Job 29:25-27

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There have to have been few people who have suffered in life as much as the Bible describes Job. Job had it all. He was massively wealthy. He had all sorts of livestock. He had an army of servants, and God had even blessed him with a massive family. Yet in one day, Job lost it all. Raiders had come, murdered his servants and stole away his livestock. And a great wind overtook his children’s house, killing them all. Satan had even caused painful sores to come all over Job’s body, all with the intent purpose of making him curse God.

Now, the majority of the Book of Job is the conversation between him and his friends, who are trying to get him to confess to some great sin. You see, in their mind, they expect righteous people to be rewarded by God and wicked people to suffer. And so if Job was suffering so much, it must have been that he had done something truly awful and needed to repent of it. The problem was, Job didn’t fit the bill. Job acknowledged he was a sinner, as other men are, but he had never done so great a sin as to cause all of this. He had no great sin to confess. So what was going on?

A lot of times the Book of Job is used as a discussion platform for the issue of theodicy. How does a righteous God deal with evil in the world? And while it certainly does touch on that subject, ultimately the book concludes that we can’t really know. Job never knew about the conversation between God and Satan in chapter one. And us limited creatures cannot fully understand our limitless creator. But another important theme in the book is dealing with how we are righteous before God. And this is where one of my all time favorite Bible passages comes in. When Job speaks in chapter 19, verses 25 through 27.

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart faints within me! (Job 29:25-27)

This passage is important for us today. Far too often we may think that if we live a good enough life, if we’re righteous, then God will reward us. And this may be the theology of Job’s friends, but that’s not what Job is looking at here. Instead, he points to his Redeemer, the one who frees him from the bonds of sin, the one who makes him righteous. And that Redeemer for Job is the same one for us, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus came into this world to free us from sin. He did this by leading a perfect life, far more righteous than Job could ever hope of achieving. What’s more, he went to the cross to die for us. There he placed all our sin upon himself. He even faced the abandonment of God, suffering far more than Job ever did. And yet it was for Job’s sake that Jesus died. And it’s for your sake, too, that Jesus died.

Because of what Christ has done on the cross we are justified from our sin. Jesus not only died for us. But on Easter Sunday he rose again from the dead. Showing us that those who have faith in him will also rise from the dead and follow after their Savior. This is the hope that Job was looking for. This is what caused his heart to faint. The great reveal of his Redeemer. And that’s the hope that we can have, too. In the midst of the hardships we face in this life, we know that God is still with us because we don’t look in ourselves to be justified. But rather it is God who makes us righteous. We look for it in Christ so that on the last day, when we are raised up from the dead, we can have the joy of Job, knowing that our Redeemer lives.

Revelation 20:1, Revelation 1:18, Job 1:6-12, Romans 16:20

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I want to spend the next couple of weeks with you looking at some of the most controversial verses in the Bible, which for me is always fun. If you open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20, verse one, you see this moment where God describes this great dragon, the devil. And John, the author of Revelation, sees this angel come down from heaven who has these keys to the abyss. And the angel takes the dragon, and he chains up the dragon. And this picture is a picture that is meant to comfort God’s people.

What does that mean when we see that the dragon, the devil, has been chained? Well, this chaining of Satan is a limiting of his authority, a limiting of his power. You might picture a prisoner in a cage. Or a dog chained up on a leash. It limits his sphere of influence. We have examples of this in Scripture. In the book of Job, (Job 1:6-12) the devil has to go to God and ask for God’s permission in order to reach out his hand and cause any harm to one of God’s children. God very carefully sets the limits on the devil’s power and tells him, this far you may go and no further. Because ultimately God ensures that though the devil might attack believers, God ensures that you and I will not be overthrown by his power. He lets us be tempted and tested just enough, but no further and never past our breaking point.

The second question, though, is, as we think of that image of the angel chaining the dragon, just who is that angel? Well, we have to go back to Revelation chapter one, (verse 18) where we first meet Jesus. He appears and says to John, I am he who was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. This angel that John sees with the keys is none other than Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven to bind the dragon. And this binding of the dragon, of Satan, by Jesus, it happened on Easter morning. When Jesus rose from the dead as your victorious Savior, the first thing he did is he descended into hell. Into the very kingdom of the devil. And he bound the devil.

Now, as I mentioned before. God has always had authority over the devil. The devil has always been bound in a certain sense. So what makes Jesus on Easter morning, what makes his binding of the devil so important? Well, what makes it so important is that this is a man. It is the God man who has now bound the devil and made the devil captive to his power and his authority. This is your brother in human flesh, Jesus Christ, who holds the leash on that powerful dragon and keeps him at bay. And why that’s so important for you is because one of the devil’s worst lies is he wants us as Christians to think we’re the captives. He wants us to think that we’re the ones bound in a prison of obedience to God, or that we’re bound in this prison of sin, or that we’re on his leash. And nothing could be further from the truth.

The forgiveness of sins through Jesus shatters that chain and breaks every single prison wall, just as it broke Jesus free from the tomb. You are truly free in Christ Jesus. You are truly free of the devil and free of his power, and free to not have to listen to him anymore. Through your Savior, Jesus, you exercise powerful authority over the devil. One day the Bible says you too will crush him under your feet. (Romans 16:20) Until that time, we exercise authority by calling him out as a liar and by forgiving sins. Through that forgiveness of sins he is bound and can harm you no more.

Genesis 1, Job 38, Romans 2:14-15, Romans 14:10-12, 2 Corinthians 5:10

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When did religion really start? It’s a big question that many people have. There is been religion in human culture for as long as human history has existed. You go to every human culture in history and you find the same thing. There’s some form of religion. So we wonder where did it come from?

People throughout human history have observed certain pieces of evidence that lead them to ask certain questions, and religion has sought to answer those questions. Some of the evidence that all human beings have is the observable world. They see the world around them, and they see how complex it is, how the plants and the animals and the sun and the rain and all of the weather, all of it works harmoniously, as if it was designed to be that way.

We also think about how complicated those organisms are, whether plants or animals or even human beings. And it leads us to the conclusion that something must have made us because we’re so complex, we couldn’t have just came about by chance. And so throughout human history, people have been trying to solve this problem or answer this question where did we come from? Or where did the world come from? And the answer is found in religion. And so religions trying to provide that answer.

Another question that people have is wondering about the sense of right and wrong that you can observe in every human being. You go to every human culture throughout human history, and you see that there is a code of behavior of right and wrong. Where did that come from? And so many people have, over the millennia, been trying to explain that in terms of religion. Well, God placed that on people. He told them that in their hearts and gave them the sense that it is wrong to murder, that it’s wrong to steal. And so religion has come to explain that as well.

Another big thing that human beings have observed throughout millennia is that we all die, too. And so they asked that big question, well, what happens when you die? And so religion has also sought to answer that question as well.

You know, for myself, obviously I’m a Christian pastor. And so I believe that religion was created by God himself, the one who made heavens and earth. He revealed himself to mankind at the creation, and he has continued to reveal himself, I believe, through His Word, the Bible, as well. And God has provided some incredible answers to those big questions that human beings have had throughout millennia.

He’s answered who the true God is. Well, it’s a God that’s greater than the creation. He’s greater than just an ordinary human being, or an animal, or the sun, or even a statue. He’s something outside of it all, something that made it all. (Genesis 1, Job 38)

And God also has provided the answer concerning why we have the sense of right and wrong, that he’s the one that’s placed it on our hearts, and he also is a God of right and wrong, and has a standard of the way that he wants us to live in this life as well. (Romans 2:14-15)

Christianity has also provided the answer to what happens to when you die. The Bible tells us that after we die, we will stand before that God of Justice, (Romans 14:10-12) on the final day, and we must account for what we have done in our bodies on this earth. Whether we have done things that are good or things that are evil, and that God will bring us to justice on that final day. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

But the big thing that Christianity especially reveals and especially provides comfort for us, that there is a way for us to make it through that judgment. You know, we think about Judgment Day and standing before God, who’s perfect in every way. Isn’t he going to find a few faults with us? Is God really going to accept us, or is he going to say, well, you’re going to have to suffer for that sin and that sin and that sin as his justice is carried out on us? Certainly none of us believe that we’re perfect. The God in the Bible has also told us, he’s revealed that he has sent someone to solve the problem of your sin and of your evil. And that person is His Son, Jesus Christ, who is true God from all eternity. He sent him to live a perfect and holy life in your place, to follow all of his rules, his commands absolutely, 100% perfectly for you and to ultimately give that perfect life in your place at a cross where he suffered the punishment that your sins, your evil deserves. And he’s taken it all away because his Son has paid the price for you.

And now he tells us that by believing in Jesus, we have nothing to fear. We don’t need to fear that God in his wrath is going to send us to hell for eternity. We don’t have to fear what is going to happen when we die, but instead, because of Jesus, we can have peace right now knowing we are right with God, knowing that we are forgiven because of His Son, and knowing with confidence that we are going to be with him forever in heaven. Amen.

Job 19:26-27, 2 Corinthians 12:10

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To God be the glory. We sometimes hear Christians say that when they accomplish a personal achievement, when they reach a goal, when their team wins the championship, and that’s a good thing. We want to recognize God as the giver of all that is good. We want to glorify his name.

And it’s easy to an extent when good things are happening. But what about when they’re not? What about when life is difficult? What about when you get that health diagnosis? You might have a permanent disability. What’s interesting is the story of the hymn writer of the Hymn to God be the Glory, Fanny Crosby. She had a difficult life. At six weeks of age she developed inflammation in her eyes and underwent a procedure that left her permanently blind. At six months, her father passed away. She was raised by her mother and grandmother. Who did raise her in the Christian faith. And so she became a hymn writer.

Her best known hymns are Take the World, but Give Me Jesus and To God Be the Glory. How could she write to God be the glory in the midst of such a difficult life? Having to deal with a permanent disability? Well, I think she answers that well in the first verse of her hymn.

To God be the glory great things He has done. He so loved the world that He gave us his Son, who yielded his life in Atonement for sin and opened the life gate that all may come in.

Fanny Crosby knew the eternal hope that we have waiting for us because of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. And so she was focused on that future glory. She once commented that when her eyesight was restored, when she was in heaven, that the first thing she would see would be her Savior’s face. You and I have that same joy that we can look forward to. We think about the words of Job in Job 19 beginning at verse 26.

Then even after my skin has been destroyed, nevertheless, in my own flesh, I will see God. I myself will see Him. My own eyes will see him and not as a stranger. My emotions are in turmoil within me. (Job 19:26-27)

Others translate it “how my heart yearns within me.” No matter how good or bad our eyesight is in this life, we will see our Savior with our own eyes. And what about the difficulties of life that we have to endure as Jesus leads us to our heavenly home? Well, they keep us focused on what really matters. It’s interesting, Crosby also once commented that if she could have her eyesight restored, she would not take it. She said I think that if I could see, I would be too distracted by all the beautiful and interesting things about me, and I would not have become a hymn writer and written the hymn to God Be the Glory.

Our hardships, our struggles, our disabilities, they keep us focused on the grace of our God. As Paul writes, the Apostle Paul in second Corinthians 12, verse ten.

That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships and persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then my strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

May we always see past the hardships and distractions of our life. May we always focus on the grace of our God. And may we always say and sing to God be the glory. Amen.

Mark 1:11, Job 2:3

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Do you remember the account in the Bible of Jesus’ baptism? Where God, the Father spoke from heaven. I like the version in the Gospel of Mark, where God, the Father from Heaven actually speaks directly to Jesus. And there he says,

“You are my son. In you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)

This wasn’t the first time that God, the Father, spoke to his Son that we can read about in the Bible. But in the Old Testament, there are these beautiful conversations that we will find being spoken between the members of the Holy Trinity, between the divine persons of the Trinity, between the Father and his Son. One of these is in the beginning of Isaiah, chapter 42, where God, the Father says, I will hold your hand and give you as a light to the Gentiles. (Isaiah 42:6) And even as he is speaking tenderly and intimately with his Son about what he will do, it is also speaking about us because it is about what Jesus the Christ would do for all people. And in a sense, He’s speaking to us, to let us know.

This is what we call the heavenly council, the triune God, and how the persons of the Trinity converse and are in a beautiful harmony together, where there’s great love and caring that’s modeled for us in the Trinity itself. We see the heavenly council in another way in Job chapter one and chapter two. There we see that Satan appears before the Lord. He comes before the heavenly council and we heard God speak to him, to Satan, actually, and say,

Have you considered my servant job? A man who is blameless and upright? (Job 2:3)

And what does the devil do at that point? He begins to accuse, for that is who he is. Revelation Chapter 12 (verse 10) says that he is the accuser who accuses the children of God night and day. And so he accuses Job. And the rest of the Book of Job we see that Job is on trial. Satan presses him hard. And the question is, is God right about Job?

Now, Job isn’t perfect, and he does complain at various times being in confusion about his afflictions and wanting to understand what God is doing. But at the end of the Book of Job God says, My servant Job has spoken what is right. And it says these words. God had accepted Job. (Job 42:8-9) Again, not because Job is perfect in his thoughts, words and actions, but it is by faith that God accepted Job.

Now we see this scene that I’ve just described taking place in our own life. Where does Satan come to accuse? He comes in our conscience. That’s the battleground now, where Satan accuses. He comes into your conscience and he accuses you and Satan presses you hard. And the question that you may find sometimes in your own mind is, does God accept me? Am I acceptable to God? And how can I be? Well, the good news is he defends you. Jesus speaks up for you to the Heavenly Father. He pleads for you with his blood that he shed for you, that you would be considered forgiven and holy and blameless in God’s sight. And God does accept you, for Jesus sake. And even more, He speaks this to you and He speaks this about you. But more importantly, I think for us, he speaks it to you in your conscience.

He says that you are his child. Don’t miss where he says this in the forgiveness of sins, that he speaks to you in multiple ways in the church service and in his word, he says, just as God, the Father said at Jesus baptism, You’re my Son. You’re my daughter. He says it to you. In you I’m well pleased. The heavenly council stands behind us. Against Satan. Fighting for you. This victory is yours in Jesus name.

Job 19:23-27, Revelation 1:17-18, Mark 10:27

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One of my favorite sections in the entire Bible is found in the Book of Job. Job was an individual who has lost everything. He’s lost his source of income. He’s lost his wealth. He’s lost his house. He’s lost his kids. He’s lost his wife. He’s even lost his own health too. And throughout the book of Job he’s dealing with this big question of why do bad things happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Or especially to Christians, believers in God?

In the middle of the book we see Job give an incredible statement of faith. Job Chapter 19 he says this.

Oh how I wish that my words were written down.
Oh how I wish that they were inscribed in bronze,
that they would be engraved in rock forever
with an iron tool and letters filled with lead.
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the end of time he will stand over the dust.
Then, even after my skin has been destroyed,
nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God.
I myself will see him.
My own eyes will see him, and not as a stranger.
My emotions are in turmoil within me. (Job 19:23-27)

Despite all of those terrible things going on in Job’s life, he knows this: his Redeemer Lives. And he is confident that even though he dies, even though his body is placed in the grave, even though his flesh is destroyed there, yet he is going to see God. He’s going to see his Redeemer on the final day. And he places his confidence in a redeemer who lives. One who himself has died and yet has come back to life.

The description of Jesus is given in Revelations chapter 1 where he says this

I am the First and the Last—the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell. (Revelation 1:17-18)

Job placed his faith in a redeemer. One that had bought back his life from the grave and from the judgment of hell the things that his sins deserved. One that had paid for his sin but especially one who himself is very much so alive. And able to bring life to all people.

How is it that God can actually raise the dead? He can actually raise a dead body back to life from the grave even one that’s been in the grave for hundreds of years. Well the story is told of the famous scientist Michael Faraday back in the 19th century. That supposedly there was a worker in his laboratory one day who accidentally bumped a silver goblet into a vat of acid. He watched in horror as that goblet dissolved into the acid and disappeared. And he wondered what would happen especially concerning his job. But that famous scientist Michael Faraday wasn’t so worried and concerned. He added a few more chemicals and soon that Silver was brought to the top and they were able to recover it all. He sent the silver to a silversmith with the exact specifications for the goblet and before too long the goblet was back in its place in the laboratory. If a famous scientists can do something like that can restore a silver goblet that was destroyed entirely in acid, how much so our all powerful God the one who created us and all things created heaven and earth the one who Jesus says in Mark chapter 10

“All things are possible for God.” (Mark 10:27)

Certainly he is powerful to even raise dead bodies to put back together molecules and atoms all in order. And he has promised this for us and he invites us especially at Easter time to look to the one who was dead but now is alive. One that has shown that he has power over death and the grave. One that gives us confidence and hope that even though one day we die, even though our bodies will be placed in the ground, yet our redeemer lives. And he is going to raise up these bodies back from death and then all those who trust in Jesus Christ will have eternal life forever and ever in him. Amen.

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The Bible clearly teachers that God is three persons in one being. We call this the Trinity. Yet this teaching is very difficult for us to understand. In Job chapter 11 we read:

Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? (Job 11:7)

Do you want a God you can fully comprehend? I’m gonna suggest that you need a God beyond your comprehension.

There are times in our lives where we are totally powerless. Our life is such a wreck. We are facing such a huge obstacle. Maybe disease or financial ruin. And we pray to God for help. Do you want a God who is limited to what you can comprehend is possible?

No you don’t.

You want a God who can work a miracle. Who can do something that’s beyond your imagination. You want to God that you can’t fathom. Or let’s say you’ve messed up and you’ve hurt the people around you and you’re filled with guilt. You can’t forgive yourself and yet you need a God who can forgive you. You need a God who can be more merciful than anything you can imagine. You need a God that you can’t fully comprehend.

And that God is the trinity. Three persons in one divine being. And that Triune God has demonstrated the greatness of his mercy because God the Son became man, suffered, and died so that he could forgive all of your sins. God has worked a great miracle overcoming the obstacle of your sin so that you, a sinner, can be with this righteous God in heaven forever.

Yes you need a God that is beyond your comprehension. You need the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our reading today is from the Book of Job the 38th chapter. We’ll start with verse 1.

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge.
Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to Me.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who shut in the sea with doors,
when it burst open from the womb;
when I made clouds its garment,
and thick darkness at swaddling band;
and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and doors;
and said, Thus far you shall come and no farther.
And here shall your proud waves be stayed.” (Job 38:1-5, 8-11)

I’d like you to use your imagination for a moment, imagine a very prestigious architect in New York City who is leading a group of people on a tour of a brand new building, a skyscraper that he has helped to design. And he’s put a lot of thought and design work has gone and he’s been working on this project for about seven years.

And it just so happens that on the tour one of the people he’s giving the tour to has brought along a little 13 year old boy who’s just kind of tagging along. And as he’s going along this 13 year old boy begins questioning the architect whether or not he really did things right and actually saying that the building is not very well designed and kind of challenging him.

We wouldn’t blame the architect for suddenly stopping and turning to this little boy and saying “Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are challenging me and my knowledge and my insights into all of this?”

Now in the Book of Job, Job as by God’s decision been allowed to go through a lot of very, very difficult things. Virtually losing almost everything in his life except for his life itself.

And during that process Job and his friends begin to strongly question God and God’s wisdom and God’s decisions. And finally that God gets to the point that we just read in Chapter 38 where God says “Who is this that darkens council by words without knowledge?” And then God says “I’m going to question you.” And that’s where all these questions come from.

You know a lot of times we can think we’re pretty smart and we know more about our lives and about God than maybe God would tell us in His Word. Think how arrogant that really is of us. Or maybe when we think that we can figure out where we all came from and what life is really all about just by ourselves and how smart we are. Even though people have come up with thousands of ideas.

It would be right of God to come to us and say “Who do you think you are?” “Who do you think you are questioning my knowledge?”

This enormous,
immense,
all powerful,
all knowing God
who has existed from eternity,
has chosen to come down to earth to be our Savior and has also chosen to reveal everything that we need to know about him,
how we relate to him,
where we came from,
what life is all about,
where we’re going.
The plans he has for us,
how he’s forgiven our sins,
how we rise again from the dead.

So many things God in His Word has chosen to come and reveal to us and we should just close our mouths and in humble faith say

“Lord thank you for giving me your word and giving me your truth. Helped me to simply obey it, believe it, and trust in it. Amen.”

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Why do bad things happen to good people?

Whenever I hear this question the Lutheran in me instinctively wants to respond “Aha! A trick question. There are no good people.” Because the Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” “There is no one who does good, no not even one.” (Romans 3:12,23)

Yet the question still remains, perhaps it just needs to be rewarded a little bit. Why do bad things happen to Christians? To Christians who know and trust in Jesus as their Savior, who has already been punished for their sins on the cross.

The book of Job undertakes this very serious question: Why do bad things happen to Christians? Job’s friends think that they know the answer, that it’s because he must have done something wrong, some secret sin that he’s not revealing to them. However, Job knows that while he is a sinner, he hasn’t done anything specifically wrong in recent years to cause God to bring now this incredible judgment upon him, this suffering.

So he asked: why? God reveals to us the why in Scripture as he shows us that all of that: Job losing his house, losing his family, his property, his health even, was a testing of his faith. To reveal that Job’s faith was not a fair-weather faith based on God really blessing him because Job was faithful, but rather Job trusted in his God as the God of his salvation.

In fact I think the most striking thing about the book is that Job never finds out why all of these bad things happen. God never reveals it to him that this is a test of his faith. God simply appears before Job and tells him to trust him because he is the all-powerful, almighty, perfectly good and just God, place his faith in him as he always has.

God doesn’t always tell us why suffering occurs in our lives, sometimes it could be a testing of our faith, but he does direct us to trust in him at all times to know that his will for us is good so that even in suffering, with Job we might be able to say

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)

Amen.

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In the Bible there is a story of a woman by the name of Naomi who is very bitter towards God. Early on in her marriage she and her husband and her two sons were forced to leave her homeland, the Land of Israel, and to go to a foreign country because of a great famine.

While they were there her husband died. Yet she still perhaps found a little bit of joy and hope in her two sons that they would grow up would get married and have children, but soon even those two sons died. Naomi, at that point realizing that she had nothing left to really stay for, decided to head back to her homeland. Her sons had married and their widows came to Naomi saying that they would go with her, but Naomi said no go back to your homes, go back to your families, you still have the potential for joy and hope. You’re young enough to remarry and have kids, but not me.

One of those daughter-in-laws, Ruth, though clung to her and refused to leave. She said she would go with her, she would even die with her. When Naomi arrived back in her hometown of Bethlehem, many of the people there were surprised to see her and said “Naomi she’s returned!” But Naomi quickly said to them, “don’t call me Naomi, but call me Mara for the Lord has made my life bitter.”

Have you ever been there? Feeling bitterness towards the Lord because you feel that you have been wronged by him, that perhaps God has taken your loved one too soon? Maybe that God is afflicting you with some sort of disease for no reason? God has embittered your life. It’s good at such times to remember the Word of God in Job chapter 1 verse 21 that says:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” – Job 1:21

God reminds us in his word that we brought nothing into this world and we shall take nothing out of it. Every blessing we have whether our health, whether our family, whatever it is comes from the Lord. During times of trial he especially us to place our trust in him.

To know that the same God who cared for us enough to send His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay for our sins certainly cares for us through the difficult times. Through the loss of loved ones, through extended illness, even death.

As for Naomi, God provided for her tremendously through her daughter-in-law Ruth who soon married and even had a child. God yet provided a grandchild and not just any grandchild, but an ancestor of the Messiah, the Savior Jesus Christ. We see God’s plan for Naomi even in the midst of struggle and difficulty in her life.

May God help us to trust him and trust his plan for our lives even during such times. Amen.

What does the Bible say about resurrection?

One day at church, an elderly member of mine was picking up her grandson from catechism class and she asked me: “what does it mean when we talk about resurrection? I always imagined that heaven would be kind of like a dream and that we’d be like spirits or ghosts living with God forever.”

I decided to point her to the Bible to Ecclesiastes 12 verse 7 which says this:

The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. –Ecclesiastes 12:7

I told her that the Bible is describing what death is like for the believer. That our body and soul separate our soul goes to be with God in heaven and our body is buried in the ground.

However, it doesn’t remain that way. In fact, the Scriptures tell us that on the last day Christ shall return and raise our bodies our same flesh up and reunite them with our souls and we shall live with God forever in heaven. I pointed her to Job chapter verses 25 and 26:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon 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 19:25-26

job is clearly testifying to the belief and the truth that on the last day Christ shall return in glory and raise our same bodies, though they have decomposed in the ground, yet he’s going to bring that body, those dust and ashes, back to life.

We need look no further than Christ’s resurrection to get a glimpse of our own. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 3 verse 21:

(the Lord Jesus Christ) will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. –Philippeans 3:21

What a comfort enjoy to know that heaven is much more than a dream. Yes we shall live forever with God in heaven both body and soul with new and glorious bodies transformed to be like Christ’s own body. Oh how we look forward to that day when we shall see him face to face in life eternal. Amen.

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