as silly for believing that people will be resurrected from the dead, except that Christ has been raised. See if Jesus hasn’t been raised, we’re to be pitied. But he has been raised! So this life isn’t all there is, and death is not the end of it!

Job understood this. He says that after his flesh has been destroyed, meaning after he too has died… in his flesh he shall see God. He isn’t speaking poetically here. Job believed that because his Redeemer lives, he’s going to be raised from the dead too.

This is our blessed hope, isn’t it? That we shall see God. Don’t you long to look into the face of Christ? Loren has taken a look. Oh what a shock that must have been! Eyes closed in his chair like he had hundreds of times before, but this time when he opened them, he saw Jesus face to face.

The apostle John tells us that when we see him we are made like him. Loren saw Jesus and sin was gone. Oh if you’re in Christ today, like Job, your eyes will lock with Christ someday and you won’t ever want to look away.

You see why Job says “My heart faints within me!”? I know there’s the pain of loss now, but you can take comfort in this: your Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth once again. He’s going to make all things right. No more pain, no more tears, no more sorrow. If you are in Christ today, you’re going to see this for yourself.