Job 19:23 - Meaning and Application

In all the conversations between Job and his friends, we do not find any lines more weighty than these. Who would have expected it? Here we see much of Christ and heaven. Job shows plainly that he was seeking a better country, that is, a heavenly one, as the patriarchs of that age did (Hebrews 11:14).

This is Job’s creed, or confession of faith. He had often spoken of his belief in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and of the basic truths of natural religion. But here we see that he was also taught revealed religion. The promise of the Seed and the promised inheritance was then only dimly seen, like the first light of dawn, yet Job believed in a living Redeemer. He also looked for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. That is surely what he means here.

He was comforting himself with the hope of these things, not with rescue from his present trouble or a return to earthly success, as some explain him. The phrases he uses, about the Redeemer standing at the latter day on the earth, and about his seeing God and seeing him for himself, are badly strained if they are made to mean only a temporary recovery. It is also plain that he had no expectation of going back to a prosperous life in this world. He had just said that his way was blocked (Job 19:8), and that his hope had been taken away like a tree (Job 19:10). Later, he said again that he had no comfort to expect in this life (Job 23:8, Job 23:9; Job 30:23). So we must understand him as speaking about the rescue of his soul from the power of the grave and his being received into glory, as in (Psalm 49:15).

We have reason to think Job was under a special work of the blessed Spirit here. The Spirit lifted him above himself, gave him light, and gave him words, even to his own surprise. Some have noticed that after this, Job does not speak with the same bitter, restless complaints about God and his providence that we saw earlier. This hope calmed his spirit and quieted the storm. Having anchored his soul within the veil, his mind was kept steady from that time on.

Notice, first, why Job makes this confession of faith here. He could not have chosen a better time. He was being accused, and this was his defense. His friends mocked him as a hypocrite and treated him like a wicked man. But he appeals to his creed, his faith, his hope, and his own conscience, which not only cleared him of ruling sin, but also comforted him with the hope of a blessed resurrection. These are not the words of a man possessed by evil. He appeals from this dispute at the lower court to the judgment of the higher court, even to the One to whom all judgment has been given, and who would set him right. Thinking of God’s day coming makes it a very small thing to be judged by people’s opinions (1 Corinthians 4:3, 1 Corinthians 4:4). How well we can bear unfair insults and accusations from men when we look for the glorious appearing of our Redeemer and his redeemed at the last day, and for a resurrection of names as well as bodies.

Second, Job was afflicted, and this confession was his comfort. When he was pressed beyond measure, it kept him from fainting. He believed that he would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, not in this world, for this world is really the land of the dying.

Third, notice the solemn opening words with which he introduces it (Job 19:23, Job 19:24). He suddenly breaks off his complaints and turns to speak of his comfort, and he does it not only for his own peace, but also for the good of others. He thought the people around him would pay little attention to what he said, and that is what happened. So he wished his words could be preserved for future generations. “Oh, that my words were now written,” he says, the words I am about to speak. It is as if he meant, “I know I have spoken many unwise words, and I wish they could be forgotten, because they have brought me no credit and done others no good. But I am now speaking carefully, and I want these words published to the whole world and kept for generations to come, as a lasting memorial. Let them be written clearly, printed so that anyone running past can read them, and not left on loose pages, but placed in a book. If even that book were lost, let these words be engraved like an inscription on a monument, with an iron pen in lead, or carved in stone. Let the engraver use all his skill to make this appeal last for posterity.”

What Job wished for in a passionate way, God in his grace did grant. His words are written. They are printed in God’s book, so that wherever that book is read, this will be told as a memorial concerning Job. He believed, therefore he spoke.

Third, we come to Job’s confession itself, the words he wanted written down (Job 19:25-27). Let us look at them closely.

He believes in the glory of the Redeemer and in his own share in him. “I know that my Redeemer lives,” he says, meaning that he is real and living, and that he is his life. “And that he shall stand at the last, or stand last, on the earth.” He shall be raised up, or he shall appear in the last days, that is, in the full time God appointed. The gospel age is called the last time because it is the final covenant way God gives. So these words point to his coming in the flesh. Or they may point to his crucifixion, if they mean that he shall be lifted up from the earth. Or they may point to his resurrection, if they mean that he shall be raised from the earth. Or, as we usually understand them, they speak of his final appearing over the earth at the end of time, when he will come in the clouds and every eye will see him, so near will he come to this earth. He shall stand on the dust, that is, over all his enemies, who will be made dust under his feet. He will tread on them and triumph over them.

Notice two things here. First, a Redeemer has been provided for fallen man, and Jesus Christ is that Redeemer. The word means a near kinsman, the one who, under the law of Moses, had the right to redeem a mortgaged property (Leviticus 25:25). Our heavenly inheritance was mortgaged by sin. We ourselves are completely unable to buy it back. Christ is near to us, the nearest kinsman who is able to redeem. He has paid our debt, satisfied God’s justice for sin, and taken the mortgage away, giving the inheritance a new settlement. Our persons also needed a Redeemer. We were sold for sin and under sin. Our Lord Jesus has worked out redemption for us, proclaims redemption for us, and proclaims it to us, and so he is truly the Redeemer.

Second, he is a living Redeemer. As we are made by a living God, so we are saved by a living Redeemer, who is both almighty and eternal, and therefore able to save completely.

Scripture says of Christ that he lives forever (Hebrews 7:8; Revelation 1:18). We are dying, but he lives, and he has assured us that because he lives, we will live also (John 14:19). There are those who, by grace, have a real share in this Redeemer and can rightly call him theirs. When Job lost his wealth and his friends, he was still not separated from Christ, nor cut off from his bond to him: “Still, he is my Redeemer.” That nearest relative stayed with him when everyone else left, and Job took comfort in that.

Our share in the Redeemer is something that can be known, and when it is known, it can outweigh all our sorrows. “I know,” Job says, with clear confidence, “that my Redeemer lives.” His friends had often accused him of empty talk or of not knowing enough, but a person knows enough, and knows what matters most, if he knows Christ as his Redeemer. There will also be a latter day, the last day, when time itself will end (Revelation 10:6). That is a day we should remember every day. At that time, our Redeemer will stand on the earth, or over it, to call the dead from their graves and bring them into a settled, unchangeable state, because all judgment has been given to him. He will stand at last on the dust that this world will become when it is burned up.

Job also believes in the happiness of the redeemed, and in his own right to that happiness. At Christ’s second coming, believers will be raised in glory and made perfectly blessed in the full sight and enjoyment of God, and Job believes this for himself. He expects his body to decay in the grave, and he speaks of it calmly and with holy peace. Though after my skin, which has already worn away and is nearly gone, they destroy this body, he says, though the grave and the worms destroy this skeleton, this weak frame, this body that I can point to and feel, I still expect it will soon be food for worms. Christ’s body did not see corruption, but ours must. Job mentions this so that the glory of the resurrection he hoped for would stand out more clearly.

It is good for us to think often, not only of our bodies’ coming death, but also of their decay and dissolution in the grave. Yet that should not weaken our hope of resurrection, because the same power that first made man’s body from ordinary dust can raise it again from its own dust. This body, which we now care for so much and provide for so carefully, will soon be destroyed. Even my inner parts will be consumed within me, Job says, meaning the deepest parts of the body, which may rot first.

Job comforts himself with the hope of happiness beyond death and the grave. After I awake, the margin says, though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh I shall see God. Soul and body will come together again. The body that must be destroyed in the grave will be raised again as a glorious body: in my flesh I shall see God. The separated soul has spiritual eyes with which it sees God, but Job speaks of seeing him with the eyes of flesh, in my flesh, with my own eyes. The same body that died will rise again, a real body, but a glorified one, fit for the work and joys of that world, and therefore a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44). We should therefore honor God with our bodies, because such glory is intended for them.

Job and God will also come together again. In my flesh I shall see God means that he will see the glorified Redeemer, who is God. Some read it as, I shall see God in my flesh, meaning the Son of God clothed with a body visible even to human eyes. Though the body in the grave seems low and miserable, it will be honored and made happy in the sight of God. Job now mourned that he could not find God (Job 23:8-9), but he hoped to see him soon and never lose sight of him again. That sight will be even sweeter after the present darkness and distance.

This is the blessedness of the blessed, they shall see God, see him as he is, and see him face to face, not through a dim window any longer. Job takes delight in expanding this hope: whom I shall see for myself, that is, see and enjoy, see for my own deep comfort and satisfaction. I shall see him as mine, with a grasping, personal sight (Revelation 21:3). God himself will be with them and be their God. They will be like him, for they shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). My eyes shall behold him, and not another means, first, he himself will be seen, not a figure or a shadow of him, but he in person. Glorified saints are fully sure they are not being deceived, no trick of the senses. Second, I myself, and not another in my place, shall see him. Though my flesh and body are consumed, I will not need someone to stand in for me. I will see him with my own eyes. This was Job’s hope and his earnest desire, and some think that is the meaning of the last words: My heart faints in my bosom, because all my desires are gathered into this one hope. This will crown them all. Give me this, and I need nothing more. It is enough.

Job then applies this truth to his friends. His belief brought comfort to himself, but warning and fear to those who opposed him. It was a warning to them not to keep treating him harshly. He had corrected them for what they said, and now he tells them what they should say if they want to bring themselves and each other to a better spirit. Why do we persecute him this way? Why do we grieve and upset him by condemning him, since the root of the matter is found in him? Let this guide us in two ways.

First, in our care for ourselves. We must all make sure that the root of the matter is in us. A living, active, ruling principle of grace in the heart is the root of the matter, as necessary to religion as the root is to a tree, because the tree depends on it for both strength and fruit. Love to God and our neighbor, faith in Christ, and hatred of sin, these are the root of the matter. Other things are like leaves beside them. Serious godliness is the one thing needed.

Second, in the way we treat our brothers and sisters. We should believe that many have the root of the matter in them, even if they do not agree with us in everything, and even if they have foolishness, weakness, and mistakes. It is dangerous to persecute such people.

Woe to anyone who harms one of these little ones. God will take offense at it and will avenge it. Job and his friends disagreed about some points in the way God governs the world, but they agreed on the main truth, that there is another world after this one. So they should not have attacked each other over those differences.

This was also a warning to them. Christ’s second coming will be very frightening for those found beating their fellow servants (Matthew 24:49). So, as verse 29 says, “Be afraid of the sword,” that is, the sharp judgment of God, which turns every way. Fear lest you bring that judgment on yourselves. Good people need the terrors of the Almighty to keep them from sin, especially from judging their brothers and sisters too quickly (Matthew 7:1; James 3:1).

Those who are sharp, angry, critical, or malicious toward other believers should know more than one thing. Their anger, whatever excuse it gives, does not produce what is right before God. They may also expect to suffer for it in this life. It often leads to crimes that bring the civil sword, that is, punishment from the magistrate. God himself often punishes such behavior, and those who show no mercy will find no mercy.

And if they do not repent, this is a warning of something worse to come. From this you can know that there is a judgment, not only God’s present rule over the world, but also a future judgment, where harsh words must be answered for.