CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Job’s Test
Job was a good man. God trusted him.
Day by day he offered sacrifices for his sons. "It may be that my
sons have sinned," he said. Job. 1:5. He was prosperous and enjoyed
the blessing of God. Then came "a day when the sons of God came to
present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among
them." Verse 6, A conversation is recorded between the Lord and
Satan that concerned Job. The Lord says that Job is a good man, which
Satan does not deny, but urges that Job is God-fearing merely because it
pays him to be so. He states that if God will take away His mercies, Job
will curse God. The statement is in the form of a challenge, and God
accepts it. Satan is given permission to take away Job’s property and
otherwise to cause him sorrow, but not to touch Job himself, Satan
immediately proceeds to do what he is permitted to do. Job’s property
is all swept away, and his children are killed.
When this happened, "Job arose,
and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground,
and worshiped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and
naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor
charged God foolishly." Job 1:20-22.
Satan is defeated, but he makes another
attempt. At the next meeting with the Lord, without admitting defeat, he
claims that he had not been permitted to touch Job himself. If he had,
he claims, Job would have sinned. The statement is again a challenge,
and God accepts it. Satan is given permission to torment Job but not to
take his life. He immediately departs on his mission.
All that the evil one can do, Satan
does to Job. But Job stands fast. His wife counsels him to give up, but
he does not waver. Under intense physical pain and mental anguish he
remains steadfast. Again it is recorded that Job stood the test.
"In all this did not Job sin with his lips." Job 2:10. Satan
is defeated and does not appear any more in the book.
In the succeeding chapters in the book
of Job we are given a little insight into the struggle going on in Job’s
mind. He is greatly perplexed. Why has all this calamity come upon Him?
He is not conscious of any sin. Why, then, should God afflict him? He,
of course, does not know of the challenge of Satan. Neither does he know
that God is depending upon him in the crisis through which he is
passing. All he knows is that out of a clear sky disaster has come upon
him till he is left without family or property, and with a loathsome
disease that nearly overwhelms him. He does not understand, but he
retains his integrity and faith in God. This God knew he would do. This
Satan said he would not do. In the challenge God won.
Humanly speaking, Job had not deserved
the punishment that came to him. God Himself says it was without cause.
"Thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause."
Job 2:3. The whole experiment can therefore be justified only by
considering it as a specific test devised for a specific purpose. God
wanted to silence Satan’s charge that Job served God only for profit.
He wanted to demonstrate that there was at least one man whom
Satan could not control. Job suffered as a result of it, but there
seemed to be no other way. A reward was afterward given him.
Job’s case is recorded for a purpose.
While we grant its historicity, we believe that it has also a wider
meaning. God’s people in the last days will pass through an experience
similar to Job’s. They will be tested as he was; they will have every
earthly stay removed; Satan will be given permission to torment them. In
addition to this the Spirit of God will be withdrawn from the earth, and
the protection of earthly governments removed. God’s people will be
left alone to battle with the powers of darkness. They will be
perplexed, as was Job. But they, as did he, will hold fast their
integrity.
In the last generation God will stand
vindicated. In the remnant Satan will meet his defeat. The charge that
the law cannot be kept will be met and fully refuted. God will produce
not only one or two who keep His commandments, but a whole group, spoken
of as the 144,000. They will reflect the image of God fully. They will
have disproved Satan’s accusation against the government of heaven.
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