Job is a broken man. His heart is filled with nothing but sadness. He has no family, no property, no wealth, failing health, and no hope in his earthly life. All has been taken from him, indeed, he has nothing left to live for. Job feels death would be a welcome comfort—an end to his suffering.
We know suffering all too well. Our hearts ache in the midst of the death and adversity that surrounds us. Not only are we pained by the suffering of others, but it is made even more painful when we realize our own sin and wickedness. After all, if Job was as good a man as the first chapter says, and yet had to suffer these horrific tragedies, why should I, who most assuredly is not blameless and upright and does not always fear God and turn away from evil deserve anything better?
This is precisely where Satan desires us to be. Just as he preys on the idolatry of the rich and mighty, so does he prey on the lonely, destitute, and depressed. He attacks us with every falsehood that Job and his friends tell themselves in this book. "Why should I trust a God who allows these things to happen? Is my wickedness too much for God? Why do good things happen to ungodly people?". As Job laments in his opening speech (ch. 3), sometimes we are tempted to wish we hadn't ever been born at all, for isn't being born into a sinful world bad and therefore death good?
By no means! These lies are instruments of evil, designed to tear us away from the one true God. And Job, in the midst of his suffering, stumbles without realizing it upon the answer to all of his questions "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 18:23-27).
This is the message of the Gospel. For all the sin, suffering, and destruction in the world, my Redeemer lives. For all of my pathetic attempts at self-righteousness, and all my lamentations of self-despair, my Redeemer lives. Though I "walk in the valley in the shadow of death", my Redeemer lives. I cannot obtain anything by my own merit; by my own works I deserve affliction many times that of Job. And yet, I still have faith, for I have been redeemed! No more do I fear death; no more can the devil have any power over me; no more must I look to my broken self as the only way out! By grace, I have been saved by a God who is stronger than every one of these.
Job was counted by Ezekiel as among Noah and Daniel in his faithfulness (Ezk 14:14). Despite Job's confusion and self-righteousness, another example of such steadfastness towards God is found in the scriptures perhaps only in the person of Christ himself. However, even someone as outwardly righteous as Job is still in desperate need of the words God speaks to him in the closing chapters. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, yet God's chosen people are made righteous by faith, which is freely given by God through the death and resurrection of His Son, the living Redeemer we all most desperately need. As we so joyously sing on Easter:
I know that my Redeemer lives;
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my everliving head
He lives to grant me rich supply;
He lives to guide me with His eye;
He lives to comfort me when faint;
He lives to hear my soul's complaint.
He lives to silence all my fears;
He lives to wipe away my tears;
He lives to calm my troubled heart;
He lives all blessings to impart.
He lives and grant me daily breath;
He lives, and I shall conquer death;
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.
He lives, all glory to His name!
He lives, my Jesus, still the same;
Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives:
I know that my Redeemer lives! (LSB 461)
As you read the final chapters of Job this week, keep ever present in your mind the reality of the resurrection. When God speaks to Job, notice that he is revealing not only his perfect power and majesty, in comparison to which we are mere dust and ashes, but also that He uses His power to continually care for his creation. And it is this same God whose power overcame death, conquered the devil, and brings us into to everlasting life.