There are some films I won't watch unless I know the end of the story. I don't need to know how exactly how it ends; I just need to know it's a sad ending or a happy ending. If I know it's a happy ending I feel I can tolerate an emotional rollercoaster along the way.
Astonishingly, given his time and circumstances Job still had a vision of good ending.
Let's carry on our conversation with him,
'O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book! ('They have been Job!)
'O that with an iron pen and with lead
They were engraved on a rock forever! ('Better than a rock Job, they are in the world's best selling book of all time')
'For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And that at the last will stand upon the Earth
And after my skin has been thus destroyed
Then in my flesh I shall see God'
(Job 19:23-25)
These declarations by Job are truly amazing. Job's voice from almost a pre-history time throws itself forward into the far distant future and speaks of 'at the last'. Job takes us right into the vision of Revelation, a new Heaven and a new Earth. God reigning and ruling, everything is being made right, nations being healed, tears being wiped away. He states two facts: his Redeemer will stand on the Earth, and he himself will see God in a body after his own body has died. 'I believe in the Resurrection of Body and the Life Everlasting' says the Creed. We say we believe it and so did Job.
Only when we get a grip on that future can we find the courage to live today as this prayer by Archbishop George Appleton so beautifully expresses.
Open my eyes O Lord, that I may see,
The Chariots of Fire,
The Crowd of watching
Angels and Saints,
The Four Living Creatures of Creation,
The Host of the Redeemed from Every Nation
And every Generation,
And Thyself,
Standing in the place of power
Directing thy Kingdom
And strengthening every struggling follower.
So, seeing thee,
May I be held, quiet and unafraid,
Ready and daring, to be and do and bear
All that thy loving wisdom allows or wills,
O Beloved author and finisher of my faith.
Sheila Bridge
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