The Old Testament prophet Job, living long before Jesus entrance into this world once wrote,
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;”(Job 19:25-26)
Do you ever wish that you could have been there on that first Easter morning? Wouldn’t it have been exciting to look at that rolled-away tomb? Wouldn’t it have been neat to look inside and see Jesus grave clothes, all folded up and laying neatly in a pile? And then, to hear the angel say, “He is not here, he is risen just as he said.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have seen Easter with our own eyes?
But then, we think of what we know about those eyewitnesses. They were there and they were still perplexed. All the signs of Jesus’ resurrection were readily apparent, and they still had trouble believing it. Even for those who were there, it still took a considerable amount of time for the good news to sink in. As Jesus said to those two Emmaus disciples, “Are you still so slow to understand?”
So what of us who live on either side of that great event? What of Job for example? Job lived long before Jesus was born. We’re not sure exactly when Job lived, but it’s possible that Job perhaps even lived before Moses. As an Old Testament believer, maybe he didn’t know all the details of the life and death of his Redeemer to come. Perhaps he didn’t even yet know that his Redeemer would be called ‘Jesus’ (which means Savior). But he did know about God’s promise to send a Savior. Apparently, Job also knew that Jesus would enable even him to live forever…in a bodily resurrection where he could see God with his own eyes.
If that’s true of an Old Testament believer who lived long before God’s promise of a Savior was fulfilled, how much more true shouldn’t that be for us who live on the completed side of Jesus resurrection? Because of the eyewitness accounts of God’s Word, our vision can be even clearer than what those first eyewitnesses saw! They could only see with physical eyes. Through the inspired Word of God, our eyes can be led to see the truth of Jesus bodily resurrection in all its awesome detail. And we are given the knowledge that what Jesus did, he did for us!
LORD, give me eyes to see! Give me eyes to see and believe your promises! Give me eyes to see so that, like Job, we too might know that our Redeemer lives!
