The Second Sunday of Easter
Rev. Jesse Jacobsen
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Last modified: (Sat Apr 2 17:12:34 2005)
Job 19:25--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 yearns within me!
Christians know we will rise again
What will happen when you cross the Mississippi River into Minnesota on
Interstate 90? If you've ever gone that way, and were paying attention,
you probably remember it. As soon as you are off the bridge, the
highway bends sharply right to continue beneath high bluffs on your
left. After about two miles, it wends its way westward again, up a
narrow canyon away from the Mississippi. The climb is steep, but after
another few miles, you arrive at the top of the bluffs, a flat and
mostly featureless land where the wind blows strong.
According to Greek mythology, there is a river called Styx that
separates this world from the underworld. What will happen when you
cross that river? That is to say, what will happen after you die?
If you have asked this question of other people, you may have already
noticed that there are many answers.
Some think that death is oblivion, that you become what you were before
you were born. Some actually believe in reincarnation, the person being
born into the world again in some other form. Some believe that every
soul will go to paradise, or at least the souls of everyone they
know. Some believe other things. But who is right?
There has been research into ``near-death'' experiences, but the
evidence I've heard of is all anecdotal. Science can't help us, believe
it or not. There is no gene we know of for the human soul. That leaves
us in an uncomfortable spot. You probably don't know from your own
experience. Anything anyone tells you is suspect, because we're all in
the same boat, so to speak, and it hasn't yet crossed that river.
So if you want to know what will happen when you cross over, you need to
ask a higher authority. Many people won't even admit that there
is a higher authority than themselves. But with this question,
there is no other choice.
Our theme today is ``Christians know we will rise again.'' Because
Jesus rose again as our Head, and because God has given His promise and
seal.
Because Jesus rose again as our Head
Two words stand out in our text because of the times we live in. Those
words? ``I know.'' Job was saying that he knew something
that he had no scientific evidence for. In fact, he knew two things:
that his Redeemer lives, and that he will rise from the dead also.
I remember when two scientists, named Pons and Fleischmann, claimed to
have discovered cold fusion. Nobody could duplicate their work, because
they had made a mistake. Their scientific evidence for cold fusion
didn't stand up under scientific review. But Pons and Fleischmann
believed --- for a while, anyway --- that the evidence they had was
good, and that cold fusion was a reality. In the same way, Job believed
what he did on the basis of something, but I'm certain that the basis
for his faith would not stand up today under scientific review. Like
Pons and Fleischmann, Job would become a laughingstock, as one who makes
wild claims based upon faulty evidence.
Before we consider Job's evidence, we should see what he was claiming.
He said, ``For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand
at last on the earth.'' He was talking about Jesus. But Job lived a
long time before Jesus, maybe a longer time before than we live after
Jesus. Some people today tell us that we can't know for sure whether
Jesus rose from the dead, because it's been so long. By that standard,
Job knew even less than we do. So how could he claim to know about
Jesus?
Job's evidence was simple: God had told him. I don't know how. Maybe
God spoke to him in a dream, as with Jacob, Isaac's son. Maybe God
visited him in the form of a person, as with Abraham. Maybe God spoke
out of thin air. Maybe Job's father taught him the Word of God as he
learned it from his father. Maybe Job had the Word of God in written
form. The bottom line is that God told Job the things that Job was
saying in our text. That was his evidence.
Is it good evidence? It wouldn't stand up under scientific review,
because the Word of God is not considered to be scientific. But it's
still evidence with a conclusion. Job's Redeemer, Jesus Christ, lives.
Is it good evidence? Yes. God's Word is the best evidence. But to
those who reject God, it's not.
Don't get me wrong about science. It's not evil. It's simply the study
of what we can observe on our own so it's mostly unrelated to spiritual
matters. Science does not describe the great truths of our existence.
It's more like baseball or football. There are rules to the game, and a
field where it's played. Life outside the game doesn't follow those
rules, and it's not limited to the field. In the same way, God's Word
is real, but it doesn't follow the rules of science, and it's not
limited to the same field.
Job was certain that his Redeemer lives. We may be just as certain,
because we also have received God's Word. It is a kind of evidence, a
witness, telling us that Jesus Christ truly died on a cross, and
then truly rose again. Is it good evidence? Your answer depends upon
whether you trust the eyewitness giving the testimony. (Because this
question is better suited for a courtroom than a science lab.)
Ultimately, the eyewitness is God, because the books of our Bible were
written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If you believe that God is
our witness, then you know just as surely as Job that our Redeemer
lives.
If you don't believe that the written witness we have in the Bible comes
from God, then you have to take it on its own merits. Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John all wrote about these things, and much of it is also
corroborated by Paul, Peter, James, and the writer to the Hebrews. Are
these men reliable witnesses of something that happened almost two
thousand years ago? Is their testimony supported by circumstantial
evidence in the history of the Church?
The fact is, even without accepting that the Bible is God's Word, the
case for Jesus' resurrection is beyond a reasonable doubt. The bulk of
the evidence says that He rose. Miraculous? Certainly. Believable?
Yes.
Jesus rose again. He is our Head, and we are His members. Because of
this, Christians know that we will rise again.
Because God has given His promise and seal
Job said, ``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.'' Job knew that his Redeemer lives, but he
knew also that he would rise bodily from the grave to see his Redeemer.
We know the same thing, don't we? We also have God's promise on this.
Christians know we will rise again, because God has given His promise
and seal.
Let's stop and ask ourselves an important question here. The question
is: ``Why have I come to church?'' There must be some reason you are
here. Were you curious what you would find here today? Or did you know
already? Did you come here out of mere habit, or because it's expected
of you? Or is there a stronger reason that made you actually
want to come here?
Think about the alternatives. You could be golfing. You could be
watching television. You could be taking a Sunday drive through the
countryside. There are sports teams that practice and play on Sunday
mornings. A lot of folks just like to sleep in!
How about other churches? Some worship other gods. Some worship the
true God, but in a way that leaves part of your salvation up to you,
saying, ``You can go to heaven if...''.
So why did you come today? I'll tell you. Because today, right here
and now, God wants to give you eternal life. Real eternal life, both
spiritual and physical. God is not telling you about forgiveness
and eternal life. Through His Word, He actually gives these
things. By hook or by crook, God has brought you here today so that He
could do this for you. You are here because of the message we have from
Job, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is everything for us, because without it, we are utterly
lost. Does that sound too strong? There are good people who don't have
the Gospel, right? Wrong. Without Jesus, the only righteousness we
have is an empty shell. Deep inside us lives a bitter heart. Sometimes
the bitterness floats out, and sometimes it's hidden. It was your own
bitter heart that crucified Jesus Christ and put Him to death. Mine
too. ``But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'' God does not hold
Jesus' death against us, because it was an act of love --- His love for
you. Me too.
So He brought you here to receive this free gift, and the promise that
because Jesus was raised from the dead, you will rise too. After your
skin is destroyed, in your flesh you shall see God. Your eyes shall
behold Him, and not another. The same Jesus who called Lazarus forth
from the grave will call us forth too, and then will be the Beginning.
But now, as we prepare for that life to come, God has given us a
certainty that has become the center of everything we have at Grace
Lutheran Church. The Word of Promise has given you a great treasure:
forgiveness and life. The Sacraments of Jesus have sealed it. In
Baptism, God calls you His child --- a Word that cannot be broken. In
the Lord's Supper, Jesus nourishes the faithful with His body and blood.
So every one of us who receives this Word and Seal from God already
possesses the resurrection, and just like Job, we will see our Redeemer
the Day He comes to wake us up.
As I said, these gifts are at the center of our church. They are God's
love, visible, audible, and touchable. They are the centerpiece and
focal point of the Christian liturgy. They are the reason we worship
this way. These gifts, the love of God, are the reason we even cherish
this pulpit, that altar, that font --- even the whole building. These
are the reason that we as Christians turn and love another, because in
this way God has loved us. In all of these things, the life of our
living Savior Jesus fills us with His love, mercy, and even light for
the whole world.
Dear fellow redeemed, you will never find anything on earth better than
what we have here. It didn't come from us, and we have not deserved it.
But God has done this thing for us, and He keeps doing it week after
week. Jesus is now the center of our lives, and the never-ending Gospel
of Jesus is the center of this church. What a thing God has done!
And the result? Christians know that we will rise again. Because Jesus
rose again as our Head. Because God has given His promise and seal.
Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Listen at www.grace-els.org
This document was translated from LATEX by
HEVEA.