Job 19: Lessons From Job’s Laments Regarding the Blessing That Jesus Offers Through Faith

Introduction: In response to Bildad’s attacks, Job responded by again pleading for compassion. As he had done previously, Job then turns his appeals directly toward God. Job labored under the misperception that God had allegedly treated him unfairly. Yet, he then showed his true faith by claiming that his Redeemer in heaven would ultimately set things right. The Redeemer that he proclaimed was Jesus Christ. Through Job’s laments, his misunderstanding, and his faith, the Bible reveals seven blessings that Jesus offers you through faith. These include Jesus’ (1) love, (2) sovereignty, (3) justice, (4) fellowship, (5) healing, (6) compassion, and (7) redemption.

First, Job lamented his friends’ ongoing, baseless attacks. When others reject you, Jesus will respond to your faith by showing you His love. Second, Job professed that his friends could only engage in evil against him if God had allowed it to happen. Jesus is sovereign. Even when you cannot understand the reasons, He causes all things to work together for His greater good for you. Third, despite being a man of faith, Job sadly processed his belief that God had treated him unfairly. Job would later learn that God’s plans were beyond his ability to understand. Even when it feels as though evil surrounds you, Jesus will treat you fairly and ultimately bring you justice. Fourth, Job lamented that his wife, his friends, and even children found him repulsive. With faith, Jesus offers His fellowship when others reject you. Fifth, Job lamented that he had become skin and bones from his ongoing pain. Through faith, Jesus can heal you and restore your health. Sixth, Job pleaded for his friends to show him pity. When you feel hurt, Jesus offers you His compassion. Finally, Job professed his faith that his Redeemer lived in heaven. Jesus is your Redeemer. With faith, He will redeem you and offer you joyful, eternal life.

1. Love: Faith Brings Jesus’ Love When Others Unfairly Attack You. Job 19:1-4.

  • Job pleaded with his friends to end their unfounded attacks. In response to Bildad’s most recent cruel attacks, Job again urged his friends to stop their misguided and meritless attacks against him: “1 Then Job responded, 2 “How long will you torment me and crush me with words? 3 These ten times you have insulted me; you are not ashamed to wrong me. 4 Even if I have truly done wrong, my error stays with me.” (Job 19:1-4). Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar at first offered Job their support (Job 2:11). They did this by sitting silently with Job for seven days (Job 2:13). But they then relentlessly attacked him. Bildad had just dismissed Job’s prior laments and feelings of pain as empty words (Job 18:1-3). He accused Job of seeking to pervert God’s justice against an alleged sinner like him (Job 18:4). Claiming to speak for God, he warned the God would soon extinguish Job’s light both on Earth and in the after-life (Job 18:5-6). Without any evidence of a sin, Bildad then asserted that Job’s alleged sins had laid a snare for him (Job 18:7-10). Bildad then warned that Job faced terror and disease for the rest of his life and then “brimstone” judgment in the after-life (Job 18:11-16). Bildad further blamed Job for the death of his ten children (Job 18:17-19). Finally, after these efforts to convince Job of his alleged sins had failed, Bildad stated that Job had never really known God (Job 18:20-21).

Gerard Seghers (1591-1651) “The Patient Job” (painting late 17th Century)1

  • Job’s friends unfairly made him the object of ridicule. At a time when he needed help, Job’s friends only gave him ridicule and shook their heads at him. The Psalmist also lamented the scorn that he received: “All who see me deride me; they sneer, they shake their heads,” (Ps. 22:7). “I also have become a disgrace to them; when they see me, they shake their head.” (Ps. 109:25). This foreshadowed the scorn that Jesus received: “And those passing by were speaking abusively to Him, shaking their heads,” (Matt. 27:39). “Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,”’ (Mk. 15:29).

  • When others reject you, Jesus offers you His love. When the world turns against you, you can find true love in Jesus: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4). “But God, who comforts the discouraged, comforted us by the arrival of Titus;” (2 Cor. 7:6). “I, I Myself, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of mortal man, and of a son of man who is made like grass,” (Is. 51:12). When you feel unloved, turn to Jesus.

2. Sovereignty: Jesus Causes all Things to Work Together for His Good. Job 19:5-6.

  • Job professed that, if his friends disgraced him, it was only because God allowed it. As a man of faith, Job believed that, if he suffered an injustice at the hands of his friends, it was only because God permitted it: “5 If indeed you exalt yourselves against me and prove my disgrace to me, 6 know then that God has wronged me and has surrounded me with His net.” (Job 19:5-6). “Bildad had spoken a great deal about the wicked being snared by his own sin, and now Job, without actually quoting his words--for he uses a word for net that Bildad had not used--speaks to their substance. It is God who has taken him in His net and compassed him about therewith. This is the assertion he has made before (Job 16:7; Job 13:27, &c.).” (Ellicott’s commentary on Job 19:6).2

Job stated that his belief that God had allowed his friends to attack him3

  • Job believed in faith that God was sovereign over evil. Job knew that there was nothing that was beyond God’s power. Thus, he believed that God had allowed his friends to level false charges against him: “God hands me over to criminals, and tosses me into the hands of the wicked.” (Job 16:10). “‘Is it right for You indeed to oppress, to reject the work of Your hands, and to look favorably on the plan of the wicked? . . . ‘Your hands fashioned and made me altogether, yet would You destroy me?”’ (Job 10:3,8). Normally, sinners have free will to engage in attacks. But here God had permitted these attacks. Job’s friends were acting under Satan’s direction based on his authority (Job 2:6). “In a sense the Accuser was acting as the hand of God.” (Frank Gaebelein, Elmer Smick, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 1, 2 Kings, 1, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job (Zondervan Publishing House 1988) p. 940).

  • The psalmist also pleaded for God to expose unjust accusations. Job was not the last godly man to be falsely accused. The psalms are also filled with requests for God to expose unjust acts: “May those be ashamed and altogether humiliated who rejoice at my distress; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and dishonor.” (Ps. 35:26). “May those who are enemies of my soul be put to shame and consumed; may they be covered with disgrace and dishonor, who seek to injure me.” (Ps. 71:13). “All my enemies will be put to shame and greatly horrified; they shall turn back, they will suddenly be put to shame.” (Ps. 6:10). “For I said, “May they not rejoice over me, who, when my foot slips, would exalt themselves over me.’” (Ps. 38:10).

  • God uses His control over people to cause all things to work together for His good. God’s plans are frequently beyond our limited comprehension: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is. 55:9). Yet, even when you lack the ability to understand the reasons for a trial or why God allows evil to happen, God wants you to have faith that He has a greater plan of you: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Ro. 8:28). When evil seems to be everywhere, do you still trust that God has a greater plan for you?

3. Justice: Jesus Will Treat You Fairly and Bring You Justice. Job 19:7-12.

  • Job lamented his incorrect belief that God did not hear him and was allegedly unfair. Job incorrectly believed that God viewed him as an enemy and had therefore oppressed him: “7 Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice. 8 He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass, and He has put darkness on my paths. 9 He has stripped my honor from me and removed the crown from my head. 10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree. 11 He has also kindled His anger against me and considered me as His enemy. 12 His troops come together and build up their way against me and camp around my tent.” (Job 19:7-12). Because he failed to understand that trials can happen for reasons unrelated to sin, Job concluded that God had unfairly and mistakenly judged him.

Job cried in prayer after feeling that God had treated him unfairly4

  • Job repeatedly complained that God was allegedly unfair. Despite being a man of faith, Job had repeatedly expressed his belief that God had acted unfairly toward him: “God hands me over to criminals, and tosses me into the hands of the wicked.” (Job 16:11). “The earth is handed over to the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?” (Job 9:24). “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has shut off?” (Job 3:23). “Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a person, and there is no release.” (Job 12:14). “Why do You hide Your face and consider me Your enemy?” (Job 13:24). “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.” (Job 7:6). “Why do the wicked still live, grow old, and also become very powerful?” (Job 21:7). “I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me . . . When I expected good, evil came; when I waited for light, darkness came.” (Job 30:20, 26). Job would need to learn that sometimes bad things can happen to good people. God’s plans for each of us are sometimes greater than our ability to understand.

  • Other men of God cried out to God to question God’s plans for them. Job was not the only person of faith to incorrectly believe that God had turned against them: “How long, LORD, have I called for help, and You do not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ Yet You do not save.” (Habakkuk 1:2). “How long am I to feel anxious in my soul, with grief in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?” (Ps. 13:3). “I will say to God my rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’” (Ps. 42:9). “A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my help are the words of my groaning.” (Ps. 22:1b). God knows your thoughts. Even when you labor under incorrect or false beliefs, God wants you to pour out anguish and hurt Him.

  • Don’t attempt to discern God’s will merely though your personal circumstances. Like Job, many believers today attempt to discern God’s will merely by looking to whether they are well off in things like work, money, family, friends, or health: “Though it was not really the case, Job interpreted his bad fortune as God’s anger burning against him. In fact, God’s anger burned against Eliphaz and his two friends, according to 42:7, because they had not spoken of God what was right . . . Job erred, like his three counselors, in judging God’s attitude from circumstances. Certainly we have the Scriptures and should never make that mistake (cf. Rom 5:8; 8:39).” (Robert Alden, The New American Commentary, Vol. 11, Job (B&H Publishing Group 1993) p. 202). If you lose your job, your health, or if your relationships suffer, don’t make the same mistake as Job in assuming that God is angry with you. Instead, pray for God’s guidance.

  • God is just and fair. God does not want you to confuse the ultimate with the immediate. God will one day bring justice to every wrong committed against you. “For the LORD is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.” (Is. 30:18b). “Thus says the LORD, . . . I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD.” (Jer. 9:23-24). When you feel that you have been wrong, God wants you to trust that He will be just and fair with you. He also wants you to understand that His timing is not your timing.

4. Fellowship: Jesus Offers His Fellowship When Others Reject You. Job 19:13-19.

  • Job lamented the lost respect of his wife and friends. Even though he was not guilty of any major sin, Job cried out to God that his wife and friends found him to be repulsive: “13 He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances have completely turned away from me. 14 My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me. 15 Those who live in my house and my servant women consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. 16 I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore his favor with my mouth. 17 My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers. 18 Even young children despise me; I stand up and they speak against me. 19 All my associates loathe me, and those I love have turned against me.” (Job 19:13-19). It would have been unimaginably painful to lose his ten children, his health and his wealth at the same time. Just when he needed social support the most, his wife and friends rejected him and could not stand to even be in his presence. In contrast, God welcomes your cries when you feel socially isolated and attacked.

  • Job unfairly lost the respect of everyone around him. The only limitation that God placed on Satan was that he could not take Job’s life (Job 2:6). Satan had already turned Job’s wife against him (Job 2:9). Now, she found his breath to be repulsive: “My breath is offensive to my wife, . . .” (Job 19:17a). Satan had now also turned all of Job’s friends against him (Job 19:9,13-14, 19). This was a complaint that he raised many times to God: “4 I am a joke to my friends, . . .” (Job 12:4a). “My friends are my scoffers; . . .” (Job 16:20a). “Mockers are certainly with me, and my eye gazes on their provocation.” (Job 17:2). They loathe me and stand aloof from me, and they do not refrain from spitting in my face.” (Job 30:10). Even children feared him with his open sores across his body: “Even young children despise me; I stand up and they speak against me.” (Job 19:18). In a patriarchal society, it was the great dishonor for children to reject a patriarch like Job. But Job did not realize that God would never abandoned him: “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the LORD your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.” (Dt. 31:6). When you feel that others have turned against you, Jesus also wants you to cry out to Him.

  • The psalmist was also unfairly attacked. The psalmist also felt a similar feeling of isolation: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” (Ps. 41:9). “You have removed my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an object of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out.” (Ps. 88:8).

  • Jesus was also humiliated so that you find His fellowship. Although He was without sin, Jesus bore our shame. For example, Jesus was mocked before He healed a girl that everyone concluded was dead (Matt. 9:24; Mk. 5:40). The Roman soldiers also mocked Jesus when they beat Him (Matt. 27:29), and the chief priests mocked Him as well (Matt. 27:41). “Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him,” (Matt. 26:67). “They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.” (Matt. 27:30). Jesus suffered without deserving it so that you might be saved. He also suffered so that you would know that He understands your pain.

  • When others reject you, Jesus offers you His fellowship. When you feel alone, rejected, or isolated, your faith brings you the blessing of Jesus’ fellowship: “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:9). Merely accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is not enough to be in fellowship with Him. You must accept Jesus’ invitation for a deeper relationship: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rev. 3:20). If you feel lonely, are you accepting Jesus’ invitation for a deeper relationship and true fellowship with Him?

5. Healing: Through Faith, Jesus Can Heal and Restore Your Health. Job 19:20.

  • Job lamented his declining health and his belief that death was near. While he battled the emotional turmoil from the loss of his children, his wealth, and the respect of his wife and friends, Job also continued to feel agonizing, physical pain as a result of Satan’s attacks: “20 My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.” (Job 19:20). Job saw no relief in sight. He had lost so much weight from his intense illnesses that his bones were visible. Thus, he assumed that his death was close.

  • Satan frequently uses your flesh to turn you away from God. Satan had brought Job to his breaking point. Satan first used evil men to steal Job’s animals and murder his servants (Job 1:13-15, 17). Satan then sent a fire that burned his remaining animals (Job 1:16). Satan then used a storm to kill Job’s ten children (Job 1:18-19). Satan then assaulted Job with a host of debilitation illnesses. These included: (1) painful, itchy sores from head to toe (Job 2:7-8), (2) decaying, blackened, maggot-ridden flesh (Job 30:30a; 7:5a), (3) hardened, dead flesh with oozing scars (Job 7:5b), (4) burning bone pains (Job 30:30b), (5) difficulty breathing (Job 9:18), (4) sleeplessness from intense pains (Job 30:17; 7:3-4), (5) misery and sorrow (Job 17:7; 30:27-28), (6) intense crying (Job 16:16; 16:20b), (7) ongoing fatigue and anxiety (Job 16:7a; 3:26), (8) nightmares (Job 7:14), (9) severe emaciation from an inability to eat (Job 17:7b; 19:20; 33:21), (10) a repulsive appearance and breath (Job 19:17), (11) public scorn and abandonment (Job 16:20a; 19:13), and (12) depression and suicidal ideation (Job 6:9; 7:15-16; 9:21; 10:1). Satan’s attacks on a person’s health are one of his frequent means for attacking believers. He used the same technique to torment Paul: “Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!” (2 Cor. 12:7). If your health is under attack, turn to God for healing.

  • God can restore the health of a faithful believer. Throughout the Bible, God promises to pour out His blessings on those who live in faith-led obedience (Dt. 28:1-2). This can include His promise to withhold diseases and poor health: “And He said, ‘If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.’” (Ex. 15:26; Dt. 7:15). ‘“See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”’ (Dt. 32:39). “ . . . the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.” (Is. 30:26). “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.” (Job 5:8). “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Ps. 147:3). “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” (Ps. 107:20). You cannot earn God’s blessings. But God is faithful to bless those who live with faith-led obedience.

  • All things are possible with God when you have faith. There is no illness, disease, or cancer that is beyond God’s healing power: “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?” (Gen. 18:14(a)). “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer. 32:27). “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2). “‘With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”’ (Matt. 19:26(b); Mk. 10:27(b); Lk. 1:37). “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Ro. 8:31). David cried out for God for healing: “O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.” (Ps. 30:2). “Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am pining away; Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are dismayed.” (Ps. 6:2). “As for me, I said, ‘O LORD, be gracious to me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”’ (Ps. 41:4). Moses also cried out for God to heal his sister Miriam from her leprosy: “Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, ‘O God, heal her, I pray!”’ (Nu. 12:13). Have you cried out to God if you need healing?

6. Compassion: Jesus Offers His Compassion When the World Attacks You. Job 19:21-22.

  • Job pleaded for compassion after feeling attacks from every direction. Job sadly believed that God had attacked him the same way his friends had done: “21 Pity me, pity me, you friends of mine, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?” (Job 19:21-22). Satan promised that Job would curse God if God would reach out and touch him and thereby destroy him: “But reach out with Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.” (Job 1:1). Not knowing that Satan was his real attacker, Job assumed that God had struck him. But Satan was wrong in his prediction. Job never cursed God.

Job cried out for God’s mercy and grace after everyone attacked him5

  • God hears your prayers for compassion and pity. Naomi at one point felt the same way after she lost her husband and her only two sons: “the hand of the LORD has come out against me.” (Ruth 1:13b). God later used Ruth to restore Naomi and show her His love.

  • Jesus will show you compassion when you suffer. Jesus had compassion for the masses (Matt. 9:36). He also longs to show you His compassion: “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.” (Is. 30:18a). “And He said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.”’ (Ex. 33:19). When you feel alone or defeated, are you turning to Jesus to find compassion?

7. Redemption: With Faith, Jesus Redeems You and Gives You Eternal Life. Job 19:23-29.

  • Job professed faith in God, even though he believed that God was against him. Despite Satan’s relentless attacks, Job showed his incredible faith by continuing to trust God: “23 Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were recorded in a book! 24 That with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! 25 Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. 26 Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God, 27 whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me! 28 If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’ And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’ 29 Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is judgment.” (Job 19:23-29). Job prophetically called for his words to be recorded (Job 19:23-24). At a time when no one supported him, Job could not have known that God would forever record his words of faith.

Job had the faith to know that he had a redeemer in heaven6

  • Job had faith that his Advocate existed in heaven. Unaware of Satan’s attacks, Job believed in faith that his Advocate in heaven who would clear him of the false charges leveled against him: “Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth.” (Job 19:25). “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.” (Job 16:19). In Hebrew, a redeemer was a “goel”. A “goel” was a kinsman defender who would avenge a family member who suffered an injustice, including a murder (E.g., Nu. 35:12-28). Job believed that his goel would also expose the evil deeds of his friends (Job 19:29). “For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecc. 12:14).

  • Job’s plea showed that Satan’s plan had failed. Satan had boasted to God that Job would eventually curse God after losing everything (Job 1:11; 2:5). But Job’s faithful proclamation showed that Satan had failed. Even when Job incorrectly believed that God had unfairly accused him of a major sin, he would not renounce his faith in God.

  • Jesus is your Advocate. Job’s plea foreshadowed Jesus Christ. He is your counselor (Is. 9:6) and your only mediator to God the Father (1 Tim. 2:5). Jesus also advocates for you in the same heavenly court: “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” (1 Jo. 2:1b). “Christ Jesus . . . also intercedes for us.” (Ro. 8:34). “Therefore He is also able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25). “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 Jo. 5:14; Matt. 7:7-8). If you are in need of help or feel that you are under attack, Jesus wants you to call out to Him for His deliverance.

  • Job’s suffering foreshadowed Jesus’ suffering. As one commentator observes, Job’s suffering foreshadowed Jesus’ suffering: “it is also significant that in this passage where Jesus is wonderfully celebrated as a living Redeemer and Vindicator and Kinsman for His people, we also see the shadow of the suffering of Jesus . . .· [God] has surrounded me with His net (Job 19:6). · He has set darkness in my paths (Job 19:8). · He has stripped me of my glory (Job 19:9). · He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone (Job 19:10). · He has kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His enemies (Job 19:11). · He has removed my brothers far from me (Job 19:13). · My close friends have forgotten me (Job 19:14). · Those whom I love have turned against me (Job 19:19). · My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh (Job 19:20).” (David Guzik on Job 19).7 Because Jesus suffered for you, He also understands your pain.

  • Jesus can also deliver you. Like Job, your Redeemer can deliver you as well. When Moses faced a Pharaoh with an arrogance and distain for Yahweh, Moses advised that he would live to see Yahweh’s power: “Then he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ So he said, ‘May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.”’ (Ex. 8:10). Approximately 80 years later, Moses told the Jews that God allowed them to witness His many miracles in the wilderness so that they would know that He is unique and unlike any other: “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.” (Dt. 4:35). “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and just is He.” (Dt. 32:4). David also proclaimed God’s unique power: “For this reason You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” (2 Sam. 7:22). Isaiah also counseled the people who lived in Hezekiah’s time that God was not like an idol: “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.”’ (Is. 44:6). “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,” (Jer. 32:17). With faith in God, even the impossible is possible: “And looking at them Jesus said to them, ‘With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”’ (Matt. 19:26; Mk. 10:27). When you have faith, Jesus can also deliver you from any enemy, trial, or pain that you may face.

  • Those who are purified through Jesus will see Him in heaven. Job professed in faith that he would see God after he died (Job 19:26). Jesus revealed: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matt. 5:8). “Beloved, . . . we will see Him just as He is.” (1 Jo. 3:2). Through faith, Jesus will also allow you to be in His presence and see Him.