3. Longing For a Mediator

Job 16:18-22 & 19:25-27

Key verse:

“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.”

Job 19:25

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you actually craved it?  In today’s society that kind of response isn’t hard to imagine.  Food advertisements look so enticing that you may find yourself wishing that you could just reach into the television and take the food being featured for yourself.  Our economy is dependent upon us wanting and never being satisfied.

The example of the advertisement is a good one to explain how Job is feeling in these two passages today.  When we see an advertisement, we know that there are barriers between us and our heart’s desire. We can’t just reach out and grasp what we want even though we know that it exists somewhere.

Job is experiencing a similar frustration, only on a much deeper, heart level.  He believes that there is a friend in heaven.  He believes that an advocate exists somewhere.  He believes that his redeemer lives!   He understands enough about the character of God to know that He must have provided a solution somewhere.  Job, however, can't get to what he knows he needs.  He thinks that he will have to die before he can meet the object of his heart's desire. 

In Romans 1:19-20, Paul says, “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

We see this clearly in Job.  He knew enough about God through his history and what he had seen to know that God exists, that He demands justice and must be obeyed.  We see him here, longing for Messiah so badly that he is willing to die to find what we have.

We often find nonbelievers asking the question, “Well, what about the people who have never met Jesus?  Will they go to hell automatically?”  Here, in Job, and in what Paul has written, we see the answer.  Everyone knows at some level of their being that God exists.  The question is what are they doing with the level of knowledge that they have?  That is what they will be held responsible for.

Hymn:  “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”