Year 8, Day 113: Job 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This is considered one of the most powerful chapters in the book of Job.  Naturally, the chapters at the end of Job, where we hear from God, are also powerful chapters.  Aside from the chapters where God speaks, this is a great voice from a hurting man.

What makes this chapter great can be summed up in one line.  It is a line that most Bibles use as a header for this chapter.  Job 19:25 says, “I know that my redeemer lives and at the last He will stand upon the earth.”  I love that line because of the pattern of theology that it represents.

This verse is focused upon God.  It is focused upon His majesty, His omnipresence, and His omnipotence.  So many people quote verses because they want to apply God’s promise to them; they want to pick a verse that is good for them.  This verse is about lifting up God as the central figure in our life and in the universe.

It is in this thought that we find true religion.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am happy to think about verses that promise eternal life with God.  I love thinking about a time when God will make me perfect and wash away my sins permanently.  But true religion realizes that such things are secondary effects to the greater truth of putting God central in one’s life.  It is God who is the focus.  It is God who is righteous.

That’s what I love about this quote.  Job acknowledges that the only way he can know salvation is by casting aside all the awful things that have happened to him and focus on the fact that in the end, it is God who will stand upon the earth.  It is God’s character that surpasses everything. All that I look forward to happening to me is a secondary effect coming out of God’s character.

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