CLUES OF ORIGIN FROM JOB

The introduction to the story of Job cannot be more dramatic. It could also be very enlightening for us who live in this world and are constrained to see the reality, because of the limitations our physical bodies impose upon us.

To begin with, we see the conversation between God and Satan in heaven. This is one of the very few glimpses we get from the Bible about the workings of the highest spiritual realms.

One day the angelscame to present themselves before the Lord, and Satanalso came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”(Job 1:6,7)

We do know from other portions in the Bible that Satan and a third of the angels rebelled against the authority of God and were cast down to earth, where Job’s description is one of him roaming back and forth. Peter describes the devil as prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.(1Peter 5:8)

Man often ends up questioning the very purpose of the creation, of humanity, of the sin in the world and the suffering we see in and around us. What is the purpose of this life after all? Why go through life when death awaits one and all? Why did God allow a world of sin and suffering? 

The Bible tells us repeatedly that everything in heaven and earth has been created for his glory. Slightly more specific, but far from completely clear, is the statement of Paul in Ephesians 1:9,10- 

‘he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.’

This indicates that all things are not under Christ as yet. And this disruption to the absolute rule of the good God was brought about by the rebellion of Satan and his angels. God in his justice then proceeded to give Satan a place where his rebellion could be tested out on earth in the human race, which is unique in all of creation in having a free will. Even the angels were probably not given free will to the extent man was. As humans, owing our existence to God, there are limits to us questioning God, as we exist only because of him. Yet we can understand that as creations having free will, we can choose to either love God willingly or reject God using our free wills and in doing so, manifest the ultimate goodness of God. Life can be one of joy and satisfaction or one of despair and hopelessness regardless of the possessions man has on earth. The culmination of salvation and experiencing God’s goodness is of course, made possible only through Christ and God’s work in us through Christ, but regardless, our free wills are central to this journey man undertakes towards God.

And as man’s free will collectively demonstrates that God’s goodness is something that can be voluntarily sought after, it also validates God’s claim that He is the ultimate good, perhaps the very claim that Satan disputed when he rebelled against God and was thrown out.

It is this background reality in heaven that plays out on the earth as we wrestle between a good God who beckons us and the roaring lion who prowls around waiting to devour and include the gullible man in his doomed journey to destruction which has been prophesied in Revelation.

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