Angelic Conflict part 241: The fight of the believer – Job 1-20; 1Pe 5:10; 1Co 10:13; Mat 16:22-23; 1Pe 3:18-4:1.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 241: The fight of the believer – Job 1-20; 1Pe 5:10; 1Co 10:13; Mat 16:22-23; 1Pe 3:18-4:1.

 

 

Job possesses the solution to this incredible tragedy. Bad things happen in this evil world, but God has not changed. He is good and worthy to be praised.

 

All of these tragedies are explained by natural causes with the exception of the fire from heaven, which is possibly a lightning storm with hail.

 

One article values Job's possessions at ,800,000 which would make him the wealthiest in livestock in the Bible.

 

Job 1:20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. [common eastern method of mourning]

 

Job 1:21 And he said,

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

 

Job 1:22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

 

Job realizes that these are all blessings from God. Job did not ever "own" them. If God saw fit to remove them, or allow them to be removed, then so be it.

 

However, we find later in the book that Job did not understand that God didn't remove them, but His and Job's adversary did.

 

Job's conclusion that the Lord took it away was not exactly correct, but his attitude and motivation were correct. We don't have to get every single question correct. We have to apply what we know.

 

There is often uncertainty, especially under the question why. Job misses the point somewhat here, but he's right on target with what he does understand.

 

Integrity means an absence of hypocrisy, pretense, selfishness, false motivations, duality, or duplicity, and not an absence of all sin, and so is available at all stages of spiritual growth.

 

The Hebrew word tummah, used of Job by God, refers to soundness or completeness. An object can be small and weak, but yet complete and sound, like a thin steel wire, and an object can be large and strong and be complete and sound, like a steel I-beam.

 

Hence, a young believer can have integrity in the form of humility by not thinking too highly or lowly of himself, understanding he has a long way to go and avoids being a wise-moron, acknowledging that he is a lifelong student of the word of God, respecting his authority. However, a young believer cannot expect to develop excellence in virtue love until he has matured and passed through many times of application of doctrine.

 

Webster's Dictionary:

Integrity: the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity.

 

Virtue: general moral excellence; right action and thinking; goodness or morality.

 

Virtue is a strong and excellent character based on God's standard of excellence, hence the fruit of the Spirit is of the mature believer.

 

Job isn't sinless and he doesn't possess all knowledge, but he fantastically applies what he knows. God has allowed a world where evil exists and that evil will stand against all who follow God. And so, though God did not take away Job's possessions, He allowed them to be taken away. The positive faith movement would only see this as a negative thing since all their focus is materialistic.

 

Job brings maximum glory to God because of his faith and knowledge of God that shows God's essence to be far above the materialism of this world.

 

There is nothing wrong with materialism. There is everything wrong with worshipping it.

 

Don't celebrate victories too long, for that can remove our alertness. Another persecution/affliction/perplexity/destruction may soon be upon you.

 

Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.

 

Job 2:2 And the Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "From roaming about on the earth, and walking around on it."

 

Job 2:3 And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause."

 

It is God again who introduces Job to the witness stand and testifies of Job's integrity. Victory is mentioned in heaven.

 

At this point satan is not finished with his cross-examination. One could imagine him giving up now or not. After smiting Job with something resembling the black plague we do not hear from him again in this book. So the point is that we will not be able to tell when the attacks will come. We are not delivered completely until God delivers us.

 

The pressure is not over until God's perfect timing says it is, but we know it will not last indefinitely.

 

If it lasts as long as it does we can confidently say that God has graciously given us solutions for that long and that He wouldn't allow it if He didn't know - know for sure - that we could master it. There may be collateral damage. How much will vary, but that damage will be mended by our loving Lord. Our nets will be mended.

 

1Pe 5:10

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect [mend nets], confirm, strengthen and establish you.

 

Job 2:3 And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause."

 

The cause is not God, but the cause is the evil of satan's heart that wants to destroy all that is divinely good.

 

Job 2:4 And Satan answered the Lord and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

 

Job 2:5 "However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse Thee to Thy face."

 

satan's next attack is that every man has a price, the highest of which is his life. The Victor, Jesus Christ, proved this wrong.

 

This is not to say that all who are brought to this place of testing will have their lives put on the line. Yet if virtue is to be tested, and it will be, then the value of one's own life on earth compared to God's glory will be a crossroad for each mature believer, in whatever way God allows, and again, this does not have to actually be the physical danger of losing it.

 

1Jo 3:16

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

 

Joh 15:13

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

 

Mat 10:39

"He who has found his life [soul] shall lose it, and he who has lost his life [soul] for My sake shall find it.

 

Connecting the dots here we see that virtue will be tested, the ultimate being agape love, so love will be tested and the greatest manifestation of love is the loss of life for another, and actually for another means for God. Again, this doesn't have to mean the loss of physical life, but it would most often mean a loss of the self-life and a complete acceptance of God's will for your life. That is why psuche is used in Mat 10:39 and not bios. The soul has priorities and when priorities are adjusted into conformity with God's priorities through the inculcation of doctrine then the old life is lost and the new life is found.   

 

Job 2:6 So the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life."

 

Again, God doesn't actually give satan specifics. satan is free to come up with whatever physical affliction he desires. His objective is to get Job to curse God so he inflicts what he thinks will do the trick. A restriction is again placed showing us that God does not cause such things but can allow or prevent them.

 

With God's permission, Satan afflicted Job with a disease we can-not identify.

 

1Co 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.

 

Whatever it was, the symptoms were terrible: severe itching, insomnia, running sores and scabs, nightmares, bad breath, weight loss, chills and fever, diarrhea, and blackened skin. When his three friends first saw Job, they did not recognize him!

 

The believer can avoid intense undeserved suffering by not growing up spiritually, but then there are other sufferings that he can't avoid. He will live a life of slavery to the cosmos. He will never find true love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. He will be a slave to every wind of doctrine and to the lust patterns of his OSN. He will suffer loss of rewards at the JSOC. He will never experience true freedom nor God's highest and best in this life.  

 

Job 2:7 Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

 

Job 2:8 And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.

 

So abhorrent was Job that he fled his household and went at some distance and sat on an ash heap, or the place where the garbage is thrown out. The poorest and the rejected live around it as there is a chance to beg and eat out of peoples trash.

 

The greatest man in the city has now been reduced to the lowest rung of the society in poverty and shame by God's adversary.

 

Job 19:13 "He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

 

Job 19:14 "My relatives have failed, And my intimate friends have forgotten me.

 

Job 19:15 "Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

 

Job 19:16 "I call to my servant, but he does not answer, I have to implore him with my mouth.

 

Job 19:17 "My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

 

Job 19:18 "Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me.

 

Job 19:19 "All my associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me.

 

Job 19:20 "My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

 


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