davidbowerkingwood

Deuteronomy 29:29 begins with these words, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God.” That thought is often with me as I study the Bible; I’m sure there are many of us who wished the Lord would have provided just a bit more information on this or that subject.

A case in point for me is the antediluvian world, the world before the flood as described in the first six chapters of the Old Testament. There are marvelous hints as to what it may have been like but not nearly so much information as I would like. Another is the nature of the eternal state, what does God have planned for our eternity, what will heaven really be like and what will we be doing?

Perhaps I’ll address my speculation on those two areas in later blogs but today I want to mention another part of Scripture that has caused me to ponder “the secret things of God.”

The part of Scripture to which I refer is the amazing statement made by Job in the 19th chapter, verses 25 – 27. “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my heart be consumed within me.”

This is an astounding statement; where did Job’s knowledge of the end times come from, where did he learn about the living redeemer that would be physically present in the latter day and the physical resurrection of his body that he might see his redeemer with his own eyes?

Nothing that I know of in the Old Testament, especially during the days of the patriarchs, suggests this level of understanding of end time events so where did Job learn this information? It’s also interesting how casually it’s mentioned, as if this was the sort of thing everybody knew.

I do not have an answer to those questions; this is in the category of God’s secret things. By God’s grace we now have more information on those end time events and know the name of Job’s redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We also know more about the resurrection of God’s saints and know that Job will be resurrected at the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. The accuracy of Job’s statement is impressive; at Job’s resurrection the Lord will have returned to earth whereas at our resurrection, the resurrection of the church, we shall meet the Lord in the air.

We can also be confident in our assurance that we too will see our redeemer for ourselves as will our loved ones in the Lord who have experienced physical death. What a glorious occasion that will be!

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” I Thessalonians 4:16-18

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.