My Redeemer Lives
Five years ago today, our church gathered to mourn the passing of Sam McKenzie. In my journal, I recalled that, when we came to Des Moines in 2002, Sam “was not yet 5. He had just turned 18 when he passed. Barely more than a boy.” In my message to the congregation that day, I observed that I was supposed to start a message with something provocative to get their attention, but the best I could muster was, “This sucks.” Indeed, Sam’s parents weren’t supposed to outlive their son, his grandmother wasn’t supposed to attend his funeral. His sister, I remarked, probably wanted on occasion to outlive her brother, but not really. And high school students should never have to say goodbye to a friend.
The sad truth is that unspeakable bad things do happen in this world. In their wake, we are left with sorrow, longing, loneliness, anger, and some of the most haunting questions mankind can contemplate: what if…? how…? why…?
Questions for which we may never know the answer this side of glory.
In that sense, we find ourselves in the shoes of the Bible’s Job. In a single day, Job’s ten kids and servants were all killed, and everything he owned was stolen. The next day, he was stricken with festering boils and excruciating, unrelenting pain. Moreover, while his wife was still around, she blamed Job and wished him dead rather than draw near so that they could comfort and console each other. And while the reader gets to peak behind the curtain and hear God grant Satan permission to test the legitimacy of Job’s faith – we know that Job’s calamity was Satan’s fault – Job never had that advantage. As a result, he dealt with all of the emotions and asked all of the questions. Is God really holy? Just? Infallible? What if…? How…? Why…? In fact, Job never knew the answers to his questions
Yet, even in the midst of his uncertainty, there was one thing that Job did know. In Job 19:25, almost exactly between the start of Job’s ordeal and the moment God finally responded to him, our hero pronounced, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.” That is, even as he passed through the worst situation conceivable, Job remained confident that God was alive, knew what he was doing, and was not responsible for the tragedy that befell him. Neither did this tragedy dethrone God or derail his plan.
More than that, Job was confident that, even in that moment, God was working to bring good out of the unspeakably bad.
God is still working to bring good out of the unspeakably bad. I know because I have seen it. For example, before Sam died, he chose to become an organ donor. Sam was one of only 2% of people who met the qualifications to donate their major organs such as heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver, and today, five people have celebrated five more years of birthdays, holidays, and family reunions because God brings good out of the unspeakably bad.
God is still working to bring good out of the unspeakably bad.
Of course, that does not fix the pain and brokenness that we experience as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death. No, when the unspeakably bad strikes, it disrupts our sense of security because the things we assumed were rock solid – things like health, vitality, youth, and even life itself – are demonstrated to be shifting at best, and we find ourselves stuck in a quagmire of emotions, sinking under the load of unanswerable questions.
This is why Job 19:25 shines so brightly as the world around us burns and we find ourselves engulfed in pain, uncertainty, and doubt. Job would never know the answers to his questions, but he knew that he knew that he knew that his Redeemer is alive; that he – that is, God – has never needed a backup plan; and that even if the whole world were reduced to dust and ash, he could and would still bring good out of it.
A similar confidence can be found in St. Paul’s words in Romans 5:3-5. there, the apostle wrote, “We also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Paul could boast even in the worst situations because he knew that he knew that he knew that his hope was rock solid. How was he so confident? Because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Of course, that raises the question of how we, too, can have such confidence. If we back up to Romans 5:1-2, we find the answer: “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”
Since we have been justified by faith… Paul was keenly aware of his own guilt and inadequacy. Yet, when he resolved to follow Jesus, Jesus’ declared him innocent and adequate. Jesus, the only Person to ever live a truly righteous life, loaned Paul his own righteousness, and he will do the same for us if we will make the same resolution.
We have peace with God… As soon as we have placed our faith in and resolved to follow Jesus, he becomes our living Redeemer, too. From that moment, he will not stop working to bring something good out of the bad in our lives, too.
We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace… Once we resolve to follow Jesus and he becomes our Redeemer, we can be assured of this: even the worst thing that can happen on this earth – our death – will only usher us into an eternity of basking in the unfading light of God’s glory.
So will you follow Jesus? Will you pattern your life after his character and commands? Will you receive his grace so that you can have peace with God and claim him as your Redeemer? Will you hope not for the things of this life but for the glory of God in the next?
Because when all the world is falling down as dust and ash around us, that may be the only thing we can know for sure.