Contents:
Among this group of angelic beings, Satan also came among them. The fact that Satan … came among them shows that Satan is himself an angelic being, and in no way equal to God. We often - to his great delight - inflate Satan's status and importance, thinking of him as the opposite of God, as if God were light and Satan were darkness; as if God were hot and Satan were cold. Satan wishes he was the opposite of God, but God wants us to know that Satan is a mere creature, and is in no way the opposite of God.
If Satan has an opposite, it is not God the Father or God the Son; it would be a high-ranking angelic being such as Michael. The fact that they came to present themselves before the LORD shows that angelic beings - indeed, fallen angelic beings - have access to the presence of God 1 Kings From where do you come? God allowed and continues to allow Satan and fallen angelic beings into His presence, but only for His own purposes.
Therefore He demanded to know what Satan's business was.
From going to and fro on the earth: Though Satan has access to heaven, he also has free access to the earth, and roams about the earth as a roaring lion 1 Peter 5: It can be said that Satan has an active interest in what happens on the earth. Have you considered My servant Job: It was God who brought up Job as a subject for discussion, and God brought up Job in the sense of bragging about Job's godliness and character. God was so impressed with Job that He affirmed the description of Job first recorded in Job 1: Of course Satan does consider the saints of God; yet what does the devil see when he considers the saints?
There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil: This was God's pronouncement of Job's character.
After these first two chapters of Job, almost everything we know of the man is colored by the perspective of the speaker. Later, when Job talks about himself and his situation we must take into account that it is Job who speaks; when his friends speak likewise they speak according to their own knowledge, ignorance, and bias.
Only in the first two chapters do we have a truly objective viewpoint about Job. He really was a blameless and upright man , no matter what his friends would later say. We know and God knew that Job was not sinlessly perfect; yet God called him blameless. Absolutely no blame attaches to him, because the very one he offended has exonerated him. We know that Job was not sinlessly perfect; yet God unashamedly seemed to see him that way. The modern believer stands in the same place, completely justified in Jesus Christ. Does Job fear God for nothing?
Here Satan fulfilled the role described in Revelation Satan accused Job before God, insisting that Job's godliness was essentially false and that Job only served God for what he could get from Him. Satan's reply to God first reveals his essential cynicism ; he doubts every supposed good as being dishonest and hollow. The Satan believes nothing to be genuinely good - neither Job in his disinterested piety nor God in His disinterested generosity. The exact maxim of a great statesman, Sir Robert Walpole: Every man has his price. No doubt Sir Robert met with many such and the Devil many more.
But still God has multitudes that will neither sell their souls, their consciences, nor their country, for any price; who, though God should slay them, will nevertheless trust in him, and be honest men howsoever tempted by the Devil and his vicegerents. So did Job; so have done thousands; so will all do, in whose hearts Christ dwells by faith. The accusation against Job was also an accusation against God, for it implied that God had bribed Job into obedience.
Satan's accusation gave testimony to the fact that God had protected Job Have You not made a hedge around him and had also blessed him You have blessed. Jesus indicated that Satan wanted to do much worse against Peter than God allowed him to do Luke But now, stretch out Your hand: Confident in his accusation against Job, Satan insisted to God that Job would surely curse You to Your face if this protection and blessing was withdrawn. Satan believed that adversity could make Job move from his standing in faith; that Job would be unable to stand against the wiles and the deceptions of the devil as is given to the believer in Ephesians 6: Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person: In response to Satan's accusation, God gave him great - though limited - permission to attack Job.
God would let down the hedge without completely removing it. Satan had the power and the desire to afflict Job all along; what he lacked was the allowance from God. When God allowed it, Satan was more than happy to attack Job up to the limit of the allowance. Though Satan was now able to attack Job in a much greater way than before, his power was not unlimited. God only allowed Satan to do what he wanted to do to ultimately serve His purpose.
Satan went out from the presence of the LORD: As he did, he continued a sequence of events in the spiritual realm that as in Ephesians 6: The revelation of the heavenly scene behind the earthly scene helps us to understand the later comment of James on Job: Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. The two great themes of the Book of Job, as explained by James, are the perseverance of Job and the end intended by the Lord, and it is important that we learn both themes.
The end intended by the Lord James 5: God used Job to teach angelic beings, especially to teach them about His own spectacular wisdom. Therefore, the Book of Job teaches us that there is an aspect of human misery that is not the penalty for sin, not correction in righteousness, not redemptive in itself, and not the noble bearing of persecution for righteousness' sake. Job's suffering was of this aspect; we might say that the reason for his suffering was as a tool to teach angelic beings; Job made known the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers in heavenly places Ephesians 3: We might say that all the other reasons for suffering can also be used of God to reveal His wisdom to angelic beings; the man who suffers as the penalty of sin can, by the way he receives the suffering, be an important lesson of God's wisdom.
Yet Job's case was unique; his suffering seems to be mainly or only concerned with this purpose of instructing angelic beings. In all these things he is a minister - used for the ultimate blessing, comfort, and help of the people of God, and for their present spiritual profit. He was allowed to be the author of Job's trials and losses: As good as Job was at the beginning of the book, he will be a better man at the end of it.
He was better in character, humbler, and more blessed than before. He is piling up a pedestal on which God will set his servant Job, that he may he looked upon with wonder by all ages… Oh! How many have been saved out of the jaw of the lion, and from the paw of the bear by the dark experiences of the patriarch of Uz.
O arch fiend, how art thou taken in thine own net! Thou hast thrown a stone which has fallen on thine own head. Thou madest a pit for Job, and hast fallen into it thyself; thou art taken in thine own craftiness. Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house; and a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away; indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you! Given greater allowance to afflict Job, Satan maximized his work against the man of God by bringing the catastrophe to Job in the span of a few hours.
In that limited time Job lost his oxen , his servants , his sheep , his camels , and his sons and daughters. This shows us that Satan was focused on maximizing his advantage. If he were allowed to attack Job, he would do it in the most effective way possible all the way up to what God would allow. Therefore, any foothold we give to Satan is dangerous. We should expect that he will maximize any advantage given to him.
When his sons and daughters were eating and drinking shows us the great cruelty of Satan. His malice is seen in the choice of time. He strikes in the midst of festivity.
What Does Genesis 3: The world likes to have and worship its heroes but those making God's hall of faith are of a different character entirely! They are beyond your reach; but by faith you can move the arm of God on their behalf. Editor's Picks 52 Printable! The two great themes of the Book of Job, as explained by James, are the perseverance of Job and the end intended by the Lord, and it is important that we learn both themes. This third edition of the Anchor Bible Book Of Job Volume 15 in the series contains numerous new, revised or augmented notes.
The catastrophe came upon Job's sons and daughters as they were feasting in their oldest brother's house. We know from Job 1: This made the crisis all the more mysterious and problematic for Job. The Sabeans … the fire of God fell from heaven … the Chaldeans … a great wind: The tragedies came to Job from many different causes; yet we know that the prior cause was the instigation of Satan.
In this we learn something of how Satan works. He did not force godly Sabeans and Chaldeans to do things against Job that they did not want to do. He accomplished his evil purpose by working through the evil character of fallen men. We also learn that in some way, Satan had some influence over the weather a great wind and could imitate a phenomenon usually associated with God the fire of God from heaven.
The servants of Job thought that God sent this fire, but that was only true in a very indirect sense, in the sense that God had allowed it by removing a prior restriction. This shows that at least at some times, Satan wants to work in such a way that what he does will be blamed on God.
Not all power over all weather. But some power over some weather. To the extent that God allows, the Devil has supernatural power at his disposal to direct the elements to accomplish his evil purposes. We also see that this attack was clearly focused against Job; yet others suffered because Satan attacked Job and God allowed him to be attacked. Job's animals, servants, and children all perished because Job was the target. This can only be justified if we understand that:. Each of these unfortunates was born mortal and subject to death; the only surprise in their death was that they died sooner than expected, not that they died at all.
We can only say that God either did right or wrong by these unfortunates by the eternal picture. Until then we trust what Abraham knew of God: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.
Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head: Quite appropriately, Job mourned his tremendous losses. He had lost his sons and daughters and servants a great amount of material wealth. It was a time for mourning. Job mourned, but he did not mourn as the heathens or the pagans mourned. He did not cut or gash or tattoo himself for the dead as was the common practice among those ancient peoples Leviticus He fell to the ground and worshipped: In the midst of his mourning, Job also decided to worship God despite his circumstances and feelings.
We might say that this was indeed pure worship and greatly glorifying to God. If he does not please us every day, and give way to our whims, and gratify our tastes, then we will not praise him. Later in the book, as spiritual battle is fought in and all around Job, he will seem to move very far from these words of worship. Yet is it important to remember that a man's first reaction is often very telling, and reveals what really dominates his heart.
Worship was Job's first reaction to his crisis. Job analyzed his situation in a godly and wise way. He recognized that man is more than the things he gathers about him. It never occurs to him to curse the desert brigands, to curse the frontier guards, to curse his own stupid servants, now lying dead for their watchlessness. All secondary causes vanish.
It was the Lord who gave; it was the Lord who removed; and in the Lord alone must the explanation of these strange happenings be sought. We can meditate on the implications of the words, the LORD gave:. Blessed be the name of the LORD: This was the expression of worship mentioned in the previous verse. Job was able to bless the name of God even when he was specifically and severely tempted to curse the name of God. The devil said, 'No, you cannot afford it. So let it be with us. If the devil would drive us to curse God, let us bless him all the more, and Satan will be wise enough to leave off tempting when he finds that, the more he attempts to drive us, the more we go in the opposite direction.
In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong: We are impressed with Job's perspective on material things. He truly understood what Jesus said: One's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses Luke There are few in the world today who would endure the loss of such a fortune with such godliness and patient endurance. We are impressed with Job's unshaken commitment to God, and his enduring love for God. Satan's accusation - that if blessings were taken from Job, he would curse God - was proved to be a lie, and we might say that God was justifiably proud of His servant Job.
In this first round of spiritual warfare Satan was singularly unsuccessful in shaking Job from his standing in faith. Job successfully battled against spiritual attack and fulfilled the exhortation that would come many hundreds of years later from the Apostle Paul: God choose 7 events from human history for the nation of Israel to rehearse each and every year until it was finally fulfilled.
The feasts are amazing in their prophetic and personal application and are incredibly Christ centered! They take in the key events of Jesus' first coming as well as outlining the plan surrounding His second coming. Well worth a read: Is He Yahweh from the Old Testament? Is He essential for the spiritual and physical life of all mankind? Jesus' I AM statement explore these themes and more.
I AM the bread of life - How hungry are you? I AM the light of the world - Who is the second light? The world likes to have and worship its heroes but those making God's hall of faith are of a different character entirely! This series explores the faith of the great characters mentioned in Hebrews chapter Why were they pleasing to God? What can we learn from their lives? All the main aspects of Jesus' life, death and resurrection were foretold in the book of Psalms. And so was His second coming! The Knowledge of the Holy - The nature and character of God.
How do we know? How is He revealed to mankind? This simple but important series looks at the revelation of the nature and character of our great God and Saviour! The prophet Ezekiel has a fascinating section on how the Lord will make Himself known to all the nations in the last days - and it comes through the nation of Israel. We'll explore these chapters and see the relevance to the very day in which we live, as we look for the return of Jesus!
No one was ever the same after meeting the Lord Jesus. This series of shorter studies explores some of the different 'Jesus encounters' contained in the Gospels and what we can learn from them today. The call of Peter - Grace for a sinner like us The healing of the leper - He takes your place so you can have His Jesus and Legion - True Compassion Jesus, the paralytic and friends - The sign of a new walk Jesus, Jairus and a desperate woman Jesus, Peter and walking on water through the storms of life Jesus and the lawyer - Who is the good Samaritan?
The widows son and the future resurrection Worldly greed and the rich fool Jesus and Pilate - Everyone must make a choice! A common thief and a Roman centurion - Salvation at the cross! Hope restored on the road to Emmaus Saul - A terrorist radically changed! The Book of Colossians is one of the most Christ-centered books in the Bible. So how could we leave it out for so long? The person and work of the Lord Jesus are clearly presented in this great book as well as the errors and deceptions to avoid!
Revelation, direction and reflection Colossians Chapter 1: The hope of glory Colossians Chapter 2: What not to wear Colossians Chapter 3: Great clothing choices Colossians Chapter 3: Great clothing choices part 2 Colossians Chapter 4: Nehemiah is an amazing book showing the true nature of the Christian's life and warfare against the devil, the world and the sinful nature. An allegorical study with Jesus at it's center.
Daniel was an amazing man of God and this is one awesome book! It has fantastic stories and truths specific to our Christian life as well as detailed prophecies relevant for our current age! This series has been recently rewritten and is now complete. Stranded in Babylon Daniel Chapter 2: Faith under pressure and the God of the impossible Daniel Chapter 2 p2: A vision of things to come Daniel Chapter 3: When things get hot Daniel Chapter 4: Nebuchadnezzar and the tree of doom! Daniel Chapter 4 p2: Nebuchadnezzar - Lessons from a loon!
Ichabod and the writing is on the wall Daniel Chapter 5 p2: Gods Declaration of the End From the Beginning Daniel Chapter 9: Daniel - Lessons from a Legend Daniel Chapter 9 p2: Daniel's 70 Weeks P1 Daniel Chapter 9 p3: Daniel's 70 Weeks P2 Daniel Chapter Lifting the Veil Daniel Chapter How to Shine like the Stars. A study of the book of Ruth teaches some of the great truths concerning a believers walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Breaking the cycle of sin would be a good name for this series.
Judges is rich in its truth and application for believers today. It teaches many important lessons about living in our inheritance, the enemy's influence, and the seriousness of worldly compromise. The Bible is a book about Jesus. His life, death, and resurrection is pictured in countless different types throughout the Old Testament and this study series examines some of these through the lives of prominent characters in the Old Testament.
Exodus is a great Old Testament book and is very useful for discipleship and Christian living. It speaks of our bondage in the world, our deliverance and redemption in Christ, and our constant need to press on into the centrality of Jesus in our life. Jesus in the Tabernacle Bible Study. Following on from the Exodus study above, this Bible study series looks at the Tabernacle. Here was a design straight from the mouth of God and He gives us amazing glimpses into the coming Messiah, salvation and His plan for the ages.
Bible Studies in the Book of Romans Author: The book of Romans is the Apostle Paul's greatest theological work. All the great themes concerning the gospel, righteousness and the grace of God are there! Creation demands a Creator! The following studies are "semi" transcriptions from the Wilderness Wanderings audio sermons and follow Israel's journey out of Egypt and into the Promised Land The types, pictures and lessons for the Christian life are explored!
Exodus 17 Stop looking at the giants! Bible Studies in the book of Joshua - Walking in our inheritance Author: The following studies are "semi" transcriptions from the Joshua audio sermons and show the courage, faith and commitment required to take the inheritance that God has given to us. Divided loyalty and worldliness Joshua 2 Rahab: From harlot to hero! Bible Studies in the life of the Prophet Elijah Author: The following studies are "semi" transcriptions from the Elijah audio sermons on one of the greatest Old Testament saints.
There are valuable lessons for us today in the many highs and lows experienced by the prophet Elijah. Elijah Bible Study 1 Kings Elijah vs the prophets of Baal! Bible Studies in the life of the Prophet Elisha. From a plowman to a prophet, the life of Elisha was remarkable in many ways. This series looks at his life, looking, like normal, for types of Jesus and the Christian life today.
The Call of Elisha - How far do you want to go? The Journey of Elisha - How far do you want to go? Part 2 2 Kings 2: Elisha and a tale of two vessels 2 Kings 4; Elisha, the Shunammite woman and good old fashioned kindness! Elisha, Naaaman and the offence of the cross 2 Kings 6: Open my eyes 2 Kings 7: Faiths breaking point 2 Kings 8: Often called the '5th gospel' the second half of the book of Isaiah presents amazing insight into Jesus Christ.
This series will look at key passages concerning the Messiah, salvation and God's ways between chapters 40 - Isaiah Chapter 40 - Behold! Isaiah Chapter 43 - God will make a way! The following studies are on Isaiah It is the greatest prophetic passage concerning Jesus Christ in the entire Old Testament so we've spent more time on it. As the book of Isaiah progresses, more and more focus is placed on the last days before the return of Jesus. Part 1 Isaiah Chapter Part 2 Isaiah Chapter The return of Jesus Christ will mean radical changes for planet Earth.