TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
Are You Having A Jōb Moment?
Part 1
February 3, 2019
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Job was a prosperous man who lived in a land called Uz with a huge family. According to JOB 1:2, Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. The wealth, with which God blessed him, is described in JOB 1:3: His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east. Job was the most influential man “of the east” – all because of his success, which he acknowledged came from God.
Job (pronounced Jōb) is a Hebrew name which means persecuted or hated. (This will make more sense as our study unfolds.) He was the third son of Issachar who was the ninth son of Jacob and the fifth of Leah: And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. (GEN 46:13 King James Version) There are also references to Job in EZEK 14:14 (The Message Bible): God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, when a country sins against me by living faithlessly and I reach out and destroy its food supply by bringing on a famine, wiping out humans and animals alike, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job—the Big Three—were alive at the time, it wouldn’t do the population any good. Their righteousness would only save their own lives.” Decree of God, the Master. Now that is a powerful message to us! As believers, we are righteous automatically because at the moment of Salvation, God imputes His Absolute Righteousness to every believer and declares him righteous or justified. Righteousness is Christ’s Perfect Holiness. It is an essential attribute to God’s character which literally means “One Who is right.” Think of it as the polar opposite of sin. To commit sin is to go against God’s design for our lives. Righteousness is the only living standard that is acceptable for us to stand before God The Father: In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality. (PROV 12:28 NIV) So when you have a “Job Moment” – remember that you, too, share God’s Righteousness and it could help you save your own life in any disaster! You can’t walk your Christian walk for anyone but yourself.
Another reference to Job is in JAM: 5:11: We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. These things that James wrote about Job in this verse lay the groundwork for our study.
If you sat down and read through the Book of Job, you’d learn the entire story of his amazing life; but you would definitely miss out on his importance in your Christian walk today. Job was a man of great patience. In fact, the Bible presents him as our model for perseverance! And you can’t be patient unless you persevere!! His faith was tested over and over again but Job came out of it a winner. Interestingly, although most of the Book of Job consists of Job’s words, he wasn’t the author. The author was an Israelite who probably had access to oral and written sources which he used to write the Book – under the Inspiration of God The Holy Spirit, of course.
The Book of Job was written to prove that God can be loved for His Own Sake – based on Who He Is! (And He loves US based on Who He is.) It was written to show us that honorable, upright, virtuous people can serve God for no other reason than because they love Him and trust in Him even when He seems to be an enemy. But as true believers – of course we know without a doubt that He’s not!!
The Book of Job was written to show us that the sometimes painful riddle of our lives is actually a bunch of blessings from God and that people who love God aren’t necessarily suffering as a result of their own bad choices. It also teaches us that what seem like inequalities in our lives will turn into lavish blessings in eternity!! And God’s Justice will be done somehow, sometime, somewhere…
The Book of Job is not about God’s vengeance. It’s not a word of warning to us not to pry into the deep Designs of God. And it certainly isn’t an attempt to improve Job’s faithfulness because God and even Satan acknowledge that his faithfulness is perfect (which we’re going to look at shortly).
One day, Satan (aka “the Adversary”) appears before God in heaven. The word adversary is defined as one’s opponent in a conflict or dispute. (For example, a lawyer is a defendant’s adversary in court.) Now there was a day when the sons of God [the angels] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. (JOB 1:6) At this meeting with God and the angels, God shows off Job to Satan – telling him how honorable, righteous, and virtuous Job is. But Satan argues that Job is only good because God has blessed him abundantly. Then do you know what Satan has the nerve to do? He challenges God, asking Him for permission to punish Job, because he’s certain that if he does, Job will turn away from God and curse Him!! So God allows Satan to challenge Job but forbids him to take Job’s life in the process.
JOB 1:6 takes place in the courtroom in the Supreme Court of Heaven which we studied in last week’s Teen Tree of Life. At this meeting in front of God, Satan is acting as an attorney. Satan is actually the Hebrew word for lawyer. In the early books of the Old Testament, there is no mention of “the Prince of Darkness” (as we Church-Age believers know him). There are just demons called “se’irim.” Some of these demons had names, such as Belial and Azazel. We do find the word “satan” in some early biblical books, but they do not refer to a demon. “Satan” is just a proper noun meaning an adversary in a judicial setting. For example, a foreign king opposing the king of Israel was said to be a satan: Then the Lord raised up an adversary [a satan] to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in Edom. (1KINGS 11:14)
We pick up on the proceedings of the meeting in JOB 1:7: The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” Now, you have to admit that after reading this verse, you might not have really thought about the fact that Satan is here on earth with us. But he is. And so are all the fallen angels. This is taught in EPH 6:12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. The Message Bible translates verse 12 this way: This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
So, Satan has been roaming around earth searching for something. JOB 1:8 (The Message Bible) tells us what Satan has been looking for: God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil.” Satan had been looking for someone to test! So God gives him Job! Wow!! Job is officially entered into the trial as a witness for the Prosecution. And he doesn’t even know it!! And Satan is the defense attorney in the trial.
As in any trial, once a witness has been entered into the trial, the other side gets to cross-examine him. At this trial, God is the Prosecution and Satan is the Defense and his defense is that Job is a phony and a hypocrite who is just kissing up to God in order to receive prosperity. Satan argues that if God removes all of Job’s blessings and cuts off his logistical grace support that Job will curse God.
Logistical grace is everything that God provides for us. “Logistics” are supplies and the things required to live life. “Grace” means that we don’t deserve the supplies, but God gives them to us anyway. Logistical grace includes things like food and clothing as well as spiritual needs such as a Pastor-Teacher and the Ten Problem-Solving Tools. Believers don’t have to worry about anything in life because God takes care of it all. All we have to do is glorify Him by reaching Spiritual maturity. The reason that some believers don’t get all of God’s blessings for them is because they don’t trust Him. They don’t believe that God will give them everything they need. If we trust in God to take care of our needs, then He will take care of every single one!
{to be continued}