Episode 2324 - Lesson 10 - Tuesday March 04 - The Case of Job

In the book of Job, we are given some fascinating insights into the reality of the great controversy.Read Job 1:1–12 and Job 2:1–7. What principles of the great controversy do we see unveiled here?Many significant details can be gleaned from these verses. First, there appears to be some kind of heavenly council scene, not merely a dialogue between God and Satan; other celestial beings are involved.Second, there is some existing dispute, signaled by the fact that God asks whether Satan has considered Job. Considered Job for what? The question makes sense in the context of a larger, ongoing dispute.Third, while God declares Job blameless, upright, and God-fearing, Satan claims that Job appears to fear God only because God protects him. This amounts to slander against both Job’s character and God’s (compare with Rev. 12:10, Zechariah 3).Fourth, Satan alleges that God’s protection of Job (the hedge) is unfair and makes it impossible for Satan to prove his allegations. This indicates some existing limits on Satan (rules of engagement), and that Satan has apparently tried to harm Job.God responds to Satan’s accusation before the heavenly council by allowing Satan to put his theory to the test, but only within limits. He first grants Satan power over “all that he has,” but prohibits personal harm to Job (Job 1:12, NKJV). Later, after Satan claims that Job cares only about himself, God allows Satan to afflict Job personally, but Satan must spare his life (Job 2:3–6).Satan brings numerous calamities against Job’s household, yet in each case Job continues to bless His name (Job 1:20–22; Job 2:9, 10), falsifying Satan’s charges.We learn many things here, such as that there are rules of engagement in the cosmic conflict. There are parameters in the heavenly court within which the allegations raised against God can be settled, but without God violating the sacred principles inherent in love, the foundation of God’s government and how He rules the universe and the intelligent beings in it.These heavenly scenes in the book of Job offer us fascinating insights into the reality of the great controversy, and how it is played out here on earth.