Advent Day 18 :: He Is In Our Suffering
“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. [26] And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; [27] I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27)
Esther isn’t the only odd book of the Bible. We learned yesterday that God is not mentioned once in Esther, yet his redeeming plan is written all throughout the storyline of the queen and the rescue of the Jewish people. Today we are confronted with another oddity of a book - Job.
To our knowledge, Job was not an Israelite. Despite s position in the Scriptures, the book itself suggests that it takes place during the patriarchal period of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Some scholars suggest that Job is older than Abraham. In its forty-two chapters we see that things quickly go from bad to worse and our hearts go out to Job and his torment. The book is surrounded with the idea of suffering and the major question that summarizes the book is ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’. What was the point to Job’s suffering? In all of its pages we come across many answers from Job’s *wonderful* friends but in the end we really have no answer to that question - at all.
Job’s world is turned upside down but yet we see that he decides to continue to place his trust in God. In today’s passage, Job refers to God as his Redeemer and several times we see that he requests a Mediator (Job 9:33; 25:4; 33:23). We have learned in previous days that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Mediator. There are several ways that Job’s life reflects the coming Messiah. The one that is the most obvious is the suffering of Job and that of Christ.
Though Job was innocent and righteous, we know that Christ is truly innocent - a man without sin. We see that Job suffered in a great way, and all the while he brings glory and honor to God. Jesus Christ also suffered greatly to bring glory and honor to the Father but also for your sake and mine. Through the righteous suffering of one man—Jesus—there is life-giving justification for all (Romans 5:18). The plan of redemption put into place by God was brought to fruition by Christ through his birth which ended in a tragic yet victorious death resulting in the defeat of sin and death.
Whatever we may be suffering we can have comfort in knowing that our suffering is part of a much greater struggle. We are to, without question, expect trouble in this world - Christ told us so Himself (John 16:33). When we endure trials with hope, we are following in the footsteps of Job and other men and women marked by their righteous faith and trust in God (Hebrews 11:32–12:3). We may not know why our suffering must happen but we must view it as Job did, as an opportunity to continue worshiping God and strengthen our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and the work He has done on the cross. Through our suffering we have hope in knowing that one day all of God’s family will be restored (Colossians 1:24). He knows and understands what we are going through (Hebrews 4:14-16). It will happen all because of the coming of Christ the Lord. His advent brings about the beginning of the restoration of all creation and mankind. He is making all things new (Revelation 21:5).
Be encouraged during this season that through the birth of Christ, that tiny baby in a manger, the restoration of the world and the redemption of the suffering is near.
Further Reading: Romans 5
Photo by Trym Nilsen on Unsplash
