My Redeemer Lives!

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.” Job 19:25 NASB

Samuel Butler came from a family dedicated to ministry. His father was a pastor, and his grandfather had been a bishop. It was hoped that Samuel would follow in their footsteps into the ministry. But Butler, born in central England on this day in 1835, found it difficult simply to believe the Gospel.

Determined to be an independent thinker, he left the church and immigrated to New Zealand. While there, Butler read Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species. As a result, he became an “enthusiastic admirer” of Darwin’s evolutionary theories. He even renounced Christianity.

Yet, he could not escape what he had been taught as a child, and eventually rejected Darwinism. Returning to England, he anonymously wrote a book to provide “Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” While believing in the resurrection, he still wanted to be independent. He gained fame in 1872 with his book Erewhon (a rearrangement of the letters in “nowhere”), which attacked both Darwinism and Christianity.

He once said, “I have never written on any subject unless I believed that the authorities on it were hopelessly wrong.” In one of his notebooks, Butler wrote, “What is faith but a kind of betting or speculation after all? It should be: ‘I bet my Redeemer liveth.’” He never seemed to have the kind of childlike confidence that Job had, when, in spite of all his problems, he proclaimed, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

Today, many people are like Butler: independent, skeptical, and filled with doubt. They never experience the simple joy of a childlike faith in God.

Don’t allow doubt or worldly sophistication to rob you of joy and peace. Jesus came to free you from your sins, so you can experience an abundant life (John 10:10). Declare with confidence that your Redeemer lives!

Prayer: Father, thank You that Jesus is my Redeemer and that He lives! Deliver me from doubt. Help me to share the Good News with others. I dedicate my life to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.