In the Old Testament, one man stands out as having suffered a lot - Job. In one day, all of Job's children died, he lost his livelihood of flocks and herds, his house, and all his wealth. Shortly after that, he lost his physical health so that he had nothing left except a distraught wife who told him to "curse God and die." It is shocking in its severity.
What can sustain a man through this kind of unrelenting suffering? What can take you and I through very difficult times of suffering?
We get the answer to those questions when we come to Job 19:
“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:25-27
Job was focused on His Redeemer, and so Job says the following things:
My Redeemer lives (Job 19:25).
My Redeemer is God (Job 19:26).
My heart yearns to see God (Job 19:27).
A “redeemer” is one who gains or regains possession of something in exchange for payment. Job knew He had a Redeemer, Someone who would purchase and regain him through a great payment. Perhaps, Job supernaturally understood that the payment to redeem him was connected with the suffering of the coming Messiah, as foretold in Genesis 3:15.
And yet, Job knew this Redeemer lives. So Job knew there would be a redemption price paid, and there would be a living Redeemer. Job saw in a concealed form, the gospel of Jesus Christ: God, His Redeemer, would pay the price for Job’s redemption, and then He would live forevermore.
Job derived great comfort during his suffering by focusing on His Redeemer, looking to Jesus. Job believed that he would see His Redeemer (Jesus) in the end, and this made Job's heart yearn to be with Him.
Dear friend, what is it that will enable you to endure great suffering and find real comfort in the midst of it? Look to Jesus, who, at the price of His own life, bought you back for God. “And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
And not only did He purchase you back (redeem you) from sin through His death on the cross, He rose from the dead on the third day. Your Redeemer lives! Let that stoke a fire in your heart, causing you to yearn for the day you will see His face. One day soon, you will experience an embrace by the God with pierced hands.