Easter 2 Quasimodogeniti – Pr. Anderson sermon
Job 19:25-27 “In My Flesh I Shall See God”
April 12, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank You, that of Your indescribable grace, for the sake of Your Son, You have given us the holy Gospel, and have instituted the holy Sacraments, that through these we may have comfort and forgiveness of sin: We beseech You, grant us Your Holy Spirit, that we may heartily believe Your Word; and through the holy Sacraments day by day establish our faith, until we at last obtain eternal salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 155)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 19th chapter of the book of Job. We read the verses once more in Jesus’ name:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who is the living Redeemer raised from the dead, who will at the last stand upon the earth, and after your skin has been destroyed, in your flesh you shall see God, dear fellow redeemed:
A millionaire takes a look at all his possessions. He sees his mansion with its many rooms. He sees his nice and expensive cars in the driveway. His children are going to a great private school. It may be at this point that he might say, “I have it all.” Is this the definition of having it all? For some, this is a goal to strive for, where it looks like there is nothing to worry about in life. Job, a righteous man, knew that he was doing well. He was not arrogant. To even make sure his family was safe, he would perform sacrifices for his children just in case they sinned and didn’t know it. He had all of his possessions and when all of this was noticed by the devil, God had a lesson to teach. It would be taught to the devil, it would be taught to Job, and it is taught to you. The hard part of the lesson is that it is visible during our most traumatic moments and we really will never understand the lesson now. The lesson however has a blessed ending, an ending where all of the traumatic moments cease, and in the end and flesh, we will see God.
Knowing the account of Job, we know there is a specific reason he is talking about seeing God in the flesh after death. He is near death. Not only did God give the devil permission to take all that Job had away from him, his possessions and his children, the devil was then given permission to strike him with disease. He did not have permission to take him from this world. And he truly was near death as his friends couldn’t recognize him and his wife told him to just curse God and die. With the toughest and most worldly comment coming from someone close, Job holds his ground. And halfway through a philosophical conversation with his friends, Job gives the climax of the book a quote that is still sung and will be sung for the rest of time. A quote that all Christians are longing for because in this confession we are certain everything will be alright.
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” For Job to make this confession, he knows that the Redeemer is going to be his protector in the end. This must have been hard when he watched as all of his possessions were taken away from him, looking as though they were not being protected. This Redeemer is the protector and it is because of His protection not only will the Redeemer stand on the earth, but Job will also. Job has hope that because of this Redeemer, he is going to find relief from what he is currently experiencing. He is going to find a complete restoration of his body. And as the book of Job notes, this was during the climax of the book. This confession does not come from perfect people as we all know and make this confession. As Job’s friends had wrongly determined that Job must have sinned against God, Job was wondering about the fairness of it all.
These are two thoughts that can race in our minds. Are the problems in our lives because of our sins? Have we done something wrong to deserve the events that have taken place? And the other one is just as good in the sense of complaints. Are any of the problems that we see in our lives fair. Oh, the struggles with these two thoughts. Scripture reveals the truth of these questions. Jesus speaks plainly that there are problems that can take place in our lives that are not because of sins as He did with the man who was born blind. Job will hear this from God Himself a little later. He also will hear about the fairness of God. When we dive into the Psalms, God gives us prayers specifically for us to send up our cries because of the shape of the world. The world is actively against all. The devil is against Christians specifically, but is against all. Our sinful nature is against our very soul. And as Job sits in agony, he stares at the reminder of what all mortals face, the physical death that awaits us all.
And this is the logical conclusion of it all. For any problem, whether it is about death, fairness, and sin, it all has to answer to the Creator. The Almighty God who we confessed the presence we are in with our confession of sin. The just and fair God we confessed to sounds like this, And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:6). Now Jesus will later point out the comfort in this, but this is the truth as well. Job would learn his lesson, that God knows all and we don’t dare question his knowledge even when in the moment it hurts. For He points out according to His law, it should be much, much, worse. We have been unfair, we have caused God agony, and our sin has corrupted us against Him.
But, the fairness, the holiness, and the incorruptible body rose because He says, “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32b). For, on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). Peace be with you. The peace of Easter. The only peace we can find in this world. The peace that was found in the locked room with the disciples is the same peace that is given to Job. No matter what He was going to see, no matter how his interaction with the end of his life would end, he knew the peace he had was that his Redeemer was going to protect him and save him from what was to come. And his confession in what he would see would echo through time as David would write, As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness (Psalm 17:15). What makes this even more special is not even about “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”
The nature of man’s body is for it to see decay. For it to see God, for this corrupt body to see God, means that God will bring it back to life again. The Redeemer must be God. For this to happen, it now makes sense that Job appeals to God against God as he consistently recognizes God as the ultimate arbiter in all matters of justice. Job knows that nothing can deliver a person from the wrath of God’s Law other than God Himself. The Lord Himself confirms this, causing Job to put his legal case solely into the hands of God. And in the end, Job’s confession is what holds even when it looks like all have abandoned him. Even in great suffering, suffering that may not be in our lives because of something we have done, the abandonment took place on the cross for us and the weight of the world was put on those abandoned shoulders. And because of the Redeemer’s work, through this act of the cross He could very well be refining your faith. Just as the afflictions of Christ overflow into your lives, so also your comfort in Christ overflows. You are being made like your Savior. Made like Him because in your appeal to God against God, the appeal is made with the forgiveness of your sins, and confirmed in His resurrection.
Seeing the resurrection, like Job and like the disciples in the locked room, you can also say, “My heart faints within me!” Not only does it faint, but when it ultimately dies, you will have that same joy in the Savior and you will see the Savior on the Last Day. Job yearned for public acquittal of the righteous and in your life, you find the public acquittal with the empty tomb. Because, Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:26b-27). In your risen Savior who has the marks of your redemption from the cross, He reminds you that He has carried all of your weight of pain, agony, and suffering. It won’t be unfair when the end comes. For you may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3:10). The world will never understand it, but this is having it all. The all given freely to you, to know the Redeemer who has redeemed you from all your sins, and to know your protector, who protects you from an eternal death and will bring you safely into the life that is to come. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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