“And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives…” Job 19:25 

   To say that Job’s was a painful learning experience is a colossal understatement. His encounter with the adversary enabled him to get to know the God he just thought he knew. Is it possible for people to think they “know God” but be ignorant of His true nature? Yes.

   Job is unique; God communicated directly with him in order to open his eyes. Many people think God speaks directly to us today and base their knowledge of Him on some supposed communique. They are wrong. God does not speak to men now like He did in the past. According to Hebrews 1:1-2, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.”

   Since God does not speak directly to us now, does this mean that we cannot really know Him or His will? If such is the case, then the Bible is worthless. We might as well throw it away and sit back and wait for God to give us a call or send us an email. If this is the way we are supposed to learn about God, why don’t we hear Jesus’ disciples telling people to sit down and wait for their eyes to be opened like Job’s? Why are there so many admonitions to read the scriptures if the Bible is not THE God-ordained means of conveying His will and revealing His nature to us? Don’t be misled. It is the ONLY way for us to know Him and His plan.

   Consider, for a moment, all that the people in first century, pagan, Ephesus did not know about God or Jesus. They knew nothing about their redeemer until Paul told them about this mystery (refers to what was previously unknown). Take careful note of the divine means of opening their eyes. Paul said, “...that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit...”. (Eph. 3:3-5) The Holy Spirit revealed this message to Paul and he wrote it to the Ephesians so they could understand God’s will. In this same letter Paul told them about how Jesus accomplished redemption (Eph. 1:7). They could know their redeemer by reading and understanding Paul’s inspired words. What about you?  Do you really know that your redeemer lives? You can. You must.  KD