Job 1:1 – There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Hello all, I’m going to be hopefully going through Job’s life in coming blogs. Job is a famous character from the Bible… he’s the guy that lost his family, his finances, his health and had friends who just about finished the job off (no pun intended!). There was a man… that’s how the book starts. Are you a… there was a man? Job’s life was seen and Job’s life counted. He wished his words were written in a book… turns out they were! There were a lot of people in Job’s day who we will never know about, but we know about this guy. Your life can matter just like his life did. But it will only actually matter if you are saved and if you follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Samson, he said if he was shaven he would become like any other man. We live in a world where everyone is “like any other man”. Everyone just lives, thinks and does according to the course of the world… a course set by Satan. The unseen spiritual world is on full display at the start of the book, it’s the real world, but it plays out in the physical world. Job didn’t have the insight at the time that we have now. There was a man. Do you want your life to matter, to be fulfilling, to make a difference, to be worth it? It all depends on what you do with Jesus Christ and his word… that’s what makes a life count or not. Because Job didn’t cave in the face of tremendous odds and pressures he stands out in history.

Job didn’t know it, but his life was going to become the scene for a God vs Satan showdown. God’s grace versus man’s wickedness. Because it really was a test of the grace of God, because Satan knows man, he murdered man, fully conquered, so for Job to survive he’d need something supernatural. That’s what grace is. Supernatural ability to get saved and life the Christian life… which we all need. Think of the supernatural power Joseph had to refuse Potiphar’s wife, to not get consumed by bitterness and revenge… our flesh can’t do that, we need God’s grace. But could Satan corrupt him? Could Satan prove that Job only believed in God because God was good to him? Satan was really accusing Job to God, saying that Job’s heart motive was far from perfect. Life will show what is really in our heart. Out of it are the issues of life. Job didn’t know the big picture, and that’s part of life, we don’t have the full picture. Walking by faith is faith, not sight. But at least it’s not abstract belief, it’s face in something that happens to be the most infallible, proven, trustworthy thing of all… the Bible.

Can we trust God? Can we trust his faithfulness? Things are going to happen in all of our lives that don’t make sense, that are inconceivable, that we can’t reason out… that tempt us to do as Job’s wife said for him to do… curse God and die. Job didn’t know the whys, the whats, the hows… but he did stay faithful. Sure, he had questions, he had complaints, he was discouraged, it didn’t make sense to him… but he’s a triumph to the grace of God, because despite being pushed to the limit, he stayed faithful. We can only be faithful, because He is faithful. Moses saw a bush that did not burn because God was in it. Moses had tried delivering Israel in his own strength and it was abject failure. He needed to know going back that God was in it, because Moses didn’t have the wherewithal to see it through. That’s the Christian life, the only life that makes it is the life that God is in the midst of. Remember Jesus in Revelation, walking in the midst of the candlesticks. Satan wasn’t able to prove what he accused Job of before God. Are you going to be a notch on Satan’s belt, or through your life will you be able to stand, even while everything else has gone up in flames? Job sat down amongst the ashes… and even if all is ash, will you be able to sit down in the ashes and still bless God with your lips? Satan accused Job before God, he has good grounds to accuse all of us to God, to point out how utterly sinful and fallen and selfish and corrupt humanity is… that’s why we need the grace of God. Without God’s grace we cannot start it and without God’s grace we will not make it. But he giveth more grace… what a truth in the Bible… we need grace. Job knew the answer wasn’t in himself, it never was. We live in a world that says the answer is within… but that’s a life… the answer is Christ. I know my Redeemer liveth. What confidence to say in Job 19:26,27 – 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.

Job was blessed by God at the start of the book, he had it pretty good. For most of us, we have a pretty good run at life. I live in a free (for the most part!) and prosperous nation, I have had a mostly healthy life, I have a lot to thank God for. Job was perfect, upright, he feared God, he eschewed evil. It just goes to show that Old Testament saints were made perfect by Christ just like we are… Job was a sinner like the rest of us are, but the Bible says he was perfect and upright. The Bible says Lot was just and righteous! You see, if you are saved, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you are made righteous before God… it’s his righteousness that matters, and he gives it to us when we trust him both judicially before God and practically in day to day life through the Holy Spirit. Job offered sacrifices for his children in case they were sinning… this was a man whose heart was turned to God. He was God minded first and foremost.

But then the Bible says… now there was a day. How often is this like our lives… things are going along til the “there was a day”. Things aren’t always going to be like they are, for better or worse. Often we can think that how things are, are how they always will be. I’m sure that’s how they felt in Noah’s day, going about their day to day life and activities, until then there was a day the ark was shut and the rain started to fall. Look at us, we were once children, then suddenly we are grown up. Maybe you have been saved, and once you were unsaved, then suddenly there was a change, God making a change in your life. Maybe you’ve got a good lot in life, then suddenly there is a car crash. Just recently in the news a famous basketball player in Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash. He wouldn’t have been expecting that. Job’s kids weren’t expecting that there time was nearly up as they partied and revelled in their youth. The Bible says to remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Now there was a day. The Bible also says today is the day of salvation, and hopefully there has been that day in your life.

So Job is going about his life, he’s doing well in life, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all! He was blessed by God, and that was part of Satan’s accusation. God had made a hedge about Job, he was untouchable. If you are saved, there is a hedge around you. That hedge is built by a life of obedience to God’s word. Job was obeying God in his day to day life. However, it is possible to break through that hedge as the Bible warns, and a serpent bite you (Ecclesiastes 10:8). When you depart from God’s word and from obeying him, you are vulnerable to the roaring lion who is going about seeking whom he may devour. But it’s ok to be blessed and enjoy life. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, if you are saved that is. That is the real blessing. We are not promised earthly riches, what would be the point of being rich yet cursed with bitterness, lust, envy, pride anyway? God has chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith. Riches are fleeting, Job was rich one day, broke the next… circumstances of life come and go and change at a whim, but what goes to eternity is who and what you are. In Revelation 22:11 – He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

But God loves us, he provides for us, he knows what we need, and he knows we have need of things, and if he’s loved us so much to give his Son to die for us, will be really withhold anything from you? But what’s good for you might not be what you think it should be. Could Job see this trial was good for him? Not during it! Job knew God in his life, he knew God was the source of his blessing, he didn’t lose focus, and he was careful in obeying God in sacrificing and worshiping him. Job’s riches weren’t his God, God was. How else could he stay faithful when they all vanished on him? Many people turn away from God when storms of life hit, when trouble comes, when it all doesn’t pan out how they think it should. Many people’s faith and security is in their wealth, or their kids, or their popularity… or whatever… but not in God. Life sorts us all out.

It is worthwhile to take a short paragraph to look at Job’s kids. Because there is a danger with growing up when things are good. The next generation can not know what freedom, liberty and blessing is really worth or care for where it comes from. Why bother with God when we can party and pursue our own interests and ambitions? It’s a popular expectation of young people that they are “allowed” to act like idiots and that is acceptable. Oh he’s young that’s to be expected… well actually your youth is where you can wreck your life. Being young and drinking, partying, doing drugs and on is not “par for the course”. Today’s generation is pleasure seeking, it’s all about me, myself and I. Living for myself is so much more fun than living for God. Job’s children weren’t with their father offering sacrifice for their sins. They were busy partying. Is that you? Are you like Job’s children or like Job? What do you think their god was? Job knew that with their lifestyle came the high probability they had rejected God, he offered sacrifice in case they had cursed God in their hearts. He could see where it was heading. Where there is smoke there is fire the saying goes.

Evidently Job’s children didn’t have the same hedge, as part of Job’s trial was their death. Just remember, if you are on team Satan, all he’s interested in is using you, and you are expendable to him. Job’s children, like many, lived off the ground taken by others. They were blessed for Job’s sake. Many sons and daughters live a life that owes to the intercession of faithful parents or believers. True believers are salt and light in this world. Remember Joseph, everywhere he went, they were blessed there for his sake. The whole known world was blessed for his sake, because of his faithfulness to God. But people take that and abuse it. Is your life just one big feast to yourself held in your honour? Their lives were about to be required just as Job’s was. Time is a bit shorter than you think, think of how foolish and stupid they are when reading about them partying and feasting while Satan is being given permission to go after Job. Could Job have done more? We don’t know, but we do know that it is up to each of us to believe or not. And we know the walls of their house fell in when the wind came… salvation is likened unto walls… and if the walls of the house of your life aren’t wall of the salvation afforded to you by Jesus Christ, be sure they will cave in on you one day.

So we are taken to a different scene, a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before God. I don’t want to digress and detract from the story of Job, but it is worth discussing this scene. There is conjecture about the identity of the sons of God in the Old Testament. Some believe they are the godly seed of Seth, and some believe they were angels. There is a case for both as there is uncertainty, particularly as there isn’t an abundance of information (probably because it’s not that important compared to what things we really need to know). But I believe there is a stronger case according to the Bible that they are angels. The Bible says that God is the Father of spirits in Hebrews 12:9. The angelic host stands before and is accountable to God (1 Kings 22:19). The idea of presenting oneself to God is important, we ourselves are meant to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God. There is noone and nothing that can hide from God, and you can’t conceal who and what you truly are from him when standing before the brightness of his throne. The Bible says that all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. If Satan is answerable to God, you surely will be as well. You will be presented to God one day, in whatever capacity that is depends on whether you are presented as saved or unsaved (and with very different ramifications)… but these sons of God presenting themselves shows the authority structure. God is the Creator, He is above all and before all, he is the authority… and this reporting in gives a sense of accountability and judgement. This world hates the word judgement, and the idea of being judged and held to account by God, but what can you do about it? Ecclesiastes 12:7 – Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. So this is a heavenly scene, and quite the scene.

Satan is often referred to as an angel, but he is far more than just that, he was the anointed cherub that covereth according to Ezekiel 28. Cherubim are a different “order” or “rank” of angel if you want to call him that. It was cherubim that kept the way of the tree of life with a flaming sword, and cherubim that overshadowed the ark of the covenant. The cherubim surround God’s very throne. Satan had a special privileged position in the heavenly host as an incredibly special creation, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, an apex of the heavenly host… but he sinned. He thought he was top dog, and he got a “god” complex. He covered the throne of God, but he got to wanting the seat, that’s what he has always desired, and what he will try getting in the future in the abomination of desolation. He wanted the praise for himself, and that’s what he was still after when he spoke to Jesus in the wilderness temptation… bow down and worship me! Isn’t it funny how people of this world are like that, it’s in all of our hearts, the desire to be praised and to have the glory. It just goes to show how far fallen we are, conquered and corrupted by Satan in the garden.

Satan knew who Jesus was, but he didn’t know what God knew, he’s not all knowing, he wouldn’t have wanted Jesus crucified now when he understands Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead has shattered his plans. One of Satan’s main attributes is his subtlety, by which he deceives the WHOLE world! Yes the ENTIRE world can be wrong. Satan even used Bible on Jesus! You see, as we will see in Job’s story, Satan was using Job’s friends against him, they were saying many things that were right in and of themselves… but misapplied. He offered Jesus something that Jesus will have, the kingdoms of this world… but Jesus will receive them from God the Father… not Satan. It wasn’t time. Jesus came to die on the cross, not to rule and reign. That’s the second coming. And it’s always a bad trade when trading with the devil. Jesus said that he beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Satan was made perfect, yet became full of sin, to the point he is known as the father of lies and that he sinned from the beginning. Jesus said he abode not in truth… he wasn’t content in truth… and today, people know the truth but don’t abide in it… because they don’t want it. That’s why Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, ye are of your father the devil.

Satan was the means by which man fell, having sown a seed a doubt in Eve’s mind, a seed that blossomed into the fruit of disobedience and set on course a world system that abides in death and knows not God. A world that God set man over, but when man fell, became fallen, dark, twisted, set on the fires of hell… yet an arena for the great salvation and redemption story. Satan doesn’t appear like he is, the Bible says he IS transformed as an angel of light. This refers to his name as Lucifer (he has many names which are not as endearing)… but he comes as a light bearer (which is what Lucifer means), and he promised some light to Eve, but it was a false light… Jesus is the true Light, whose word Adam and Eve rejected over the enticement of the devil. We know that many angels joined Satan in rebelling against God. The Bible says that a third of the angels choose Satan! He’s pretty powerful! Even Michael the archangel when he disputed with the devil didn’t enter into a fight or argument, but said the Lord rebuke thee. The Lord is the only way we have victory over Satan… the ONLY way. Satan today still has access to the heavenlies in some capacity, but there will come a day when he will no longer have that access (Revelation 12). The access he had in Job’s day, he still has… he accuses us night and day before God. Satan one day he will be kicked out of heaven completely and bound to this earth. The Bible says the powers of heaven shall be shaken. Some times ahead! Right now, he is the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air, and we know that we (Christians) wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

But here comes Satan to present himself to God. He’s come from the earth, roaming around in it. We know that Satan is as a roaring lion who goeth about seeking whom he may devour. He came amongst the sons of God to present himself. The spirit world is very real. Angels can appear as men, there were many angels throughout the Bible who appeared as men, the people that spoke to them thought they were! And the Bible says some have even entertained angels unaware. Jesus did say that the angels in heaven do not marry or are given in marriage, so we know it is forbidden. But that’s their sin. Jude talks about how they went after strange flesh just like the men of Sodom did in trying to rape the angels. In Jude and Peter we know that there was a group of angels that sinned, they left their habitation, they kept not their first estate. Satan somehow corrupted them, they were drawn in by the looks of the women. It also helps to shed light on why women are meant to have long hair, because of the angels the Bible says. But not to digress… it doesn’t really matter, and there are many things we don’t exactly know or aren’t told, or that don’t make sense at this time in our finite understanding. But this angelic host is accountable to God, and Satan also answers to God. It gives us comfort knowing that Satan yields to Jesus Christ. Remember that man possessed with Legion… Jesus said go and they went. God’s stake to us trumps Satan’s stake. There are similarities between this scene and the scene in heaven when a lying spirit volunteered to go and make wicked king Ahab fall by believing the lying prophets. But in this case, Satan goes to try and make Job fall… but can’t. Ahab fell because he was wicked and sinful and God had pronounced judgement on him, but Job didn’t fall because he believed and trusted in God. The spirit world tries man, and man’s biggest problem is that he has sinful flesh … see Genesis 6:3, sinful flesh that craves to sin.

Satan wanted to prove to God that Job only served God and did right because of what God did for him. And many people do only serve God for that reason. Think of the prosperity gospel today, people following “Jesus” in droves for what he can do for them. If you are following Jesus Christ for the wrong reason, it’s the wrong reason. It sounds a duh statement… but many followed Jesus for the food, or because it was the latest fad, or because they wanted to see miracles… yet when Jesus preached they departed in droves. Jesus wasn’t what they bargained on. That same crowd had for a season enjoyed the preaching of John the Baptist, but after the novelty wore of, they kinda got sick of him. Bit like Enoch, all Enoch preached on was ungodliness… I’m sure his “negativity” got them sick of him fairly quickly. We referred to Ahab before, but Ahab had a multitude of prophets who told him what he wanted to hear, but there was one man… Micaiah, who told him the truth, but Ahab didn’t like him because he never said nice things. He wasn’t positive enough for Ahab! Satan wanted to prove Job was just like any other man. Selfishly motivated and corrupt and rotten at the core. But when God’s grace is in your life, there’s something there that is incorruptible. Being born again is the creation of something incorruptible and sinless in you. Satan would be right of most people, and he would know having observed how man works and what makes man tick… man’s flesh bears his marks… but God’s grace isn’t something he can bargain on. He couldn’t corrupt Jesus Christ, and if you are saved, he can’t corrupt you, because Jesus lives in you. Look at the world of Noah’s flood, corrupt and rotten to the core, only evil in their imaginations continually. Pure evil inside.

Satan is always about advancing his kingdom. You read those “I wills” in Isaiah 14, and how many men have had those kind of I wills! Is not the heart of man “I will”? It’s all about me, myself and I. Look at the world powers, with kings and leaders who each grasped for immortality, even something like evolution which grasps for ever higher lifeform status. Satan has a grand plan, a plan shot to ribbons by one man born into this world who was different to the rest. One that he couldn’t corrupt. In this Job pictures Jesus Christ, in that despite Satan’s best efforts, he couldn’t be taken down. You and I no doubt would have fallen. Remember how Jesus said to Peter that Satan had desired to have him, to sift him as wheat. We see Peter did get sifted, he ended up vehemently denying the Lord Jesus Christ, despite the thoughts of grandeur and adequacy that he had. But Jesus said he had prayed for Peter, that his faith would fail not… and even though Peter was pressed out of measure, and he denied Christ… there was still that heartbeat of true saving faith. And what matters is the faithfulness of God to us, and great is thy faithfulness.

I will, I will, I will… but compare that to when Jesus came… he said he always did those things that pleased the Father, that he came not to do his own will, but the will of Him that sent him. Jesus is the one Satan couldn’t conquer, that couldn’t entice, that couldn’t corrupt. Through Jesus Christ, Satan is a defeated foe. Believe in the winner, believe in the one who can set you free and give you life eternal. In Job we see there is a real enemy who takes notice, who wants to pervert, to corrupt, to use your life to elevate himself. Mankind is the arena through which Satan tries to elevate himself. Ultimately, in the abomination of desolation as previously mentioned… through a man Satan will… in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 – Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Sounds like the Isaiah 14 I wills! But in Revelation 12 we see war in heaven, and Satan cast out with his angels to the earth… he was overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. The accuser cast down, his kingdom rejected, and further along in Revelation you see him bound in the bottomless pit, and at the end you see him cast into the lake of fire which was made for him and his angels. So while Job’s story shows Satan has power and position and access, and in this world he has an agenda to ascend and elevate above everything that is God… ultimately we see a plan that will fail, as he will be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Remember Nebuchadnezzar, his heart got lifted up, and God humbled him greatly, he lived like a beast of the field grazing on grass. Your very sanity comes from God, but we do see a society today that has become mad much like God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to go completely mad to bring him back to his senses.

So it’s been quite a lengthy blog, but to finish up. We see in Job’s life an age old tactic of the devil. Satan wants to attack our trust in God’s goodness. To doubt God’s motives, his intentions, his character… HIS WORD. In taking away Job’s possessions Job would think why is this happening to me. I don’t deserve it and blame God for doing good and then this happening. In taking away Job’s prosperity and possessions in one fell swoop, his friends would look at the situation and think, hey this is happening to Job because Job has done something bad. God’s word says to trust in the Lord and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Many people look at the world and life and completely get the wrong handle of it, but that’s mostly because they have already turned their back on God.

The fact is… bad things happen to good people. That’s why you shouldn’t follow Jesus for good times, because getting saved and following him… your faith will be tested. Jesus said in this world we would have tribulation. Remember, your were created for the glory of God. And God will let things happen so that he gets the glory in the end. When we get God’s glory into perspective, then we can abide some of the things that go on that don’t and may never make sense. Those messengers came to Job and you can imagine his heart sinking, their messages were like arrows through his heart. But Job was able to worship God and say … the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. He worshiped God for who he was, not for what he could do for him. Whether rich or poor, whether popular or public enemy number one, whether happy or sad, whether healthy or sick… is God the Lord in your life? It’s easy for us all to read this, but think of the grief of Job, grief so great his friends just rocked up and sat for days looking at him silently sitting there. God’s grace is what we all need for this journey of life. And he giveth more grace. There was a man… Job’s life echoes in eternity because he placed his faith and trust in the Lord God, and despite it all, God’s faithfulness carried him through and his life counts even today as we read and study it.

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