Job said that he would see God in his flesh, prior to his death when the worms destroy [his] body. Again, Job was talking about a future event of seeing God before his death. Job didn't say that he saw God by v26 nor was he stating that others in future times will see God, again, he said HE will see God. Scripture makes it clear that "no man has seen or can see [God]" (1 Timothy 6:16) since God is "invisible"(Col 1:15). Job saw God in a figurative sense when God spoke to him from the windstorm, he himself stated this, "My ears have heard about you, But now I do see you with my eyes" (Job 42:5). The events of v25 did NOT occur during Job's lifetime.
It is your assumption to believe that the God in v26 is referring to the redeemer who Job said would stand up in the last days.
What can we tell from v25&26?
1. Job said he knows the redeemer is alive will come in the last days (v25)
2. Job said he will see God before his death (v26)
How you managed to link the God mentioned in v26, who Job said he will see before his death, and the redeemer in v25 who would stand up in the last says is beyond me. To claim that Job saw the redeemer is to unwittingly admit that Job lived until Jesus living for hundreds and hundreds of years. Job did not say he would seethe redeemer but only that "that [his] redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth", Job simply stated he knew the redeemer was alive and would come in the last days, Job then went on to say he would see God before his death. Again, it is your wild assumption that the Job claimed Jesus was God, these texts certainly don't say so.
Job doesn't say that he will see God before his death. That's something you added into your reading of the passage. Your reading requires that verses 25 and 26 be divorced from each other, entirely unrelated. These words are obviously part of the same thought: God lives, he shall return, and Job will die, yet in his flesh he is going to see God when he returns.
Job 19:25-27 KJV
(25) For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
(26) And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
(27) Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Verse 26 was not given in the sense of having foreknowledge that God was about to appear... if you remember, God entered the conversation rather abruptly. Look at verse 26, because "yet in my flesh shall I see God" is predicated by the condition of "And thou after my skin worms destroy this body...."
Thus, verse 26 is not fulfilled until after worms consume the body of Job.
The entire passage, verses 25-27, is a future prophecy of God's visible setting foot on earth, and his own resurrection.
Why this objection?... "Man cannot see God?" Perhaps man cannot see the invisible God, as he exists outside of earth, but God can be seen by the naked eye when he wills it to be. Exodus 33:11, "
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" and again,
Numbers 12:6-8 KJV
(6) And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
(7) My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
(8)
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches;
and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
I suspect it is because the concept of God visible in the flesh seems too dangerous for you to allow...
However, if you can explain how Job can fulfill his prophecy of "
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 reins be consumed within me.
Without his skin and body being destroyed by worms, and his reins being consumed within him, then I could see how "yet in my flesh shall I see God" would have already been fulfilled. That event was spoken in the context of total destruction of Job and dissolution after death. I haven't heard anyone explain it as you did, and as such I suspect that your explanation owes more to avoiding the equivalence that Job foreshadowed of God and He whom we now call Christ.
