“I have three questions about Job 1:6-22.”

July-August 2021 – Grace & Truth Magazine

I have three questions about Job 1:6-22:

• Why did God allow disobedient, sinful Satan into His holy presence and even spend time in discussion with Satan?
• Does it mean God is compromising with Satan to trouble even faithful believers?
• Is Satan one of the children of God?

ANSWERS: Let’s look at the last of these questions first. God is far, far greater than man. He is absolutely holy, absolutely wise and absolutely powerful. He makes no mistakes. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours, as the heavens are above the earth (Isa. 55:9). He does not have to give an account to us for what He purposes or what He does. Whatever He does is right!

Satan was not created wicked. He was created as the highest of God’s angelic beings. Angels are intelligent spirits, greater and far more powerful than human beings. We know little about them except that as spirits they serve God and minister to His people. Two passages in Scripture, Isaiah 14:12-17 and Ezekiel 28:11-19, while speaking of great earthly kings, go beyond these to give us a picture in poetic language of how Lucifer, the most exalted of these created angelic beings, the anointed cherub that covers, became Satan, the enemy of God and of mankind.

“You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (Ezek. 28:15 NKJV). Rather than being thankful to God for the high place of privilege he had, Lucifer became proud of his beauty and of wisdom (v.17). His pride became his snare (1 Tim. 3:6). He rebelled against God, his Maker. Five times in Isaiah 14:13-14 we hear his “I will.” He wanted to be like God, and later he placed the same alluring temptation before mankind, thus introducing sin into the world in which we live. To this day, man wants to do his own will in independence of God.

Thus we see that Satan is definitely not one of the children of God. In fact, He became God’s enemy before the creation of the world. Almost immediately after God had finished His work of creation, Satan appeared on the scene in the garden of Eden, deceived the woman and tempted her to eat of the forbidden tree. She gave some to Adam, he ate, and we’ve lived as sinners from that time on.

The scenes Scripture shows us in Job 1:6-12 and again in Job 2:1-6 are laid in heaven. No man was there to see and hear what happened, but God has been pleased to tell us. In speaking of an event that is still future, Revelation 12:10 refers to Satan as “the accuser of our brethren.” This passage sheds more light on these two incidents in Job, showing us that they are not unusual or isolated cases. The “accuser of our brethren” is said in that same verse to have “accused them before our God day and night.” We learn here that this is Satan’s present occupation. When God asked him in Job 1 and 2 where he came from, Satan’s answer both times was, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it” (1:7, 2:2).

Satan is neither omniscient nor omnipresent, unlike God who is both all-knowing and everywhere-present. This one, Satan, is a fallen creature, the original rebel, who led a host, or multitude, of other angelic beings to follow him in rebellion against God. We usually refer to these evil spirits as demons. While Satan and his demons have their limitations, we do not know what these limitations are. But, we can see in the first two chapters of Job that God is in ultimate control: He sets the bounds beyond which these utterly wicked beings cannot go (1:10,12, 2:6).

God is God; we are creatures. Being creatures we must always remember that God does not owe us an explanation for what He does, or for what He in His sovereign wisdom permits these vile enemies of His and of ours to do. God tells us Christians that “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). We know this because God has said it in His Word, and God, who is absolutely holy, cannot lie (Num. 23:19).

Sometimes God allows us to see how He works out His purposes for our good, even though as things are happening they seem so very wrong. Think of Joseph in Genesis. He was hated by his brothers, sold by them into slavery, falsely accused after resisting his master’s wife’s attempts to seduce him, faithful to God, imprisoned, and then forgotten by the butler whose dream he had interpreted. Then in one day he was brought out of prison and made ruler of the entire land of Egypt. God used him in that position to save countless numbers of people from starvation, including his father and brothers and their families. Joseph brought them into Egypt where they grew into a mighty nation, God’s chosen earthly people.

The story of Job likewise is a wonderful account of how God works out His divine purposes of blessing even when Satan is doing his utmost against Him and His faithful saints. When Satan appeared before God among the “sons of God” (a term applied in the Old Testament to angelic beings), God called Satan’s attention to Job, a very rich man whom God commended as His servant. Of him God said, “There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). Satan slandered Job, telling God that he was that way because of all that God had given him and was doing for him. Then Satan challenged God that if He would take it all away from Job, Job would curse God to His face. Knowing His faithful servant, God permitted Satan to take away all Job had, but not to touch him.

Satan acted on this and in one day took away all Job owned and all ten of his children. Job, in grief over his losses, accepted this out of God’s hand and still worshiped (vv.20-21). When Satan again appeared before God, defeated in his wicked purpose, he claimed a man would give all he has for his life. God gave him permission to do what he wanted to Job, except to take his life. Satan struck Job with painful boils from head to foot, but Job took all from God’s hand. We hear no more from Satan after this. His wicked purpose to turn Job against God had failed.

But the story does not end here. God had not compromised with Satan to trouble a faithful believer, for God never compromises. Job’s friends came to comfort him and were shocked so badly at what they saw that for a whole week they found no words to say to him. Then they followed human reasoning, saying as many similarly mistakenly do today that God doesn’t punish righteous people, so Job must not be righteous. They accused him of being a clever hypocrite whose hypocrisy was now brought to light, and they exhorted him to repent if he wanted to be blessed.

Job defended himself from these false accusations, and the debate grew more and more vehement, or intense. The friends kept attacking; Job self-righteously defended himself. He complained and questioned if God was being fair. However, he did confess, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him” (13:15). Job never cursed God, but he could not understand why he was suffering so terribly. When his words finally ended, his friends stopped answering him because he was righteous in his own eyes.

A younger man entered the discussion, showing Job and the friends where they were wrong, and speaking of the greatness of God. Then God Himself stepped in, asking Job a long series of questions magnificently based on the revelation of Him in creation. In the presence of God, Job humbly abhorred himself. Job demonstrated that his self-righteousness had come to an end when he prayed for his friends who had accused him so passionately.

God’s purpose to cure His servant Job of his self-righteousness – so obnoxious in His sight – was now accomplished. He vindicated, or accepted, him before his friends, his relatives and his acquaintances. He rewarded Job with double the possessions He had had before.

God had not compromised with Satan. He knew Job’s heart and had taught His righteous saint a much needed and most valuable lesson. Satan’s attempt to turn Job against God and God against Job had failed. God actually used Satan’s efforts against Job for Job’s good, bringing blessing for him out of his suffering.

The history of Job has given comfort and encouragement to countless saints of God in the 4,000 or more years since Job lived on this earth. There are many practical applications for our lives as Christians. We have already looked at Romans 8:28. The Bible also tells us, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13). God chastens us as His sons “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteous to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:10-11).

Our Lord Jesus defeated Satan at Calvary. He wants His people to share in the results of His victory, and therefore He tells us, “The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Revelation 12 shows us that the day is coming soon when Satan’s access to the presence of God will be ended. Revelation 20 goes on to tell us that Satan will continue in his hopeless fight against God after being released from 1,000 years of confinement in the bottomless pit during the Lord’s millennial reign on earth. Satan will rally a great army of unbelievers against the Lord’s saints, but fire will come down from God out of heaven and devour those enemies. The Devil, who deceived them, will be cast into hell – the lake of fire and brimstone – and “will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (v.10).

Whether we understand them or not, “known to God from eternity are all His works” (Acts 15:18).

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.