My Redeemer Lives

UV 1035/10,000 My Redeemer Lives For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth: Job `9 v 25 Job was at his tether’s end. He had lost everything he had valued in life- his family, his property, his vast possessions, his health, his friends, his influence, his status in society, his reputation, his skin. Yet he made the good confession of faith that “My Redeemer lives. “ These three words hold volumes of meaning. For it means that Jesus is our faithful advocate in heaven. It implies that even as our eternal Redeemer lives forever, we too will live forever. It implies that whatever we have either lost or gained so far is only temporary, transient and incomparable with what the Redeemer has in store for us. His grace is sufficient to redeem us. Job comforted himself in the knowledge that his Redeemer lives and would vindicate and reward him at last. The personal possessive “ MY Redeemer” is used to imply that our relationship with the Saviour is individual and personal. Everything else can be taken away but the assurance that Jesus our Redeemer lives will save us on the day of reckoning. When the Lord counts His jewels, we would be counted among them. Like Job, we too must confess in every situation that “our Redeemer lives..” We must not trade or loose this assurance for anything in the world. It is our one lifeline. Job’s wife found his situation unbearable and not worth living. Job’s friends too felt the same. But Christ in Job was the hope of his salvation, redemption and glory. The greatest and most valuable knowledge a man can have is to know one’s personal redeemer. The value of a man’s soul is so great that it cannot be redeemed by just another man. It can be redeemed only by the Messiah anointed by God to buy us back from the enemy of our soul who has taken us on ransom. The word “redemption” is synonymous with salvation, “buy back”, restoration, deliverance. Only someone with the capacity to buy back. Jesus has the capacity to buy us back from any type of indebtedness, bondage, captivity.. It implies that we once belonged to satan. Buy back also implies that God is ready to pay any price to have us back in His fold. Jesus redeems us not only from satan but He also redeems us from our own selves and from the world. Jesus said, “ Sufficient are the troubles of the day.” It means that the grace of Jesus is available not only for our life in the hereafter but right here and now, He redeems us from all the troubles of the present day. Job used the present perfect tense, “My Redeemer lives”. This implies that Jesus makes our lives perfect in the present moment. We are not only potentially perfect but we are gracefully perfect in Christ. If our Redeemer lives, we have no reason to be afraid, depressed, anxious, frustrated, stressed out, dejected. If our Redeemer lives, we have no reason to be faithless, hopeless, demotivated. If our Redeemer lives, we have no excuse to fail, complain, feel bitter or bear grudges. It is an irony of life that we do not value a thing until we happen to loose it. We do not value our freedom unless we loose it. But a prisoner who is set free after a long time in jail, celebrates that day as if he has been born again, as if he has been brought back from death and as if something great has happened. I was watching the poignant film, “Twelve Years a Slave” in which a free man is abducted and forced into slavery. Finally, when his friends come to redeem him, he weeps tears of joy and embraces them. He is then restored to his long lost family. Similarly, the Lord has redeemed us from being slaves to sin. Where formerly, we had no choice but to sin and be under the influence of satan, now we have a choice not to sin. On the last day, the day of the appearing or second coming of the Redeemer Jesus, we will be rewarded in accordance with our faith and our deeds. Our last living day on earth would also take us into the gracious presence of Jesus. Two days ago I attended the funeral of a man of God who after his first wife died of cancer, suffered financial loss, lost his house, his church, his possessions, his reputation and his testimony. His two sons and his in-laws also deserted him as they did not agree on his choice of a second wife. He broke his hip and lost his mobility. Then his support from friends ceased. But I believe he died with the good confession of Job, “ My Redeemer lives” and he was received at the finishing line by the Redeemer. Though all was lost, nothing was lost for what he had lost, he lost for a time but now what he gained, he could keep forever. Prateep V Philip