"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth."

What a stirring confession of faith. It excites the deepest places in my spirit every time I read it or hear it sung in Handel's Messiah.  

In spite of all that happened to him, Job's confidence in God remained unshakable. And that confidence was not based on or centered around the things of this world, but that "at the latter day," when everything else passed away, that in a body glorified, he would see God with his own eyes. It was not for his lost wealth, or his children, or his health that Job longed, but to see God. In the midst of all his suffering, Job still looked to the future! What a slap in the face of satan! It makes me want to shout!

How rich Job's understanding was. A man of the second millennium BC who didn't even have the Pentateuch to meditate upon, yet he knew beyond a doubt that Yahweh was alive and would continue to live forever, that He would one day come to earth, and that there would be a resurrection of the dead. Those are very New Testament concepts.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matt. 5:8); "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (I Cor. 13:12); "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2); "Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed" (I Cor. 15:51-52); "For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever" (I Thes. 4:16-17); "Then I looked and there before me was the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion" (Rev. 14:1a). Hallelujah! Praise the Lord forevermore!

Heavenly Father, please grant me the confidence, faith, and sight of Job. Help me to watch and listen for You always. "For I know that [You] live, and that in the end [You] will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see [You]; I myself will see [You] with my own eyes--I and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" Amen.