402: Ethan Hardy - Job - My Redeemer Lives

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:03

   Welcome to Good Christophian Talks. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this. Week’s talk.

2. 0:33

   Hello all and welcome back. This is brother Benji. This week’s talk will be a Bible class given by Brother Ethan Hardy at the Mumbles Ecclesia Mumbles, Swansea, United Kingdom on the 9th of October 2025 to the theme Job, My Redeemer Lives. Brother Ethan gives a thorough and fair exposition of the life and record of Job, particularly as it relates to Job’s famous cry for his Redeemer.

3. 1:11

   I loved how meaning was drawn from the text and the context to supply understanding and interpretation. There is so much power and encouragement to be found in Job’s story. This talk may challenge you and hence I would commend you to search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so as did the Bereans.

4. 1:38

   I pray this talk will uplift and inspire you in revealing some of the wondrous things of His word. With that said, I’ll give you over to our brother Ethan for his class job. My Redeemer lives. Oh, good evening everyone. I bring with me love of your brethren and sisters from Mumbles. It’s lovely to be back here again.

5. 2:05

   So I think this is my fifth talk on the Book of Job this year, which is much to the the joy of my wife. But this time it’s not my fault because Brother Robin Aston asked me to do this tonight. So I get an excuse there. But tonight we’ll be looking at a very specific and perhaps slightly controversial question in the sense that there’s lots of different opinions on this. But what does Job mean in Job chapter 19 and verse 25 to 27 when he says, for I know my Redeemer lives and as the last he will stand upon the earth.

6. 2:44

   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. My heart faints within me and I I want to sort of carefully and cautiously go through the the relevant passages to help us understand why Job is saying this and what he means by it within the context of his speeches.

7. 3:08

   And this might not be what you initially think, but before we read the book of Job, I think it’s important to look at how we read it. The lens through which you look at the book of Job can influence your overall interpretation of it. And I want to highlight a number of features and tools which help us better read and understand the book. And the importance of these things will become evident as we go through the book tonight.

8. 3:44

   So the first thing we need to recognise is that the book of Job, the Hebrew is very challenging to translate. And this becomes quite evident when you compare different translations. There’s there’s quite a few differences and variations between them and the reason for this is that the Hebrew in the book of Job is quite unique.

9. 4:06

   There’s 170 words in the book of Job which are not found anywhere else in the Bible, and 119 of those words are only used once in the book of Job. But not only that, but the speeches are primarily written in Hebrew poetry. And this means that context doesn’t always help you to understand what these words mean because they’re used in idioms or imagery and things like that. And sometimes you get shortened forms of phrases or the languages used in creative ways.

10. 4:34

    And all these things make the translation of Job quite difficult. And while the King James is generally quite a good translation for the Book of Job, it can be relatively poor in places. And I’m not just going to assert that. I’ll just give a couple of examples just to to to prove this to you.

11. 4:53

    So first one turn with me to Job and chapter 21. So in the King James version, as you’ll see on the screen, the King James says the wicked are as stubble before the wind and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. Well, in a modern version like the NET, it asks how often are the wicked like straw before the wicked and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind. And the the focus is slightly different here in the King James, it’s an assertion, whereas in the NEC it’s a question, a rhetorical question.

12. 5:27

    And the reason why the NET makes sense is it seems to be a continuation of the how often questions from verse 17, because if you look in verses 7 to 30, Jehovah has just asserted that the wicked are not destroyed. They live long and prosperous lives. They’re not like chaff that is swept away by the whirlwind. The second example, Job 37 and verse 22, the King James says fair weather comes out of the north with God is terrible majesty.

13. 5:53

    Well, in an ESV or another modern version, out of the north comes golden splendor. God is clothed with awesome majesty, and the reason why the King James has translated that as fair weather is the word is literally golden splendor. And they’ve sort of interpreted it as like golden light coming out of the north. That’s the sun coming out, therefore fair weather. But that’s not the point of what’s being said there, because when you compare it to Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 4, it’s a picture of God’s glory coming out of the north in the shining light.

14. 6:23

    So it’s not quite accurate. They’ve been interpretive there instead of retaining the Hebrew, and therefore I think it’s generally better to use the NET or the ESP or something like that when you read the Book of Job. But it’s also helpful to look at the Hebrew and then you’ll get a deeper understanding of the text and why things are what they are. So when reading the Book of Job, because it is challenging, there is a tendency to accidentally read in an external context from somewhere else.

15. 6:58

    So what do I mean by this? You sort of accidentally ignore the immediate context of what’s being said in the book of Job because that’s unfamiliar and challenging, and shift the focus to more familiar, similar language used elsewhere in the New Testament, which doesn’t necessarily have the same context as what’s being said. So here’s an example of what I mean. Turn with me to Job 23, just a few pages along. Joe says here, but he knows the way that I take, and when he has tried me I shall come out as gold. Well, this is often compared to first Peter, which says in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And now therefore the two passages compared take in the context of first Peter, and it’s assumed that Job is saying the same thing, that his faith is being tested like gold. But if you look at Job chapter 23 and verses three to seven, what Job literally wants to do is to go to trial with God. He wants to approach God’s seat and then in verse 10 he says that God knows his ways and then he states that he shall be tried like gold.

16. 8:23

    And then he follows this by saying he supports this argument that he shall come out as gold because he has kept God’s ways, not departed from what he is from God’s ways. And what Joe is actually arguing here is that a literal trial with God will show that he is already gold or he is righteous.

17. 8:44

    That’s what he’s saying there. He’s not saying like Peter is that his faith is being tested like God, even if that is what God is doing with Joe. He’s arguing that a literal trial or court case with God will prove that he is righteous. And so I think this example sort of illustrates that the concern that sometimes we can overly focus on what it says in the New Testament and sort of ignore what the context of the thing that is being actually said is.

18. 9:09

    So we need to focus on the immediate context first and then look to these external passages, which may help us to understand. And finally, I sort of want to look at our overall interpretive lens on how we we look at the man job. So in Christadelphian circles, I think the most common way that we read the book of Job is through a basic reading of the prologue and the echo log.

19. 9:35

    So when you do this, you get a very simple conclusion that that comes about that Job was a righteous man commended by God at the start and the end of the book. So Job one verse one Job is called perfect and upright. And then at the end of the book, Job 42 verse seven, Job is described as speaking that which is right about God.

20. 9:56

    And then you get other passages in the New Testament and the old like Ezekiel 14 verse 14. Job is a righteous man who saved others and James 5 where Job is the example of endurance. And then we sort of stop there. We we don’t need to read that difficult bit in the middle with all that poetry and complicated words.

21. 10:14

    That’s kind of all we need to know. Job is this righteous man who endures his suffering, says the right things about God and the friends are wrong. And we sort of leave it there feeling like we get the gist of this, the story of Job. And when I first studied the book of Job, I kind of did this. But is this the the correct approach? Should we use the prologue and the epilogue in this way? Does it fit that long, difficult bit in the middle that they’re so easy to gloss over?

22. 10:44

    But in a 1950s article in the Christadelphian Magazine, Brother Fred Pearce has this to say about primarily the epilogue. He says it’s this statement in Job 42, verse 7, which we just looked at, which seems to have led many earnest students of the but to reject the conception of Job as in some measure a rebel. Yet a little consideration will show that Job cannot have spoken the thing which is right in every matter, for God Himself condemns His attitude.

23. 11:17

    See that the following passages quoted in Job 38, verse 240, verse 2 and verse 8. And so the book of Job is not nearly so simple as that. Job is right and the friends are wrong. It’s a bit more complicated and nuanced than that when you get into the speeches. And so we we need to spend the time to read the difficult bit in the middle, which is so easy to ignore and not assume what it should say based on the prologue and epilogue because it might not be quite what we think.

24. 11:46

    And to illustrate the issue with using the prologue and the epilogue, let’s look at those verses that Brother Fred Pierce quoted. Turn with me to Joe chapter 38 and verse 2. It’s on the screen, so it doesn’t matter too much. But God says this to Joe. Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge.

25. 12:09

    Here God rebukes Joe for speaking without knowledge, which is a far cry from what we read in Job 42 verse 7, where Job is described as speaking what is right about God. Now I know there are some who suggest this is directed primarily at a like you, but I don’t think so because if you come with me to Job 38 and verse four that and there’s a couple more verses that the point of the speech is to demonstrate to Job that he has spoken without knowledge.

26. 12:39

    So Job 38, verse 4, where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? Tell me if you have understanding verse 18, have you comprehended the expense of the earth? Declare if you know all this verse 21 you know, for you were born then and the number of your days were great. And then verse 33, do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or can you establish their rule on the earth? So the point of the speech is to demonstrate to Joe that he has spoken without knowledge.

27. 13:10

    And so also Job in Job chapter 42 and verse three, Job takes this speech to be directed at himself. He repeats the question in 42 verse 3 and then says, therefore I have altered what that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. So Job here is acknowledging that he spoke without knowledge.

28. 13:34

    So the second quotation that Brother Fred Pearce mentioned was Job chapter 40 verse 2 and verse 8. So here God says to Joe, shall a fault Finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. And then Joe 40 verse 8, will you put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be right? So God here is rebuking Joe for going too far and defending his own righteousness to the point where he seems almost willing to condemn God.

29. 14:07

    And this is the opposite to what you would expect from a basic reading of the prologue and net log. It appears as though Job is almost tripped up on the way at some point. And it’s only after God responds to, after Job responds to God’s questions and his speeches, that Job’s commendation comes along, and after Job’s repentance. And this tells us that Job’s commendation for his answer to God, or his commendation is for his answer to God. Sorry.

30. 14:38

    So you get this sort of progression that God states that Jehovah has spoken without knowledge, and then Jehovah acknowledges that he has spoken without knowledge, and now God states that he has spoken what is right about him.

31. 14:53

    So this indicates that the prologue, and particularly the epilogue, are not absolute judgements upon the truth of every word of each speaker. To do so, I think oversimplifies the dialogues in the middle and may make us miss the point of what they’re saying. And to clarify, I’m not saying that the prologue and epilogue are not relevant to your understanding of the book of Job, because they are.

32. 15:18

    I’m just pointing out that just because Job is described as perfect and uprightable, speaking right about God at the beginning and the end, it doesn’t tell you what happens in the middle. And just as David was described as a man after God’s own heart yet fell into sin, Joe can do the same yet still be described as righteous at the end.

33. 15:38

    So I’d suggest Job’s journey is a bit like a jade curve where he starts off as a righteous man. He sinks into a very dark place because of his suffering, but through his experience and divine intervention, he ends up in a much better place, recognizing God’s plan and that God can do all things and and trusted in God’s mercy and compassion. And I think this is the the overall framework which we need to read the book of Job through to take each speech at a time and not make an oversimplified, broad brush view of the narrative.

34. 16:09

    So now that we’ve gone through how we read the book of Job, let’s get into the speeches, turn with me to Joe chapter 5 and I want to start here and just briefly go through the the flow of the argument. So we understand why Joe says for I know my Redeemer lives. So Joe chapter 5 or 4.

35. 16:32

    Actually, we’ll start there. Joe chapter 4 and verse 7 and 8 which is alive as Joe’s first phrase where he expounds his own framework of how he understands God’s justice. So he says, remember who that was innocent ever perished, and where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

36. 16:55

    So effectively life as is arguing here, that it’s only the wicked that suffer trouble, and therefore Job is in trouble because he must be wicked. And therefore he tells him to set his case before God as he says. Job 5 verse 8 But As for me, I would seek God unto God. I would set forth my case or my cause.

37. 17:15

    Well in the midst of Eliphaz’s speech, he recounts this vision that he’s had from God. And the voice in the vision declares this can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker, or in your King James more just than God? The question enunciated here sort of becomes the main theme which we see through the book of Job, how the characters seem to wrestle with this question.

38. 17:44

    How do we understand the justice of God? How can man be just before God? And therefore I think the book of Job is an exploration of God’s justice from the perspective of men that don’t fully understand God until God at the end reveals himself to them. So turn with me to Job chapter 8.

39. 18:06

    We’ll we’ll briefly cover this and then we’ll get to Job’s speeches. Bildad develops a life as his argument further in his speech. And then in verse 3 to 6, Bildad says this, Does God pervert justice or does the Almighty pervert what is right? If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. But if you will seek God, then plead to the Almighty for mercy. And if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. And so once again, Bill Dad reaffirms this idea of God’s justice, that the simple framework of God doesn’t pervert justice, and therefore he only punishes the wicked and prospers the righteous.

40. 18:49

    So Joe Beast repent, learn from his children as an example, and be righteous again, and then there will be restored to prosperity. Fairly fairly simple solution, but the Friends oversimplified understanding of God’s justice. I think it pushes Job in the other direction. It causes him to doubt God’s justice because he looks at the world around him and sees that God doesn’t abide by this framework.

41. 19:11

    There are wicked people who prosper and innocent people who suffer. But he doesn’t have an alternative answer yet. And so Joe begins this tumultuous journey of trying to understand God’s justice through apparent injustice. So to understand what Job is saying in chapter 19, we’ll we’ll go through Job’s earliest speeches from Job Chapter 9 to chapter 19.

42. 19:38

    Don’t worry we won’t be going into too much detail, but Job answers his friends arguments here and explains his predicament and what he wants to do.

43. 19:48

    So first of all Job answers Bill that who said that Job needed to return to righteousness and he answered Bill that saying this. But how can man be in the right before God if one wishes to contend with him? One could not answer him once in 1000 times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength and who has hardened himself against him and succeeded.

44. 20:10

    And so here Joe repeats in life as his question that we saw before, Can man be right before God? And he uses this to demonstrate that righteousness cannot result in prosperity because no one can be considered righteous before God, and God is far too powerful and far too wise to contend with. So he can’t even convince God that he’s righteous. And he develops this idea further. Come down to verse 15 to 17.

45. 20:34

    Though I am right, I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy for my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe he was listening to my voice. For he crushes me with a Tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. And then as he continues 20 to 21, though I am right, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. I am blameless.

46. 20:58

    I regard not myself, and I loathe my life. So despite being righteous, Joe feels that he can’t defend himself before God and God is is so powerful that he must appeal for mercy. Yet God is attacking him without cause. So even if he is right, he feels like God will make him look like a Sinner.

47. 21:16

    So he’s sort of stuck in this this place where he doesn’t have any hope of a solution. And so he concludes this, that man cannot be considered righteous. So it is all one. Therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, and he covers the faces of the judges.

48. 21:41

    If it is not he, then who is it? And so Joe here has recognised that the and experienced the fates of all men under the curse of Adam. Without the atoning work of God, no man can be considered righteous, because all men die. But Joe struggles with this realisation because I don’t think he sees a solution in this or God’s justice in this futile existence of man.

49. 22:08

    In his despair he’s gone so far as to say that God mocks or finds humour in the suffering of the innocent and he gives the world into the hand of the wicked and covers Judges eyes so wickedness can take place and justice can’t take place. And the implication here is that God is not acting justly.

50. 22:26

    Like the friends say that God doesn’t prosper the righteous and punish the wicked. It’s the opposite. And to strengthen this point, he says it’s only God who could be liable for this. If it is not he, then who is it? It couldn’t be anyone else. And because he thinks he cannot find justice with God, he laments his position, and says, If I say I will forget my complaint, if I will put off my sad face and be of good cheer, I become afraid of my suffering.

51. 22:57

    Because I know that you speaking to God, will not hold me innocent, I shall be condemned. Why then do I labour in vain? If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with Lye, you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will affore me. So again he thinks that God will condemn him no matter what. He cannot be counted righteous and therefore he wonders why he’s laboured after righteousness in the 1st place. And Job’s picture of trying to clean his hands makes sense in this context.

52. 23:27

    He’s like he’s trying to clean his hand and make himself look righteous, but God just makes him look like a Sinner and makes him dirty. And this makes him feel like he has no hope but he will be condemned. And then Job laments that there is nothing that he can do to defend his righteousness before God.

53. 23:45

    But he entertains the idea of going to trial before God, but expresses some a level of hopelessness in the solution. He says, for I am not a man, As for he is not a man, sorry as I am, that I might answer him that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both.

54. 24:05

    Let him take away his rod from me. Let him let his dread not terrify me. Then I would speak without fear, for I am not so in myself. So Job is has recognised amazingly the need for an arbiter for man to be considered righteous, that the for one to advocate on his behalf. But Job doesn’t think such A1 exists. And this is what I mean by the the book of Job exploring the justice of God without a knowledge of the atonement. Job explains the problems, but he doesn’t quite see how God will resolve them yet.

55. 24:41

    But unlike Joe, we know this will be ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. But interestingly, the arbiter or this mediator that Joe wants is different to the one that we find in Jesus. Joe wants an arbiter to stop God’s attacks so he can allow him to speak without fear and defend himself before God that he’s not guilty.

56. 25:01

    He wants an arbiter to allow him to defend his own righteousness. But Jesus shows us God’s righteousness, and through faith we can be countering manches. So following this in chapter 10, we won’t go into it. Job then articulates this case, which you’ll present to God, which is very similar to what we’ve seen before.

57. 25:20

    He expanded on his earlier complaints that God seems to be condemning him without reason and laments that his only hope is that he is going to die. So now that we’ve quickly gone through that, let’s go through Joe’s next feature in chapters, what goes from 12 to 14, But we’ll start in chapter 30.

58. 25:42

    Joe continues to develop this defence case, which he sort of brought up in Chapter 9, this time with a bit more confidence and clarity. He says this, why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand? Though he slay me, I will not wait yet. I will argue my ways to his face.

59. 26:02

    This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him. Keep listening to my words. Let my declaration be in your ears. Behold, I’ve prepared my case, and I know that I shall be in the right. Well, you’ll have noticed a slightly different rendering of verse 15 to your King James.

60. 26:23

    Well, this is because the Masoretic Text preserves 2 slightly different readings in its tradition. So in the Masoretic Text, there’s two traditions, the written tradition and the Red tradition. So the written tradition preserves the actual text, and then the red tradition is what the Mazarite scribes thought should be read out loud, often trying to correct perceived errors in the text or sometimes softening harsh language.

61. 26:50

    And in the actual text, the written tradition, it reads not. Hence I will not wait. As it says in the Young’s literal, the LSV or the RSV or some others render I have no hope interpreting that waiters as waiting in hope. So the ASV does this and the NRSV does this as well.

62. 27:11

    And then you get the second tradition, the red tradition, which reads him, which is what the King James and some other versions like the ESV follow. So I will wait or hope on him. Well, which is more likely? I’ll suggest that the first option, I will not wait is more likely primarily based on what Job says later. So Job in chapter 14 verse 19, it’s very same speech. He says that God destroys the hope of man, so he’s clearly not hoping in God.

63. 27:44

    And then in his final speech in chapter 13, verse 26, using the same word for waited or hoped, when I waited for light, darkness came. So he’s tried waiting and it’s not worked. So Job here, I think what he’s saying is he’s impatient to see God and argue his ways to his face. And the second reading from the the Red tradition is a softening because Job’s words seem quite harsh here. There’s another subtle difference as well. You’ve seen verse 16 where in the ESV and most of the translations it says this will be my salvation. Your King James will say he will be my salvation. This is because the the Hebrew is somewhat ambiguous because it can either mean he or they depending on what the context is.

64. 28:34

    But I think the the context suggests, as most modern translators agree, that the subject of Job’s salvation, this will be my salvation, is him arguing his ways to God’s face, not that God himself will be his salvation. And this is supported by the following statement that a godless man shall not come before him.

65. 28:53

    A A godless man couldn’t argue his ways before God, but Joe can because he’s righteous. His righteousness warrants an audience with God and therefore he thinks a defence of his ways will be his salvation. So Joe has prepared this case which he is ready to present before God and he knows he is righteous and wants to prove this to God.

66. 29:17

    And then Job opens this case with this series of three questions which he then elaborates on. So the first question in Job 13, verse 23, how many are my inequities in my sins? Make me known, make known to me my transgressions and my sin. And he says he asked this question because God writes bitter things against him and makes him inherit the iniquities of his youth.

67. 29:38

    Verse 24. Why do you hide your face and count me to an enemy? Why does Joe ask this? Verse 27 You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths and you set a limit to the sores of my feet. And so that’s why he thinks God is treating him as an enemy.

68. 29:52

    And then finally, will you frighten a a driven leaf or pursue dried chaff? Well, he asks this because he thinks that man is like a thing that wastes away a rotten thing that it’s moth eats and man is few of days and full of trouble. So so what’s the point in doing destroying something that that’s so frail without hope. But after he says this, Joe makes this this remarkable request contemplating a potential solution to his dilemma.

69. 30:22

    And he puts this argument together, as you can see in a chaistic form. And he contrasts the the hope of man to the hope of a tree. So he says in verse 7 to 9, For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it was sprout again, and the tender branch thereof will not cease, that the root thereof wax old, and the stock in the ground, yet the scent of water, at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth battles like a plant. And then this is contrasted to the hope of man in verse 11:50.

70. 30:53

    But man dieth and wasteth away, Amen. Give us up the ghost, and where is he? And then verse 12 So man lieth down and riseth not, so I treat as a hope to come back to life, whereas a man apparently doesn’t according to Joe Pip. But then he makes this key central point. He makes a remarkable request, Oh, that you would hide me in the grave and that you would keep me secret until thy wrath be passed.

71. 31:23

    And now what is the pointers me a set time and Remember Me. And then he asked this hopeful question in verse 14. If a man die, shall I live again all the days of my appointed time? Will I wait till my change come? Usual call, and I will answer thee. And now we’ll have desire again for the work of thine hands. Now that word for change, there is a very similar Hebrew word for the word for sprout again.

72. 31:53

    And So what Job is asking here is that Job that sorry that God will give him the hope of the trait that he will allow him to be kept in the grave and then raised at a later date once God’s wrath has passed and therefore God would desire the work of his hands again. So what Job is requesting here is the resurrection from the dead, that he thinks this is his solution to his problem, which is quite remarkable.

73. 32:20

    But I think this request reveals that Job doesn’t quite have that innate knowledge of the resurrection that we do as believers. In the same way, in earlier sections, Chapter 7, verse nine, Job says that those who go to the grave do not rise. And the fact that he’s had to derive this solution here suggests that the resurrection was outside of his his view at this point.

74. 32:44

    But he’s slowly beginning to understand how his problem can be resolved. But he’s he’s not quite there yet. However, despite recognising the need for resurrection, he doesn’t trust that God will grant this request. He says as the mountain falls and crumbles away, and as the rock is removed from his place, the waters wear away the stones and torrents wash away the soil from the earth. So you, speaking to God, destroy the hope of man. You prevail against him forever, and he passes. You change his countenance and send him away. So here Job says that God destroys his hope. He’s he’s not sure or doesn’t think that God will give him this hope of a tree and that his only hope is to die. So we come to the the penultimate speech before chapter 19 in chapter 16 and parts of 17, Joseph’s fifth speech, our final one for our context. Here he focuses in upon God’s attacks against him and describes them in graphic detail. He portrays this picture as you see at the start of God grabbing him by the neck and smashing him to pieces and then getting his arches to surround him and shoot him until his guts come out.

75. 34:05

    It’s quite a graphic scene and Joe mourns and cries out in pain and he thinks he doesn’t diverse this because he’s done nothing wrong. As you read in the verse 17, my face is red with weeping and on my eye it says deep darkness, though there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.

76. 34:24

    He doesn’t see any reason for these attacks against him. And so because of this, he makes another really fascinating plea. So he says in verse 18 of chapter 16, O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place, which is an obvious allusion to the murder of Abel by Cain in Genesis 4, where the earth cried out because of his blood.

77. 34:56

    And Job wants the same thing to happen to him because of the injustice done to him. He wants the earth to cry out in remembrance of him so that he is remembered. And then he carries on even now. Behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high, my friends, or my intercessors, or scorners. My eye pours out tears to God, that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor. For when a few years have come, I shall go away, from which I shall not return.

78. 35:27

    So what does Job mean by this? Who is this witness in heaven that Job is asking for? Well, I think this witness is God, and God is being contrasted to the friends. So that word which I’ve got on the screen, intercessors or scorners, it’s the word Mel, let’s say, which literally means to make mouths. And it can either mean to scorn or it can also mean to intercede for someone.

79. 35:50

    So Job 33 is used in the intercede type, whereas in Psalm 119 it’s used in the term like, like a scorn. And what Job is doing here, he’s saying his friends are like intercessory scorners. So they’re interceding for him. But actually scorning him in the process. Whereas he he wants God to be his witness because God knows his innocence and that there is no arbiter between him and God.

80. 36:17

    So Job Chapter 9 verse 33 as we saw and Job chapter 10 verse 7, God knows that I am not guilty. So Job is calling God to be a witness in his case for his righteousness, to argue Job’s case with himself. And this is further supported. Come with me to Job chapter 17 and verse 3 where Job says I’m going to read from the NET, set my pledge beside you.

81. 36:43

    Who else will put up security, which is literally in your King James? Who else will strike hands with me? It’s just an idiom that means to be a guarantor for someone. We see this in the Proverbs, Proverbs 6 verse one, for example. And so it is only God who can redeem him because there is no one who could be his guarantor. There is no arbiter.

82. 37:04

    So it’s only God who can redeem him. And so now that we have spent the time considering that, the context and the flow of arguments, this brings us to Job chapter 19 to to summarize Job’s argument so far. We’ll now have our reading if that’s right. Job Chapter 19 And Job answered and said, How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

83. 37:36

    These 10 times have you reproached me. You’re not ashamed that you make yourself strange to me, and be it indeed that I have heard my never remaineth with myself. If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach, know now that God hath overthrown me, and have compassed me with His net.

84. 38:05

    Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not hurt. I cry aloud, but there is no judgement. He have fenced up my way that I cannot pass. He has said darkness in my parts. He has stripped me of my glory, taken the crown from off my head. He have destroyed me on every side, and I’m gone. Mine hopeth he removed like a tree. He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counted me unto him as one of his enemies.

85. 38:40

    His troops come together and raise up their way against me, and encamp around my Tabernacle. He had put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed and my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house. My maids can’t live with a stranger. I’m an alien in their sight.

86. 39:14

    I called my servants and he gave me no answer. I entreated him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife, the way entreated for the children’s sake of my own body. Yeah, young children despise me. I rose, and they spake against me. All my inward friends have bored me, and they whom I loved had turned against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I’m escaped with the skin of my teeth.

87. 39:54

    Have pity upon me, Have pity upon me, all ye friends, for the hand of God have touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God? And I’m not satisfied with my flesh. All that my words were now written, all that they were printed in a book, that they were graven with an iron tongue, with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever.

88. 40:26

    For I know that my Redeemer liveths, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. But ye should say, Why persecute We Him, seeing the root of the matter was found in may be afraid of the sword, For wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgement.

89. 41:23

    Thanks very much, John. So I hope that made a bit more sense now that we’ve gone through that, that previous context that Joe wants to go to trial with God to present his defence case to him, thinks there’s no arbiter to to advocate for him, but thinks a defence of his righteousness will be the thing that saves him.

90. 41:42

    And that Joe proposed a solution to be kept in the grave and then raised after God’s wrath has passed. But he’s not confident that God will do this, but believes that God knows his innocence. And Job wants God to witness to this because there’s no one else who can. And this is what we need to have in mind when we read our section today. So as we read Job laments at the start in Job chapter 19 and verse two to four that his friends have been breaking him to pieces and reproaching him.

91. 42:19

    And he says to them, if it be true that I’ve heard my error remains with myself. And then he continues verse 5 to 6. But if you must magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace and argument against me, know that it is God who has put me in the wrong and closes.

92. 42:38

    Isn’t it about me? Now what is interesting about verse 6 is this is a reference to Job chapter 8 verse three, that question that we saw from Bildad. Does God pervert justice or does the Almighty pervert what is right And Job is referencing that here with that word wrong or overthrown in your King James.

93. 42:57

    What he’s saying is that know that God has perverted in by justice with me. Where build and ask does God do this? Job is saying yes and then he explains how he how God has done this. Behold, I cry out violence but I’m not answered. I call for help but there is no justice.

94. 43:15

    And then as we read before, he then describes on how how God has wronged him. He says that God has walled in my way. He has stripped me of my glory and my crown. He breaks me on every side. Notice my hope. He has pulled up like a tree, which we saw earlier. So he doesn’t necessarily think that God will give him the hope of a tree.

95. 43:35

    And then he has kindled his wrath against me, counts me as an enemy. And he has put my brothers far from me and estranged those who knew me far from me. And then he elaborates on that last point, describing how all his relatives, his close friends, his guests, his maid servants, his even his wife and his brothers and all the young children seem to reject him because of what God has done to him. And he summarises at the end in verse 20, all my intimate friends abort me and all those whom I loved have turned against me.

96. 44:09

    So Job has no one to turn to. As he said before, there is no arbiter, there is no guarantor for him. And then he follows this complaint with a a complaint about his his ailments. He says in verse 20, my bones stick to my skin and my flesh and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. And Job laments these ailments that are upon his flesh. And then he addresses his friends, have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me, O my friends, for the hand of God, the hand of God has touched me.

97. 44:43

    Why do you like God pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh? So Job argues that they have seen that God has attacked his flesh, but he wants them to not think that his cause to attack Job as well. They don’t they they think that Job has sinned and this is proved by Job’s suffering. But Job is saying that no, it’s not be be satisfied with what God has done.

98. 45:09

    Leave me alone. And then this brings us to our section in question. What does Job mean when he says, for I know my Redeemer lives well? Again, let’s remind ourselves of the context. Joe wants to go to trial with God and present his case to defend himself. And he thinks that he has been wronged by God and attacked without cause and abandoned and rejected by all. There’s no one on his side.

99. 45:36

    And his only hope is for God to recognize that he has done nothing wrong and witness to this. This is the context of the lament, which we’ve read a few Times Now, and the first clause makes sense in this context. What Joe is asking for is that his words would be recorded because he thinks that he cannot get justice now, so he wants his words recorded so that he can present his case in these words at a later time. And then after this, Joe introduces a Redeemer in that second clause which he says lives and to whom can redeem him.

100. 46:21

     And I think Joe actually immediately identifies this Redeemer within the context in verse 27, when he says, Yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes will behold, and not another. So Job’s Redeemer here is God, not some future messianic figure, but that it is God. God is his Redeemer whom he shall see and not another. Because there is no arbiter.

101. 46:49

     And just because the word Redeemer is used, that doesn’t mean it’s a kinsman Redeemer. It’s also used of God in other contexts, and I think this makes sense in the context of his earlier arguments which we went through. So Job 9 verse 33, there is no arbiter and there is no one he can turn to in the immediate context.

102. 47:10

     And Job is building upon his earliest statement in chapter 16 that God is his witness in heaven who contested mighty God of Job’s innocence and argued Job’s case with himself, and that it is only God who can redeem Job’s pledge. There’s no guarantor for Job. Job 17, verse 3. And thus it is sort of continuing that economic metaphor. Now the translation of verse 25 is pretty tricky. In your King James, the Hebrew word there, akaran, is rendered in the latter day where day is is supplied to give a bit of context.

103. 47:51

     But I don’t think that’s what it’s saying. It’s a mistranslation of the Hebrew word because the Hebrew word is an adjective. It’s not an adverb. So it’s sort of a description like my Redeemer, and it’s not a description of a time period. So he’s calling God the last. It’s like an epithet or a title.

104. 48:13

     And this occurs, as you’ll see on the screen in Job 40, not Job Isaiah 44 and verse 6, where once again God is called the Redeemer and he’s also called the 1st and the last. And so Job is giving God this title of the last. Here. He’s not referring to the latter day necessarily, and he uses this title because God is the one who will have the last say, which is kind of the context that you get in Isaiah 44 and Isaiah 41 of the way that the last title is used. God is the only one who can redeem Joe, and he will ultimately have the final say about Joe. And as we saw earlier, Joe makes another reference to the resurrection in that final clause in verses 26 to 27. After my skin has thus been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I shall see God.

105. 49:11

     He’s building on that earlier profession than we saw in chapter 14, the hope of a tree that after Job has died, God will keep him in the grave until his wrath has passed, and then renew Job. He wants to see God after death so that his case, which has been recorded forever in stone, can be acknowledged so Job can defend himself.

106. 49:33

     Now he thinks the solution is in a physical resurrection, which again is a remarkable thing. There’s after death that God will redeem him, and he can. He comes to this conclusion from his own reasoning, not because he knew the the resurrection like we do today through Jesus and the Gospel. However, I think despite the apparent confidence of Job’s words, I’m not sure he’s certain in his redemption.

107. 50:03

     Turn with me to Job chapter 23, which is after this speech, which once again he sort of refers to this trial like language as we saw earlier in the 1st 7 verses. And then he expresses this uncertainty in verses 13 to 16. But God is unchangeable. Who can turn him back? What he desires, he does for what he will complete that he will appoint for He will complete what he appoints for me.

108. 50:32

     And many such things are on his mind. Therefore I am terrified in His presence and when I consider him, I am in dread. God has made my heart faint and he repeats that phrase there. My heart faints within me with with similar language that he he’s his heart is faint because he’s uncertain that God will change his mind and redeem him, but he’s confident in the fact that he is righteous and God knows his innocence so leans upon this Joe 23 verse 10 to 11 but he knows the way I take and when he has tried me I shall command as gold. My foot is held fast to my steps. I have kept his way and have not turned aside. So he leans upon his righteousness as warrant for his redemption, but he’s not necessarily confident that God will change his mind about.

109. 51:21

     So let’s summarise. As Christadelphians, we encourage one another to do careful and contextual Bible reading. And when we do this, I think we’re forced into the following conclusion that Job is not crying out for a Messiah to redeem him at the resurrection, even if Job’s later. These complaints from Job will later be fulfilled in Christ as we know, and Job is not wanting to be accounted righteous by faith in God’s mercy at this point necessarily. Job is what he is doing is here we go. Job is arguing that he wants his words to be recorded, his own righteousness to be defended in front of God because God is the only one who can redeem him and ultimately will have the final say and Job thinks his righteousness will give him warrant to be redeemed.

110. 52:15

     So Job’s mind is clearly full of turmoil. It’s almost a paradoxical argument that he thinks that God hasn’t acted justly with him at this point, but he also thinks that God should justify him on account of his personal righteousness. And so he’s sort of unable to see the justice of God, yet thinks that God ought to justify him because of his righteousness.

111. 52:41

     And while Job is in this difficult place in chapter 19, the book doesn’t end there. This is why God later intervenes to show Job that he is just and that Job should trust him. And he He challenges Job’s desire to go to trial with him and directly confronts him about presenting his case.

112. 53:01

     He says, Shall a fault Finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God? Let him answer it. And then, as we saw before, he asked Joe, will you put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be right? And then to illustrate this, the problem with this, he draws out a few points.

113. 53:19

     Have you an, Oh my God, can you Thunder like him, adorn yourself with majesty, dignity, and then asks him to tread down the wicked like Joe wanted God to do. And then at the end then I also will acknowledge that your own right hand can save you. And these are all allusions to earlier statements made by Job.

114. 53:38

     So we saw in Job 19 verse 6, God has wronged him. Job, God questions this. Job 29 verse 14. Job says that he clothed himself in righteousness. Well, God challenges him to do this. Job 29 verse 17, Job had said, I broke the fangs of the wicked. I acted justly with the wicked or God challenges Job to do this in God’s stead. And then finally, Job 13, Job says, I will argue my ways to his face.

115. 54:03

     This will be my salvation. Or God says that know your own right hand cannot save you. So God rebukes to him for going too far and putting his personal righteousness above God’s. And that Job needs to recognize that he’s at God’s mercy and he can only be saved by God’s grace alone. And in the letters to the Romans, we’ll quickly go through this as I’m conscious of the time Paul references God’s final speech in Job chapter 41, where God says who has first given to me that I should repay him? Well, Paul in Romans Chapter 11, the context is for God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

116. 54:50

     And then he proceeds to quote God’s words or who has first given to God that needs to that God needs to repay him. And Paul quotes this to illustrate that the same lesson that God is trying to teach Job that Job was a righteous man. He was far more righteous than any of us, but even he was considered disobedience. He needed to recognize that he was at the mercy of God like us all and that we cannot earn our own salvation by our own righteousness.

117. 55:19

     And Job shows that he learns the lesson that Paul is talking about when Paul repeats the same thing. So Job says, I know that you can do all things, no purpose of yours can be thwarted after God has challenged him. And Paul says for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever, Amen. So Joe demonstrates he’s had the same recognition that Paul illustrates in Romans, that God is all powerful and that we need to trust him in his purpose and that men can only be saved by faith in Him, not by personal righteousness. And Job follows this by expressing his new understanding of God where he says, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, and my eye has now seen you. Therefore I despise myself and I’m comforted in dust and ashes. And this is referenced by James who says, think of how we regard as bless those who have endured. You have heard of the Job’s endurance and you have seen the purpose of the law that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

118. 56:28

     So remember that J curve analogy that I said that start Joe starts off a righteous man and sort of sinks into a dark place because of his suffering and apparent injustice. But through his experience in God’s intervention, he learns of the mercy and compassion of God. That’s the lesson of Job, that his redemption was not tied to his personal righteousness, but to trust in God’s mercy and knowledge that and have knowledge that God can do all things. And this strengthened his faith and allowed him to see more fully the nature of God.

119. 57:00

     And so it’s only after God’s intervention that Job’s faithful response is considered to be that which is spoken right about God. And James draws upon Job’s example to encourage us because we have heard of Job’s endurance and seen God’s purpose. We don’t need to suffer like Job did to learn the lessons which he did. We know God’s purpose is revealed through Jesus, so let’s have faith in God and look forward to his promises and embrace God’s mercy and compassion, which is the lesson which he was teaching Job which we see in Jesus. Thank you.

120. 57:41

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121. 58:22

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122. 58:46

     God bless and talk to you next week.