When Satan Challenged God

 

• Scripture: Job 1
• “Meet the Devil but Keep Your Distance”

 

• Bible Doctrine, “The Devil”, “Our War With Him”

 

Transcript

Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you’ve learned with others.

I know you want to learn more about the problem of sin and suffering in life, and especially in your life. And in order for us to understand more about this problem, we need to read the Book of Job.

This is like a textbook on this subject to say the very least. It’s much better than any book that any man has ever written. Now you can search for books and you can find some that are good and some that are bad on this topic, but you will never find a book written by a mere human being that can equal this Old Testament book of Job.

It has many great lessons for us. You will learn much if you’ll just read the Book of Job. It has a lot of deep and profound truths on this subject, and one of these is that bad things sometimes happen to good people. Actually, in Job’s case, it shows us that the worst things can happen to the best people.

And we know that Job was one of the truly great men in the Bible because of verses like Ezekiel, chapter 14, verse 14. Ezekiel the prophet wanted to tell the people about great men in the Bible and use them as an example of the point that he was making. And in order to make that point, he mentioned three of the greatest men in the Bible: Noah, Daniel, and Job.

God Himself says in this book several times that there was “none like him on the earth.” The New Testament says in James chapter five, verse 11, “You have heard of the patience of Job.” So let’s read about this great man Job in Job] chapter one. I’m going to begin reading in verse one, and I’ll read through verse five.

“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him also. His possessions were 7,000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each one on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. So it was when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus did job regularly.” The King James says continually.

Now, let’s go back to verse one and consider what God has said about this great man in the first place. He said that he was blameless. The King James uses the word perfect. The New King James uses the word blameless. Sometimes people misunderstand the word “perfect” in the King James Version when it applies to men because they think of the word perfect as being sinless. They think of sinless perfection, and that is not what the word means. And that may be why the New King James Version avoided that word and just gave the word blameless. But even then, you have to qualify that.

Now, the idea here of perfection or blamelessness is that he was complete. When you see the word blameless in the New King James, or the word perfect in the King James Version, think of complete. Think of someone who is whole in his moral life. He didn’t deliberately leave out an area in his moral life. He didn’t hide a part that was wrong. He was one who tried to do good in every area of his life. Now, it doesn’t mean that he was sinless at all because in Job chapter 13 verse 26, Job does mention the iniquities of his youth. So we’re talking about a man who was well-rounded in his moral life.

Let’s look at the contrast here just to make the point. There are some people who pick out some parts of their life and say, “I want to do what’s right in those areas,” but they leave out other parts of their life. Well, they’re not whole. They’re not complete. For instance, some people are good givers. They give generously, but they use bad language in their life. Or they’re good at participating at church. They’ll take a part in church services, but they get home and they treat their mate wrong. They are not whole, they are not complete, they’re not blameless or perfect like Job was in that sense.

Now the second thing that God says about him was that he was upright. That’s verse one. That means that he was straightforward. He was just, he was upright. He was an honest man. He was a man whose yes was yes and his no was no. There’s no deception in Job. There’s no show in Job’s life. There’s no hypocrisy in him. He’s not a perfectly sinless person, but he is a good man. He’s a person who’s the same. He is consistent. He has the same values and the same morals regardless of who he’s with or who he’s around.

He’s one who has dignity. He has self-respect, and he doesn’t bring shame on himself or on his family. He’s one that you can depend on for integrity and for honesty. Now that’s the idea of a man being upright.

He’s a man also—and this is very important here—the Bible says that he feared God. Yes, the Bible does talk about fearing God, and it puts an emphasis on that.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 28, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” A man must acknowledge God. He must love and respect God. Yes, he must be humble before God, but he must learn to fear God.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole” or “the whole duty of man.” If a man fears God, he will look at others and he will look at everything in life the way that he should. Now, if he doesn’t fear God, then just about anything in his life will go. In Romans three, verse 18, the Bible sadly says of people in Paul’s day something that we could say about many in our time. Romans 3:18 says, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” But Job, on the other hand, was a God-fearing man. He worshiped God. He remembered God in all that he did, and he respected God’s law and he respected the Lord himself.

Now, that’s important to remember because Job says some things in this book a little later that were disrespectful of God. Yes, he did. He said some things to God and about God that crossed the line. Now, we’ll talk about that later, but I’m simply laying the foundation here to show that Job was not a deliberate man in that he didn’t intentionally go into this situation thinking that he was going to say something that was sarcastic to God, something that was disrespectful to God.

As a matter of fact, he didn’t know any of this was coming. All of this that happened to Job hit him, as we would say, out of nowhere. And so Job is having to deal with this just like we do. Sometimes we don’t go into a situation thinking that we’re going to say or do things that we sometimes end up doing and regret later, but trials press us to our limits.

And you’re going to see in this book that this man was pressed to the very limits of his physical being, his intellect, his emotions, and his spiritual values. So here’s a man who did not disrespect God as a whole in his life. He is a God-fearing man, and yet he’s going to be tested here.

The next thing that is said about him is that he’s a man who shunned evil. That means he turned away from evil. He didn’t go along with, he didn’t laugh at, he didn’t condone or participate in evil. As a matter of fact, later in chapter 31, when Job is defending himself before all these accusations of his friends, he said that he turned his eyes and his ears and even his thoughts away from sin.

So he is a God-fearing man who hates evil. He avoids it. He doesn’t get close to it. He stays away from places and people that encourage it. So Job turned away from evil, and that is a Christian trait that we ought to have in our lives every single day.

He is also a family man. The Bible talks about his wife and his children. It first talks about his children. We’ll read about his wife later on. And he has, by today’s standards, a large family. He has seven sons and three daughters, and they’re grown up. They’re on their own because the Bible in verse four talks about them being in their houses and also talks about their houses in verse 13.

So they were doing well for themselves. They had their own places. They had plenty to eat. They enjoyed being together. They got along with each other, and that’s quite an accomplishment. The very fact that these children, these siblings, like to get together and eat often in verse 4 and in verse 13 was a blessing to Job. Many families even in the Bible that didn’t have that kind of peace.

And job is also a very wealthy man. It talks about his livestock now. It doesn’t really go into telling us how much land that he had, how many houses that he built, how much silver or gold that he had, because he probably had a lot of all those as well.

But it does talk about his livestock, and we need to remember as we read about this that that livestock represented a vast amount of money. So the Bible says that he had 7,000 sheep. That is a lot of wool that he could sell. That’s a lot of money. He had 3000 camels. Well, people used camels back in those days for personal travel, for hauling goods for business. That’s like having 3000 trucks to haul things.

He had 500 yolk, that is, 500 pair of oxen. Now that’s like having 500 tractors for plowing. That’s a lot of money for a lot of land, a lot of crops, and a lot of sales. He had 500 female donkeys to carry loads. That would be like having wagons and trailers.

So the Bible says also that Job had a very great, that is a very large, household.

Now remember that his seven sons and three daughters are grown. They’re out on their own. They have their own places or their own houses. So this very large household that the Bible says Job still had refers to his servants. This refers to men and women, to males and females who worked for Job. In Bible times, it was common for people to have servants in their family.

Now, sometimes they could only afford one, but if a man was very wealthy, he might have dozens or even hundreds. For instance, you read about Abraham in Genesis chapter 14, arming 318 of his servants. Those were males that went with him to battle so that they could rescue Lot his nephew. So that means that Abraham had a vast amount of land. He had all kinds of responsibilities and he had hundreds of workers to take care of those duties.

Now, the Bible doesn’t give us an exact number of all the servants that Job had, but with all this livestock and all these responsibilities, he must have had a lot of workers. So this is a very wealthy man.

The Bible says that he is the greatest of all the men of the East. He’s the wealthiest. He’s evidently the most powerful or influential man in that area. Job had wide influence. He was well respected. People listened to him. He was a fair and a generous man. And so here we have another example of a man who was very rich, and yet he was very good.

Now that might be the exception to the rule. You say it might be hard for a man to have a lot of money and yet still be a good, honest man. And yet you find two of the greatest men in the Bible were very wealthy people who were also rich in their faith. And those two that I’m talking about are Abraham and Job.

The Bible says in Genesis 13 verse two that Abraham was very rich. And here the Bible talks about all the wealth of Job. So as we look at this passage so far, it looks like Job has it all. He has character. He has honor. He has a peaceful family. He has wealth, he has security, but his virtues go even further because you find something out about his spiritual and his moral life that is impressive.

In verse five, the Bible shows that Job was a very conscientious man. He was a very sincere man about his religion and about his morals. Remember that verse four says that his sons and daughters would get together and have a meal. They enjoyed one another’s company. And the Bible says in verse five, after their days of feasting, after their get togethers, that Job would send for them.

He would tell them to come together for a serious purpose this time and he would sanctify them. He got them ready for worship. Whatever that involved, Job got them ready. And the Bible says that he offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. Now in the law of Moses, only the priest could do that, and they could only do that at the temple.

But Job is offering for his children. He is offering for his family, and that’s what ordinarily took place during the patriarchal age. That’s why we call it the Age of Patriarchy. That’s the time of father rule. So it looks like because of that that the book of Job happened sometime during the patriarchal age. So this is a very old book if that’s true.

Now, why did Job do this? Because he said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Now, he didn’t say that my sons have sinned and so I’m going to offer burnt offerings for all of them. He said maybe they have. Just in case if they have sinned and cursed God in their hearts, I want to offer a sin offering.

He didn’t wait until they had sinned and then offer. The Bible says that he wanted to do that just in case. It’s not that they have sinned, but in case they have. Now that’s being conscientious. And look at what else this shows about Job and his attitude and his feelings toward his children. Job was more concerned about their souls. He was not satisfied that they had good homes, that they got along with each other and that they were happy. Now, a lot of parents would stop there and say that everything was just great with their children. And it’s good that you have those kinds of blessings. I’m certainly not trying to criticize that or downplay that.

In other words, if children have their own homes, if they’ve worked and they’ve got their homes, if they get along with each other, and if they’re happy being around each other, that’s great. But Job said there’s more to it than that, and that is you have a relationship to God and we have to treat God right.

It’s one thing to get along with each other, even in the family, but there’s something higher, and that is those children who are getting along with each other must love God. And Job was more concerned about that than he was those earthly ties.

Here’s something else to think about. Job was not too proud to admit that his children might have done wrong. Sometimes parents can see no wrong in their children. They don’t even entertain the idea or the possibility that their children might have done something wrong. Not Job. He wasn’t blind. He was more honest than that. He knew his own children. He knew his sons and his daughters. He loved them, but he knew that they were human. He knew that they were capable of sin.

And notice that verse five tells us that Job did this for all his children. He was concerned about all of them. Notice also that although he is a busy man with all kinds of responsibilities, he rose up early in the morning to do this, and that was not just once in a while.

He did this continually. He didn’t just do it two or three times in his lifetime or once a year or once every six months. He did this continually. Now, if a man like Job with all his responsibilities could do this, then why can’t we? Sometimes we get up in the morning and we talk about and we think about all that we’ve got to do today.

Sometimes we complain about it, we get in a rush, and what do we do? We don’t even pray. We don’t even read our Bible. We don’t even really seriously think about our souls and about spiritual truth. We’re thinking about the things that we’ve got to get done for this physical life. The Bible says that Job did this on a continual basis and he rose up early in the morning.

He didn’t get up early so that he could check on his livestock or catch up with his workers to see if they were doing their job. He didn’t get out early in the morning so that he could survey his land. He got up early in the morning so that he could set his mind on something much more important than all of his possessions, and he had much more than we have.

This man got up early in the morning to make sure that his spiritual life was right, to make sure that his spiritual house was in order. And this is a great lesson for us. If we don’t learn anything else from Job chapter one verses one through five, it ought to be that we need to be on a continual basis people who are sincere and people who are conscientious, not just in a church building but at home.

So that is the character of this man named Job. He was a good moral man, and even God himself said there is none like him on the earth. Now that’s very important to remember because you’re going to read in this book about all the troubles that Job had. And the more you see him making his case for himself and his three friends accusing him, the easier it is for you to forget what you’ve read here in Job chapters one and two.

That’s very hard to do because the argument becomes so intense that you forget some of these very basic facts here. So don’t forget that Job is a good moral man and that he does not deserve this suffering that is brought upon him. The second thing to remember is that Job and his three friends never entertained the possibility that we’re about to see, and that is that God himself was not the one that caused this suffering, but it was Satan.

So let’s go now to one who didn’t have anything good to say about Job. You notice in verses one through six that God is talking and God has nothing but good to say about Job. But when the devil steps into the situation beginning in verse six, all that changes. The Bible says in Job chapter one, verse six. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’”

Now, this scene is one of, as the Bible says, the sons of God coming to present themselves before the Lord. These are evidently angels. You’ll read over in Job chapter 38 verses six and seven that these angels are evidently the ones that are being talked about here. They’re called the sons of God in some verses. Now, that doesn’t mean that every time that you see the expression sons of God in the Bible that that refers to angels. But here and in Job 38 verses six and seven, it evidently refers to those angels, and that evidently shows also that Satan was a fallen angel, that he was an angel that sinned. The Bible talks about them, of course, and we’ve talked about that in several lessons in Second Peter, chapter two, verse four, and in Jude verse six.

So these sons of God or these angels evidently come to present themselves before God because they’re accountable to God. A similar scene is First Kings chapter 22, 19 through 22, where the Bible talks about the host of heaven appearing before God, and the Scriptures say Satan came also among them.

Now the Bible doesn’t answer questions that we might raise about this. The Bible doesn’t answer the question, “Well, why is he there? Or how often does this happen? Or how symbolic is this?” Satan is the adversary. Satan is the enemy who acts like he’s your friend, but he’s out for no good. And that’s what we’re about to see here.

So God said to Satan, “Where did you come from?” Now that doesn’t mean that God didn’t know where he came from. Sometimes in the Bible, God asked a question not to get an answer so that he could get information, but to make a point, to make an impression on that person, sometimes to rebuke an individual. In Genesis chapter three, verse nine, the Lord asked Adam, “Where are you, Adam?” God already knew. In Genesis chapter four, verse nine, God asked Cain, “Where is your brother?” So the Bible says that the devil answered in this way. In verse seven, he answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it. “

The devil works in this world. He is real. He is at work. You can’t see him because he’s a spirit, but you can see his work or his results everywhere. The devil is always looking for people to get them to sin, to rebel against God, to despise God, to despise his law. In First Peter, chapter five, verse eight, the Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”

In Luke chapter 22, verse 31 and 32, Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I’ve prayed for you that your faith fail not. And when you are converted, strengthen your brethren.” This is what he has always done. The devil is always trying to cause confusion, to stir hate, to incite selfishness, pride, rebellion, and disrespect.

Then God issued a challenge to the devil. He said in verse eight, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” Now we enter into the controversy. Now we enter into the debate stage in this book. As a matter of fact, G. Campbell Morgan years ago said that this is a controversy between heaven and hell, and that’s a pretty good way to put it.

The Bible says in verse nine, “Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will surely curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold all that he has is in your power.’ Only do not lay a hand on his person.” So the debate is simply this. God said there is none like Job in the earth, and Satan said no he’s not really a good man at all. You’re wrong about that.

The devil said in verse nine, “Does job fear God for nothing?” You remember verse one says Job feared God. And then God said in verse eight he fears God. The devil says he may fear God, but he’s not doing that for nothing. He’s got a motive. He’s not sincere about that. He’s not being good for nothing. He’s only acting like he loves you and fears you. He’s not sincere. He’s got an ulterior motive. And the ulterior motive is this. He is only acting good because God, you give him all these things. Job was rich. God had blessed him. He had been protected; he had been preserved. The devil said well you’ve made a hedge around him. You’ve not only given him all these things, but you’ve been protecting him all these years.

That’s the idea of the hedge. You fenced him in; you’ve shielded him. So the first thing that the devil does is to accuse. That is what he always does. The word devil comes from a word in Greek in the New Testament which means a slanderer. In Genesis chapter three, the Bible shows that he is talking to mankind and he is slandering God. Here in Job chapter one, he’s talking to God and he’s slandering a good man. He always misrepresents.

So we need to ask ourselves as we look at the devil dealing with God here, why do I serve God? Why do I go to church? Why do I worship? Why do I give? Is it mere habit? Is it family tradition? Is it because it’s an enjoyable place to go and be with people? Is it the attention that I get? We need to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves, why do I live the Christian life? Are we sincere? Now, time tells and trials reveal. We will be put to the test. Now, that test may not be as severe as the test that Job is about to have here, but our faith will always be tested.

So the devil is brazen enough to challenge God and to deny what God has said. God plainly said he is a good man. The devil said no he is not. He is only being religious and moral because in a sense you have paid him off, God. You have given him all these things and he is just serving you to see what he can get out of it. And if you take away all the physical blessings that you’ve given him, then he will curse you to your face.

That’s what he says in verse 11. He says in verse 11—now remember, this is the devil talking to God—”But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has.” And by “touch” he means to harm. He means destroy. Touch all that he, that is, that Job has.

The Bible has already talked about all the possessions of Job. Verse three says his possessions were all these sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys and a very large household. And the devil says if you take all that away from him, you will see what kind of man he is and see that Job is not really a good man at all. He is just serving you because of all the good things that you give him.

This is what started this whole situation that we read about in the Book of Job. God and the devil have this disagreement. The devil says a man will not serve God just because he loves him. A man serves God only because of what he can get out of God, only because of what God gives him. But God said that’s not true.

God said not only is it possible for a man to serve Me simply because he loves Me without any reference to Me giving him anything, but Job is an actual case. Job is a man who will serve Me whether he has a lot or little or nothing. It doesn’t matter because he truly fears me. He is sincere. The devil is saying nobody is sincere.

He’s saying that nobody is unselfish in serving God. He is actually blaspheming God here. He’s not just criticizing Job and mankind, but he’s actually looking at God and criticizing God. He’s telling God that he doesn’t deserve to be served in that unselfish fashion. So the devil is disagreeing with and hating everybody here like he always does.

Now God accepted his challenge. The Bible tells us in verse 12, “And the Lord said to Satan, behold all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on his person. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.” So God accepted his challenge, and this is not like some childish game of I dare you, or a couple of men betting on something.

God had reasons for allowing this to happen, reasons He was not and is not obligated to explain to us. But God knew what He was doing and why He was doing it. So the Bible says that the Lord lets Satan have power over Job’s belongings. Notice in verse 11 that the devil said to God, “Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has,” that is, all his possessions. But God said to Satan in verse 12, “Behold, all that he has is in your power.” The remainder of Job chapter one shows that God is not only including his possessions like his livestock, but God is also including job’s children, because they were his. God says all that he has is in your power.

Job’s, livestock, his servants and even his children are now in Satan’s hands, and we know that it’s not going to be good. Satan told God that if you took away everything that Job had, he would be so angry he would curse you, and now the devil is going to take away everything that Job has. But God said there’s a limit.

You can touch what he has, but don’t touch Job. At this point. God would not let the devil hurt job personally, just what he had. Now, this has always been true and always will be, that God allows the devil only to go so far. He places limits. He doesn’t give him total control even in the physical realm. That’s a very important lesson to learn and to remember when we face sufferings in this life and we ask God, “Why? Lord?”

Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Study at your level. Aim higher and get in touch with us today.