Job 16:19 Surely even now my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.

Every once in a while I see someone with a shirt that says, “Only God can judge me!” A statement that is patently and observably untrue! But I understand what they’re getting at. Only God has the knowledge to correctly judge them.

Job must have felt this way. His friends were trying to give him counsel. They were trying to ‘comfort’ him. But they were making a hash of it! He didn’t feel counseled and he surely wasn’t comforted! So he appealed to heaven.

He had been making the case that there was nothing that he could come up with that he had done, or left undone, that would be displeasing to God. (They were sure this must be the reason for his troubles. But we read in the prologue that Job is correct.) So Job says that his witness and evidence is in heaven. If he is going to stand trial, so to speak, his appeal goes upward.

For the born again, devoted follower of Christ, we can make the same claim. We have a Witness in heaven! Jesus Christ is even now at the right hand of the Father. What is He doing there? Making intercession for us! But not in the sense that He is trying to convince an angry God that He should accept me, for my acceptance was purchased on the cross and notarized when I repented of my sins, confessed the Lordship of Christ, and was baptized. The intercession Jesus is making for me is for my daily pursuit of being more like Him.

Others will judge me. I can’t stop that. God also will judge me. And when that moment comes, because of Christ’s salvation gift which I accepted, The Father will see me, and say, “You remind me of My Son! Come on in!”

Blessings,

Pastor Russ