Job: Faith For Resurrection (Job 19:23-27)

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April 18, 2022

Description: Revelation of and belief in bodily resurrection was very robust, even in the earliest times of the biblical record. Job, by faith, trusted Yahweh for his redemption, resurrection, and ultimate reward. An exposition of Job 19:23-27.

00:00: The head of the body of the church, the firstborn from the dead.
00:07: So in everything he is the head, and the fullness of God.
00:14: He is pleased to dwell in him, direct and silent to himself.
00:21: All things, all things, all things together.
00:29: He holds all things, all things, all things together.
01:20: He made peace, he made peace by the blood of his cross.
01:27: He made peace, he made peace, he made peace by the blood of his cross.
01:36: He holds all things, all things together.
01:42: He holds all things, all things, all things together.
01:52: He holds all things, all things, all things together.
02:01: He holds all things, all things together.
02:30: Every stone that makes you stumble and cuts you when you fall.
02:36: Every serpent here that strikes your heel to curse you when you crawl.
02:43: The king of love one day will crush them all. And every sad seduction and every clever lie.
02:56: Every word that woos and wounds the pilgrim children of the sky.
03:03: The king of love will break them by and by. And you will rise up in the end.
03:13: You will rise up in the end. I know the night is cruel, but the day is coming soon.
03:26: When you'll rise up in the end. If a thief had come to plunder when the children were alone.
03:47: If he ravaged every daughter and murdered every son.
03:54: Would not their father see this? Would not his anger burn?
04:00: Would he not repay the tyrant in the day of his return?
04:07: Await, await the day of his return. Cause he will rise up in the end.
04:17: He will rise up in the end. I know you need a savior, but he is patient in his anger.
04:30: But he will rise up in the end. When the stars come crashing to the sea.
04:42: When you see the sun descending in the sky.
04:55: The chains of death will fall around your feet. But of Jesus it is like the widow's love.
05:59: It's enough to pay the price to set you free. He can fill up every jar and every heart that ever beat.
06:08: When it's all you have, it's all you'll ever need. When it's all you have, it's all you'll ever need.
06:27: But of Jesus it is like the leper's river. Running humble with a power you cannot see.
06:36: Seven times go under, let the water wash you clean. Only go down to the
06:42: Jordan and believe, the Jordan and believe.
06:49: I need it, the closer that I grow.
06:58: The more I come to know how much I need. But of Jesus it is like Elijah's fire.
07:16: Falling on the altar of your faith. All the wisdom of the world could never conjure up a spark.
07:25: No power of hell could ever quench this flame. No power of hell could ever touch this flame.
07:35: And I need it, the closer that I grow.
07:42: The more I come to know how much I need. The closer that I grow, the more much
08:06: I need. The blood of Jesus. But of Jesus it is like the widow's oil.
08:14: When it's all you have, it's all you'll ever need. It is all you'll ever need.
09:02: As we gather round this table, we remember and proclaim.
09:12: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. There's nothing to fear and everything to gain.
09:25: And so we gather here to remember. To remember and proclaim.
09:38: Every footstep tells the story. As the people join the feast.
09:48: We remember his blood and body broken for you and me.
09:54: One step and we remember, the other we proclaim.
10:02: His death until he comes, oh he's coming back. He's coming back again.
10:10: And every time we break the bread, we drink the wine.
10:17: I can hear the song in my heart, in my head. And I sing along.
10:25: We remember, we proclaim. His death until he comes again.
10:33: We remember, we proclaim. Christ has died,
10:39: Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Friends and neighbors, to celebrate again.
10:55: And a different kind of table, we remember just the same.
11:06: But this feast, it is a battle that we wage against the night. And this joy is just a shadow of the resurrection, of the resurrection light.
11:19: And every time we break the bread, we drink the wine.
11:26: I can hear the song in my heart, in my head. And I sing along.
11:34: We remember, we proclaim. His death until he comes again.
11:43: We remember, we proclaim. Christ has died,
11:49: Christ is risen, Christ will come again. We remember his death until he comes again.
12:01: We remember Christ has died,
12:07: Christ is risen, Christ will come again. His blood begins to flow, what was dead a moment ago.
13:12: And his heart beats, now everything has changed. Because the blood that brought us peace with God is racing through his veins.
13:22: And his heart beats, his heart beats.
13:32: His hands, his living lungs expand. The heavy air surrounding death turns to breath again.
13:42: He breathes out, his word and flesh once more. The Lamb of God is slain for us, he's a lion ready to rule.
13:51: And his heart beats, so crown him the
13:58: Lord of life. Crown him the Lord of love.
14:07: Crown is your sting, oh grave, how great is your defeat.
14:28: I know, I exalt, glorified in flesh, clothed in immortality.
14:48: The firstborn's work's already done, so he's resting as he rises to reclaim the right he won.
15:00: And his heart beats, so crown him the
15:07: Lord of our sting.
16:20: He has dominion over him, so my heart beats with the rhythm of the saints.
16:28: As I look for the seeds the king has sown to burst up from their graves. I know,
16:34: I know, he took one breath, is put death to death.
16:43: Where is your sting, oh grave, how great is your defeat.
16:53: Our sting, oh grave.
17:56: Lord, we enter your kingdom.
18:06: Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
18:16: Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? The one who orders no untrue word, whose hands are clean, whose heart is pure.
18:24: Who can ascend that hill? There is none righteous, no, not one. We are prodigal daughters and wayward sons.
18:31: We don't know the half of the hurt we've done, the countless we have killed. Our priests are cheats, our prophets are liars.
18:39: We know what the law requires, but we pile our sins up higher and higher. Who can ascend that hill?
18:45: And I am a sheep who's gone astray. I have turned aside in my own way.
18:51: Have mercy on me, son of David. When you come into your kingdom.
19:07: Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
19:16: Now hear the voice of the Word made man, the spotless sacrificial lamb. A body you gave me, here
19:23: I am. I have come to do your will. And no one takes my life, you see.
19:28: I lay it down now willingly. And I will draw men to me when
19:34: I ascend that hill. On Sunday, you came as a king. On Monday, wash the temple clean.
19:41: On Tuesday, you told them what will be. On Wednesday, you waited patiently. On Thursday, you said, it is time.
19:48: I'll drink this cup, because it is mine. On Friday, Lord, you poured the wine.
19:56: Like a thief on the cross, as he hung there dying. For crimes there were no use denying.
20:01: While the righteous judge hung right beside him. How could
20:07: I not recognize you? How could I not recognize you? How could
20:12: I not recognize my Lord, my Lord? Into your kingdom,
20:26: Lord, remember me. Into your kingdom,
20:36: Lord. Just days ago, the sky was stone.
20:59: The trees were standing stripped to the bone. You could hear creation groan.
21:06: But I write these words on an April day. And the earth is drinking the early rain.
21:11: The hills remember green again. And we've heard this story all our lives.
21:18: Still we feel the pain of the crucified. And the end still comes as a surprise. But before the breath there in the tomb, before our joy sprang from the womb, you saw a day that's coming soon.
21:35: When the sun will stand on the mount again with an army of angels at his command.
21:41: And the earth will split like a hole of a seed. Forever Jesus plants his feet. And up from the earth the dead will rise like spring trees clothed in petals of white.
21:51: Singing the song of the radiant light. And we will always be, always be, always be with the
22:04: Lord. We will always be, always be, always be with the
22:14: Lord. We will all enter your kingdom.
22:40: You come into your kingdom. Silence turned to singing.
25:34: What rejoicing on the third appointed day.
25:40: The cross exhausted all its cruelty and its power.
25:46: The love declared its victory and rolled the stone away.
25:55: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.
26:03: Death has been defeated and the grave has lost its sting.
26:09: Hallelujah, we will sing.
26:16: Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed.
26:29: Such a hope we have in Christ the resurrection.
26:36: Such a joy to know by grace we've been redeemed.
26:42: Through Christ we died a death, sin and all its falling.
26:50: But glorified we will rise to live eternally.
26:57: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.
27:05: Death has been defeated and the grave has lost its sting.
27:11: Hallelujah, with the angel we will sing.
27:18: Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed.
27:27: Salvation and immortal praise to our victorious
27:33: King. Let the heavens and the earth with glad hosannas ring.
27:42: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.
27:50: Death has been defeated and the grave has lost its sting.
27:56: Hallelujah, with the angel we will sing.
28:03: Christ is risen. Christ is risen.
28:10: He is risen indeed. Death has been defeated and the grave has lost its sting.
28:21: Hallelujah, with the angel we will sing.
28:28: Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed.
28:36: Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed.
28:45: Christ is risen indeed.
29:31: In Luke 24, it says, Now on the first day of the week at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
29:40: And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the
29:46: Lord Jesus. And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing.
29:55: And when the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them,
30:02: Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen.
30:09: Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again.
30:21: And they remembered his words. Let's stand and rejoice together and sing,
30:27: Oh What a Day. Screaming Screams What Oh What a
31:11: Day What a Glorious Day What a
31:21: Glorious Day When you conquered death and rose up from the grave
31:29: What a Day What a Day See the empty tomb
31:39: See the grave close there He has left this place
31:47: You will find him here All our fears have fled
31:53: Let our hopes arise Heaven waits for us
32:00: We will never die Oh What a Day What a
32:07: Glorious Day Oh What a Day What a
32:14: Glorious Day When you conquered death and rose up from the grave
32:22: What a Day What a Day There is still a day that we're awaiting
32:36: When the glorious one we love appears He will take us home with him forever
32:48: He will find he won over our fears
32:55: Oh What a Day What a Glorious Day Oh What a
33:02: Day What a Glorious Day When you conquered death and rose up from the grave
33:14: What a Day What a Day Oh What a
33:21: Day Crown Him with many crowns
33:47: The Lamb upon His throne Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns
33:55: All music on its own Awake my soul and sing
34:02: Of Him who died for thee And hailed
34:08: Him as Thy matchless King Through all eternity
34:14: Crown Him Lord of Love Behold His hands and side
34:22: Those wounds yet visible above In beauty glorified
34:30: All hail, Redeemer, hail For Thou hast died for me
34:37: Thy praise and glory shall not fail Throughout eternity
34:45: Crown Him Lord of Life Who triumphed o 'er the grave
34:53: And rose victorious in the strife For those
34:58: He came to save His glory's now we see
35:04: Who died and rose on high Who died eternal life to bring
35:12: And lives that death may die Crown Him Lord of Heaven One with the
35:21: Father known One with the Spirit through Him given
35:27: From yonder glorious throne To Thee be endless praise
35:34: For Thou for us hast died Be Thou of the poor through endless days
35:42: Adorned and magnified It's the
35:53: Lord who's risen today Alleluia Sons of men and angels say
36:07: Alleluia Raise your joys and triumphs high
36:12: Alleluia Singing heavens and earth reply
36:22: Alleluia Lives again our glorious King Alleluia Where, O death, is now thy sting
36:42: Alleluia Dying thoughts He all does save Alleluia Where thy victory,
36:54: O grave Alleluia Love's redeeming work is done
37:08: Alleluia Fought the fight, the battle won
37:16: Alleluia Death in vain forbids Him rise
37:23: Alleluia Christ has opened paradise Alleluia And that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
38:26: But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
38:40: There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
38:46: There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory.
38:54: So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body.
39:01: It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
39:10: If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, the first man,
39:16: Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life -giving spirit.
39:22: However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthly.
39:29: The second man is from heaven. As is the earthly, so also are those who are earthly.
39:34: And as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
39:42: Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
39:50: Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
40:03: For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,
40:16: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
40:22: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our
40:29: Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
40:37: Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Let's pray together. Our Father, we rejoice in this day, this morning, and the gathering of people who are here together.
40:48: We rejoice in this because it is an opportunity to be reminded again of your graciousness to us in the
40:54: Lord Jesus Christ, your work on our behalf, not only in his sacrificial, atoning, and substitutionary death on behalf of your people, but also in that glorious resurrection.
41:05: He has done the work of securing justification and glorification to all who believe.
41:12: So Lord, we are thankful that you have done this in Christ. We look forward to the day when there is the consummation of all things, and we will receive the glorified bodies that have been described here in 1
41:23: Corinthians 15. Thank you for Christ, and thank you for his work, and thank you for his resurrection from the dead.
41:29: He is victorious, and it is the joy and delight and the glory of all of your people to be able to worship and adore the risen
41:37: Christ, the risen Son of God, whom we love, and in whose name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing together,
41:44: Glorious Day. One day when heaven was filled with its praises,
42:03: One day when sin was as black as could be,
42:09: Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, Dwelt among men by example is
42:18: He. The Word became flesh, and the light shined among us,
42:25: His glory revealed. Living He loved me,
42:30: Dying He saved me, Bearing He carried my sins far away.
42:39: Rising He justified, freely forever. One day
42:45: He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
42:56: One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain,
43:02: One day they nailed Him to die on a tree. Suffering anguished, despised and rejected,
43:13: Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. The hands that healed nations,
43:20: Stretched out on a tree, and took the nails for me.
43:26: Living He loved me, Dying He saved me,
43:32: Bearing He carried my sins far away. Rising He justified, freely forever.
43:42: One day He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
43:54: One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,
44:00: One day the stone rolled away from the door. Then He arose over death
44:08: He had conquered, Now is ascended, my Lord evermore.
44:15: Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him from rising again.
44:24: Living He loved me, Dying He saved me, Bearing He carried my sins far away.
44:34: Rising He justified, freely forever. One day
44:40: He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day,
44:49: O glorious day. One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,
45:00: One day the skies with His glories will shine, Wonderful day my beloved one bringing,
45:10: My Savior Jesus is mine. Living He loved me,
45:19: Dying He saved me, Bearing He carried my sins far away.
45:27: Rising He justified, freely forever. One day
45:33: He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day,
45:41: O glorious day, O glorious day.
45:53: In Matthew 28, verses 5 and 7 it says, And the angel answered and said to the women,
46:01: Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.
46:08: He is not here, for He has risen just as He said. Come see the place where He was lying.
46:15: And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead. And behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee.
46:23: There you will see Him. Behold, I have told you. In Christ alone, my hope is found.
46:43: He is my light, my strength, my song, this cornerstone.
46:50: The solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
46:57: What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are still, when strivings yield, my comfort, my all in all.
47:13: Here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone, who took on flesh the fullness of God in helpless pain, this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones
47:38: He came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
47:51: For every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I live.
48:05: There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain.
48:16: Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave
48:22: He rose again. And as He stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me.
48:35: For I am His and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ.
48:48: No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.
48:58: From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
49:07: No power of wrath, no scheme of vain can ever put me from His hand.
49:16: Till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand.
49:38: Let's bow our heads before we begin to take a look at God's Word. Our Father, we ask that You would speak to our hearts through Your Word and accomplish
49:48: Your every good purpose and pleasure in the hearts of Your people. We pray that You would encourage those who are downtrodden and discouraged.
49:56: We pray that You would strengthen the weak and the feeble and that You would encourage us and show us
50:02: Your love and Your affection and Your eternal purposes. And we pray that You would fill our hearts with joy and with adoration for our great
50:11: God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Well, Christian, I have a challenge for you this morning.
50:18: If I were to ask you to make the case for bodily resurrection, particularly the case that the
50:25: Messiah had to rise again from the dead, would you be able to do it from Scripture?
50:31: Let me narrow it down a little bit and maybe make it a little bit more difficult. Would you be able to do it without turning to your
50:37: New Testament? Would you be able to make the case for the doctrine of bodily resurrection on the last day from just Old Testament texts?
50:47: That's a little bit more difficult, right? Because we typically think that the Old Testament really doesn't draw out that doctrine and really doesn't contain a lot of information on the subject of resurrection.
50:58: When we think of resurrection, we think of the chapter that I read earlier, 1 Corinthians 15. We think of the resurrection appearances of Jesus.
51:05: We think of the book of Acts and the proclamation of the resurrection there. But if I were to ask you to make the case for the doctrine of bodily resurrection just from the
51:12: Old Testament, how successful would you be at doing that? That's a bit more of a challenge. The New Testament is filled with all kinds of references to resurrection.
51:22: We have the promises that Jesus made himself that he would die and that he would rise again. Then we have the proclamation of the apostles.
51:29: We have the resurrection appearances in all of the gospels. Then we have the evidence of the resurrection contained in the documents themselves,
51:37: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. And we have 1 Corinthians 15, which is the resurrection chapter. In other epistles like Philippians and 1
51:44: Timothy, there are references to the resurrection and references to that Christian hope. And the epistles promise not just bodily resurrection for the
51:52: Messiah. They not only talk about that, but they promise bodily resurrection for the believer. And then in the book of Revelation, we see that bodily resurrection and the timing of it.
52:00: So from Matthew through the end of Revelation, resurrection, bodily resurrection, is all the way through the
52:07: New Testament. We would even say that it's just part of the warp and woof of the New Testament. It's woven throughout. We could say that without resurrection, there really is no
52:15: New Testament revelation because all of New Testament revelation explains or exposes or expounds upon in some way the doctrine of bodily resurrection.
52:23: Either the resurrection of the Messiah or the resurrection of all those who believe in Him. So consequently, when we think of the resurrection, we think of the
52:31: New Testament. We don't often think of the Old Testament. And so the doctrine of resurrection is sometimes treated as if it were a late addition to the plan of God.
52:40: Some appendix or addendum that He sort of tacked on to the end of the book as if God took 400 years off between the
52:46: Old Testament and the New Testament and thought to Himself, what can I do to really improve this? And He came up with the idea of resurrection as if that was something late in the game.
52:56: It was something that He decided to do sort of in the 11th hour. But belief in the bodily resurrection is not a late development.
53:02: It is not something that is uniquely New Testament. In fact, it is a feature of God's revelation going back to the earliest times in the biblical record.
53:11: Now, it is true to say that Christianity is a resurrection faith. And we can say that without any hesitation because Christianity really is the fulfillment of Old Testament Judaism.
53:21: So resurrection is not a doctrine that we tack on to Christianity as sort of an ancillary or secondary doctrine that is a nice thing to have as part of our faith as opposed to the
53:30: Old Testament Scriptures. Rather, since Christianity is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures, we would expect that there would be reference to and explanation of bodily resurrection even in the
53:40: Old Testament. And there is. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead three days after He was crucified and He was raised in the same body in which
53:49: He was crucified but it was a glorified and different a spiritual body never to die again.
53:56: Now, if He did not rise from the dead and present Himself alive with many infallible proofs, then
54:01: He was a liar and His disciples are liars and the New Testament is a book of lies. And there is no need to believe in Him.
54:08: Nothing hinges upon it. It's just a nice story or a myth or a fable. But if He did rise from the dead three days after He was crucified and present
54:16: Himself alive with many infallible proofs to His disciples, then He is the Divine Son, He is the
54:21: Son of God, He is the Messiah and eternal life and forgiveness can only be had through Him. So that the one who repents of their sin and trusts in Him has eternal life not because they have done anything to merit that eternal life but because another namely
54:35: Jesus has done everything on their behalf to merit that eternal life and to give them that eternal life.
54:41: And so the one who has repented and placed their faith in Christ has eternal life and will be raised in a glorified body just as He was raised in a glorified body.
54:52: Christ is a risen Savior and Christianity is a religion, a faith, a confidence in bodily resurrection not just of the
55:02: Messiah but also of all those who have repented and placed their faith in Christ. And this goes back to the earliest times, the earliest records even of the
55:11: Old Testament there was belief in bodily resurrection. And to show you that I would like you to turn back to the book of Job.
55:17: To the book of Job. We're going to see here the earliest confession of belief in bodily resurrection, the earliest one that can be found anywhere in Scripture, Job chapter 19.
55:29: Now this is not a passage that you would normally expect somebody to preach on an Easter resurrection Sunday.
55:35: Of all the places to turn, the book of Job. This is the book of suffering. Right? Did we miss something?
55:41: This is the book of suffering. This is a book that describes one of the lowest points in the life of one of Old Testament Scripture's greatest men.
55:51: It is a book about a man who loses everything. He is mocked by his wife. He is taunted by his friends.
55:57: He is attacked by the devil. And we're going to turn to a book that recounts the incredible agony of a man going through the deepest and darkest and most discouraging times that probably anyone has ever had to suffer through on resurrection
56:11: Sunday. Now you might be wondering what's next? Ecclesiastes on Mother's Day? Then they're done that.
56:22: So this is all upside then. After going through Ecclesiastes on Mother's Day, this is all upside. We're turning to the book of Job for two reasons.
56:29: First, because we're have been going through the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11 and looking at this Hebrews Hall of Fame.
56:34: And though Job is not mentioned there, he is certainly a man that would deserve to be mentioned there had the Holy Spirit decided to include him.
56:42: And he may even have been in the mind of the author when he gets to the end of Hebrews chapter 11 or towards the end and he says, time will fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
56:53: He may as well have included the name Job there because though Job is not mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, he is that caliber of man.
56:59: He is a man who had that kind of faith. And he is a man of whom we could say by faith Job, while in great suffering, did not shrink back to destruction, but instead confessed his conviction and his belief in his redemption, resurrection, and his ultimate reward.
57:14: So that's the first reason. Because it kind of fits in with the theme of Hebrews chapter 11. Second, because for the last several weeks we've been talking about Abraham's faith and I've made the case that Abraham's faith was a faith that believed that God is a resurrecting or life -giving
57:26: God. And this is key to understanding how Abraham responded both to the land promise as well as to the descendant promise.
57:33: Abraham was willing to live in the land for a hundred years without ever receiving it because he believed that God would raise him from the dead and give him that land in the end.
57:39: He believed that God raises the dead. And Abraham was willing to offer up his son Isaac on that mountain, even burning the body because Abraham was a man who believed in God's ability to raise the dead and that he could raise
57:50: Isaac if necessary. So we've seen how resurrection is keyed in with Abraham's faith.
57:56: And so this fits in right well with that. I was explaining yesterday the gist of this message to somebody and they said, in other words, you're really just looking for an excuse to beat the same dead horse from a different passage.
58:07: And yeah, that's not entirely wrong. That's kind of what we're doing with this. Job 19. The question now that presents itself to us is a very intriguing one, namely, how much did the
58:17: Old Testament saints understand about the doctrine of bodily resurrection? How much did they understand about the doctrine of bodily resurrection?
58:24: Especially at a time 2 ,000 years before Jesus came and lived and died, was buried, and rose again.
58:30: How much could a saint living back 2 ,000 years before Christ have understood about bodily resurrection?
58:36: The answer to that is found in verses 25 through 27. Read them with me. This is our text. And we're going to read it here and then
58:43: I'm going to zoom out and give you a little bit of context before we jump back in and go through it in detail. Verse 25.
58:48: As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh
58:56: I shall see God, whom I myself shall behold and whom my eyes will see and not another.
59:02: My heart faints within me. Now that is the oldest text in Scripture that describes the subject or speaks of the subject of bodily resurrection and it is quite magnificent.
59:13: Job is the first book of Scripture that was written. A lot of people are surprised to hear that. They think
59:18: Genesis was written first because it deals with the things that happened in the beginning. But Genesis was written by Moses a long time after Job lived.
59:27: Job is the oldest book that you have in your Scriptures and it can be dated with the early patriarchs even probably prior to Abraham at least contemporary at the latest a contemporary of Abraham and my suspicion is that he predated
59:39: Abraham and I'll give you a couple of reasons why. First, his life span fits in with the patriarchs and their life spans early in the book of Genesis.
59:47: It says after all of the afflictions that Job suffered through in chapter 42 verse 16 that he lived for 140 years after his suffering.
59:55: 140 years. Now before the suffering struck him he had fathered 10 children all of whom were adults at the time that the suffering struck him.
01:00:05: So he was old enough to have 10 adult children who were out of the house and living on their own at the time and then after his suffering he lived for another 140 years.
01:00:14: That puts his life span somewhere in the neighborhood of Abraham From here on out that's just an
01:00:23: Abraham. That puts his life span somewhere in the neighborhood of Abraham at 175 plus years which means that he would have lived between Noah and Abraham and from what we can tell he was not an ancestor or a predecessor of Abraham probably in a different lineage because he's not listed in Abraham's ancestry but he could have been another descendant of Noah and sort of on the side or a cousin in some way a distant cousin of Abraham and probably lived at Abraham's time at the latest more likely before Abraham so he's somewhere between Noah and Abraham Second Job was a righteous man in that era and that would indicate that he had a knowledge and he worshipped a knowledge of and he worshipped the one true and living
01:01:05: God which means that by the time of Abraham knowledge of God that had been passed on from Noah and his three sons had been largely forgotten it was mostly an idolatrous world you had these rare exceptions where God revealed himself to Abraham Abraham was a
01:01:19: Yahweh worshipper God had revealed himself to Job obviously Job is a follower of God and then you have like Melchizedek who lived at the time of Abraham to whom
01:01:28: God had made himself known but for the most part by the time you get to Abraham's day knowledge of and worship of the one true
01:01:34: God had been largely lost after the time of Noah so Job is probably prior to Abraham he had still understood this it is very possible that Abraham and Job's life overlapped and that Job and Noah's life overlapped third
01:01:48: Job's wealth is measured in terms of livestock and not precious metals and that is something that is consistent with other things that we read in Genesis about the wealth that Abraham had they weren't thinking in terms of gold and silver but they looked in terms of livestock meaning that since his wealth was measured by the amount of livestock that he had that that was the way they referred to that he was a contemporary of Abraham and then fourth many significant post
01:02:11: Abrahamic events are not mentioned in the book of Job like for instance Abraham his descendants the land of promise the exodus the
01:02:17: Jews Jewish holidays the sacrificial system the priesthood or the law of Moses and there are other indicators that it was an early book written before the time of Abraham or around the time of Abraham at least and I'll save those for sometime when
01:02:29: I'm preaching through the book of Job which nobody here is looking forward to so just calm down sometime after Hebrews it's a way off the story of Job is familiar to us he was a faithful and righteous man he loved the
01:02:42: Lord and the Lord granted for some undisclosed reason permission to the devil to attack
01:02:48: Job and to attack his possessions and eventually his person in the first wave of Satan's assault raiding bands of Chaldeans and Sabeans came in swept in and killed his servants and took all of his possessions so that in a matter of one day everything he owned and almost all with the exception of one or two of his servants were destroyed and taken from him he lost everything and yet and then a great wind struck the house in which all of his children were living at the time and present at the time and destroyed and wiped out all of his kids so he lost all of his children and all of his possession and most of his servants all in one day
01:03:23: Satan was trying to try him Satan didn't take his wife for some reason I'll leave that up to your speculation as to why and Job responded
01:03:33: I'm not saying anything about any wives here I'm just saying something about what the devil may have had in mind for Job's wife in all of that Job didn't curse
01:03:43: God he worshipped and has that great statement at the end of chapter 1 verse 21 he said naked I came from my mother's womb and naked
01:03:50: I shall return there the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and chapter 1 ends with this magnificent statement through all this
01:03:57: Job did not sin nor did he blame God that's chapter 1 verse 21 well Satan claimed that the only reason
01:04:03: Job did not abandon his faith was because God protected his person and if he would allow Satan to attack
01:04:08: Job and take away his health and make him suffer and be afflicted physically that that would cause Job to curse
01:04:14: God so the Lord gave Satan permission to do that only to not take Job's life and so in chapter 2 a second set of attacks comes
01:04:22: Job's way chapter 2 verse 7 Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head and he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes so with the pus oozing and itching from his skin in all of that misery his only relief was to scrape his skin and relieve some of the itching and the pain with that potsherd which itself would have been a very miserable thing to do but at least it would have given him some relief and his wife speaking like a foolish woman joined in the attack and said to Job curse
01:04:56: God and die and Job indicates that that was a foolish statement and then his friends and I use that term in the loosest possible way heard of his suffering and came to visit him and then they sat down next to him and the best thing they ever said to him is recorded in Job chapter 2 verse 13 they sat down on the ground with him for 7 days and 7 nights with no one speaking a word to him that was the best thing that they said to him was 7 days and 7 nights of utter silence because that was the extent of their wisdom and when they did open up their mouths to speak their folly they poured forth like salt upon his already miserable wounds chapter 2 ends with this statement his pain was very great and then
01:05:35: Job's friends comforters whatever you want to call them charged him with all kinds of sin dishonesty injustice theft lying sexual immorality adultery idolatry greed slander blasphemy and the list goes on and with every one of their accusations
01:05:51: Job maintained his innocence not that he was perfect not that he was sinless but he maintained his innocence saying there is nothing that I have done having been
01:05:59: God's friend there is nothing that I have done that warrants this happening to me this is not a quid pro quo between me and God I've done nothing to deserve what has come upon me and the gravity of it but his friends wouldn't have any of that and every time
01:06:11: Job would maintain his innocence they would double down and turn up the heat and bring more accusations and they would tag team this so that one friend would say something and Job would answer him and then the next friend would speak and Job would answer him then the next friend by the time we get to chapter 19 there in the second round of verbal attacks against Job he has reached the very bottom of his emotional and spiritual reserve this is the lowest point in the book and his confession of faith that we find in verses 25 through 27 is truly a turning point in the book for after this confession
01:06:43: Job's despair is not quite like it is before this confession there is something about this confession and uttering this knowing what it is that he says that sort of serves as a light to guide him through at least the rest of the book so from this point forward
01:06:57: Job's discourses are much more hopeful and though he continues throughout the book to be lost in the fog of wondering why all of this has struck him which he never gets answered he ultimately knows that what he says in verses 25 through 27 is true and that in his bodily resurrection he will find his vindication and his reward this is why this is such a hopeful part and I hope that you see you have to understand a little bit of the darkness and the discouragement and the depression of this so that it serves as a backdrop against which this wonderful statement verses 25 through 27 can shine but we're not quite ready to get there yet chapter 19 this is where we're at verse 1
01:07:36: I want you to look at how Job recounts his sufferings 19 verse 1 Job responded how long will you torment me and crush me with words these ten times you have insulted me you're not ashamed to wrong me so he felt this emotional suffering that was afflicted by his friends and their verbal assaults and all other accusations of his sin second he felt attacked and abandoned even by God verse 10 he breaks me down on every side and I am gone and he has uprooted my hope like a tree he has kindled his anger against me and considered me as his enemy and then he was abandoned by his friends and his family and his loved ones verse 13 he has removed my brothers far from me and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me my relatives have failed and my intimate friends have forgotten me those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger
01:08:20: I am a foreigner in their sight I call to my servant he does not answer I have to implore him with my mouth my breath is offensive to my wife and I am loathsome to my own brothers even young children despise me
01:08:32: I rise up and they speak against me all my associates abhor me and those I love have turned against me can you hear the despair?
01:08:39: well it doesn't end there look at verse 20 this physical suffering my bone clings to my skin and my flesh and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth pity me pity me oh you my friends for the hand of God has struck me why do you persecute me as God does and are not satisfied with my flesh?
01:08:58: so he expresses there is physical anguish in the suffering that he was going through being tormented in excruciating pain wasting away he continued to lose weight almost inexplicably to the point where he just says my skin is hanging off my bones he's a shell of a man by this point he hasn't eaten a thing for at least a week as he sat there mourning and suffering his bone clinging to his skin and he feels as if he has escaped death by the narrowest of margins look at verse 20 where he says
01:09:24: I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth you've heard that phrase right? this is where it comes from I have escaped by the skin of my teeth my skin hangs off me by bones the last thing
01:09:33: I have is my teeth and by that it's a narrow margin and his friends thought they were doing him favor by insulting him and accusing him look at verse 22 are you not satisfied with my flesh?
01:09:43: is my physical suffering not enough for you? I sit here and you see what I'm going through and yet then you come here and you just keep abuse upon me by verbally assaulting me insulting me these ten times is my suffering not enough to satisfy your blood lust?
01:09:58: do you have to come here and pour salt in these wounds figuratively? he's in agony verse 23 and 24 a prelude to his hope oh that my words were written he's describing here what he's about to say oh that my words were written oh that they were inscribed in a book that with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever
01:10:20: Job would want what he says now to be written down and it has been gloriously so so that we can benefit from it it is for our encouragement and our edification and our instruction that all of his words have been written down and he longs that this hope that he has which he expresses in verses 25 through 27 might be chiseled into rock written as it were which he says in verse 24 with an iron stylus and lead oh that my words were engraved and chiseled into marble and then hot lead poured into them so that they would be doubly eternally secure right?
01:10:54: that they might be chiseled into marble and they would last and then that lead would be poured in so that they might never perish now
01:11:00: Job's hope expressed there in verse 23 and 24 has been fulfilled literally I think beyond what he probably could have imagined at the time as these words in verse 25 and 27 have been inscribed on monuments and chiseled into headstones and written over tombs in granite all over the world so many tombs that you would not even want to have to count them these words have been inscribed in stone and written in marble more times than Job could have ever imagined because this is the hope of bodily resurrection here it is again in verse 25 through 27 as for me
01:11:35: I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will take his stand on the earth even after my skin is destroyed yet from my flesh
01:11:42: I shall see God whom I myself shall behold and whom my eyes will see and not another my heart faints within me there are three different elements to his hope there
01:11:50: Job expresses his hope in his redemption verse 25 his resurrection verse 26 and his ultimate reward his redemption his resurrection and his ultimate reward now that is a beautiful outline that's a genius outline and I don't mind saying that because I didn't come up with it
01:12:06: I'm borrowing this or I should say litanizing this from Phil Johnson who preached on this passage and I don't think it can be improved upon I worked on it
01:12:13: I tried to come up with something like different alliteration and it just nothing worked Job expresses the same hope that you and I have our redemption our resurrection and our ultimate reward each one of those verses let's look at it beginning in verse 25 first of all
01:12:28: I want you to see how these three things are connected there is no ultimate reward if you are in the grave forever and there is no coming out of the grave without redemption it has to be in this order redemption resurrection to ultimate reward and these three things are tied together so that the one who is redeemed receives the ultimate reward and there is no ultimate reward without resurrection because of redemption so to have one is to have all three to have the first one is to have the last one and you cannot have the last one without having the previous two there must be redemption resurrection to ultimate reward now just as a curious note and I'm not going to get into this at any length at all but just to remind you that there is a resurrection promise to unbelievers as well scripture promises that in Matthew sorry
01:13:14: John chapter 5 Jesus speaks of a resurrection to judgment in Daniel chapter 12
01:13:19: Daniel describes or the Lord describes a resurrection to everlasting contempt unbelievers are resurrected from the grave on the last day in unredeemed unglorified but eternal and everlasting bodies to suffer the torments of hell everlastingly so everybody gets a body on the last day but what is being described here by Job is a resurrection body verse 25 as for me
01:13:40: I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will take a stand on the earth now that phrase that sentence is even more beautiful once you understand the context in which it it is written right
01:13:49: I know that my Redeemer lives that's beautiful that's beautiful enough but it's especially beautiful in light of what
01:13:56: Job has already said about how he feels the Lord has been treating him he's already expressed that he feels that the
01:14:02: Lord has dealt with him unjustly he feels as if the Lord has made him his enemy he feels as if the
01:14:07: Lord has made him his target and has pulled all of his arrows out of the quiver and aimed them at Job and made
01:14:13: Job a special object of his injustice and his wrath that is exactly how Job feels but how
01:14:19: Job feels is irrelevant because he knows something what does he know I know that my Redeemer lives
01:14:25: Job knows he has a Redeemer he knows his Redeemer is the God of life and he knows that his
01:14:30: Redeemer will give him life on the last day in spite of everything that Job felt about his circumstances and his situations and his despair he knew something to be true and that's what makes this confession of faith so glorious I know that my
01:14:44: Redeemer lives and that he will take his stand upon the earth this idea of Redeemer and redemption is something we see through both the
01:14:51: Old and the New Testament in the New Testament the idea of Redeemer and and redemption primarily has to do the one the primary images is that of being bought out of the marketplace and and spiritually speaking we would say that that's the marketplace of sin redemption involves the idea of buying back something or purchasing something out of the marketplace to redeem it in the
01:15:12: Old Testament the idea of redemption is tied with the the notion of a kinsman Redeemer we're familiar with that because of Boaz and Ruth even in the
01:15:21: Old Testament the imagery was one of of somebody who had not only the opportunity but also the resources to purchase somebody who had maybe sold themselves into slavery to pay a debt or to purchase back somebody who had been seized and made a slave to deliver their possessions or to to use them for themselves to to pay a debt or to go to war or to rescue somebody who was under some sort of oppression that was the idea of a kinsman
01:15:44: Redeemer and we it is easy for us to pull that into the New Testament and see how that is very symbolic of the
01:15:50: Lord Jesus Christ who took upon himself flesh came here and lived among us shared in flesh and blood so he is our kinsman
01:15:57: Redeemer in the sense that God has become man and that God man then lived among us and identifies with us and then he has done the work to purchase us out of the slave market to sin and deliver us from the oppression of the devil and also to deliver us from these decaying bodies that is the idea of redemption so Job when he says
01:16:15: I know that my Redeemer lives could not have known everything that you and I know because of all the revelation that we have in the
01:16:20: New Testament but he did know this that God was his Redeemer and that God was a living God and that God would take his stand upon the earth look at it in verse 25 on that last day at the last that is
01:16:32: Job's way of describing what we would refer to as the day of Christ or the last day on the last at the last on the final day at the very end my
01:16:42: Redeemer will take his stand upon the earth it is amazing what Job knows about the future given that he is writing this 4000 years ago he knows that his
01:16:50: God in some way will stand upon the earth he will take his stand in that last day the last day is that day of Christ which
01:16:58: Jesus described in John chapter 6 verse 44 when he says no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day there is coming this day when
01:17:08: God will raise the righteous from the grave in glorified bodies and Job foresaw that time when
01:17:13: God would take his stand upon this dust that is what the word literally means upon the earth upon this dust it was a word that was used to describe dried out dusty soil remember
01:17:23: Job is sitting in an ash heap right and what is he confessing
01:17:29: I know that my Redeemer lives and on the last day he will stand on this dust on this earth that is quite a confession
01:17:39: Job didn't understand all the minute details that you and I do we understand that Revelation 19 describes the coming back of the
01:17:47: God man who is in a glorified body that his feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives he will establish his kingdom he's going to return his feet will touch down on this dust on this world this is the earliest book of scripture
01:18:01: Job knows this is happening second he had hope in resurrection verse 26 even after my skin is destroyed yet from my flesh
01:18:11: I shall see God Job expected that his body would eventually waste away and be consumed and we've already noted the physical suffering that he was enduring even as he is describing this in all kinds of pain and notice the forthrightness forthrightness with which he describes the perishing and the destruction of his body
01:18:30: I knew that even after my skin is destroyed just honest about his future right we tend to not speak that honestly about our coming death
01:18:41: Job at this moment may have even been longing for his coming death but we tend to not speak that honestly about it we have all kinds of euphemisms that we use to describe our coming death and Job is just seeing it as it is describing it as it is eventually my skin is going to be destroyed the
01:18:59: King James has an interesting translation at this point if you're reading it and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh
01:19:06: I shall see God now there's no mention of worms in the original text but that translation does give the sense of what
01:19:13: Job was describing the decay and the destruction of his body the word destroyed there is a word that means struck or cut off or flayed away or peeled away or scraped away it's a very graphic and vivid word even after my skin is flayed away or sliced away like skin like a potsherd scraping skin even then he knew that what he was describing what he was suffering through was not the worst thing that his flesh would see eventually his flesh would see something even worse namely its entire destruction yet from my flesh he says
01:19:47: I will see God even after my flesh is destroyed even if it is eaten by worms even if it is consumed by wild beasts even if it is destroyed by rotting away into nothingness yet in my flesh look at the confession in verse 26 in my flesh
01:20:01: I shall see God that is a description of bodily resurrection though this skin be destroyed and waste away and die and perish and go out of existence yet in my very flesh
01:20:15: I shall see God this is something that Job could have only known by divine revelation because it is not something that rationalism or scientific inquiry or pagan philosophy or human reasoning can none of those things can bring you to this conclusion
01:20:27: Job is expressing hope in something that had never been seen before nobody in his time had ever seen a bodily resurrection let alone a physical bodily resurrection in a glorified body that is subject to never die again and yet Job understands somehow that even if after his flesh is decayed and destroyed and perishes away that he would stand on this earth and see his
01:20:49: Redeemer who takes his stand on this earth that is a confession in the not only the at least at bare least the incarnation of his
01:20:57: Redeemer and his Redeemer taking his stand here and then Job standing in his flesh and looking upon his
01:21:03: Redeemer on this earth it is a magnificent revelation bodily resurrection is mocked in our day and I am certain it was mocked in Job's day it was mocked in Paul's day
01:21:15: Acts chapter 17 remember he talked about the resurrection he walked away from Mars Hill in Athens there and they jeered at him they mocked at him it is absurd pagan philosophers modernists rationalists hate this doctrine they mock this doctrine, this is the very center of our hope, and it's hated by the world.
01:21:37: But we can't have a Christian faith without a doctrine of bodily resurrection. Bodily resurrection of the believer is our hope.
01:21:45: It is promised in both the Old and the New Testament. Some will be raised to eternal life and some to eternal damnation, and those who are raised to eternal life will inherit a new heavens and a new earth and a physical creation.
01:21:56: The first fruits of that was the Lord Jesus Christ, who was raised in a glorified body and Philippians 3 verse 21 says that He will transform our body from its humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
01:22:12: Most people have an entirely unbiblical view of what the eternal state is going to be. If your image of heaven and the eternal state of God's people is a disembodied state and a disentangled state away from anything physical or anything material where we all float around in some sort of ether or nothingness and in disembodied spiritual entities, you have a lot of learning to do about what
01:22:31: Scripture says concerning the end result, the end state of God's people.
01:22:37: It's a physical creation, new heavens, new earth into which no unrighteousness will enter and no sin, no death, no dying, no disease, and we get glorified bodies, eternal spiritual glorified bodies.
01:22:53: Job was anticipating the final resurrection in the very body in which he was at this point suffering.
01:23:00: Don't miss that. Even though my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God. He expected to be raised again to newness of life in this very body, but somehow he understood that it would be a new body and somehow he understood that it would be a different body.
01:23:16: Now you ask, how is this possible? How is it possible that the body in which I die is going to be the same body even if it's consumed by wild beasts, burned by fire, destroyed by the elements, and it rots away to nothingness?
01:23:27: How is it that that body is going to be raised again on the last day as the same body but a different body?
01:23:35: How is that possible? That's the very question that Paul answers in 1 Corinthians 15. We have…
01:23:40: It's not that difficult to understand because we have something that is analogous to it even in your current state and in your very body.
01:23:47: Let me… Let me offer this to you. The body in which you currently are, is it the same body or a different body than the body you had when you were an infant?
01:23:56: Same body? It's the same body. How many of you would agree, same body? It's the same body.
01:24:02: Nobody… Okay, so you're not putting your hands up because you think it was a different body? So if it was a different body, then let me ask you, when did you go out of that body that you had as an infant and inhabit this body?
01:24:12: When did you switch bodies? How did that… I want to know how that happened because I might want to switch bodies someday. I would like to…
01:24:18: If Brad Pitt ever dies, a young man, I would like to switch bodies and get his body. So is the body that you have now the same body you had as an infant or a different body?
01:24:26: Same body? Raise your hand. Okay, that's better. That's better. Same body, right? Now, my kids, they know.
01:24:32: They don't even… Aidan's like, it's a trap, don't answer the question, it's a trap. Same body.
01:24:38: Okay, are you sure it's the same body? Do you know that there's not one single cell in your body that is the same cell as it was when you were born?
01:24:46: Not one. There's not a single blood cell coursing through your veins that is the same today as it was when you were an infant.
01:24:53: Not one. Every cell has changed. Your current body has different properties. Your current body is stronger, bigger, taller, hairier, different chemical complex.
01:25:02: It's been… It's gotten fatter, it's gotten skinnier, it's grown, it's done all these things over the years. But it's the same body, isn't it?
01:25:09: So now it's… It really is a different body. But it's not a different body because if I took a DNA sample of you when you were an infant and a
01:25:16: DNA sample of you today, they would match. The body in which you are today is the exact same body you had when you were an infant in one sense, but it is an entirely different body with different properties than you had when you were an infant in another sense.
01:25:32: So it is in the resurrection. Jesus Christ could be raised and He could show His disciples to convince them of His resurrection.
01:25:39: He could show them the scars in His hand and the scar in His side, the proof of His crucifixion, and proof that this was the same body raised from the dead, and yet it was not the same body.
01:25:49: It was the same body, but a glorified body. So it was the same body, but a different body. How is that possible?
01:25:55: How is it possible that you can have the same body today, but a different body today? The same way you're going to have the same body someday in resurrection, but a different body in that resurrection.
01:26:03: And it doesn't matter if your body should be eaten by worms or consumed by fire. Because God is able to reconstitute corpses, glorified bodies, out of the elements that exist so that even if the body that you have currently perishes, and it is no more, and Job certainly has perished, it is no more, there's not a single atom, molecule, or cell left of Job's body, and yet he knew that from his flesh he would see his
01:26:30: Redeemer take a stand upon the earth. That is the doctrine of bodily resurrection. Third, Job had hope in his reward, verse 27,
01:26:37: Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me. He's still speaking of looking upon his
01:26:44: Redeemer. My Redeemer will take a stand upon the earth, and even though this skin is destroyed from my flesh,
01:26:50: I will see this God, I will see my God, I will see my Redeemer. Verse 27, Whom I myself shall behold, he is asserting there that the eyes that look upon that Redeemer are not going to be different eyes.
01:27:02: When he says, and not another, it could be translated, whom my eyes will behold, and I will behold him, and not another, but it can also be used to qualify the looking upon with my eyes, whom my eyes, and not other eyes, shall behold.
01:27:18: This is simply Job's way of saying, my skin might be destroyed, yet in this flesh I will look upon my
01:27:23: Redeemer, and I will see him with my eyes, not another eyes, not somebody else's eyes, not somebody else's body, but I will behold him with these physical eyes in this flesh.
01:27:33: I will see my Redeemer take a stand upon the earth. That's the doctrine of bodily resurrection, and ultimately this is every believer's hope, every believer's joy, because to look on God and to see him is the ultimate reward.
01:27:46: This is what we long for. Heaven is heaven, not because our loved ones are there. Heaven is heaven because God is there.
01:27:53: And the hope and the joy of the believers that we get to look on his face, this is the constant refrain of Scripture that it is a great reward, it is a great joy, it is a great blessing just to be in God's presence, to see his face, to look on him with eyes, and to behold him and his glory with eyes unveiled, uncovered, and yet not with these eyes because we would be consumed.
01:28:15: Do you remember when Moses asked to see the Lord in Exodus 33, he said, I pray, show me your glory, and the Lord replied, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.
01:28:24: It would have consumed Moses to look upon his Redeemer then. It would have consumed him, it would have destroyed him.
01:28:30: He couldn't have taken it. Job wanted to be near his Redeemer, he wanted to see his
01:28:36: Redeemer, he wanted to look upon his Redeemer with his eyes, his eyes and not other eyes.
01:28:42: In his flesh, he would see God. Psalm 84, verse 10, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand outside.
01:28:48: I'd rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. It's just a desire to be in God's house, to be near God.
01:28:55: Psalm 1611, you will make known to me the path of life, in your presence is fullness of joy, and in your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
01:29:02: First John 3, verse 2, behold, beloved, now we are children of God, it's not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, this is bodily resurrection, because we will see him just as he is.
01:29:13: I wonder if when John wrote that, he was thinking of what Job had written. We will see him as he is, and when we see him as he is, we will be made just like him.
01:29:24: And everyone who has this hope in him, purifies himself just as he is pure. Revelation 22, verses 3 and 4, this is how it ends.
01:29:31: Listen, when the author steps on the stage at the end of the play, you know what? You know the play's over. When the
01:29:37: Redeemer takes a stand on this earth, guess what? The play's over. Curtain call, it's done, resurrection, let's start afresh.
01:29:46: Once the author takes the stage, once the Redeemer shows up and takes his stand on this dust, it's game over.
01:29:52: This is what we get to expect, Revelation 22, 3 and 4, there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the
01:29:58: Lamb will be in it, and his bondservants will serve him, and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
01:30:06: That's the ultimate reward, the ultimate joy, the ultimate blessing, the ultimate repayment, just one glimpse of him in glory will all the trials of life repay, right?
01:30:16: Redemption, resurrection, and reward. That's the Old Testament hope, that's the New Testament hope.
01:30:22: God has an answer for our death. We expect and long for and look forward to the very same thing that Job expected and longed for and looked forward to, namely the culmination and the finishing of our redemption through resurrection so that we may receive the ultimate reward.
01:30:40: And what stands between us and that is sin and death, and we are all going to pass through death.
01:30:48: We all know that like Job, unless the Lord should come before we die, we all know that like Job, we will taste death, we will go through that veil, we will step to the other side, we'll walk through it into the arms of our
01:30:58: Savior, we all face that, we shouldn't shy away from that, but we should understand why that is happening, and we should understand what the cure for death ultimately is.
01:31:06: And I speak to particularly now any here who have never trusted Christ for salvation and do not know
01:31:12: Him. Ultimately, sin has resulted in our death. Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden, and through that brought death upon all of His progeny, destruction and sin and disease, and the wages of sin is death.
01:31:26: Death is what we get for our sin, and we deserve it. We're condemned by the moral standards of God's law.
01:31:32: The Word of God says that those who sin, the soul that sins, it shall die, and every person in this room has sinned.
01:31:38: We've sinned in thought, in word, and in deed. If you have ever taken God's name in vain, you're a blasphemer. If you've ever stolen anything, you're a thief.
01:31:45: If you've ever told a lie, you are a liar, and Scripture promises that all liars will have their part in the lake that burns with fire.
01:31:51: We have all sinned countless times, the verdict is in, we are guilty, and so now the question is what should a good, righteous, holy, and just God, who is the judge of all men, what should
01:32:00: He do with guilty lawbreakers? Not what do you want Him to do with guilty lawbreakers, but what should He do with guilty lawbreakers?
01:32:07: We understand that a good judge is not one who turns his eye away from sin and perverts justice.
01:32:12: We understand that a good judge is not one who lets guilty lawbreakers go free. So what should a good judge do with guilty lawbreakers?
01:32:19: He should send us to hell. That's what our sins warrant. That's what they deserve. That's why we are dying. That's why we will die.
01:32:24: This is what we deserve. That's the bad news. Our sin has merited the wrath of God, not just because the sin itself is necessarily all that hideous, but because the one against whom we have sinned is so majestic and so glorious and so infinite in His goodness.
01:32:42: And any sin against Him deserves eternal judgment and deserves eternal damnation. That's the bad news.
01:32:48: The good news is that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, came from heaven, took upon Himself human flesh, lived among us, lived a perfect life.
01:32:58: He did not sin in thought, word, or deed, but because He was the God -man, He kept the law perfectly, obeying all of its commandments, satisfying and pleasing the
01:33:07: Father in all that He did, and that He offered His life as a sacrifice to die in the stead of any and all who will turn to Him in repentance and faith.
01:33:16: That is the good news of the gospel. God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law.
01:33:23: He came to die in the place of sinners. He is the substitute, the payment for sin. And if you stand before God on the last day, clothed in the tattered robes of your own self -righteousness, you will get what your sins warrant.
01:33:35: But if you stand before God on the last day, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, because you have turned from your sin and repented and believed upon Him, then you will get life everlasting.
01:33:45: Not because you have done anything to merit it, but because another has done everything necessary to merit that grace on your behalf.
01:33:53: Three days after His crucifixion, He was raised from the dead. He is victorious over sin and death. He will never die again.
01:33:59: He was resurrected in a glorified body. He is coming again to judge the living and the dead, and He demands of you this day that you repent and trust
01:34:08: Him for salvation. Call out to Him for mercy. He is a merciful and good Savior. He will redeem you.
01:34:14: He will save you, and He will raise you up to life everlasting. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is
01:34:19: God's promise that there is a judgment to come. This is what Paul said in Acts chapter 17, when he said,
01:34:25: Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to all men everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day in which
01:34:30: He will judge the world in righteousness, having furnished proof to all men by raising that judge from the dead.
01:34:38: Bow before Him and receive Him as Savior, or stand before Him and receive
01:34:43: His judgment. Let's pray. Father, we love You and thank You for the glorious hope of the
01:34:49: Gospel and of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without it, we would be lost, we would have nothing, and we would be doomed to an eternal destruction under Your wrath, which is what our sins deserve.
01:35:01: But we thank You that Christ has lived for us and died for us so that we may have eternal life.
01:35:06: We pray that You would open our hearts to these truths and encourage us in them, fix our hope on the resurrection that is to come, the last day, and what
01:35:15: You have promised to those who belong to You. And we pray that You would draw those who have never trusted Christ to You, that they may receive eternal life, and that the
01:35:24: Lamb, the Savior, may receive the full reward for all His suffering. Be honored and glorified in how we respond to these truths, and we pray that You would fix them in our hearts, both now and forever.
01:35:34: In Christ's precious name, amen. Let's end our service this morning by standing and singing
01:35:40: All Heaven Declares. All heaven declare the glory of the risen
01:36:05: Lord, who can compare the beauty of the
01:36:16: Lord. Forever He will be the
01:36:23: Lamb upon the throne. I gladly bow the knee to Him alone.
01:36:37: I will proclaim the glory of the risen
01:36:47: Lord, who once was slain, to reconcile man to God.
01:37:00: Forever He will be the
01:37:05: Lamb upon the throne. I gladly bow the knee to Him alone.
01:37:19: I gladly bow the knee to Him alone.
01:37:32: Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, to the only
01:37:41: God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority before all time, and now, and forever, amen.
01:37:52: Have a great week. Amen. Amen.
01:40:53: Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
01:41:23: Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
01:41:36: Amen. Amen. Amen.