²⁵ “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. ²⁶ Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; ²⁷ whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another ….” (Job 19:25–27a)

Job was a man of struggle and loss. His family and his health were taken away from him, and his wife alienated him with her desire for him to curse God and die. Everything was gone. How much worse could life get? The only way to look up would be to wish for death. Yet in the middle of it all, we find this verse of hope. A hope that transcends life.

Job held out no hope for any improvement here on earth, so his thoughts turned to the afterlife. This constituted remarkable faith because the general thinking about the afterlife was encompassed in the words of the psalmist: “For there is no mention of You in death; in Sheol who will give You thanks?” (Ps 6:5). Job seemed to think otherwise; he was confident that after death he would see the Lord, alive and standing over the earth presumably in victory.

Indeed, Job wanted victory over the miserable life he was experiencing. The phrase “[e]ven after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God” only hinted at resurrection but portrayed a remarkable faith. Though he wrestled severely with God’s silence, to the point of frustration and possibly even anger toward God, he never lost faith in God, the one who was inflicting such trials in his life.

Notably he identified God as “my Redeemer.” The word means one who delivers, avenges, brings into safety. That was what Job needed, and what he believed God to be. He needed deliverance from his super-overwhelming trials. If not in this life, which seemed to be certain, then in the next life, he was assured. But he didn’t just desire the experience of redemption; he desired the Redeemer. There is an old adage that might give us a contrast. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. But teach him to fish, and you feed him for a life time.” Concerning deliverance, we might say, “Give a man deliverance, and you have freed him from his difficulties. Give a man a deliverer, and you have united him with someone who can deliver him from all future difficulties.” Job wanted the Redeemer more than he wanted deliverance.

The psalmist framed his worship around this notion: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer” (Ps 19:14).

Lord, I have many struggles that are beyond me to resolve or conquer, but these only make me desire You more, my Redeemer, my Deliverer.