Job 19

23–24 Job is sure he has not long to live; he fears that the injustice he has endured will soon be forgotten. Therefore, he expresses the wish that his words might be recorded . . . forever. Job could never have imagined the way in which his wish would be fulfilled: his words have indeed been “recorded forever”—in Holy Scripture!

25–27 Having been abandoned by his family and falsely judged by his three so-called friends, Job had good reason to feel alone, rejected; no one was left to defend him, to argue his case. More than anything else, Job wanted justice; he wanted to be vindicated. He had lost all hope of being vindicated during his lifetime. But he had not lost hope that somehow, at a future time, there'd be Someone who would vindicate him, who would redeem⁴⁵ him. This was more than a hope, it was a conviction: “I know that my Redeemer⁴⁶ lives” (verse 25).

In Job's mind, his ultimate “Redeemer” was God Himself. Even in the midst of his despair and his anger against God, Job's faith still sustained him. Like many of us, Job wavered between belief and unbelief (see Mark 9:23–24); but here in these verses, his faith shines forth.

Job says that in the end—after his death—he will meet his Redeemer. “. . . after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (verse 26). Clearly Job has in mind here some kind of bodily resurrection after death; he anticipates seeing God with [his] own eyes (verse 27); he is confident that after his death he will live again to witness his own vindication and to see God as a friend once more ⁴⁷ (Matthew 5:8; 1 John 3:2).

Job's experience, as recorded in these verses, reflects a universal human need for a Redeemer. Our own righteousness, our own integrity, is never enough to vindicate or justify us in the sight of a holy God. In the end, all of us—like Job—must place our faith in a good and just God, and in His Son whom He sent to be our Redeemer.

28–29 Job addresses these final verses to his three friends, who continue to hound (persecute) him and accuse him of being the cause of his own trouble. By falsely judging Job, they are the ones doing wrong; they are the ones who should fear the judgment of God.