13. Job And Evil Series

[IN GOD’S IMAGE 13 – JOB AND EVIL]

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

Last time we looked at a number of issues that suggested the path of evil is a necessary part of God’s purpose of raising man to his destiny of becoming “in the image of God”.

• We can’t leave the subject of evil without taking a closer look at the story of Job as we get a unique insight into what is going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm.

• This is usually something we are not privy to, yet as we will see, can have a serious impact on each of our lives.

The book begins with God calling a heavenly council to which Satan is also commanded to attend.

• Job 1:6-12 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.

• This account gives us an important insight into the spiritual hierarchy of the cosmos.

• Although Satan has enormous power, he cannot thumb his nose at God; he is obligated to present Himself to God when God commands it.

• So the first thing we should realise is, God ultimately is in control of events.

• 7 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.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

• Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I would appreciate God turning the spotlight on me in his conversations with the devil.

• But as the book unfolds we begin to see why God has set in motion events that are designed to address a particular spiritual problem Job has.

• Although God draws attention to Job being blameless and upright, there appears to be an important underlying spiritual problem that needs to be addressed.

• As we saw in our earlier sessions, there is always a higher purpose for what transpires, and as we shall see, in this case it will lead to the development of a healthier and closer relationship between God and Job.

• Through Job’s response to his dilemma we will see he has a distorted view of God and how He runs the universe.

• But this scenario again raises the perplexing question, “Why would God, who is all powerful, allow the tempter to continue his work unless there is a purpose for it all?”

• In the same way God could have shielded Adam and Eve from the devil, He could just as easily have shielded Job from the temptations of the devil, but He doesn’t.

• Instead, we see God drawing attention to Job and the devil being used to fulfil God’s purpose.

• This account confirms our earlier point that both good and evil are something we have to experience in God’s higher purpose of creating us in His image.

• Satan has a part to play in the process but it is always under God’s control.

• It’s also interesting that although God perceives Job has a spiritual problem Satan seems to be unaware of it or the fact He is being used by God to fulfil His purpose in Job’s life.

• He is so bent, wicked and twisted he simply sees it as an opportunity to inflict evil on Job and destroy Job’s relationship with God.

• We will later see the same blind spot revealed in the crucifixion of Jesus.

• While Satan saw the crucifixion as an opportunity to destroy Jesus, His death instead resulted in the salvation of the world (1 Corinthians 2:8).

• In the final analysis God will work things out to fulfil His purpose even if it means turning lemons into lemonade (Romans 8:28).