OUR KINSMAN-REDEEMER!

"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." -Job 19:25-27 [KJV]

What sublimity is in these words! and what blessed glorious truths do they contain! Here is Job's creed. My soul, see if it be thine. Job did not say, that he had heard of a Redeemer, and that he hoped it was true, and he gave credit to it; but he saith, he knoweth it. And observe Who this Redeemer is. Job calls him his Goel, his Kinsman-Redeemer. For the right of redemption belonged to the nearest of kin, and he might redeem; Leviticus 25:25. We have lost our inheritance, forfeited our possession, and are poor indeed, both in person and in substance.  

Now as Christ, by virtue of His being our nearest of kin, is the one, the blessed one, the only one to whom the right of redemption belongs, and must redeem both our persons and our mortgaged inheritance; so we find Christ hath done both. Job therefore exults: "I know, (saith he) that my Kinsman, my Redeemer liveth." Oh, how blessed the thought! how precious the assurance! But we must not stop here. This Kinsman-Redeemer will stand at the latter day upon the earth. Yes, saith the scripture, Jehovah hath given assurance to all men of this, "in that He hath raised Him from the dead," Acts 17:31. Neither is this all. Job's creed goes on. "Though (saith he) this body of mine be destroyed by worms, yet in this flesh shall I see God; Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold for myself, and not another for me."  

Sweet thought! Jesus hath secured the resurrection of His people, and, by His own, hath confirmed theirs. As sure as He arose, so sure must they; for He is the first fruits, and, by their union with Him, they are the after harvest. As Jesus arose perfectly and substantially the very same body that died on the cross, so must their redeemed bodies arise the very same. The hand that now writes, and the eye that now reads, if a part of Christ's mystical body by regeneration, must be interested in His resurrection also, and must arise not only precisely the same identical body, but every member of that body must be the same; for this is essential to identity. Were God to raise another body, it would make another person. This might indeed be done by God's power; but then it would be a new creation, and not a resurrection of the old body. I must be the who I am now, and the same as I am now, as to identity, in order to constitute a resurrection. "This corruptible (saith Paul) must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Pause, my soul, over these sweet, but solemn truths, and say, are they blessed to thy meditation? Dost thou feel a joy, an interest in them? Oh! the unspeakable felicity of knowing that we have a Kinsman-Redeemer, and that He liveth, and that we live in Him? Precious, precious Jesus! though all nations die, Jesus liveth; and because he liveth, I shall live also! Lie down, my soul, this night, with this blessed assurance, saying, Hallelujah! Amen. 

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)   


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