4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin
for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. 5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his
bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. 6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is
in thine hand; but save his life.
A question arises, “Why is God speaking to Satan? Aren’t
they enemies?”
Satan speaks to God and is spoken to by God on other
occasions. Here in Zechariah, the Lord’s appearance, the angel of His presence
(Isaiah 63:9), calls on the Lord to rebuke Satan as an example to us who should
never challenge him directly.
Zechariah 3:1 ¶ And he shewed me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to
resist him. 2 And the LORD said unto
Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem
rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
(Jude, verse 8 ¶ Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile
the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending
with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him
a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.)
Here, Jesus, God in the flesh, is tested by Satan and they
carry on a conversation.
Luke 4:1 ¶ And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost
returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in
those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou
be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is
written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an
high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All
this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto
me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get
thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve. 9 And he
brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said
unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And
in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering
said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the
temptation, he departed from him for a season.
And Satan stands now before God, similar to Job’s time,
accusing us all of our wicked sins.
Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,
Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power
of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night.
…and our defense?
1John 2:1 ¶ My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is
the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of
the whole world.
As said previously Satan is not God’s equal. That myth came
from the Persian religion, and was adopted by the state church at Rome and
Constantinople, where there were two opposing but equal, uncreated, and eternal
entities existing under one god, one good force and one destructive. Satan was,
in reality, created by God and is under God’s power and God can unleash him
knowing he will destroy whom he can. God did this with heathen nations, under
Satan’s authority, against Israel, allowing them to be built up for the express
purpose of bringing judgment on Israel.
Simply here, Satan insists that, while Job has remained
faithful so far in all of this tragedy, he will break if his own person is
attacked. God gives Satan permission to do what he will, only he must spare
Job’s life.
Remember that Satan’s purpose is to get Job to curse God, to
speak evil or maliciously toward his Creator. We are completely dependent upon
God’s mercy and grace. We can be turned over to Satan for the destruction of
the flesh. This shocking idea is an affront to humanism because the very idea
that God is our sovereign and that we are dependent upon Him, not Him upon us,
is a horrifying idea to the humanist or the carnal Christian.
If a Christian suffers persecution because he or she is a
witness for the gospel it is because the world hates Christ and we understand
that. If a Christian suffers tribulation because of their sin (smoking
resulting in lung cancer, etc.) we understand that. If a Christian suffers as they age because in
our fallen state all can grow old and die we understand that although we don’t
understand how a person can live to be a hundred and smoke a pack of cigarettes
a day and someone just be around second-hand smoke and get cancer as a young
person. We get confused when things start to not make sense by our sense of
order and appear to be happening randomly. The Book of Job attacks the concept
of randomness but underscores the idea of the unknowability of the reason
behind some events.
I want to help you here understand in your heart that
teachers and preachers who proclaim that they know the reason for all things,
for all suffering, and for all tribulation in your life don’t necessarily know
beans about anything. How dare they misrepresent God? Misrepresenting Him is
the worst type of cursing Him. A person who is swallowed up in grief might be
excused for being angry with God in their heart but how can you justify
continually misrepresenting God and God’s words for control over your congregation
or for political influence? We will see this misrepresentation underscored later
in our study in Job.
Here is a further example of someone being turned over to
Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
1Corinthians 5:1
¶ It is reported commonly that there is
fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among
the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather
mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but
present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning
him that hath so done this deed, 4 In
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit,
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that
the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
We learn later that this destruction was of an emotional
nature for your thoughts and feelings are part of your flesh (Ephesians 2:3),
removing him from the congregation temporarily.
2Corinthians 2:5
¶ But if any have caused grief, he hath
not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. 6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment,
which was inflicted of many. 7 So that
contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such
a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm
your love toward him. 9 For to this end
also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in
all things. 10 To whom ye forgive any
thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for
your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for
we are not ignorant of his devices.
Paul admonished the church not to give Satan too much
influence in this man’s misery and repentance as discouragement caused by an unforgiving
attitude when an offender is truly repentant is one method by which he draws
Christians away. Here is another example;
1Timothy 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which
some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I
have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Of course in today’s consumer driven Christianity where the
church has given the care of its members over to the government, and where
church membership is simply a matter of showing up enough times, church
discipline results in you simply finding a church body that doesn’t know how
wicked you can be. The man in Corinth, who had sexual relations with his
step-mother, would have probably just changed churches or even denominations
today as he was welcomed in his search for a “seeker-friendly,” church.
At this point, Job’s health, but not his life, is in Satan’s
hands.
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