Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Job 1:13-22 - The Prince of the Power of the Air
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio. You are listening to The Bible Explained with
- 0:13Speaker 1: Jen Koukl, a P40 Ministries podcast. Howdy there and good morning,
- 0:18Speaker 1: faithful listeners, and welcome to The Bible Explained podcast. And hi,
- 0:22Speaker 1: my name is Jen. So thankful that you guys are here.
- 0:24Speaker 1: And I've got my delicious cup of coffee to share
- 0:26Speaker 1: with all of you because we're going to need it.
- 0:28Speaker 1: We're in Job chapter one today, talking about the destruction
- 0:34Speaker 1: of Job's entire possessions, his family and everything. So why
- 0:38Speaker 1: would God allow this kind of suffering, not just to Job,
- 0:42Speaker 1: but even to Job's family and servants as well? So
- 0:46Speaker 1: we will get into this topic today, right after this
- 0:49Speaker 1: first sponsored advertisement. Okay, hopefully while you guys were listening
- 0:55Speaker 1: to that advertisement, you got a chance to open up
- 0:57Speaker 1: your Bibles to Job chapter 1, and we'll be reading
- 1:01Speaker 1: verses 13 through 22 today. And I will be reading,
- 1:04Speaker 1: as I almost always do, from the World English Bible.
- 1:07Speaker 1: And if you guys don't know why I choose that
- 1:09Speaker 1: version of Scripture, there's actually a few reasons. The first
- 1:11Speaker 1: reason is because it's public domain, and I can read
- 1:14Speaker 1: it on the Bible Explained podcast without getting in trouble.
- 1:20Speaker 1: The second reason is because I really like that it
- 1:22Speaker 1: uses the proper name of God, which is Yahweh. And thirdly,
- 1:27Speaker 1: it's a pretty good translation, honestly. And they did it
- 1:30Speaker 1: for a good reason, I think, which was to make
- 1:32Speaker 1: sure that there was a public domain version of scripture
- 1:35Speaker 1: out there that was readable to the modern English speaker.
- 1:40Speaker 1: So that's a few reasons why I use the World
- 1:43Speaker 1: English Bible and enjoy this version of scripture. But of course,
- 1:46Speaker 1: you can always feel free to read whatever version of
- 1:48Speaker 1: scripture you prefer this morning. But let's go ahead and
- 1:51Speaker 1: read Job chapter 1, 13 to the end of the chapter.
- 1:55Speaker 1: Grab your cup of coffee and let's read this together.
- 1:59Speaker 1: It fell on a day when his sons and daughters
- 2:01Speaker 1: were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Then a messenger came to Job and said, the oxen
- 2:07Speaker 1: were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them and the
- 2:09Speaker 1: Sabians attacked and took them away. Yes, they have killed
- 2:12Speaker 1: the servants with the edge of the sword and I
- 2:14Speaker 1: alone have escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking,
- 2:17Speaker 1: another also came and said, The fire of God has
- 2:19Speaker 1: fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep
- 2:22Speaker 1: and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have
- 2:25Speaker 1: escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, another
- 2:28Speaker 1: also came and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and
- 2:31Speaker 1: swept down on the camels, and have taken them away. Yes,
- 2:34Speaker 1: and they killed the servants with the edge of the sword,
- 2:37Speaker 1: and I alone have escaped to tell you. While he
- 2:40Speaker 1: was still speaking, there also came another and said, your
- 2:43Speaker 1: sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in
- 2:45Speaker 1: their oldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great
- 2:48Speaker 1: wind from the wilderness and struck the four corners of
- 2:51Speaker 1: the house and it fell on the young men and
- 2:53Speaker 1: they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.
- 2:57Speaker 1: Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his
- 3:00Speaker 1: head and fell down on the ground and worshiped. He said,
- 3:04Speaker 1: naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked
- 3:06Speaker 1: I will return there. Yahweh gave and Yahweh has taken away.
- 3:11Speaker 1: Blessed be Yahweh's name. In all this, Job didn't sin
- 3:15Speaker 1: nor charge God with wrongdoing. Last we left off, Satan
- 3:21Speaker 1: came to God trying to accuse Job of only following
- 3:26Speaker 1: God because God blessed him with nice things. But Satan
- 3:30Speaker 1: didn't just accuse Job. He also accused God of being
- 3:34Speaker 1: like all the other idols in the world. Essentially, give
- 3:37Speaker 1: homage to this thing and this thing will bless you
- 3:42Speaker 1: in whatever way you're looking for. But God is not
- 3:44Speaker 1: like these other idols. And the one thing you're always
- 3:47Speaker 1: going to see in scripture is God proving himself different
- 3:50Speaker 1: from the idols of the world. In fact, I would
- 3:53Speaker 1: argue that's what the beginning of the book of Exodus
- 3:56Speaker 1: is all about. Even though, yes, God was saving his
- 3:59Speaker 1: people out of the land of Egypt, more so God
- 4:02Speaker 1: was humiliating the idols of that the people worshipped. So
- 4:07Speaker 1: for example, the plague of frogs, the Egyptians worshipped a
- 4:11Speaker 1: frog god. And if the Egyptians call out to that
- 4:15Speaker 1: frog god because they're having a plague of frogs and
- 4:18Speaker 1: the frog god can't do anything, but then the next
- 4:20Speaker 1: day Moses is calling out to Yahweh to remove all
- 4:24Speaker 1: the frogs out of the land and God listens to
- 4:26Speaker 1: Moses and suddenly the frogs are gone, the Egyptians are
- 4:30Speaker 1: going to see that their frog God can't do anything,
- 4:33Speaker 1: but that Yahweh is the true and only God. And
- 4:37Speaker 1: that was kind of what God said he was doing.
- 4:38Speaker 1: He said, when I do these things, the Egyptians will
- 4:42Speaker 1: know my power. And at the end, many Egyptians actually
- 4:47Speaker 1: did turn to God. And it says that there was
- 4:50Speaker 1: a mixed multitude that left Egypt. So not just the Israelites,
- 4:55Speaker 1: but many Egyptians there as well. ended up traveling with
- 4:59Speaker 1: the Israelites out of Egypt. But interestingly enough, Job's story
- 5:03Speaker 1: actually takes place before the Exodus account. In fact, it
- 5:07Speaker 1: could be the oldest book in the Bible, depending on
- 5:09Speaker 1: who wrote it. Nobody knows who wrote it, but a
- 5:12Speaker 1: lot of people say it could potentially be the oldest
- 5:15Speaker 1: book in the Bible. But essentially, in allowing Satan to
- 5:19Speaker 1: test Job, God is doing three things. He's proving that
- 5:23Speaker 1: Job has a genuine faith. So he's, in a sense,
- 5:26Speaker 1: sticking up for his servant. He's also proving Satan incorrect.
- 5:30Speaker 1: Satan being the adversary, the one who is constantly striving
- 5:35Speaker 1: against God. And we talked about that last week. And
- 5:38Speaker 1: the third thing God is doing is proving himself to
- 5:41Speaker 1: be stronger and better than any idol all of us
- 5:45Speaker 1: human beings could ever worship. Because the idols that people
- 5:50Speaker 1: worship are considered in scripture to be one of two things,
- 5:53Speaker 1: either demons or just nothing. It's just like little wooden
- 5:58Speaker 1: things that can't move or talk, walk, hear, or anything.
- 6:01Speaker 1: They're inanimate objects. And God is stronger than any of
- 6:05Speaker 1: those things. He's stronger than the demons because God created
- 6:08Speaker 1: all angelic beings, whether they're fallen like Satan or they're
- 6:11Speaker 1: servants of God to this day. And he's also, of course,
- 6:15Speaker 1: above inanimate objects as are every person because they're a
- 6:19Speaker 1: created thing. So whoever does the creating is obviously better
- 6:23Speaker 1: than the creation. And God is the ultimate creator and
- 6:26Speaker 1: he created everything and there's nobody beside him. So he's
- 6:29Speaker 1: going to allow Satan to test Job so that Job
- 6:33Speaker 1: can prove Satan wrong. And Job can also give glory
- 6:36Speaker 1: to the God of the universe. And now in our
- 6:40Speaker 1: passage for today, Satan does the best that he possibly
- 6:44Speaker 1: can to win against Job. He is going to break
- 6:49Speaker 1: Job's spirit in every single way that he possibly can.
- 6:53Speaker 1: And he's going to do it on the exact same day.
- 6:55Speaker 1: He's going to wait for the exact right time to
- 6:57Speaker 1: do it. And he is going to essentially torture Job
- 7:02Speaker 1: into cursing God. So here's what Satan does, starting in
- 7:06Speaker 1: verse 13. It fell on a day when his sons
- 7:09Speaker 1: and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their
- 7:12Speaker 1: oldest brother's house. So don't forget. Job's 10 kids would
- 7:17Speaker 1: often have parties together because they all had birthdays. And
- 7:21Speaker 1: so whoever had a birthday would host a big party,
- 7:24Speaker 1: invite all of the siblings. And after that was done,
- 7:28Speaker 1: Job would actually be a mediator for his kids. And
- 7:32Speaker 1: he would offer a sacrifice for each one of them
- 7:34Speaker 1: just in case some sort of sin happened at these parties.
- 7:38Speaker 1: So Satan waits for one of these birthday parties to
- 7:40Speaker 1: happen so that all of Job's kids are under one roof. Okay,
- 7:45Speaker 1: that's the first thing he does. So he probably waits
- 7:47Speaker 1: a little while and then he strikes all that Job
- 7:50Speaker 1: has on the same day so that Job can just
- 7:54Speaker 1: be absolutely overwhelmed with grief and hopefully curse God in
- 8:00Speaker 1: the process of his grief. So in verse 14, a
- 8:04Speaker 1: messenger came to Job and said, the oxen were plowing
- 8:08Speaker 1: and the donkeys feeding beside them and the Sabians attacked
- 8:11Speaker 1: and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants
- 8:14Speaker 1: with the edge of the sword and I alone have
- 8:16Speaker 1: escaped to tell you. Now, before we get into the
- 8:19Speaker 1: misery that Job is experiencing, did you notice that an
- 8:23Speaker 1: army attacked Job's land? The Sabians were connected to Abraham.
- 8:29Speaker 1: So if you go to Genesis 25 verses one through three,
- 8:32Speaker 1: it mentions one of the wives that Abraham had, not Sarah,
- 8:36Speaker 1: but another wife. Abraham took another wife and her name
- 8:39Speaker 1: was Keturah. She bore him Zimrin. Jokshin, Medin, Midian, Ishbak,
- 8:44Speaker 1: and Shua. Jokshin became the father of Sheba and Dedan.
- 8:48Speaker 1: The sons of Dedan were Ashuram, Letisham, and Lumumim. And
- 8:53Speaker 1: you're like, Jen, why'd you read all those names? Well,
- 8:55Speaker 1: because of the name Sheba right there. So Sheba was
- 8:58Speaker 1: the grandson of Abraham with his wife Keturah. And the
- 9:03Speaker 1: Sabians mentioned in Job chapter one right here are connected
- 9:08Speaker 1: to that same Sheba. So Sheba most likely was the
- 9:11Speaker 1: father of the Sabians, which proves a little bit more
- 9:14Speaker 1: that Job's timeline of being a potential king of Edom
- 9:20Speaker 1: is very likely because the Edomites and the Sabians lived
- 9:24Speaker 1: in the same timeline. And we also see that here
- 9:26Speaker 1: in verse 17 with the Chaldeans who came and attacked
- 9:30Speaker 1: Job on the same day as well. The Chaldeans also
- 9:33Speaker 1: lived during the time of the Edomites. So again, another
- 9:36Speaker 1: connection as to the timeline of when Job could have lived.
- 9:40Speaker 1: And also, if two armies, the Sabians and the Chaldeans,
- 9:44Speaker 1: are attacking Job on the same day, I think that
- 9:48Speaker 1: proves even a little bit more that Job was not
- 9:51Speaker 1: just a rich man, but he was a very, very
- 9:54Speaker 1: powerful man as well. Potentially, again, a king who multiple
- 9:59Speaker 1: foreign armies wanted to overtake. So that's an interesting little
- 10:03Speaker 1: aside right here. But going back to the suffering of Job,
- 10:07Speaker 1: the messenger mentions that the Sabians attacked and took all
- 10:11Speaker 1: of the oxen that were plowing Job's fields and killed
- 10:14Speaker 1: all the servants that were plowing the fields. except for himself.
- 10:17Speaker 1: He says, I alone escaped to tell you. And while
- 10:20Speaker 1: that servant was still speaking, another servant came up to
- 10:24Speaker 1: Job in verse 16 and said, the fire of God
- 10:27Speaker 1: has fallen from the sky and has burned up the
- 10:29Speaker 1: sheep and the servants and consumed them. And I alone
- 10:33Speaker 1: have escaped to tell you. So a lot of people
- 10:35Speaker 1: wonder what this is. So was it actually the fire
- 10:38Speaker 1: of God or something else? I think this passage makes
- 10:41Speaker 1: it pretty clear that God did not have a direct
- 10:45Speaker 1: hand in harming Job. Yes, God gave the permission. God
- 10:51Speaker 1: allowed Satan to do this, and this was within God's
- 10:54Speaker 1: will for this to happen to Job for a few reasons.
- 10:57Speaker 1: But personally, I think it was Satan who carried out
- 11:00Speaker 1: all of these attacks. So what was this fire from God? Well,
- 11:04Speaker 1: to the servant who probably worshipped the gods of the time,
- 11:10Speaker 1: seeing something crazy fall from the sky probably just made
- 11:14Speaker 1: him assume that it was straight from God himself. So
- 11:17Speaker 1: there's a few ideas as to what this fire could
- 11:19Speaker 1: have been. Firstly, it could have been a lightning strike,
- 11:23Speaker 1: but then a lot of people say, well, it couldn't
- 11:24Speaker 1: have been because it says all the sheep were consumed.
- 11:27Speaker 1: So most likely it was a fire of some sort.
- 11:30Speaker 1: So either it was a raging fire fire that just
- 11:33Speaker 1: like came out of nowhere, which that does happen. For
- 11:36Speaker 1: those of you who live in the West and have
- 11:40Speaker 1: had experience with forest fires, you know how fast they
- 11:43Speaker 1: end up consuming the land and how quickly you have
- 11:45Speaker 1: to move to get away from them. So it could
- 11:47Speaker 1: have been a forest fire of some sort that seemed
- 11:50Speaker 1: to come out of nowhere, that seemed to come out
- 11:52Speaker 1: of the sky. But another suggestion is that these really
- 11:56Speaker 1: hot sandstorms would sometimes come from the consumed all of
- 12:04Speaker 1: the sheep and also the servants, except for the one
- 12:06Speaker 1: who was able to escape it in time. In verse 17,
- 12:11Speaker 1: another servant comes and says, the Chaldeans made three bands
- 12:16Speaker 1: and swept down on the camels and have taken them away. Yes.
- 12:19Speaker 1: And they killed the servants with the edge of the sword.
- 12:21Speaker 1: And I alone have escaped to tell you. And you
- 12:24Speaker 1: can imagine what Job is thinking at this point in time,
- 12:26Speaker 1: because three calamities back to back to back have struck
- 12:31Speaker 1: at the same time. The first that all of the
- 12:33Speaker 1: oxen and the donkeys were taken away because the Sabians
- 12:36Speaker 1: attacked and killed his servants. Then some sort of fire
- 12:39Speaker 1: from God fell from the sky and consumed all the
- 12:43Speaker 1: sheep and the servants. And now the Chaldeans made three
- 12:47Speaker 1: bands and swept down on all of Job's camels and
- 12:51Speaker 1: have taken them away and killed the servants with the
- 12:53Speaker 1: edge of the sword. And so, man, I can't even
- 12:56Speaker 1: imagine what Job is thinking at this point. But here's
- 12:58Speaker 1: the worst of the bunch. And it's interesting that Satan
- 13:02Speaker 1: left this guy for last. While this other servant was
- 13:05Speaker 1: still speaking, verse 18, there came another and said, your
- 13:10Speaker 1: sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in
- 13:13Speaker 1: their oldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great
- 13:16Speaker 1: wind from the wilderness and struck the four corners of
- 13:19Speaker 1: the house and it fell on the young men and
- 13:22Speaker 1: they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.
- 13:26Speaker 1: Job just experienced four calamities all at the same time
- 13:30Speaker 1: happened to him. And essentially he is left with nothing.
- 13:34Speaker 1: His servants are gone. His children are gone. His animals
- 13:38Speaker 1: are gone. Everything is gone except for his own house,
- 13:42Speaker 1: his own health, and his wife. And yet Job does
- 13:46Speaker 1: not curse God the way that Satan wants him to.
- 13:50Speaker 1: Because don't forget, the reason that Satan... is desiring of
- 13:54Speaker 1: Job to curse God. It's so that Satan can be
- 13:57Speaker 1: proven right above God. Last week, we talked about how
- 14:02Speaker 1: Satan just desires to be exactly like God, if not
- 14:06Speaker 1: above God. He wants to be God so bad that
- 14:10Speaker 1: he ended up falling from heaven. Jesus said, I saw
- 14:14Speaker 1: Satan fall like lightning down onto the earth because Satan
- 14:19Speaker 1: was not content with the role that he had, And
- 14:21Speaker 1: he wanted something more. He became so incredibly prideful that
- 14:25Speaker 1: he became the adversary. That is what Satan means, the
- 14:28Speaker 1: adversary of God. And in doing so, he is also
- 14:32Speaker 1: our adversary because Satan hates all of God's creation. He
- 14:36Speaker 1: hates it. He doesn't want it to succeed. He doesn't
- 14:39Speaker 1: want God to succeed. So if Satan could win here
- 14:44Speaker 1: and Job fall down and start cursing God in his anguish,
- 14:48Speaker 1: and you can see that Satan did his absolute best
- 14:50Speaker 1: to overwhelm Job with all of this misery, then Satan
- 14:55Speaker 1: can prove that he knows something that God does not know.
- 14:59Speaker 1: Remember what Satan's accusation was, that God was only getting
- 15:02Speaker 1: Job's worship because of Job's possessions and because of Job's
- 15:07Speaker 1: family and because of everything that Job had. If Job
- 15:11Speaker 1: would have sat down right here and started cursing God
- 15:14Speaker 1: for the loss of his property and family, Satan would
- 15:17Speaker 1: have been proved correct above God. But Job does not
- 15:21Speaker 1: do that. And Job doesn't know, by the way, what
- 15:23Speaker 1: is happening. He doesn't understand all of this. Instead, all
- 15:27Speaker 1: he knows is that God has a plan for him.
- 15:31Speaker 1: And he says in verse 21, naked I came out
- 15:34Speaker 1: of my mother's womb and naked I will return there.
- 15:39Speaker 1: Yahweh gave and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh's name.
- 15:44Speaker 1: In all of this, Job didn't sin nor charge God
- 15:48Speaker 1: with wrongdoing. Job did not sin in any of this,
- 15:53Speaker 1: unlike probably most people who experiences extreme loss. Job did
- 16:00Speaker 1: not curse God. Instead, he actually worshiped God. And he said,
- 16:03Speaker 1: you know what? Everything that I had to begin with,
- 16:06Speaker 1: though this hurts very bad, was God's in the first place.
- 16:10Speaker 1: In fact, I came into this world naked. I had nothing.
- 16:14Speaker 1: And God gave me every single thing that I own.
- 16:17Speaker 1: And now, for whatever reason, it is his will that
- 16:20Speaker 1: I return into the ground naked as well, without anything.
- 16:25Speaker 1: So blessed be the name of Yahweh. And Satan did
- 16:28Speaker 1: not win. But you might be reading through this and
- 16:30Speaker 1: being like, this seems like such an extreme test, though.
- 16:35Speaker 1: Why did God allow Job's children and all the servants
- 16:39Speaker 1: to die? Like, why would God allow that? That seems
- 16:42Speaker 1: unjust and unfair. Well, actually, in Job chapter 8, one
- 16:48Speaker 1: of Job's friends that came to comfort him after all
- 16:51Speaker 1: of this said the exact same thing. In Job 8,
- 16:55Speaker 1: 3 and 4, Bildad the Shuhite says, Does God pervert
- 17:00Speaker 1: justice or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? If your children
- 17:05Speaker 1: have sinned against him, then he has delivered them into
- 17:08Speaker 1: the hand of their disobedience. So basically, Job's friend is
- 17:12Speaker 1: accusing Job's children of causing the death themselves because of
- 17:17Speaker 1: whatever sin they committed. But then at the very end
- 17:20Speaker 1: of Job, the very last chapter, God actually tells Job's
- 17:24Speaker 1: friends that he's angry with them. In verse 7 of
- 17:27Speaker 1: Job 42, he says, my wrath is kindled against you
- 17:31Speaker 1: and against your two friends, for you have not spoken
- 17:33Speaker 1: of me the thing that is right as my servant
- 17:36Speaker 1: Job has. So essentially, God tells Job's friends that they
- 17:40Speaker 1: are full of crap and that they didn't know what
- 17:44Speaker 1: they were talking about when they were trying to comfort
- 17:47Speaker 1: Job through everything with whatever comfort they gave Job, which
- 17:52Speaker 1: kind of shows right here what Bildad the Shuhite was
- 17:55Speaker 1: saying about Job's children was not correct, that it wasn't
- 17:58Speaker 1: necessarily some sort of sin that they had that they perished.
- 18:02Speaker 1: Because first and foremost, every single person has to go
- 18:05Speaker 1: through death. And that might not sound like a compassionate
- 18:08Speaker 1: response to the death of Job's children, but that's kind
- 18:13Speaker 1: of even what Jesus says in Luke chapter 13, one
- 18:16Speaker 1: through five. This is from the WEB as usual. Now,
- 18:20Speaker 1: there are some present at the same time who told
- 18:22Speaker 1: him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with
- 18:25Speaker 1: their sacrifices. And Jesus answered them, do you think that
- 18:29Speaker 1: these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans
- 18:32Speaker 1: because they suffered such things? I tell you, no. but
- 18:36Speaker 1: unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
- 18:39Speaker 1: Or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell
- 18:42Speaker 1: and killed them. Do you think that they were worse
- 18:44Speaker 1: offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? I
- 18:47Speaker 1: tell you, no, but unless you repent, you all perish
- 18:50Speaker 1: in the same way. So Jesus had his disciples rethink
- 18:56Speaker 1: death in that passage because they were coming up to
- 18:59Speaker 1: him and they were like, Jesus, did you hear about
- 19:01Speaker 1: all of those men that Pilate killed and You know
- 19:03Speaker 1: how they were just going to the temple to sacrifice?
- 19:06Speaker 1: And did you hear about this tower that fell on
- 19:08Speaker 1: all of these people? And Jesus knew exactly what they
- 19:11Speaker 1: were thinking. His disciples were thinking along the same lines
- 19:15Speaker 1: as Job's three friends, that suffering must happen because of
- 19:20Speaker 1: some sort of sin. And that is the same kind
- 19:23Speaker 1: of thoughts I think that every single person has, myself
- 19:26Speaker 1: included at times. Oh, something bad happened to them? Well,
- 19:30Speaker 1: they must have done something wrong. But Jesus says, no.
- 19:33Speaker 1: the men and women who died in these ways, do
- 19:36Speaker 1: you really think that they did some sort of sin
- 19:39Speaker 1: that made them worse than any other Galilean in the
- 19:43Speaker 1: area or anybody else who lived in Jerusalem? Jesus said, no,
- 19:47Speaker 1: these men were no worse than anybody else. But if
- 19:50Speaker 1: you don't repent, you will die in the same way.
- 19:53Speaker 1: And Jesus is not talking about a physical death, that
- 19:56Speaker 1: if you and I don't repent, then a tower is
- 19:58Speaker 1: going to fall on us or something like that. No,
- 20:00Speaker 1: he's not talking about the physical death. He's talking about
- 20:02Speaker 1: the spiritual death. We can either die and our spirits
- 20:06Speaker 1: go to the second death or we die and our
- 20:09Speaker 1: spirits go into eternal life. It says in scripture that
- 20:13Speaker 1: God will actually allow somebody to die to save them
- 20:17Speaker 1: from evil. Isaiah 57, one and two says this, the
- 20:22Speaker 1: righteous perish and no one lays it to heart. Merciful
- 20:25Speaker 1: men are taken away and no one considers that the
- 20:28Speaker 1: righteous is taken away from the evil. He enters into
- 20:32Speaker 1: peace and they rest in their beds. Each one who
- 20:35Speaker 1: walks in his uprightness. And that's not something that Christians
- 20:38Speaker 1: often like to think about, that death could possibly be
- 20:41Speaker 1: a mercy from God himself, that God is just taking
- 20:45Speaker 1: somebody's life so that they don't have to suffer on
- 20:48Speaker 1: earth any longer. And he's transporting their souls up into heaven.
- 20:53Speaker 1: And so Job's children, just because they died here, weren't
- 20:56Speaker 1: necessarily sinful, weren't necessarily doing something wrong in their hearts.
- 21:03Speaker 1: it could be that it was just their time to die.
- 21:05Speaker 1: And even though that death was coming from the hands
- 21:07Speaker 1: of Satan himself, God used it as a mercy on
- 21:11Speaker 1: Job's children and maybe even on Job's servants as well. Now,
- 21:15Speaker 1: could it be that some of these men, even some
- 21:18Speaker 1: of Job's children sinned and God was judging them through
- 21:21Speaker 1: this test of Job? Sure, that could be the case
- 21:24Speaker 1: as well, but we don't know that for sure. The
- 21:27Speaker 1: only thing we do know, is that Job remained faithful
- 21:30Speaker 1: through all of this, even though Satan was the one
- 21:33Speaker 1: tormenting Job through all of his various means. And by
- 21:38Speaker 1: the way, it wasn't just Satan doing this. Don't forget
- 21:41Speaker 1: that Satan was using foreign armies to attack and hurt
- 21:47Speaker 1: Job as well, which really proves Ephesians chapter 2, 1
- 21:52Speaker 1: through 3. These verses shine a little bit more light
- 21:55Speaker 1: onto how evil and disgusting Satan really is. It says,
- 22:26Speaker 1: At one point in time, every single one of us, you, me,
- 22:30Speaker 1: every person listening to this podcast episode, we all belonged
- 22:34Speaker 1: to the prince of the power of the air because
- 22:36Speaker 1: we were living in disobedience to God. And Satan, the
- 22:40Speaker 1: prince of the power of the air, was working in
- 22:43Speaker 1: our lives to produce even more disobedience against God, which
- 22:48Speaker 1: is why we see Satan working through the Sabians and
- 22:51Speaker 1: the Chaldeans to produce so much destruction against to Job's
- 22:55Speaker 1: property and servants. So I've always found it kind of
- 22:58Speaker 1: interesting that whenever people are discussing the book of Job,
- 23:03Speaker 1: they always say, well, who caused the destruction to Job?
- 23:07Speaker 1: Was it God or was it Satan? And they always
- 23:10Speaker 1: leave out the Sabians and the Chaldeans, the human beings
- 23:14Speaker 1: that caused all the destruction to Job's life as well.
- 23:18Speaker 1: So honestly, I think the best way to look at
- 23:20Speaker 1: this is that Satan and human beings together caused the
- 23:25Speaker 1: destruction in Job's life. And God allowed it and even
- 23:29Speaker 1: gave permission for all of this to happen to Job.
- 23:33Speaker 1: Not because God needed to know what Job was going
- 23:36Speaker 1: to do because he didn't know the future. Not because
- 23:38Speaker 1: he had this weird competitive nature with Satan. But it
- 23:42Speaker 1: was to prove his divinity over Satan. Because again, when
- 23:47Speaker 1: somebody worships an idol, they're worshiping either an inanimate object
- 23:52Speaker 1: or they're worshiping Satan. So who is the true God?
- 23:56Speaker 1: Satan truly is the prince of the power of the air.
- 23:59Speaker 1: And we can choose to follow him who causes all
- 24:01Speaker 1: this destruction and calamity on Job's house just to try
- 24:06Speaker 1: to become more like God. Or we can follow the
- 24:09Speaker 1: one true God, the giver of all of the blessings
- 24:13Speaker 1: that Job had in the first place. You know, there's
- 24:16Speaker 1: so many people, so many Christians even, that really struggle
- 24:19Speaker 1: through the book of Job and think that it shouldn't
- 24:22Speaker 1: be part of the Christian narrative, because it almost paints
- 24:25Speaker 1: God in a bad light. But is that really true?
- 24:29Speaker 1: Because based upon this story today, I think we can
- 24:32Speaker 1: really see who Job's true adversary is. So there's two
- 24:38Speaker 1: choices that each of us have in life. The choice
- 24:42Speaker 1: to follow the adversary, the prince of the power of
- 24:44Speaker 1: the air, who gives nothing and expects all. who hates
- 24:48Speaker 1: you and causes destruction in your life, even if you
- 24:51Speaker 1: worship him because he hates you because you're one of
- 24:53Speaker 1: God's creations. Or you can follow the one true God
- 24:57Speaker 1: who gives blessings even when people don't worship him, who
- 25:00Speaker 1: gives salvation and eternal life, something Satan can never ever do,
- 25:05Speaker 1: who gives freely, and we actually can't give him anything
- 25:09Speaker 1: in return. There is nothing we can give him for
- 25:12Speaker 1: the blessings that we receive. And even Job says that
- 25:15Speaker 1: at the end of the chapter here. So I hope
- 25:17Speaker 1: you guys enjoyed going through Job chapter one with me.
- 25:20Speaker 1: Next week, or actually, no, on Wednesday, we will be
- 25:23Speaker 1: in Job chapter two, talking about the next phase of
- 25:27Speaker 1: Satan's torment of Job. And we'll see what goes on
- 25:31Speaker 1: there and how Job responds. Faithful listeners, I hope you
- 25:35Speaker 1: guys tune in then. But now before I close you
- 25:38Speaker 1: guys out with happy listening and God bless, please listen
- 25:41Speaker 1: to another message from a sponsor. All righty, faithful listeners,
- 25:46Speaker 1: make sure to tune in tomorrow because we're in First
- 25:48Speaker 1: Peter chapter four on the New Testament side of stuff.
- 25:51Speaker 1: As you guys know, on Mondays and Wednesdays, I do
- 25:53Speaker 1: an Old Testament episode. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I
- 25:57Speaker 1: do a New Testament episode, which right now we're in
- 25:59Speaker 1: First Peter. And then, of course, Fridays is for the
- 26:03Speaker 1: members where we're going through the book of the Psalms
- 26:05Speaker 1: over on the member side of stuff. So hopefully you
- 26:08Speaker 1: guys tune in tomorrow because First Peter four is going
- 26:10Speaker 1: to be a great episode where we're We'll talk about
- 26:13Speaker 1: the advice that Peter gives all of the Christians who
- 26:16Speaker 1: are waiting for Jesus's return. And a return is coming
- 26:19Speaker 1: quickly is what Peter says. So we'll talk about that
- 26:22Speaker 1: because how is Jesus's return coming quickly in the mind
- 26:26Speaker 1: of Peter when the book was written thousands of years
- 26:30Speaker 1: ago and Jesus still has not returned. That'll be what
- 26:34Speaker 1: we talk about tomorrow. So I hope all of you
- 26:37Speaker 1: guys tune in bright and early 6 a.m. or whenever
- 26:39Speaker 1: you choose to wake up and listen. Faithful listeners, have
- 26:43Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. Happy listening
- 26:47Speaker 1: and God bless. I just want to take a second
- 26:55Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
- 26:57Speaker 1: with me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact, if
- 27:00Speaker 1: you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered
- 27:03Speaker 1: podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
- 27:08Speaker 1: and more.