Job 19:23 - 20:7 - I Know That My Redeemer Lives (Session 24)

In this verse-by-verse Bible study of Job 19:23–29, Reasoning Through the Bible reaches one of the most powerful declarations in the entire book of Job. After chapters of pain, confusion, and deep emotional struggle, Job plants his feet firmly and says, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” This session explores why that statement matters so much and how it reveals Job’s enduring faith even when everything around him has fallen apart. 

This study explains the meaning of the kinsman-redeemer, how Job expected a Redeemer to stand on the earth in the latter days, and why this passage points toward Jesus Christ as the one who redeems His people. It also examines Job’s belief in bodily resurrection and his confidence that even after death he would see God for himself. 

The second half of the session highlights Job’s warning that final judgment is real and then introduces Zophar’s second speech, where Job’s friend responds with more legalism, harsher accusations, and deeper insult. The episode becomes a contrast between living hope in God and the failure of graceless theology. 

Topics in this episode include:

•  Job 19:23–29 explained 
•  my Redeemer lives 
•  the kinsman-redeemer in the Bible 
•  Jesus as Redeemer 
•  bodily resurrection in Job 
•  faith in suffering 
•  final judgment 
•  Zophar’s legalism 
•  why believers must hold on to God 

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Transcript

Why Winners Follow The Leader

SPEAKER_00 0:16

There are times when soldiers get into battle or afraid and want to quit, or they get discouraged and want to desert the army. There's times when athletes want to quit because they're tired, but the good soldiers and the good athletes will follow their generals and follow their coaches because they know that the only way to win is to follow the wise and strong leader. And if they quit, then they'll end in defeat and destruction. The winners always follow the leader. And we're going to see that today on Reasoning Through the Bible. We are in the book of Job. Job is at the point where he has been ready to quit. If you've been following with us, he has been at the point of death and was even wishing for death. Well, today he's going to put a stake in the ground and let everybody know where his allegiance lies with the Lord God. And today we're in one of the most profound sections, arguably the most important part in the book of Job. The first parts of chapter 19 had Job laying the blame for his problem at the feet of God. He was convinced that God was against him, but nevertheless, he's going to express his faith. So let's go ahead and dive

Job’s Words Worth Engraving

SPEAKER_00 1:36

in. Open your Bibles to Job chapter 19, and we're going to start at verse 23 and read down to verse 27.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Oh, that my words were written, oh, that they were recorded in a book, that with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever. Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will take his stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God, whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me. If you say, How shall we persecute him? And what pretext for a case against him can we find? Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is judgment.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Job makes a very clear, very strong statement about where his faith and his trust lies. And what makes this even more dramatic is the contrast between what he said earlier in the chapter. Back in verse 8, he was very clearly saying, God is against me. He says there, he, God, has blocked my way so that I cannot pass. He's put darkness on my path, stripped my honor from me, removed the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side. He has uprooted my hope like a tree. He kindled his anger against me and considered me his enemy. His troops come together and build up their way against me. Job said earlier that he felt like he was standing in the middle of a field and God was using him as a target to shoot arrows at. So Job feels like God has forgotten him. But nevertheless, he says right here in the beginning of the section we just read, he said, write this down. He makes a strong turn and he says, make no doubt where my faith lies. Write this down, carve it into stone, get a pen or a stylus and put it into lead so that it'll be here for all eternity. And he says, I know that my God is going to come through. So in this section, he says, I want these words to be carved into stone or written into lead for all eternity. And Steve, in verses 25 and 26, what is the important words that Job wants written down for future generations?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

The important

The Kinsman Redeemer Explained

SPEAKER_01 4:05

words there, Glenn, is that I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will take his stand on earth. Then he goes on to say that he knows that he will see God face to face. So this word for Redeemer here is Goel in Hebrew, and it's the kinsman redeemer. It means that somebody that is a relative of someone was able to vindicate them if there was a wrong done doing, if they were killed for something or murdered. It also means that there was somebody that could buy back their debt if they had sold themselves into debt. They could come and redeem them. And there were three things that the kinsman redeemer had to have, three qualities. One, he had to be a kinsman. Second, he had to be willing to do it. And the third thing was that he had the means to redeem the person. So I think Glenn, he's talking about here, somebody is going to redeem him. And we have a redeemer in Jesus Christ that he came and he paid our sin debt. He was willing to do it, and he is our kinsman from the fact that he was fully man, fully God. He is the one that was able to redeem us. So I think that in the midst of Job's plight that he has, he's still keeping an overall perspective of who God is and where his ultimate destination is. And I think that's something that we can take away from this portion of the text, is that we've talked about it in our earlier sessions. These bodies are temporary bodies. They're ones that aren't going to last forever. They're not our ultimate bodies. And where we are here in this world is a temporary position in this world. We're going to live in a new world, a new heavens and a new earth, a glorified body. So whenever we get into these situations of suffering, like we do, if we keep into perspective where we're going with our glorified bodies and where we're going to be in eternity, then we can handle the suffering that we're going to be involved with. And if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you've been redeemed and you have an outlook much like Job has, in that he knows that his Redeemer lives and that he knows that he's going to see God face to face. Glenn, that's something that you and I have as believers, in that whenever we pass on from this world to the next, that we're going to see God face to face, Jesus Christ Himself.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

And that is a tremendous statement here from Job. If you've again been with us through the book, Job has been at a very low place. Many times he said, I think that God's just forgotten about me. God is using me as a target. Where is he? Why is he doing this? Nevertheless, right here, he goes to the solid rock and drills a hole and drives a stake down and says, right here, this is where my faith lies. I know that in the end, he says, as for me, my redeemer lives and he will come and deliver me and stand on the earth in the latter days. That's tremendous. When all things are gone, he says, Yes, I have problems, but I know that God is going to send someone and he's going to help me. He's going to redeem me. Even though Job is as low as he possibly can go, he wants everybody to know that his faith is solid as a rock. Satan attacked Job, and Job's friends have been trying to break him down. His friends are really doing the bidding of Satan. Yet Job has faith in God. He says, okay, God hasn't been helping me, but I still know that he's there. I'm going to keep worshiping him and I'm going to keep asking for healing. Job wants the world to know this. Write this down, carve it into stone, write it into a lead tablet so it'll be here forever. He makes an amazing statement here. Even though Job has lost his children, he lost his money, he lost his health, and his wife told him, curse God and die. He says, Everything else is gone, but I know that my Redeemer is alive and he's going to come and deliver me, and he will stand on the earth in the latter days. He believes that God will send a redeemer. So, Steve, in general, can we say here with Job that people in the Old Testament believed that God is going to send a deliverer to the earth?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

I think there is, because as we talked about in the introduction, Job is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, book in scripture. So it's one that has been recorded before Moses recorded all of the five books of Moses and the history of the nation of Israel and such. So we see that this concept was here for the worshipers of Yahweh before the nation of Israel even came in to conquer the land of promise. So yeah, I think so. And I think it's something for us to take into account that it's something that the believers in Yahweh, and what was it that Job was doing? It says that he sacrificed and worshiped Yahweh. And even Yahweh himself, when confronting Satan and offering Job up, he said that he was an upright standing man, righteous, fearing God and seeking God in all his ways. So I think that that, yes, we have an indication here that even in the old testament, this concept of a heavenly redeemer was going to come and redeem us all.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Several places in the Old Testament, the people there believed that there would be a Messiah, there would be a Christ that come. And here Job reinforces that. He says, I know that my Redeemer is going to come. He's going to come and be on the earth. So, Steve, the next obvious question: who is this Redeemer that Job is talking about?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

We know the Redeemer as Jesus. We know that because we're on this side of the cross. And remember that Christ is the Greek word Christos, which means the anointed one. The same word in Hebrew is Messiah. Same thing, what Messiah means, the anointed one. So whenever we say Jesus Christ, we're basically saying Jesus, the anointed one, or Jesus the Messiah. So anytime that we say Jesus Christ, we're acknowledging that he is the Messiah, the one that has been promised to come.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

The word redeem means to make an exchange. If you have a piece of paper that gives you the right to something, then you have to take and exchange that piece of paper for whatever it is that you're going to get. So that is a redemption. The Bible uses the word redeem or redemption for our sin. We owe a debt because of our sin. Jesus paid that debt, so he redeemed us. We were the property of Satan because we had sold ourselves to the devil when we sinned, but God redeems us by paying the price. And he redeems us through Jesus Christ. So Jesus is the redeemer. He's the one who made the exchange. He is our redeemer. Job here says, I know that my redeemer will come to the earth. And in the last, he's going to take his stand on the earth.

Resurrection Hope And Eternal Perspective

SPEAKER_00 11:35

The next verse, verse 26, quote, even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God. So, Steve, how can Job say that even after my skin and my flesh is gone, yet I will still see God in my flesh?

SPEAKER_01 11:53

I think that's one of the profound statements that he's making, because at the time that he's making this statement, he's covered with sores and boils all over his body. So when he says that even after my skin is destroyed, my flesh I will see God, I think that he's talking about a restored body, what we would call a glorified body. But at least he had the concept that the body that he was going to be redeemed to was not going to be one that was covered with boils and sores. It was going to be one in which he would be able to stand before and see God.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

I believe he believed in bodily resurrection. He says here again in verse 26, After my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God. He says in the next verse, I shall behold for myself and my eyes will see. So he believes that he will rise again, that he will have a body in the last, it says in verse 25. At the last the Redeemer will take his stand on the earth. And I'm going to see him in my flesh, even after my skin is destroyed. Job believed in bodily resurrection. Jesus believed in bodily resurrection. Paul believed in bodily resurrection. So therefore we believe in bodily resurrection. Our bodies will go to the grave, but in the last they will rise. They will be a glorified body, a reconstituted body, but it will be this body that is glorified. Job believed it, and so do we. The resurrection is central to the Christian faith. 1 Corinthians 15 mentions eight or nine times that this body will be raised. God says that if resurrection does not happen, we are still in our sins and our faith is in vain. It says in 1 Corinthians 15. Job was wishing to die. If we remember earlier in the book, he's asking God to take me. I'm in so much pain here. He was wishing to die, but only because he thought that would end his pain and suffering and get him face to face with God. He wanted to see God. Job thought that God was causing his suffering and that he could not get a fair hearing. Nevertheless, drive a stake down, write this down, carve it into stone. My Redeemer is alive. I have faith in him. It's just tremendous with all of his doubts and all of his flaws. And there's a lot of things he could not see clearly, yet, nevertheless, he had faith in God. And I just find this to be tremendous. Moving

A Warning About Final Judgment

SPEAKER_00 14:35

on to the next section, Job makes a rather hard turn and he shows his frustration with his friends. In verses 28 and 29, he says this if you say, How shall we persecute him? And what pretext for a case against him can we find? Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for what brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is judgment. In those verses, Jehovah is speaking to his friends, and he's saying that if you persecute me, wrath will be upon you. He's accusing the friends of saying, you're making up reasons to accuse me, you're inventing false reasons to accuse against me. And because of that, God's wrath is going to be upon you. The idea is if they continue to persecute an innocent man, they're going to receive punishment. So here's the next question, Steve. In our world, we don't always see the wicked get punished. Will there be justice in the end upon the earth where the wicked is punished and all the wrongs corrected? We will see that.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

And I think Job is shifting from his pushback to them, talking about how he himself is going to be vindicated and putting on them that they're going to be responsible to God for the things that they have said, and that there's going to be a judgment on them for making up false statements about him and false accusations. Because remember, they keep saying the wicked get punished. Therefore, there's something in you that is wicked or has sinned. And they keep pushing him that he just needs to confess the sin in order to get out from underneath this punishment. And Job keeps pushing back on them, saying, I've done nothing wrong to deserve this. So now he shifts it and puts it back on them and puts it in the position that they're going to have judgment by God for what they say. I think it's to make them think twice now as this narrative continues as to what they're saying to Job. So I think that in us, whenever we are seeing how the world is today and the wickedness that goes on, and the people that mock us for being Christians and make fun of us and also deride us, have mean things sometimes because we are believers in God and Jesus Christ, that there's going to be a judgment for them at some point. And that if they don't have their Redeemer, Jesus Christ, then it's going to be a punishment upon them of separation from God for eternity.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

In the end, God will right every wrong and he will wipe every tear. Make no mistake, God is just and he will be the just judge in the end. That brings us to chapter

Zophar Returns With Legalism

SPEAKER_00 17:27

20. And in chapter 20, we have the third of Job's friends. Zophar is the last of the second round here in chapter 20. Zophar, if you remember, he was the legalist who thinks that God works by keeping rules. If you do good things, you'll be blessed. And if you do wicked things, you'll be punished. And because Job is being punished, he must have been wicked. So far, none of Job's friends have even explored the possibility that God might have a sovereign purpose for Job's suffering. They haven't even touched on the idea that God might offer grace to people that do not deserve it, which are grand themes of the Bible. And these friends know nothing of this. They've mentioned nothing of God's grace, God's mercy, or his possibility of a sovereign purpose. So we have here again the third of Job's friends in the second round. This is not going to be any better. He's going to continue his false accusations. Steve, can you read the first seven verses of Job chapter 20?

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Then Zophar, the Namathite, responded, Therefore, my disquieting thoughts make me respond, even because of my inward agitation. I listen to the reprimand which insults me, and the spirit of my understanding makes me answer. Do you know from this ancient times, from the establishment of mankind on earth, that the rejoicing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless momentary? Though his arrogance reaches the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he perishes forever like his refuse.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Those who have seen him will say, Where is he? In each round, the friends have been getting more and more blunt. They've been getting more and more insulting towards Job. In the beginning of verse 3, he says it flat out, Zophar, I feel insulted. And just because Job disagreed with them, Zophar takes that as an insult. Job was merely saying, I think you're incorrect. Remember, everywhere Job spoke was a response to an accusation made by one of the three friends. And Job's denial of his friend's accusations caused Zophar to feel insulted. So, Steve, is it possible to disagree

Disagreeing Without Turning Cruel

SPEAKER_00 19:45

with someone, even about important biblical ideas? Can we disagree with someone in a way that the other person thinks that we respect them or we disagree in a loving way?

SPEAKER_01 19:58

That's one of the things I think we've lost in our society today is to be able to converse with somebody else and disagreement, because some people most of the time will take it as a personal insult to them. If you're just advancing your position with somebody, then we shouldn't take it as something that's being personal against us. We should just take it as something that they're disagreeing with our position. And being able to talk and respond and argue and make points for our position, listen to their position, and be able to respond back and forth in a respectful way. That's how we work our way through disagreements and arguments with each other is to do it in a respectful manner. We've lost that in our society today. So, yes, we should be able to do it in a respectful manner and also not take it personally. If we can't support our arguments, then why is it that we're taking something as being a personal affront against us? But I think one of the things that Zophar, the reason why he is so adamant in his response here, is that Job has just put it back on them as we talked about. You are going to have to account for God for the things that you're accusing me of. And I think Zophar looks at that and is coming back, possibly and saying to Job, how dare you come back and say that we're going to have to answer for God or the things that we're obviously telling you is wrong with you.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

In these discussions, if you've been following along, they started out in the earlier parts of the book being reasonably cordial. They had a thin veneer of cordialness and respect underneath a motivation that wasn't very nice, but at least they had the veneer of respect. Here, all the veneer is gone, and they're being quite blunt. It's really insulting if we look at what he's actually saying. In verse 7, Zophar says that the wicked will perish forever like. Refuse. Well, the word here for refuse means manure. He's saying that the wicked are going to end up in a garbage dump, like Job happens to be in at the time, and is perishing with the rest of the excrement. It's a very insulting thing to say. This is no idea of politeness here at all. He's saying, Job, you're going to be out here and just perish like the rest of the manure out here in the garbage dump. This disagreement has turned into a name-calling argument. Zophar has no evidence, zero evidence that Job has done anything wrong. Yet here he spends the entire speech implying that Job is very evil. And he gets very blunt, very insulting. Even if Zophar is convinced that he's correct, he really has no calling to speak like this to someone. We can disagree, but we can disagree in a calm, respectful manner without getting personally insulting, which is what Zophar is doing. Christians doing evangelism often ask about how they should answer people and when they should answer and when they should walk away from an argument. 1 Peter 3.15 says we should always be ready to give every man an answer, a reason for the hope that's within us. Too many times, Christians either, on one hand, make excuses for not digging in the Bible to get answers so that we can respond to people, but at the same time, we need to know when is appropriate to walk away. At this point in the conversation, I think that a wise person would just say, we're not making any progress here. Maybe we should take a break and stop this because Zophar is really getting insulting. It's not a discussion about what's a correct theological topic anymore. It's people dug in on the side, trying to prove the other one wrong, and they're doing so with insults. And Zophar is not really taking this seriously, it seems like. He's getting passionate about trying to reinforce his uh preconceived conclusion. And now he's just name-calling. This is the point where if I were Job, I would respectfully walk away. Now, once you get into the emotional arguments, I think it becomes difficult. Steve, any thoughts at this point? It's really getting ugly.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah, or at least ask Zophar to just go ahead and leave because you're not helping anything. And I think that's the point, is that now Zophar has gotten emotional in this and he's completely lost the whole reason as far as why he came in the first place. You're exactly correct. We've seen a progression of his friends who initially came and were empathetic to Job, sat with him for a week without saying anything, and then first off came to him and said, Look, there's something wrong here that you need to confess. To now it's just nastiness. And Zophar has really lost his head, so to speak, at where he is and what his purpose there is for his so-called friend Job, that he is just insulting him. And that's not helping the situation at all. I just can't imagine seeing a friend of yours that is in such great pain with the issues that Job is having and getting to the point where Zophar is saying the things that he's saying.

When To Pause And Come Back

SPEAKER_01 25:28

It's just mind-boggling to me.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

We probably should pull it to the curb for today because of time, but next time come back because we're going to see more of what Zophar says. And as these conversations continue, we're actually going to learn some very profound things, even though the tone of the discussion is getting very negative.