I Know That My Redeemer Lives

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The story is told of an Indian sitting in a plane next to Albert Einstein. To pass the time, Einstein proposed that they play a game. “I will ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it, you pay me fifty dollars. Then you ask me a question, and if I can’t answer it, I will pay you five hundred dollars.” The Indian knew that that he was no match for Einstein, but figured that he had enough philosophical and cultural knowledge to be able to stump Einstein sometimes, and with a ratio of ten to one, he could manage to stay in the game.

Einstein went first and asked the Indian how far the earth was from the moon. The Indian was not sure of the exact number and put his hand into his pocket to give Einstein fifty dollars. Now came the Indian’s turn, and he asked, ‘What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?” Einstein paused, pondered, finally dipped his hand into his pocket and gave the man 500 dollars. Now it was Einstein’s turn again. He said, ‘Before I ask you my next question, ‘what DOES go up the mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?” The Indian paused, dipped into his pocket, and gave Einstein 50 dollars back.

Like that Indian man, we often ask questions that are designed to trip up the other person, while having no answers to the questions ourselves.

There is no question where this is more often done, than in the question of suffering.

“How can you believe, let alone WORSHIP God, in a world like this? Don’t you see the suffering?!”

“If He is All-Powerful - then how can He be good?” “If God is truly good - if He loves … then how can He be all-powerful?!”

It is one of the most often given reasons for why people reject God. “You tell me that God loves me, that He cares about me … but you don’t know what I’m going through .... you don’t know what I’ve been through - there is hurt in my past so deep, so scarring - that I could never even share it.” “There is hurt in my present that I can barely endure.”

And so story after story I have heard of people saying: “In a world scourged with suffering, I reject God.” And if that’s you - that’s your prerogative. It’s your choice. But like the Indian man in the story - you can reject God because of suffering … but that does nothing to ANSWER the question: “Why is there so-called ‘innocent’ suffering?”

So when an ATHEIST triumphantly proclaims, “I REJECT the idea of God because of the suffering of this world” … and smugly washes his hands of the ‘Problem’ of God, I want to say, “Whoa … not so fast. Put the brakes on, because now you have created a whole list of questions to answer yourself”: seven leaps atheists have to explain: How:

‘Everything ultimately came from nothing’

‘Order came from Chaos’

‘Life came from Nonlife’

‘Reason came from Irrationality’

‘Personality came from Non-Personality’

‘Morality came from Amorality’

And at the root of these seven leaps is the foundational question that Atheism faces: “Why does any of it matter, anyway?” You came from nothing, you’re going nowhere, you have no purpose. So are you suffering, friendly atheist? Well, according to your philosophy – you’d better just suck it up, Princess.

What a thoroughly unsatisfying answer when you suffer. Now, I may not know your situation today. There may be no other person in the world who knows the specifics of your suffering and pain - your wounds. But God does. God does.

And I find it a great strength to my faith to recognize that not only does God know my pain - He acknowledges it. Christianity doesn’t hide from pain - - - This entire book of Job is devoted to dealing with the question of innocent suffering. That’s because God cares.

We have been following the life of Job through this book.

16:6: “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged (soothed), and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? Surely now God has worn me out ...”

17:1 - “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct”

We have here a man to whom Providence has revealed its darkest side.

1 WHEN THE HEAVENS ARE SILENT

Here is Job - pleading with God. He was the ‘greatest man’ - in the world of his day. Greatest in every way - he was a man of massive wealth, great family - 10 children, who were well-behaved and who actually LIKED each other. He was a man of great godliness - cared so much about his children that when they were having parties, he was sacrificing and praying for them - JUST IN CASE one of them accidentally sinned.

But Job has lost everything: Business empire - Gone; Retirement fund - Gone; All of his wealth - Gone; His home … EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS TEN CHILDREN … even his health .... IT’S ALL GONE. When we pick up Job’s story in chapter 19, he is sitting on a smouldering pile of trash, outside the city - in the local dump .... wasting away, while using broken bits of pots and bowls to scrape the puss from the festering boils that now cover his body and make it impossible to sit or lie down without excruciating pain. This is Job’s life now. He’s reduced to skin and bones … with death on the horizon - coming any day now. He is asking for answers.

... and God hasn't said a word. here we are in chapter 19 and God has said nothing to Job. Absolutely nothing. In chapters 1-2, the Lord of the universe had a discussion with Satan, but Job doesn't hear it. He's not privy to it.

All of this devastation has happened to Job - and from God he has heard not a word.

Job has lost everything .... some of you can identify. Maybe you aren’t like Job - the specifics of your loss are different, you have your own story - but you can identify with Job and his pain.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU SUFFER AND THE HEAVENS ARE SILENT?

The thought that begins to grow in mind, soul, spirit - that God isn't listening. Or worse - that if He is listening - He doesn't care.

And he is asking the ultimate question: “WHY?” In his sense of searing loss and pain: He’s lost his children, lost his home, lost his retirement fund, lost his business … and he wants answers. “WHY?”

2. ‘FRIENDLY ADVICE’

Job has three friends who have come out to the trash-heap to try and comfort him. And each one of them takes a few shots at trying to give answer for Job’s suffering.

Eliphaz is the first friend who speaks, in chapter 4. He has the answer, in chapter 4:7 “Who that was innocent ever suffered?” 4:8, “… those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” The answer is clear: “You reap what you sow” “You get out of life what you put in ...”. And that’s Biblical - New Testament. Galatians explicitly says, ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked - whatever a person sows, that he will also reap.’

“But that doesn’t fit my situation!”, Job says. Not saying that he isn’t a sinner, but he hasn’t done anything to bring about THIS kind of suffering. But if you think the friends respond with anything like, “Oh, alright then, Job. You say you’re innocent. That settles it - we will be quiet now.” If you think that’s what Job’s friends say - then you don’t know this book.

Job’s words in chapter 19 are his response to the so-called comfort from another friend, ‘Bildad’. Bildad speaks in chapter 18. Let’s take a quick look at what this second friend says:

18:1-4 - v. 3, “Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?” “Do you think we’re idiots - we know how the universe operates!” V. 4, “You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?” In other words, “There is a moral order in this universe - it’s very clear - bad things happen to bad people. Are you saying that the whole order of the universe has to be turned on its head just to satisfy YOU, JOB?!” - why should that be?!”

v. 5-13 – Bildad – paints picture after picture of how Life is full of terrors for the person who ignores God’s moral order. He’s a master of METAPHOR. Look at v. 5, “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out ...”. Verse 6, “The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out.”

Verse 11, “Terrors frighten him on every side and chase him at his heels ..”

v. 14 - he’s 'marched off to the king of terrors'.

v. 15 - “… sulfur is scattered over his habitation.” his house is on fire. Verse 17, “His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street.” ...

V. 19, “He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live.” Bildad’s talking about how Job's 10 children have been buried and when he dies, which will be any day now … the memory of him will die with him. There will be nothing left of Job’s name in the universe - it will be as if he never even existed.

What an unbelievably cruel sermon - Look back at v. 4 again, ‘You who tear yourself in your anger ...”. Imagine coming to someone in the grip of sorrow unimaginable, someone flailing in her pain … and rubbing her nose in her loss and heartache. “Look at you there, wailing like a baby.”

Conclusion of the sermon in v. 21: "Surely such are the dwellings of the UNRIGHTEOUS, such is the place of him WHO KNOWS NOT GOD." That’s the end of Bildad’s sermon.

- So he is saying, “Job, you are suffering because you don't know God - You belongs to the class of the 'unrighteous'.” This is Unbelievably harsh.

“You’ve lost your business, lost your retirement plan, your bank account is empty … every single one of your children is dead .... you’ve lost your home, living on the trash on the ground of the garbage dump - and now, your body is riddled with disease - wasting away, with death on the horizon and coming any day now ....”SUCH IS THE PLACE OF HIM WHO KNOWS NOT GOD.” “YOU ARE RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, THIS VERY MOMENT – because you don’t know God - you are a wicked sinner.”

.... with friends like this .... These friends are worse than useless. Oh, but we do understand where they’re coming from, don’t we? We are so much the same. When there is suffering, when your world is breaking apart ...

We want to know ‘WHY’? “What is the cause of this?” “What did I do?”

- Man born blind. He’s middle aged by now. Never seen a sunrise, never looked into the face of his mother. Everyone wants to know, ‘WHY? Why did this happen?’ ‘Did he sin or did his parents?’ In other words, ‘Somebody must have done something bad here … so who did it? Who’s responsible for this suffering?”

Jesus said, ‘Neither this man or his parents (sinned) … BUT THAT THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE DISPLAYED IN HIM.’

See here - the people are asking a question that Jesus isn’t interested in. They are concerned with CAUSE - Jesus is focused on OPPORTUNITY. “God has a plan for GOOD that could only come through this PAIN.”

Do you believe that in your own situation?

Malcom Muggeridge, famous British writer, famous for his satire – he could mock anything, it seemed. But along the way of his life, he met Christ. Late in life, he looked back over his years and said this:

“Contrary to what might be expected. I look back on experiences .. I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has enhanced and truly enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained. In other words, if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence … the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable. This of course, is what the cross signfies. And it is the cross, more than anything else, that has called me inexorably to Christ.”

3. AT THE LOWEST POINT

Job responds in chapter 19. Look at v. 2, "How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words ..." - - - - NOT TRUE THEN and NOT TRUE NOW. You go to a secret place and think about them; you wake up in the night and are haunted by them; you obsess over them years later.

Words break up marriages, break down relationships between parents and children, break up friendships.

Never read an anonymous letter. Because words are powerful – they can crush – and if someone doesn’t have the courage to sign a name to their words -

Job talks about how useless these counselors are. Starting at v. 3, "... These 10 times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? (4) And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself" - - ie - “Even if I have sinned - I haven't done anything to you.”

Think about it - These friends have already been doing their 'independent investigation' for 19 chapters and they have can point to nothing specific that he's done. No sin, no bad behavior that they can point to to explain his suffering - - only that he MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING!

Here he is: , "All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me." My friends have all gone. they aren't calling anymore. They are avoiding him.

– “Know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me.” That’s a very sad picture, isn’t it. Maybe that’s how you feel. You are the victim not just of random events that happen to mesh together into pain for you … no, you are the victim of God. He has closed you in a net and you can’t escape. You don’t know where to turn. There’s no light.

Job goes on to speak of the extent that God has gone to, in order to bring him to this place:

Verses 11-12: “ He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary. His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.”

So God is treating me as His enemy - - And don’t miss the power of the metaphor in v. 12 - God has sent, “His troops - all the armies of the God of heaven, come together and set up their siege ramp. That’s what armies did in the ancient world. Gathered together around an enemy fortress. Camped out in full force, built siege ramps around the fortress walls - -

But who are THE armies of Heaven attacking? “They encamp around MY TENT!” They are attacking little Job, trying to survive in his tent. See the Massive overkill. It’s like me going down to Oregon, camping in my tent trailer, waking up to go outside for my morning coffee and seeing that I am surrounded by tanks and marines dug into trenches - with the entire US AIR FORCE flying overhead - - all bent on attacking little old me!” “But I just wanted to shop with no sales tax!”

I’m a victim! That’s what Job says: Verse 20 - - - “MY bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.” You’ve heard that saying before - this is where it comes from - - - “I’ve escaped by the skin of my teeth, from your armies, God .....” - - not from an impersonal moral order. This is not just the way the universe operates .... this is personal. This is God.

Look at the end of v. 21, “… for the hand of God has touched me!” “God has actively stretched out His all-powerful hand against me - - - THAT’S why I am suffering.”

Right here - Job is at his lowest point.

.... what if you've been raped; what if your husband has been killed, if your child has been killed by a drunk or high driver. And you bring your case to the Lord - you want some answers: "Why me?!!" "Why this?!"

... that's what Job has done .... he has brought his case to God. And God. Has. Been silent.

.... and here, in the midst of that pain, right in the middle of the darkest night of the soul that any a person has ever experienced - - he says .... v. 25, “For I know that my Redeemer lives ...”.

… that's shocking. That’s staggering - - - faith awakens. I don’t know where this comes from - but here, even in the darkest night of the soul - time of darkness .... there are these moments of 'light'. It can only be the Holy Spirit who lifts his head - and here he is - faith awakens - nowhere to turn, no light on the horizon, but faith awakens .... in the midst of it all - in the brokenness of his spirit - he groans out through tears, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” My REDEEMER Lives.!

He’s using a word Hebrew word with a very specific meaning. Go-El - — We know it from the book of Ruth -the story of Ruth and her mother in law, Naomi - - and Boaz. That was another time of great distress. A story of great loyalty/ faithfulness. And, in the middle of the story there is Boaz - Boaz was a ‘REDEEMER’ - a Kinsman Redeemer the 'go-el', it’s the same word. In Israel, when there was poverty - someone lost their land, someone lost her husband and there are no children to carry on the family name and provide for the widow - the nearest relative had a legal obligation to take care of his family's widow. It was his responsibility to spend his own money to buy back the property or take the widow as his own wife - to protect the heritage of the family. Boaz was that to Ruth.

It was also a responsibility to protect - - Abraham, when his nephew Lot gets carried off by an alliance of kings … gathers an army together and goes to battle against those kings to get his nephew’s freedom back.

A relative with obligation. That’s what the word means.

So when Job says, “I know that my Redeemer lives” … he’s pointing to some kind of relative, who will come to his rescue at his time of greatest need.

And what is Job’s need?

Job is looking for justice. He feels that God is his enemy. Back in - chapter 9:33 – he cries out, "There is no arbiter between us". We spent time on that, last week. That’s courtroom language. Job has a case - “I’m innocent (not sinless - but innocent of anything deserving THIS suffering) - - but the heavens are silent! How can I, puny man, argue my case against Sovereign God in heaven?” “I need an arbiter, an advocate … a lawyer. I need someone who has the capability to argue for ME in the presence of God!” He is crying out for someone to plead his case for him …

And in the midst of that cry, suddenly it comes to him, “I know that my Redeemer lives”. “He will present my case. He will stand before God and defend me. I know that my REDEEMER lives. Things may be a mess, but my Redeemer lives. I may not understand - but I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES.”

Well, let’s fast forward to the NT. Who is the fulfillment of this? Well, you already know it’s Jesus. However clear or foggy Job’s understanding of the ultimate fulfillment of his words may have been - - through his pain - Jesus was the one he was pointing toward:

, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize our weaknesses, but one who was in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

, “he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” “He EVER LIVES TO INTERCEDE FOR US”

My Redeemer - - My Goel - My kinsman - My older brother .... is GOD THE SON.

I may be torn apart and feel absolutely out of control - - but Jesus is holding it together. I may see no light at all in this suffering - but He is light itself. He is glory itself.

I know that my Redeemer lives.

It’s not my intent to throw mud at the beliefs of other religions … but the fact is, Christian faith exists in a world that has shrunk, through high speed travel and instant electronic communication. You can be talking to someone on the other side of the world in the time that it takes to establish an internet connection. And if you want to - you can go visit that person in a matter of hours. Because our world has become so small - we live in a marketplace of belief systems - in a world that says, “If you’re going to do the religious thing - just go ahead and pick one - all religions are basically the same, anyways.” Oh, but they’re not. They are radically different. So, when you choose the pathway on which to build your life - just make sure you do it with your eyes wide open.

Take Buddhism, for example. The eastern religion that has become massively popular in the wealthy western world in recent years - especially in Hollywood and among those on the ‘cutting edge’ of culture. Gautama Buddha:

It does not seem accidental that the night Gautama Buddha left his palace to pursue an answer to pain and suffering was the very night his wife was giving birth to their son. In his quest to eliminate suffering, he actually walked out and left his wife alone in the throes of her pain. Contrast this with the God of the Bible, who came into this world Himself in the person of His Son to suffer on the cross, to embrace pain and suffering for the sake of humanity. Buddha walked away from his son and from pain. In Christianity, God shares in the pain to bring the solution.

In atheism - God has nothing to do with either the problem OR the solution. Hinduism – “Are you suffering? It’s Karma – you’re working off past sins … so don’t look for a shortcut out … your debt has to be paid sometime.” And once again – you are on your own.

Islam insists that Jesus didn’t die on the cross. “To be humiliated at the hands of His creation is not a sign of power,” they say. That’s understandable. A suffering God is ridiculous - that’s not religiously acceptable. .... but that’s exactly the Christian message.

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES – He suffered and died – and now He lives!

JOHN STOTT:

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross.’ In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?

I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world.

But each time after a while, I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness.

That is the God for me! He laid aside His immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us.

Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of this. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering.”

Some of you are passing through terrible trials right now - trials in your family - trials with the health of a loved one, trials with a wayward child, trials at work, trials with your trials so deeply personal that not another soul knows ....

And nothing gets better. In fact, every time the situation changes - it seems to be changing for the worse. Right now you feel stuck – YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT THERE IS A REDEEMER - - You NEED HIM -

I want you to be able to say with Job - not when the suffering is over, not when every problem gets solved, but right here - I want you to be able to say with Job, in the midst of the darkness:

… “I may not understand … but I have Jesus …

… I may not have all the answers - but I have Jesus - - -and He lives.”

Look at the whole of v. 25, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last HE WILL STAND UPON THE EARTH.”

“… at the last HE will stand ....” Not a religious pathway, not a principle, not a belief system … HE WILL STAND” Other religions and worldviews offer intellectual answers … but Christianity alone OFFERS A PERSON.

Oh hear God’s promise, way back in the Old Testament - in the mouth of one who wasn’t an Israelite, one who was perhaps even earlier than Abraham. A promise of Jesus’ resurrection.” Recognize that this word was given for your comfort, Christian.

V. 26, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job is giving testimony not only to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - but to his own resurrection as well. “In my flesh I SHALL SEE GOD.”

We may be surrounded by clouds and mists here. Can I promise that you will ever get justice on this side of eternity? No.

But you have Jesus - and he ever lives and pleads for you. He will represent you perfectly before God the Father, who loved you enough Himself - that He sent Jesus for you, in the first place.

Even in the darkness, I have Jesus. And that is enough.

The story is told of an Indian sitting in a plane next to Albert Einstein. To pass the time, Einstein proposed that they play a game. “I will ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it, you pay me fifty dollars. Then you ask me a question, and if I can’t answer it, I will pay you five hundred dollars.” The Indian knew that that he was no match for Einstein, but figured that he had enough philosophical and cultural knowledge to be able to stump Einstein sometimes, and with a ratio of ten to one, he could manage to stay in the game.

Einstein went first and asked the Indian how far the earth was from the moon. The Indian was not sure of the exact number and put his hand into his pocket to give Einstein fifty dollars. Now came the Indian’s turn, and he asked, ‘What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?” Einstein paused, pondered, finally dipped his hand into his pocket and gave the man 500 dollars. Now it was Einstein’s turn again. he said, ‘Before I ask you my next question, ‘what DOES go up the mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?” The Indian paused, dipped into his pocket, and gave Einstein 50 dollars back.

Like that Indian, we often ask questions that are designed to trip up the other person, while having no answers to the questions ourselves.

There is no question where this is more often done, than in the question of suffering.

“How could a GOOD GOD allow so much suffering in this world?” “If He is truly all-powerful - then how can He be good?” “If God is truly good - if He loves … then how can He be all-powerful … when my life has been marked by THIS?”

“Why THIS? Why ME? Why now?” It is one of the most often given reasons for why people reject God. “You tell me that God loves me, that He cares about me … but you don’t know what I’m going through .... you don’t know what I’ve been through - there is hurt in my past so deep, so scarring - that I could never even share it.”

And so story after story I have heard of people saying: “In a world scourged with suffering, I reject God.” And if that’s you - that’s your prerogative. It’s your choice. But like the Indian man in the story - you can reject God because of suffering … but that does nothing to ANSWER the question: “Why is there so-called ‘innocent’ suffering?”

ATHEIST: seven leaps atheists have to explain: How:

‘Everything ultimately came from nothing’

‘Order came from Chaos’

‘Life came from Nonlife’

‘Reason came from Irrationality’

‘Personality came from Non-Personality’

‘Morality came from Amorality’

At the root of these seven leaps is the foundational question that Atheism faces: “Why does any of it matter, anyway?” You came from nothing, you’re going nowhere, you have no purpose. So just suck it up, Princess.

What a thoroughly unsatisfying answer when you suffer. Now, I may not know your situation today. There may be no other person in the world who knows the specifics of your suffering and pain - your wounds. But God does. God does.

And I find it a great strength to my faith to recognize that not only does God know my pain - He doesn’t ignore it. Christianity doesn’t hide from pain - - - This entire book of Job is devoted to dealing with the question of innocent suffering.

We have been following the life of Job through this book.

16:6: “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged (soothed), and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? Surely now God has worn me out ...”

17:1 - “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct”

We have here a man to whom Providence has revealed its darkest side.

1 WHEN THE HEAVENS ARE SILENT

Here is Job - pleading with God. He was the ‘greatest man’ - in the world of his day. Greatest in every way - he was a man of massive wealth, great family - 10 children, who were well-behaved and who actually LIKED each other. He was a man of great godliness - cared so much about his children that when they were having parties, he was sacrificing and praying for them - JUST IN CASE one of them accidentally sinned.

But Job has lost everything: Business empire - Gone; Retirement fund - Gone; All of his wealth - Gone; His home … EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS TEN CHILDREN … even his health .... IT’S ALL GONE. When we pick up Job’s story in chapter 19, he is sitting on a smouldering pile of trash, outside the city - in the local dump .... wasting away, while using broken bits of pots and bowls to scrape the puss from the festering boils that now cover his body and make it impossible to sit or lie down without excruciating pain. This is Job’s life now. He’s reduced to skin and bones … with death on the horizon - coming any day now. He is asking for answers.

... and God hasn't said a word. here we are in chapter 19 and God has said nothing to Job. Absolutely nothing. In chapters 1-2, the Lord of the universe had a discussion with Satan, but Job doesn't hear it. He's not privy to it.

All of this devastation has happened to Job - and from God he has heard not a word.

Job has lost everything .... some of you can identify. Maybe you aren’t like Job - the specifics of your loss are different, you have your own story - but you can identify with Job and his pain.

WHEN YOU SUFFER AND THE HEAVENS ARE SILENT

The thought that begins to grow in mind, soul, spirit - that God isn't listening. Or worse - that if He is listening - He doesn't care.

And he is asking the ultimate question: “WHY?” In his sense of searing loss and pain: He’s lost his children, lost his home, lost his retirement fund, lost his business … and he wants answers. “WHY?”

2. ‘FRIENDLY ADVICE’

Job has three friends who have come out to the trash-heap to try and comfort him. And each one of them takes a few shots at trying to give answer for Job’s suffering.

Eliphaz is the first friend who speaks, in chapter 4. He has the answer, in chapter 4:7 “Who that was innocent ever suffered?” 4:8, “… those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” The answer is clear: “You reap what you sow” “You get out of life what you put in ...”. And that’s Biblical - New Testament. Galatians explicitly says, ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked - whatever a person sows, that he will also reap.’

“But that doesn’t fit my situation!”, Job says. Not saying that he isn’t a sinner, but he hasn’t done anything to bring about THIS kind of suffering. But if you think the friends say to that, “Oh, alright then, Job. You are innocent. That settles it - we will be quiet now.” If you think that’s what Job’s friends say - then you don’t know this book.

Job’s words in chapter 19 are his response to the so-called comfort from another friend, ‘Bildad’. Bildad speaks in chapter 18. Let’s take a quick look at what this second friend says:

18:1-4 - v. 3, “Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?” “Do you think we’re idiots - we know how the universe operates!” V. 4, “You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?” In other words, “There is a moral order in this universe - it’s very clear - bad things happen to bad people. Are you saying that the whole order of the universe has to be turned on its head just to satisfy YOU, JOB?!” - why should that be?!”

v. 5-13 – Bildad is a master of METAPHOR – paints picture after picture of how Life is full of terrors - things that can happen at any moment to cause you to stumble, or bring horror in the night. v. 5, “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out ...”. Verse 6, “The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out.”

Verse 11, “Terrors frighten him on every side and chase him at his heels ..”

v. 14 - he’s 'marched off to the king of terrors'.

v. 15 - “… sulfur is scattered over his habitation.” his house is on fire. Verse 17, “His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street.” ...

V. 19, “He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live.” Bildad’s talking about how Job's 10 children have been buried and when he dies, which will be any day now … the memory of him will die with him. There will be nothing left of Job’s name in the universe - it will be as if he never even existed.

The sermon is unbelievably cruel - Look back at v. 4 again, ‘You who tear yourself in your anger ...”. Imagine coming to someone in the grip of sorrow unimaginable, someone flailing in her pain … and rubbing her nose in her loss and heartache. “Look at you there, wailing like a baby.”

Conclusion of the sermon in v. 21: "Surely such are the dwellings of the UNRIGHTEOUS, such is the place of him WHO KNOWS NOT GOD." That’s the end of Bildad’s sermon.

- so he is saying that Job is suffering because he doesn't know God - he belongs to the class of the 'unrighteous'. Unbelievably harsh. Job has lost his business, lost his retirement plan, his bank account is empty … every single one of his children is dead .... he’s lost his home, living on the trash on the ground of the garbage dump - and now, his body is riddled with disease - wasting away, with death on the horizon and coming any day now ....”SUCH IS THE PLACE OF HIM WHO KNOWS NOT GOD.” “YOU ARE RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, THIS VERY MOMENT – because you don’t know God - you are a wicked sinner.”

.... with friends like this .... These friends are worse than useless. Oh, but we do understand where they’re coming from, don’t we? We are so much the same. When there is suffering, when your world is breaking apart ...

We want to know ‘WHY’? “What is the cause of this?”

- Man born blind. He’s middle aged by now. Never seen a sunrise, never looked into the face of his mother. Everyone wants to know, ‘WHY? Why did this happen?’ ‘Did he sin or did his parents?’ In other words, ‘Somebody must have done something bad here … so who did it? Who’s responsible for this suffering?”

Jesus said, ‘Neither this man or his parents (sinned) … BUT THAT THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE DISPLAYED IN HIM.’

See here - the people are asking a question that Jesus isn’t interested in. They are concerned with CAUSE - Jesus is focused on OPPORTUNITY. “God has a plan for GOOD that could only come through this PAIN.”

Do you believe that in your own situation?

Malcom Muggeridge, famous British writer, famous for his satire – he could mock anything, it seemed. But along the way of his life, he met Christ. Late in life, he looked back over his years and said this:

“Contrary to what might be expected. I look back on experiences .. I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has enhanced and truly enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained. In other words, if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence … the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable. This of course, is what the cross signfies. And it is the cross, more than anything else, that has called me inexorably to Christ.”

3. AT THE LOWEST POINT

Job responds in chapter 19. Look at v. 2, "How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words ..." - - - - NOT TRUE THEN and NOT TRUE NOW. You go to a secret place and think about them; you wake up in the night and are haunted by them; you obsess over them years later.

Words break up marriages, break down relationships between parents and children, break up friendships.

Never read an anonymous letter. Because words are powerful --

Job talks about how useless these counselors are. Starting at v. 3, "... These 10 times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? (4) And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself" - - ie - “Even if I have sinned - I haven't done anything to you.”

Think about it - These friends have already been doing their 'independent investigation' for 19 chapters and they have can point to nothing specific that he's done. No sin, no bad behavior that they can point to to explain his suffering - - only that he MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING!

Here he is: , "All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me." My friends have all gone. they aren't calling anymore. They are avoiding him.

– “Know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me.” That’s a very sad picture, isn’t it. Maybe that’s how you feel. You are the victim not just of random events that happen to mesh together into pain for you … no, you are the victim of God. He has closed you in a net and you can’t escape. You don’t know where to turn. There’s no light.

Job goes on to speak of the extent that God has gone to, in order to bring him to this place:

Verses 11-12: “ He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary. His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.”

So God is treating me as His enemy - - And don’t miss the power of the metaphor in v. 12 - God has sent, “His troops - all the armies of the God of heaven, come together and set up their siege ramp. That’s what armies did in the ancient world. Gathered together around an enemy fortress. Camped out in full force, built siege ramps around the fortress walls - -

But who are these armies attacking? “They encamp around MY TENT!” They are attacking little Job, trying to survive in his tent. Massive overkill. It’s like me going down to Oregon, camping in my tent trailer, waking up to go outside for my morning coffee and seeing that I am surrounded by tanks and marines dug into trenches - with the entire US AIR FORCE flying overhead - - all bent on attacking little old me!”

I’m a victim! That’s what Job says: Verse 20 - - - “MY bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.” You’ve heard that saying before - this is where it comes from - - - “I’ve escaped by the skin of my teeth, from your armies, God .....” - - not from an impersonal moral order. This is not just the way the universe operates ....

Look at the end of v. 21, “… for the hand of God has touched me!” “God has actively stretched out His all-powerful hand against me - - - THAT’S why I am suffering.”

Right here - Job is at his lowest point - (((all that’s happened)))

.... what if you've been raped; what if your husband has been killed, if you child has been killed by a drunk or high driver. And you bring your case to the Lord - you want some answers: "Why me?!!" "Why this?!"

... that's what Job has done .... he has brought his case to God. And God. Has. Been silent.

.... and here, in the midst of that pain, right in the middle of the darkest night of the soul that any a person has ever experienced - - he says .... v. 25, “For I know that my Redeemer lives ...”.

… that's shocking. That’s staggering - - - faith awakens. I don’t know where this comes from - but here, even in the darkest night of the soul - time of darkness .... there are these moments of 'light'. It can only be the Holy Spirit who lifts his head - and here he is - faith awakens - nowhere to turn, no light on the horizon, but faith awakens .... in the midst of it all - in the brokenness of his spirit - he groans out through tears, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” My REDEEMER Lives.!

He’s using a word Hebrew word with a very specific meaning. Go-El - — We know it from the book of Ruth -the story of Ruth and her mother in law, Naomi - - and Boaz. That was another time of great distress. A story of great loyalty/ faithfulness. And, in the middle of the story there is Boaz - Boaz was a ‘REDEEMER’ - a Kinsman Redeemer the 'go-el', it’s the same word. In Israel, when there was poverty - someone lost their land, someone lost her husband and there are no children to carry on the family name and provide for the widow - the nearest relative had a legal obligation to take care of his family's widow. It was his responsibility to spend his own money to buy back the property or take the widow as his own wife - to protect the heritage of the family. Boaz was that to Ruth.

It was also a responsibility to protect - - Abraham, when his nephew Lot gets carried off by an alliance of kings … gathers an army together and goes to battle against those kings to get his nephew’s freedom back.

A relative with obligation. That’s what the word means.

So when Job says, “I know that my Redeemer lives” … he’s pointing to some kind of relative, who will come to his rescue at his time of greatest need.

And what is Job’s need?

Job is looking for justice. He feels that God is his enemy. Look back to - chapter 9:33 - "There is no arbiter between us". That’s courtroom language, as we saw last week. Job has a case - “I’m innocent (not sinless - but innocent of anything - - but I how can I, puny man, argue my case against Sovereign God in heaven?” “I need an arbiter, an advocate … a lawyer. I need someone who has the capability to argue for ME in the presence of God!” He is crying out for someone to plead his case for him …

And in the midst of that cry, suddenly it comes to him, “I know that my Redeemer lives”. “He will present my case. He will stand before God and defend me. I know that my REDEEMER lives. Things may be a mess, but my Redeemer lives. I may not understand - but I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES.”

Well, let’s fast forward to the NT. Who is the fulfillment of this? Well, you already know it’s Jesus. However clear or foggy Job’s understanding of the ultimate fulfillment of his words may have been - - through his pain - Jesus was the one he was pointing toward:

, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize our weaknesses, but one who was in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

“He EVER LIVES TO INTERCEDE FOR US”

My Redeemer - - My Goel - My kinsman - My older brother .... is GOD THE SON.

I may be torn apart and feel absolutely out of control - - but Jesus is holding it together. I may see no light at all in this suffering - but He is light itself. He is glory itself.

I know that my Redeemer lives.

It’s not my intent to throw mud at the beliefs of other religions … but the fact is, Christian faith exists in a world that has shrunk, through high speed travel and instant electronic communication. You can be talking to someone on the other side of the world in the time that it takes to establish an internet connection. And if you want to - you can go visit that person in a matter of hours. Because our world has become so small - we live in a a marketplace of belief systems - in a world that says, “If you’re going to do the religious thing - just go ahead and pick one - all religions are basically the same, anyways.” Oh, but they’re not. They are radically different. So, when you choose the pathway on which to build your life - just make sure you do it with your eyes wide open.

Take Buddhism, for example. The eastern religion that has become massively popular in the wealthy western world in recent years - especially in Hollywood and among those on the ‘cutting edge’ of culture. Gautama Buddha:

It does not seem accidental that the night Gautama Buddha left his palace to pursue an answer to pain and suffering was the very night his wife was giving birth to their son. In his quest to eliminate suffering, he actually walked out and left his wife alone in the throes of her pain. Contrast this with the God of the Bible, who came into this world Himself in the person of His Son to suffer on the cross, to embrace pain and suffering for the sake of humanity. Buddha walked away from his son and from pain. In Christianity, God shares in the pain to bring the solution. In atheism - God has nothing to do with either the problem OR the solution.

Islam insists that Jesus didn’t die on the cross. “To be humiliated at the hands of His creation is not a sign of power,” they say. That’s understandable. A suffering God is ridiculous - that’s not religiously acceptable. .... but that’s exactly the Christian message.

Some of you are passing through terrible trials right now - trials in your family - trials with the health of a loved one, trials with a wayward child, trials at work, trials with your trials so deeply personal that not another soul knows ....

And nothing gets better. In fact, every time the situation changes - it seems to be changing for the worse. Right now you feel stuck -

I want you to be able to say with Job - not when the suffering is over, not when every problem gets solved, but right here - I want you to be able to say with Job, in the midst of the darkness:

“I may not understand … but I have Jesus …

… I may not have all the answer - but I have Jesus - - -and He lives.”

Look at the whole of v. 25, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last HE WILL STAND UPON THE EARTH.”

“at the last HE will stand ....” Not a religious pathway, not a principle, not a belief system … HE WILL STAND” Other religions and worldviews offer intellectual answers … but Christianity alone OFFERS A PERSON.

Oh hear God’s promise, way back in the Old Testament - in the mouth of one who wasn’t an Israelite, one who was perhaps even earlier than Abraham. A promise of Jesus’ resurrection.” Recognize that this word was given for your comfort, Christian.

V. 26, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job is giving testimony not only to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - but to his own resurrection as well. “In my flesh I SHALL SEE GOD.”

We may be surrounded by clouds and mists here. Can I promise that you will ever get justice on this side of eternity? No.

But you have Jesus - and he ever lives and pleads for you. He will represent you perfectly before God the Father, who loved you enough Himself - that He sent Jesus for you, in the first place.

Even in the darkness, I have Jesus. And that is enough.

The story is told of an Indian sitting in a plane next to Albert Einstein. To pass the time, Einstein proposed that they play a game. “I will ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it, you pay me fifty dollars. Then you ask me a question, and if I can’t answer it, I will pay you five hundred dollars.” The Indian knew that that he was no match for Einstein, but figured that he had enough philosophical and cultural knowledge to be able to stump Einstein sometimes, and with a ratio of ten to one, he could manage to stay in the game.

Einstein went first and asked the Indian how far the earth was from the moon. The Indian was not sure of the exact number and put his hand into his pocket to give Einstein fifty dollars. Now came the Indian’s turn, and he asked, ‘What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?” Einstein paused, pondered, finally dipped hi hand into his pocket and gave the man 500 dollars. Now it was Einstein’s turn again. he said, ‘Before I ask you my next question, ‘what DOES go up the mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?” The Indian paused, dipped into his pocket, and gave Einstein 50 dollars back.

Like that Indian, we often ask questions that are designed to trip up the other person, while having no answers to the questions ourselves.

There is no question where this is more often done, than in the question of suffering.

“How could a GOOD GOD allow so much suffering in this world?” “If He is truly all-powerful - then how can He be good?” “If God is truly good - if He loves … then how can He be all-powerful … when my life has been marked by THIS?”

“Why THIS? Why ME? Why now?” It is one of the most often given reasons for why people reject God. “You tell me that God loves me, that He cares about me … but you don’t know what I’m going through .... you don’t know what I’ve been through - there is hurt in my past so deep, so scarring - that I could never even share it.”

And so story after story I have heard of people saying: “In a world scourged with suffering, I reject God.” And if that’s you - that’s your prerogative. It’s your choice. But like the Indian man in the story - you can reject God because of suffering … but that does nothing to ANSWER the question: “Why is there so-called ‘innocent’ suffering?”

ATHEIST: seven leaps atheists have to explain: How:

‘Everything ultimately came from nothing’

‘Order came from Chaos’

‘Life came from Nonlife’

‘Reason came from Irrationality’

‘Personality came from Non-Personality’

‘Morality came from Amorality’

At the root of these seven leaps is the foundational question that Atheism faces: “Why does any of it matter, anyway?” You came from nothing, you’re going nowhere, you have no purpose. So just suck it up, Princess.

What a thoroughly unsatisfying answer when you suffer. Now, I may not know your situation today. There may be no other person in the world who knows the specifics of your suffering and pain - your wounds. But God does. God does.

I may not know your situation today. There may be no other person in the world who knows the specifics of your suffering and pain - your wounds. But God does. God does.

And I find it a great strength to my faith to recognize that not only does God know my pain - He doesn’t ignore it. Christianity doesn’t hide from pain - - - This entire book of Job is devoted to dealing with the question of innocent suffering.

We have been following the life of Job through this book.

16:6: “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged (soothed), and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? Surely now God has worn me out ...”

17:1 - “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct”

We have here a man to whom Providence has revealed its darkest side.

WHEN THE HEAVENS ARE SILENT

Here is Job - pleading with God. He was the ‘greatest man’ - in the world of his day. Greatest in every way - he was a man of massive wealth, great family - 10 children, who were well-behaved and who actually LIKED each other. He was a man of great godliness - cared so much about his children that when they were having parties, he was sacrificing and praying for them - JUST IN CASE one of them accidentally sinned.

But Job has lost everything: Business empire - Gone; Retirement fund - Gone; All of his wealth - Gone; His home … EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS TEN CHILDREN … even his health .... IT’S ALL GONE. When we pick up Job’s story in chapter 19, he is sitting on a smouldering pile of trash, outside the city - in the local dump .... wasting away, while using broken bits of pots and bowls to scrape the puss from the festering boils that now cover his body and make it impossible to sit or lie down without excruciating pain. This is Job’s life now. He’s reduced to skin and bones … with death on the horizon - coming any day now.

... and Job is arguing with God his case -

God hasn't said a word. here we are in chapter 19 and God has said nothing to Job. Absolutely nothing. In chapters 1-2, the Lord of the universe had a discussion with Satan, but Job doesn't hear it. He's not privy to it.

All of this devastation has happened to Job - and from God he has heard not a word.

Job has lost everything .... some of you can identify. Maybe you aren’t like Job - the specifics of your loss are different, you have your own story - but you can identify with Job and his pain.

WHEN YOU SUFFER AND THE HEAVENS ARE SILENT

The thought that begins to grow in mind, soul, spirit - that God isn't listening. Or worse - that if He is listening - He doesn't care.

And he is asking the ultimate question: “WHY?” In his sense of searing loss and pain: He’s lost his children, lost his home, lost his retirement fund, lost his business … and he wants answers. “WHY?”

2. ‘FRIENDLY ADVICE’

Job has three friends who have come out to the trash-heap to try and comfort him. And each one of them takes a few shots at trying to give answer for Job’s suffering.

And he is asking the ultimate question: “WHY?” In his sense of searing loss and pain: He’s lost his children, lost his home, lost his retirement fund, lost his business,

Eliphaz is the first friend who speaks, in chapter 4. He has the answer, in chapter 4:7 “Who that was innocent ever suffered?” 4:8, “… those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” The answer is clear: “You reap what you sow” “You get out of life what you put in ...”. And that’s Biblical - New Testament. Galatians explicitly says, ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked - whatever a person sows, that he will also reap.’

“But that doesn’t fit my situation!”, Job says. Not saying that he isn’t a sinner, but he hasn’t done anything to bring about THIS kind of suffering. But if you think the friends say to that, “Oh, alright then, Job. You are innocent. That settles it - we will be quiet now.” If you think that’s what Job’s friends say - then you don’t know this book.

Job’s words in chapter 19 are his response to the so-called comfort from another friend, ‘Bildad’. Bildad speaks in chapter 18. Let’s take a quick look at what this second friend says:

18:1-4 - v. 3, “Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?” “Do you think we’re idiots - we know how the universe operates!” V. 4, “You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?” In other words, “There is a moral order in this universe - it’s very clear - bad things happen to bad people. Are you saying that the whole order of the universe has to be turned on its head just to satisfy YOU, JOB?!” - and why should that be?!”

v. 5-13 - METAPHOR - Life is full of terrors - things that can happen at any moment to cause you to stumble, or bring horror in the night. v. 5, “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out ...”. Verse 6, “The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out.”

Verse 11, “Terrors frighten him on every side and chase him at his heels ..”

v. 14 - he’s 'marched off to the king of terrors'.

v. 15 - “… sulfur is scattered over his habitation.” his house is on fire. Verse 17, “His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street.” ...

V. 19, “He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live.” Bildad’s talking about how Job's 10 children have been buried and when he dies, which will be any day now … the memory of him will die with him. There will be nothing left of Job’s name in the universe - it will be as if he never even existed.

The sermon is unbelievably cruel - Look back at v. 4 again, ‘You who tear yourself in your anger ...”. Imagine coming to someone in the grip of sorrow unimaginable, someone flailing in her pain … and rubbing her nose in her loss and heartache. “Look at you there, wailing like a baby.”

Conclusion of the sermon in v. 21: "Surely such are the dwellings of the UNRIGHTEOUS, such is the place of him WHO KNOWS NOT GOD." That’s the end of Bildad’s sermon.

- so he is saying that Job is suffering because he doesn't know God - he belongs to the class of the 'unrighteous'. Unbelievably harsh. Job has lost his business, lost his retirement plan, his bank account is empty … every single one of his children is dead .... he’s lost his home, living on the trash on the ground of the garbage dump - and now, his body is riddled with disease - wasting away, with death on the horizon and coming any day now ....”SUCH IS THE PLACE OF HIM WHO KNOWS NOT GOD.” “YOUR PLACE - RIGHT HERE … is because you don’t know God - you are a wicked sinner.”

.... with friends like this .... These friends are worse than useless. Oh, but we do understand where they’re coming from, don’t we? We are so much the same. When there is suffering, when your world is breaking apart ...

We want to know ‘WHY’? “What is the cause of this?”

- Man born blind. He’s middle aged by now. Never seen a sunrise, never looked into the face of his mother. Everyone wants to know, ‘WHY? Why did this happen?’ ‘Did he sin or did his parents?’ In other words, ‘Somebody must have done something bad here … so who did it? Who’s responsible for this suffering?”

Jesus said, ‘Neither this man or his parents (sinned) … BUT THAT THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE DISPLAYED IN HIM.’

See here - the people are asking a question that Jesus isn’t interested in. They are concerned with CAUSE - Jesus is focused on OPPORTUNITY. “God has a plan for GOOD that could only come through this PAIN.”

Do you believe that in your own situation?

Malcom Muggeridge:

“Contrary to what might be expected. I look back on experiences .. I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has enhanced and truly enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained. In other words, if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence … the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable. This of course, is what the cross signfies. And it is the cross, more than anything else, that has called me inexorably to Christ.”

______________________________________________________________

3. JOB'S RESPONSE - chapter 19

Job responds in chapter 19. Look at v. 2, "How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words ..." - - - - NOT TRUE THEN and NOT TRUE NOW. You go to a secret place and think about them; you wake up in the night and are haunted by them; you obsess over them years later.

Words break up marriages, break down relationships between parents and children, break up friendships.

Never read an anonymous letter. Because words are powerful --

Job talks about how useless these counselors are. Starting at v. 3, "... These 10 times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? (4) And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself" - - ie - “Even if I have sinned - I haven't done anything to you.”

"... These 10 times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? (4) And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself" - - ie - “Even if I have sinned - I haven't done anything to you.”

Think about it - These friends have already been doing their 'independent investigation' for 19 chapters and they have can point to nothing specific that he's done. No sin, no bad behavior that they can point to to explain his suffering - - only that he MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING!

Here he is: , "All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me." My friends have all gone. they aren't calling anymore. They are avoiding him.

- Know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me. That’s a very sad picture, isn’t it. Maybe that’s how you feel. You are the victim not just of random events that happen to mesh together into pain for you … no, you are the victim of God. He has closed you in a net and you can’t escape. You don’t know where to turn. There’s no light.

Job goes on to speak of the extent that God has gone to, in order to bring him to this place:

Verses 11-12: “ He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary. His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.”

So God is treating me as His enemy - - And don’t miss the power of the metaphor in v. 12 - God has sent, “His troops - all the armies of the God of heaven, come together and set up their siege ramp. That’s what armies did in the ancient world. Gathered together around an enemy fortress. Camped out in full force, built siege ramps around the fortress walls - -

But who are these armies attacking? “they encamp around MY TENT!” They are attacking little Job, trying to survive in his tent. Massive overkill. It’s like me going camping in my tent trailer, waking up to go outside for my morning coffee and seeing that I am surrounded by tanks and marines dug into trenches - with the entire US AIR FORCE flying overhead - - all bent on attacking little old me!”

I’m a victim! That’s what Job says: Verse 20 - - - “MY bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.” You’ve heard that saying before - this is where it comes from - - - “I’ve escaped by the skin of my teeth, from your armies, God .....” - - not from an impersonal moral order. This is not just the way the universe operates ....

Look at the end of v. 21, “… for the hand of God has touched me!” “God has actively stretched out His all-powerful hand against me - - - THAT’S why I am suffering.”

Right here - Job is at his lowest point - (((all that’s happened)))

So the message of these verses: "I know that my Redeemer Lives" .... that's shocking. More than surprising. That's what we see in Job's life - - - even in the dark night of the soul - time of darkness .... there are these moments of 'light'. Chapter 9; chapter 16 and here, in chapter 19

.... what if you've been raped; what if your husband has been killed, if you child has been killed by a drunk or high driver. And you bring your case to the Lord - you want some answers: "Why me?!!" "Why this?!"

And you bring your case to the Lord - you want some answers: "Why me?!!" "Why this?!"

... that's what Job has done .... he has brought his case to God. And God. Has. Been silent.

.... and here, in the midst of that pain, right in the middle of the darkest night of the soul that any a person has ever experienced - - he says .... v. 25, “For I know that my Redeemer lives ...”.

… that's shocking. That’s staggering - - - faith awakens. I don’t know where this comes from - but here, even in the darkest night of the soul - time of darkness .... there are these moments of 'light'. It can only be the Holy Spirit who lifts his head - and here he is - faith awakens - nowhere to turn, no light on the horizon, but faith awakens .... in the midst of it all - in the brokenness of his spirit - he groans out through tears, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” My REDEEMER Lives.!

So, when we get to v. 2 the message of these verses: "I know that my Redeemer Lives" .... that's shocking. More than surprising. That's what we see in Job's life - - - even in the dark night of the soul - time of darkness .... there are these moments of 'light'. Chapter 9; chapter 16 and here, in chapter 19

In the midst of it all - in the brokenness of his spirit - he says, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

He’s using a word Hebrew word with a very specific meaning. Go-El - — We know it from the book of Ruth -the story of Ruth and her mother in law, Naomi - - and Boaz. That was another time of great distress. A story of great loyalty/ faithfulness. And, in the middle of the story there is Boaz - Boaz was a ‘REDEEMER’ - a Kinsman Redeemer the 'go-el', it’s the same word. In Israel, when there was poverty - someone lost their land, someone lost her husband and there are no children to carry on the family name and provide for the widow - the nearest relative had a legal obligation to take care of his family's widow. It was his responsibility to spend his own money to buy back the property or take the widow as his own wife - to protect the heritage of the family. Boaz was that to Ruth.

It was also a responsibility to protect - - Abraham, when Lot gets carried off … gathers an army together and goes to battle against kings to rescue his nephew.

He’s using a word Hebrew word with a very specific meaning. Go-El - — We know it from the book of Ruth -the story of Ruth and her mother in law, Naomi - - and Boaz. That was another time of great distress. A story of great loyalty/ faithfulness. And, in the middle of the story there is Boaz - Boaz was a ‘REDEEMER’ - a Kinsman Redeemer the 'go-el', it’s the same word. In Israel, when there was poverty - someone lost their land, someone lost her husband and there are no children to carry on the family name and provide for the widow - the nearest relative had a legal obligation to take care of his family's widow. It was his responsibility to spend his own money to buy back the property or take the widow as his own wife - to protect the heritage of the family. Boaz was that to Ruth.

In the midst of it all - in the brokenness of his spirit - he says, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

A relative with obligation. That’s what the word means.

So when Job says, “I know that my Redeemer lives” … he’s pointing to some kind of relative, who will come to his rescue at his time of greatest need.

And what is Job’s need?

But how does Job get here? What does he mean?

Job is looking for justice. He feels that God is his enemy. Look back to - chapter 9:33 - "There is no arbiter between us". That’s courtroom language, as we saw last week. Job has a case - “I’m innocent (not sinless - but innocent of anything - - but I how can I, puny man, argue my case against Sovereign God in heaven?” “I need an arbiter, an advocate … a lawyer. I need someone who has the capability to argue for ME in the presence of God!”

He is arguing for someone to plead his case for him. Job

In the midst of that, “I know that my Redeemer lives”. “He will present my case. He will stand before God and defend me. I know that my REDEEMER lives. Things may be a mess, but my Redeemer lives. I may not understand - but I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES.”

He is arguing for someone to plead his case for him.

Well, let’s fast forward to the NT. Who is the fulfillment of this? Well, you already know it’s Jesus. However clear or foggy Job’s understanding of the ultimate fulfillment of his words may have been - - Jesus was the one he was pointing toward, through his pain:

, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize

“He EVER LIVES TO INTERCEDE FOR US”

My Redeemer - - My Goel - My kinsman - My older brother ....

I may be torn apart and feel absolutely out of control - - but Jesus is holding it together. I may see no light at all in this suffering - but He is light itself. He is glory itself.

I know that my Redeemer lives.

It’s not my intent to throw mud at the beliefs of other religions … but the fact is, Christian faith exists in a world that has shrunk, through high speed travel and instant electronic communication. You can be talking to someone on the other side of the world in the time that it takes to establish an internet connection. And if you want to - you can go visit that person in a matter of hours. Because our world has become so small - we live in a a marketplace of belief systems - in a world that says, “If you’re going to do the religious thing - just go ahead and pick one - all religions are basically the same, anyways.” Oh, but they’re not. They are radically different. So, when you choose the pathway on which to build your life - just make sure you do it with your eyes wide open.

Gautama Buddha:

Take Buddhism, for example. The eastern religion that has become massively popular in the wealthy western world in recent years - especially in Hollywood and among those on the ‘cutting edge’ of culture. Gautama Buddha:

It does not seem accidental that the night Gautama Buddha left his palace to pursue an answer to pain and suffering was the very night his wife was giving birth to their son. In his quest to eliminate suffering, he actually walked out and left his wife alone in the throes of her pain. Contrast this with the God of the Bible, who came into this world Himself in the person of His Son to suffer on the cross, to embrace pain and suffering for the sake of humanity. Buddha walked away from his son and from pain. In Christianity, God is part and parcel of the solution. In nontheism or atheism - God has nothing to do with either the problem OR the solution.

Some of you are passing through terrible trials right now - trials in your family - trials with the health of a loved one, trials with a wayward child, trials at work, trials with your trials so deeply personal that not another soul knows ....

Islam insists that Jesus didn’t die on the cross. “To be humiliated at the hands of His creation is not a sign of power,” they say. That’s understandable. A suffering God is ridiculous - that’s not religiously acceptable. .... but that’s exactly the Christian message.

.... but that’s exactly the Christian message.

Some of you are passing through terrible trials right now - trials in your family - trials with the health of a loved one, trials with a wayward child, trials at work, trials with your trials so deeply personal that not another soul knows ....

And nothing gets better. In fact, every time the situation changes - it seems to be changing for the worse. Right now you feel stuck -

I want you to be able to say with Job - not when the suffering is over, not when every problem gets solved, but right here - I want you to be able to say with Job, in the midst of the darkness:

“I may not understand … but I have Jesus

I may not have all the answer - but I have Jesus - - -and He lives.”

Look at the whole of v. 25, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last HE WILL STAND UPON THE EARTH.”

“at the last HE will stand ....” Not a religious pathway, not a principle, not a belief system … HE WILL STAND”

Oh hear God’s promise, way back in the Old Testament - in the mouth of one who wasn’t an Israelite, one who was perhaps even earlier than Abraham. A promise of Jesus’ resurrection.” Recognize that this word was given for your comfort, Christian.

V. 26, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job is giving testimony not only to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - but to his own resurrection as well. “In my flesh I SHALL SEE GOD.”

We may be surrounded by clouds and mists here. I cannot promise that you will ever get justice here.

But you have Jesus - and he ever lives and pleads for you. He will represent you perfectly before God the Father, who loved you enough Himself - that He sent Jesus for you, in the first place.

Even in the darkness, I have Jesus. And that is enough.

Gautama Buddha:

It does not seem accidental that the night Gautama Buddha left his palace to pursue an answer to pain and suffering was the very night his wife was giving birth to their son. In his quest to eliminate suffering, he actually walked out and left his wife alone in the throes of her pain. Contrast this with the God of the Bible, who came into this world Himself in the person of His Son to suffer on the cross, to embrace pain and suffering for the sake of humanity. Buddha walked away from his son and from pain. In Christianity, God is part and parcel of the solution. In nontheism or atheism - God has nothing to do with either the problem OR the solution.

Islam insists that Jesus didn’t die on the cross. “To be humiliated at the hands of His creation is not a sign of power,” they say.

18:1-4 - "The whole order of the universe must be undone to meet the case of Job" - and why should that be?!

v. 5-13 - Life is full of terrors - things that can happen at any moment to cause you to stumble, or have horrors in the night.

v. 14 - he will be 'marched off to the king of terrors'.

v. 15 - sulfur - put on a corpse, on rotting flesh. Bildad talking about how Job's 10 children have been buried and sulfur has been scattered over the place he lives.

The sermon is unbelievably cruel - imagine coming to someone in the grip of sorrow unimaginable and rubbing his nose in his loss and heartache.

Conclusion of the sermon in v. 21: "Surely such are the dwellings of the UNRIGHTEOUS, such is the place of him WHO KNOWS NOT GOD." That’s the end of Bildad’s sermon.

- so he is saying that Job is suffering because he doesn't know God - he belongs to the class of the 'unrighteous'. Unbelievably harsh. Job has lost his business, lost his retirement plan, his bank account is empty … every single one of his children is dead .... he’s lost his home, living on the trash on the ground of the garbage dump - and now, his body is riddled with disease - wasting away, with death on the horizon and coming any day now ....”SUCH IS THE PLACE OF HIM WHO KNOWS NOT GOD.” “YOUR PLACE - RIGHT HERE … is because you don’t know God - you are a wicked sinner.”

.... with friends like this ....