The Devil Wears Shackles (Job 1:9-12)

The Devil Wears Shackles
Job 1:9-12

INTRODUCTION:
Dr. Madison Sarratt taught math classes at Vanderbilt University. For many years, before he would give an exam, I understand that he would tell his class: “Today I am giving two exams. One in trigonometry and the other in honesty. I hope you will pass them both. If you must fail one, fail trigonometry. There are many good people in the world who can’t pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot pass the exam of honesty.”

What Dr. Sarratt is talking about is integrity. Integrity is the “quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” It comes from the same root word as “integer,” which in math refers to a whole number. So, integrity means being a “whole” person. It means that your behavior (what people see on the outside) measures up to what you believe on the inside, your moral values.

Adam Clark was a well-known Methodist scholar who wrote a set of commentaries on the whole Bible. But, before he did that, he was working in a dry-goods store selling silks and satins to a clientele that was “highly cultured.” One day his employer suggested to him that he stretch the silks as he measured it out. That would increase sales, profits and his value to the business. Adam Clark, although he was young, was a person of integrity. He replied to his boss, “Sir, your silk may stretch, but my conscience will not!”

We are studying our adversary, the devil, this year and we have four events in the OT in which Satan plays a major role. One of those is the book of Job. We just studied Job this past summer. The lessons are on our YouTube page.

Before I talk about the integrity of Job, I want to point out a few things about the book of Job:

1. Job is one of our favorite books to consider when we discuss the problem of human suffering. The story of Job shows us that all suffering is not the result of sin.
2. Job has trials, indeed. But Job is not on trial. Not in God’s eyes. But, it is God’s policies in how He rules the world that is on trial. So…
3. God is the subject of the book of Job. I’ll point out the key verse in just a moment that illustrates what the whole book of Job is about but it is not primarily about Job.
4. That means the book is more about righteousness than about suffering.
5. Wisdom also plays a key role. Job does not believe God’s policies are just. But the justice of God is not at the heart of the book of Job. In chapter 28, we have a whole chapter dedicated to wisdom, God’s wisdom. That is what is on trial in the book of Job.

Let’s enrich our spiritual lives by considering the fact that despite what Job is going through, God has Satan on a leash. Satan is limited in what he can do to Job. To use another metaphor, Satan wears shackles.

JOB IS A GODLY MAN - 1:1-5:
We are about to learn what all Job goes through. But, before it all starts, the author of the book insists that Job is a righteous man. Observe what he says.

The land of Uz was located in the land of Edom. So Job himself was not an Israelite or a Jew, as we understand those terms. He likely lived before the nation of Israel was formed. Most Bible scholars believe that Job and these events took place during the time when the stories in the book of Genesis took place. So, Job lived perhaps sometime during the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

But, notice that verse 2 says very clearly that Job was a blameless, upright man who feared God and stayed away from evil. So the author of the book, we do not know if the author was Job himself or not, says, before he tells us anything about Job’s suffering, that Job does not deserve what he is about to experience!

Job had been blessed by God, indeed. He had seven sons; in an agrarian society that would be very beneficial in helping in the fields. He also had three daughters who would have helped Job’s wife considerably in managing the house and home.

Look at his possessions: 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys and a considerable number of servants. The average herd of beef cows in the U. S. (last I checked) was 40 head. Job was very wealthy and that’s what the text means when it says that he was “the greatest of all the men of the east” (vs 3).

Job was also a very conscientious father. When his children had a birthday, each would throw a birthday party and invite all their siblings to join them. So, Job would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for them and pray for each of his children. And Job did that for years.

SATAN IS AN UNGODLY ACCUSER - 1:6-22:
On a particular occasion, God’s angels appear before Him. I think that’s how we should understand the phrase “sons of God,” although it can refer to godly human beings in some contexts. On this occasion, perhaps for the sole benefit of us knowing what’s going on behind the scenes, God allows man’s biggest adversary to appear before Him as well - Satan. The Hebrew word “Satan” means “adversary.” Satan is our enemy and He is God’s enemy. The Hebrew word, “satan,” is used 27 times in the OT and most often, it is translated as “adversary.”

But, God asks Satan what he is up to and we have the initial series of trials for Job. Let’s read the dialogue between God and Satan first (1:6-12).

Now, we pointed out how the author of the book of Job tells us before any suffering starts that Job was a godly man. He is not being punished for any sins he has committed. Please observe verse 8 because verse 8 is God’s opinion of Job: “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” So, the author’s statement in verse 2 of the character of Job is also God’s view of Job’s character.

Job is not suffering because of Job’s sins! Job is a godly man.

Rather, the key verse to understanding the book of Job and the dialogues between Job and his friends and a key to understanding suffering in this life is found in verses 9-11. Please observe what the book of Job is about: “Satan answered the Lord: ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.”

The person “on trial” in the book of Job is God. Satan is saying that the only reason why Job is serving God is because God has (in essence) bribed Job with all these blessings. Satan, the false (!) accuser (which will be our study for April), is saying that if God were to remove all those blessings, Job would not serve God. That is, God is not worthy to be served and worshiped, unless He gives us stuff.

Now, if we have dated Job accurately, in the timeframe of the book of Genesis, then Job certainly lived before there was much discussion about the existence of heaven. Job lived before there was much of any promise of a nice home in heaven beyond this world. Practically all that Job knew of the blessings of God was what he experienced on earth. Jesus had not come yet; the New Testament had not been written yet with all of its promises of life after death, forgiveness of sins, and all that.

So, God is on trial. In your life and mine… Is God worth serving and worshiping if our lives are not going well? If I have poor health, is God worth serving and worshiping? If I am having financial troubles and God has not eased those worries, is He still worthy to be worshiped and served? The question of the book of Job is a very relevant question for me and you today. Just why do we love God? Is it only because of what God has done for us?

So, God gives Satan permission to remove some of those blessings. But please observe that God limits what Satan can do to Job. Satan does not have unlimited power over Job. Whatever Satan does to Job, he does it under God’s watchful eye and sovereign power. “Only do not put forth your hand on him.”

So, Satan removes some of God’s blessings around Job, with the explicit purpose of showing that the only reason why Job serves God is because of the stuff that God showers on him.

Satan, the adversary, takes away everything Job could use to earn a living and provide for his family. In successive waves of tragedy, Satan tried to weaken and even destroy Job’s prosperity and, subsequently, his faith. The oxen were destroyed and the servants who took care of them. Notice three times the text uses the phrase: “while he was still speaking,” in order to heighten the intensity and the tragedy. Job no more had an opportunity to process and adjust to this awful news before more news hit. The sheep and the servants were destroyed. Then the cattle and those servants were destroyed.

To cap off all of this awful tragedy in a single day, a wind storm knocked down the house and all ten of Job’s children were slaughtered by the great adversary. Isn’t that enough to destroy a man’s faith in God? After all, don’t we serve God just for what we can get out of it?

Job wept. Job mourned. Job wished he had never been born (chapter 3). But the one thing Job did not do was sin or blame God for the tragedies he had experienced. Now, other than the brief reference to Satan in the form of the serpent in Genesis 3, there is no reference to Satan in the book of Genesis. Job does not know about the conversation between God and Satan that you and I just read. As far as we know, Job does not know Satan is testing Job’s integrity. But one thing Job does know. He knows it is within God’s right to take away what He has given. So Job does not sin.

SATAN IS AN UNGODLY ACCUSER - ROUND #2 - 2:1-8:
Having failed in that initial mission, Satan goes for round two. Let’s read the second conversation between Satan and God.

The conversation is almost identical but notice God’s assessment of Satan’s first effort: “He still holds fast his integrity although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.” Satan, you failed! That’s God’s message to the adversary. “You failed!” God knew Job better than Satan did.

So, Satan has a second proposal: “Put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” Affect the man’s health, the adversary says, and he’ll curse you. Every man has a price right? At some point, every man and woman will curse God - all Satan has to do is squeeze the vice tighter. That’s his implication. How true is it? That’s a question only you and I can answer.

As earlier, God gives the adversary some freedom but He also limits Satan’s power: “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.” God keeps Satan limited so that he cannot tempt us beyond what we are able to bear.

Satan, then, goes as far as God’s leash will allow him to go, 2:7-8.

A COUPLE OTHER EXAMPLES:
Let me just point what happens in Mark 5 when Jesus casts an evil spirit out of a man. A host of demons dwelt in this man and it gave him supernatural strength. Observe in verse 4 that people in that village tried to bind this demon-possessed man with shackles and chains but he would break apart the chains and the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Except Jesus. And He did not do it with physical strength. He did it with His spiritual power. Notice in verse 7 that the demon asks Jesus not to torment him. Then in verse 10, the demon was imploring Jesus not to send him out of the country. Rather, since there was a herd of pigs feeding nearby, the demons asked Jesus permission for them to enter those pigs (ver. 12-13). The point here is that the messengers of Satan, demons, were still under the power and control of Jesus. It is clear that they could not do anything without the Lord’s permission.

In all the demon possessions we see in the NT, we see the power of Jesus exhibited to be greater than the power of Satan. Satan might be more powerful than we are, but God has limited what he can do to us and against us. That ought to give us encouragement and hope.

That is a promise from the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Take home message: Follow Jesus and watch as Satan's limits are revealed. Stand strong in His Word!