Funeral Sermon

And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

Notice with me Job’s Certainty. Like Job even in our pain there are some things that we can “know” that is be certain about.

Twice in this passage Job states there are some things that he “knows” (vv. 25, 26) with certainty.

First, Job states that he knows that there is a Redeemer. In verse 25 “I know that my Redeemer lives….” Job states that he is “my” redeemer; he had a personal relationship with the Redeemer.

This is a personal statement, of personal conviction, not hearsay, not speculation, but truth uttered from a heart of assurance and firm conviction.

What is a redeemer? “One who repurchases” and “One who delivers from bondage by paying a ransom”. Now listen... Job could have said, “I know that my Savior lives”. He would have been accurate. He could have said, “I know that my Champion lives”.

He would have been accurate. He could have said, “I know that my Advocate lives”. He would have been accurate. But he didn’t use any of those terms or any other. He said, “Redeemer”. That means that Job knew he needed to be purchased back.

He knew that he ultimately belonged to God, but that sin had interrupted that relationship. He had the confidence in God and His goodness and faithfulness to say, “I know that my Redeemer lives.…” The One who buys me back. Grandmother had this kind of a personal relationship; she could say with confidence, “I know my redeemer lives.”

I believe that if she could speak to you today, she would tell you that there is nothing more important than having a personal relationship with the Savior.

Jesus is the redeemer that Job spoke of. Christ is our Redeemer, who has repurchased us. He has delivered us from bondage of sin by paying the ransom with His own sinless blood. Job went on to say, “I know that my redeemer lives.”

The second thing that Job is certain of is that this body is not permanent. Job says, “And after my skin has been destroyed.”

The Apostle Paul many hundreds of years later explained it this way, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven… So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-2,6).

The third thing that Job was certain was that death is not the end. Job states that even after his body has been destroyed, that he will continue to exist. Job is certain that even after death it will not be the end of his existence.

He knew that one day he would be clothed with a new body. The Apostle Paul speaks of this when he wrote, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live is taken down – when we die and leave these bodies – we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” (NLT)

Beyond his certainty Job also expressed his confidence that he would see God. Job says, “…I shall see God, (27) whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

The Apostle John writes, (1 John 3:2), “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we