I Know My Redeemer Lives.

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 yearns within me!

Job 19:25-27

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
"...yet in my flesh shall I see God": he believed, that though he should die and molder into dust in the grave, yet he should rise again, and that in true flesh, not in an aerial celestial body, but in a true body, consisting of flesh, blood, and bones, which spirits have not, and in the same flesh or body he then had, his own flesh and body, and not another's; and so with his fleshly or corporeal eyes see God, even his living Redeemer, in human nature; who, as he would stand upon the earth in that nature, in the fulness of time, and obtain redemption for him, so he would in the latter day appear again, raise him from the dead, and take him to himself, to behold his glory to all eternity: or "out of my flesh" (f), out of my fleshly eyes; from thence and with those shall I behold God manifest in the flesh, my incarnate God; and if Job was one of those saints that rose when Christ did, as some say (g), he saw him in the flesh and with his fleshly eyes. 

"But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 
My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. 
I have not departed from the command of His lips; 
I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."
Job 23:10-12

I admire Job. In reading his words, you can see a real person who is suffering terribly and not understanding why. He pours out how he feels; how he wishes he could talk with God and ask him why this is happening to him. He seems to come close to unbelief, but he always recovers and speaks of how he longs to be with God in heaven.

God never does explain to Job why he is suffering. He simply shows Himself to Job and Job says, " "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes."

I think if we knew how wise, loving and majestic God is, we would not bother to ask why, we would just accept whatever came from his hand and trust him. I remember someone asking me why God let all these bad things happen to them and I said, "It happens to people all over the world. Why should we be exempt?" I've always known I was just one person in a world full of pain. Still, I've been angry, depressed and despairing about my sufferings.

But I bring all these feelings to God now and he strengthens me to live my life in friendship with him. When I feel unloved and misunderstood by people, I know now that God is my friend. I can spend the whole day with him and share all I think and feel. Sometimes I ask him, "What should we do next?" Whatever I'm doing, I try to remember Jesus is right beside me. 

Sometimes I feel so alone. But Jesus is here, right here with me in this room. He takes me as I am; no harsh judgement, nothing but love. There is a song I listen to that says something like, "How could I face the day if you were not by my side." That's how I feel about God.

Why Doesn't God Just Show Up!

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!  Luke 13:13

I've heard a few people ask the question, "Why doesn't God just show himself to the world? Then people would believe in him" 

Well, he did show himself, many times, but we weren't interested. It didn't work. 

When the first murder on earth happened, God Himself did show up and try to reason with the killer.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" Genesis 4:9

God gave Cain a chance to confess and tell God he was sorry he did it. That isn't what happened; God allowed Cain to move far away and build his own city.

Just seeing God personally and talking with him doesn't change people. Being sure there is a God who made the world and is righteous, doesn't change people. Even seeing someone rise up from a grave, awake from the dead, doesn't change people.

"But he (Jesus) said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'"  Luke 16:31

God knows what we are like. He knows when it will help to reveal himself and when it won't. That is where our faith comes in; we can believe he knows what he is doing.

Almost everyone knows the story of the Exodus and all the miracles God performed through Moses. Did this change the Egyptian King's heart? No. But the world heard the story and many did come to God; however the nearby nations did not leave their idols and neither did the Egyptians.

The king of Babylon set up a golden image and commanded everyone to bow down and worship it or be thrown into a fiery furnace. He called all the important people of his realm.

"Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up."

Three men from Jerusalem refused to bow and were thrown into the fire. But God was with them in the furnace and didn't allow them to die. The king called them out. Here was proof in the living God.

"The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God."

Daniel Chapter 3.

Still, the king did not give his life to God until he became ill, and then he finally did. The known world at the time knew the whole story and did they become believers? We don't know. Probably some did, but the worship of the Jew's God did not take over the world.

Finally, God sent his Son into the world. God Himself was with us. He went about doing good, as the Bible says. He worked many miracles and even the voice of his Father was heard. Did this persuade the majority of people? No, instead the leaders plotted and killed God. He showed himself and we killed him. 

Evidence alone will not persuade anyone to follow God. There must be a longing in the heart for something better; for something beautiful. We can't find that beautiful thing here. Yes, nature is beautiful and people can be beautiful; but they can't satisfy that emptiness and longing inside of us to belong somewhere perfectly and to be loved perfectly. God can satisfy that longing.

The reason we don't feel at home here on earth is that we were made for something better, something perfect and full of beauty. We were made for God and a life with him in heaven. Jesus calls to our hearts to come to him and find that life. We have all heard him; we may try to quiet him, but he is there.

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."  Revelation 3:20

"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."  John 17:3

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9

"Lift up your eyes round about and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms.

Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you."  Isaiah 60:4,5

Bible Mirrors.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

"St. Paul says that no human eye can see God at all except as an image seen as it were behind the mirror. Darkly; rather, in a riddle. God is said to have spoken to Moses "by means of riddles"..."

We cannot know everything about God now. We see God by faith and not by sight. When we go to heaven we will see and know him as he really is.

"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was." James 1:22-24

"He forgets either his spots, blemishes, and imperfections; or his comeliness and beauty; the features of his face, be they comely or not: so a bare hearer of the word, who is not concerned to practice what he hears, while he is hearing, he observes some things amiss in himself, and some excellencies in Christ; but, when the discourse is over, he goes his way, and thinks no more of either."

 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord..." 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Pulpit Commentary says these words "are, in fact, a description of "the beatific vision." like the one Moses saw on Mount Sinai when he received the ten commandments from God.  Now, we see Jesus, and what we see changes us.

 are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18 cont...

"The present tense implies a gradual transfiguration, a mystical and spiritual change which is produced in us while we contemplate Christ. From glory to glory."


quotations from:
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/james/1.htm
 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/2_corinthians/3.htm