My Redeemer Lives (and So Will We) – Resurrection in the Old Testament
Some argue that the concept of resurrection is only a NT phenomenon, that there is nothing in the OT that leads to this idea. Except here in Job 19:25-27, Job clearly had resurrection in mind, along with God coming and dwelling on earth again. He says of his “redeemer”, God, that “in the end, he will stand on the earth.” What could this mean, but the end of time. This was likely before any concept of a Jewish Messianic reign, but Job is clear of his expectation that his skin will be destroyed (I.e. death and decay), yet in his “flesh” he will “see God” (Job 19:26). In other words, his redemption will not just be forgiveness of sins, but rather his dead body will be “redeemed” to live with God on earth. What “flesh” is he referring to if his flesh is dead, rotten in the ground? He is referring to his resurrected flesh. That he will receive a new or restored body, and at the end he will get to see God with his own eyes “on the earth,” not in heaven. This is exactly what resurrection is, the hope that we will have a restored, renewed body and live on a restored, renewed earth (or the new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21:1), where God is present with us for the rest of eternity (after all how could God be on the earth unless it was redeemed and restored as well). The difference between Job and us is that we can know this will happen because Jesus was resurrected from the dead, the first of a great harvest of those who will raise from the dead. We will receive a resurrected body just like his (Philippians 3:20-21).
Here is the question though, based on Job’s statement, does our heart yearn within us to see God with our own eyes, or to see him face to face? The truth for many is that it is not the great yearning of our heart. We love this world more than we love God. Our yearning is to stay on this earth with what we truly love, what we know, see, touch, hear, accumulate, play with, and spend our time with. We do not have the attitude like Paul when he wrote in Philippians 1:22-24 “But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.…” (see also Philippians 3:7-11). We were made to be with Christ, in an eternal relationship with God, being present with him forever (see John 17:3). If that isn’t our primary desire, why is that? What does that reveal about our relationship with God? About our true love(s)?
If we want to desire God above all else, we need to admit (confess) our true desires to God, and ask him to forgive us and change our heart so that our love for him and desire to be with Him is our primary desire. Not to make us “so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good”, but that our love and desire for God will propel us to do his work selflessly and sacrificially with what little time we have here on earth.