Hymns: 192, 200, 208, 210

Job 19:25-27 — “I Know that My Redeemer Lives”

      Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

      The appointed reading of the Old Testament for this First Sunday after Easter is Job 19:25-27:

     For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

      In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Introduction

      Quasimodogeniti is the Latin name for this first Sunday after Easter. It comes from the first portion of the Introit from 1 Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word.” The text of 1 Peter 2 begins with the apostle saying,

     Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 2:1-5)

      These words reflect the communion of the saints, people who have observed the truth that their Redeemer lives. Such an encounter with the living God changes people. Their hearts are filled with confidence for living so that they encourage one another with the precious words of the Gospel. They gather into the name of Jesus to be fed like newborn babes, not choosing for themselves what to receive but purely by faith trusting the gifts of God to be what will preserve them steadfast unto everlasting life.

      This is the example that is recorded for us in the text appointed from Job.

I.      I Know that My Redeemer Lives

      Our text begins with Job crying out, saying, “For I know that my Redeemer lives!” These words are words of extreme confidence. These are words of absolute faith. These words kept Job from despairing even in the face of the most horrendous circumstances.

      Why did Job cry out with these words? What was the occasion that prompted poor Job to cry out, saying, “For I know that my Redeemer lives!”?

      Job cried out with these words because of the false witness of his three friends. Job cried out with these words because he was being falsely accused and persecuted by those claiming to be people of true faith. Job cried out with these words as his only defense against those who tried to convince Job that the Gospel was not sufficient for him.

      Job’s faith was as solid as the Rock upon whom his faith was founded. Job had lived his life trusting in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He taught this Gospel to his children, diligently catechizing them even after they had grown and had homes of their own. He proclaimed this Gospel to everyone that he knew, especially comforting them during difficult times. His faith was so evident to all who encountered him that the Lord decided to make an example of him. The Lord held Job up to Satan as the one man on earth who truly lived by faith. For our sake the Lord gave Satan power over Job to persecute Job in the most horrible ways. For our sake, so that we would see the faithfulness of the Lord our God, the Lord caused Job to suffer terribly.

      In a single day the Lord took everything away from Job. Job had been blessed with a wonderful life. He was a very wealthy man. He had been a wonderful steward of God’s blessings and God had blessed him greatly. Job had a wife and ten children, seven sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys and a very large household. In other words, he was a very successful farmer and businessman with many servants.

      In a single day the Lord took all of this away from Job. All of Job’s oxen and donkeys were stolen and his servants killed. All of Job’s sheep were burned up by fire from heaven, and the servants as well. All of his camels were stolen, too, and those servants were killed also. All of Job’s ten children were killed when the house in which they were feasting was made to collapse by a strong wind.

      Job’s response was to say:

     Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

      Then the Lord gave Satan permission to inflict Job with painful boils that covered every part of his body. So Job sat in a pile of ashes, trying to get a bit of relief, scraping the boils with a piece of broken pottery to try to relieve the pain of the pressure. His wife stopped believing and mocked Job for still trusting in the Lord. Yet Job still blessed the name of the Lord and trusted in Him.

      Then, finally, Job’s three friends came to comfort him. Did they offer to help him? Did they offer to take him into their homes? Did they offer to apply some salve to his sores? No! They sat with him for seven days and nights not saying a word. After this, Job finally cried out and cursed the day of his birth. Who wouldn’t? Job needed a word of the Gospel and all his friends did was to sit with him in mourning.

      Then they took turns telling Job how this was really his own fault. They told him that surely he must have done something to cause God to deal with him in this way. They told him that his faith was not strong enough. They told him that if he had not mishandled his affairs that God would not have taken these blessings away from him. They told him to get right with God and God’s blessings would return. Job continually begged them to go away and leave him alone. Job continually confessed his faith in God’s mercy, but they continued to accuse him.

      Now, after ten times of hearing their false witness and their false doctrine, Job tells them the basis of his faith and confidence. “I know that my Redeemer lives!”

      Wow! Job’s Redeemer is not present only when times are good. Job’s Redeemer is not present only when His blessings are obvious. Job’s Redeemer is not present only when his success in business could be seen by all and his family was healthy and happy and his wife still stood beside him in faith. No! Job’s Redeemer was present now! Job’s Redeemer was present in the midst of his suffering and loss. Job’s Redeemer was present when everything went wrong. Job did not know his God as the Redeemer who lives in good times, but as the Redeemer who lives! Even when his church failed him and stopped preaching the pure Gospel, telling him that he had made his choice and stood alone because of his own choices, even when his church told him that he needed to change the basis of his faith, Job trusted the Gospel. “I know that my Redeemer lives!”

II.      He Shall Stand at Last on the Earth

      “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth.”

      This is what Jesus meant when He told Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

      In the epistle to the Hebrews we read,

     Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Heb 11:1-3)

      Yet the Lord does show us, just as He did with the disciples. Yet showing them His body was not enough. After all, His body was gathered behind closed doors and they did not believe. Then in His body He showed Himself to them and they were afraid. It was not until He showed them that He was Jesus Christ and Him crucified that they took heart and believed and were glad.

      It is in the crucifixion that we see what we truly need for true faith to live in us. The proof that our Redeemer lives in not an empty cross or an empty tomb. Our proof that our Redeemer lives is in the proclaiming of the Lord’s death till He comes. Our proof is in the body given for us and the blood shed for us for the remission of sins. Our proof is in the consecration of the bread and wine in keeping with the words of the Redeemer who lives.

      Job knew that his Redeemer lives and that his Redeemer would stand upon the earth to accomplish the redemption in which Job trusted. Job’s faith did not live in counting his blessings. Job’s faith did not live in the joys of family closeness and unity. Job’s faith did not live in his own faithfulness and godly life. No! Job’s faith lived in his Redeemer, who lives and reigns to all eternity!

      Job boldly confessed confidence in his own bodily resurrection because of the promise that his Redeemer would stand upon the earth, in the flesh, to suffer and die on behalf of Job and all the sinful world, and in the promise that even in dying that his Redeemer lives.

      Jesus IS the life of the world. How could death possibly hold Him? How can death hold anyone who through faith lives in Jesus, gathered into the body of Jesus through the pure Gospel and Sacraments? Those who are baptized into the body of Jesus and regularly are fed the body and blood of Jesus know beyond any doubt, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth.”

III.      In My Flesh I Shall See God

     For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

      Truly, when we gather into the name of Jesus to hear His holy absolution pronounced over us and to commune with Him through the means of His body and blood, partaking of His life given with His flesh and blood in the Sacrament, how can we not know that He has the power to restore our flesh and bone and blood at the Last Day? If He can give us His body with the bread and His blood with the wine, can there be any doubt that He can give us our body and blood again from the dust to which we have returned?

      Job had no doubts. Because of this confidence, even his hypocrite friends could not steal away his confidence. Satan had done his worst. He used every dirty trick in his book and Job’s faith still endured. So Satan stopped working through his own means and worked through means of fellow believers.

      Truly this is Satan’s most powerful means of deception. For our brothers and sisters can gang up on us with their pietistic legalism and challenge us in ways that Satan cannot. Satan cannot pretend to be part of the body of Christ, but other Christians can. Satan cannot stand beside us and say that we have chosen to stand apart from the body of Christ, but other Christians can. This is what Job’s friends did to him. This is what continues to happen to the persecuted today.

      While Job continued to stand firmly in the pure Gospel, his friends accused him of choosing his own way. When they challenged him, Job declared that he was trusting in the same Redeemer that he had always trusted. His friends told him that he needed to remember them and to look at how they were prospering. They did not lose their children or animals or servants or friends. They did not have people speaking badly of them on account of their poor conditions. They were praised and had many good and loving people gathering with them.

      But Job held steadfastly to the promises of God in Christ. Job had no one with whom he could gather to partake of the Sacraments, but he still had the pure Word. He knew that his Redeemer lives and that at the Last Day his Redeemer would restore Job to life and health and happiness. So Job continued to cry out in the name of his living Redeemer.

      As we know, Job was not disappointed. We have God’s promise that no one who trusts in the Lord will be put to shame. No matter how many Christians turn away and mock us, no matter how many good people tell us a better way, no matter how much success and fortune other people receive, we know that our Redeemer lives and that in our flesh we shall see God.

      In the end, Job’s friends repented and Job prayed for them and they received forgiveness from the Lord. Truly Job’s faith was not in vain as he trusted only in the crucified and risen Redeemer.

Conclusion

      Job’s final words in our text are: “How my heart yearns within me!” Literally he says, “Completed my kidneys in my bosom.” While the Hebrew certainly allows for the translation of the yearning or failing of the kidneys, as depicting the pangs of longing for relief, the context is answered better by the direct translation of the primary meaning of completion of faith worked by God. After declaring absolute confidence that his Redeemer lives, the same Redeemer who Himself would suffer and die for sin and would raise Himself on the third day, after declaring this Job declares that God has completed Job’s kidneys in his bosom. Job’s confidence is complete and absolute. The kidneys are among the deepest organs. When we feel strong emotions, we feel them in this area. Such strong emotions cannot be overturned by superficial stimuli. Job is expressing that the persecution that Satan and his fellow Christians have worked against him cannot undo the complete confidence that God has worked within him through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen. Job declares against all that Satan, the world, his own flesh, and even his once trusted friends bring against him, “I know that my Redeemer lives! Completed my kidneys in my bosom!”

      Nothing could separate Job from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He knew that his Redeemer lives! He knew that his Redeemer lives even in face of the worst suffering and even in death. God still stands by that promise. Our Redeemer still lives for us. He is seated at the right hand of God, ruling the cosmos on our behalf and He also stands interceding for us before the judgment seat. He is both Judge and Intercessor. And He lives on our behalf! Truly our kidneys are completed in our bosoms as well. Surely we know this as we come to the table and receive the body and blood of our Redeemer who gives His life for us and to us. Come what may, we may declare with all confidence with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives!” In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

      The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.

The First Sunday after Easter - Quasimodogeniti

Hymns: 192, 200, 208, 210

The Introit      (1 Peter 2:2; Ps.81:8,1)

The Collect     

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who have celebrated the solemnities of the Lord’s resurrection may by the help of Thy grace, bring forth the fruits thereof in our life and conversation; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

The First Lesson      Job 19:25-27 (NKJV)

      For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

The Gradual     (1 Cor. 5:7, Matt.28:2)

The Epistle     1 John 5:4-10 (NKJV)

The Sentence for the Season     (1 Cor. 5:7)

P:/C: Hallelujah! Christ, our Passover: is sacrificed for us. Hallelujah!

The Holy Gospel       St. John 20:19-31 (NKJV)

Job 19:25-27 — “I Know that My Redeemer Lives”

Introduction

I.      I Know that My Redeemer Lives

II.      He Shall Stand at Last on the Earth

III.      In My Flesh I Shall See God

Conclusion