Introduction to Job

Okay. Um well, here we are. We’re at Job. Um we’re going to start here with uh some discussion. Normally, we jump right into the lesson, but I wanted to have as many faces visible as possible. Those of you who um don’t like to have your morning bed head on film, uh I understand why you have your cameras off, but maybe for a moment you can turn them on because I’d like to have some very brief discussion um on on this topic. Job is is uh a challenging study for a lot of people, but I wanted to get a show of hands and maybe you can just kind of, you know, raise your hand so I can see it. How many of you have studied Job beyond just the cursory reading? Okay, Glenn number two, Dave and Cassie, Jerry, Jere, who else? Anybody raise your hands? Okay, so not a whole lot of people. Maybe Paul and Lori. Um, how many of you would say that you have a pretty good bead on what’s going on in Job? The overarching theme? Raise your hand. Okay, Glenn. Number two, Samuel raised his hand digitally. Thank you, Samuel. Uh, okay. A couple of you are not so sure. Okay. How many of you have heard uh that the book of Job is is about how to properly suffer as a Christian? Raise your hand. Okay. Uh how many of you have heard that it’s a book about how not to suffer as as a Christian? Um there’s a lot of themes going on out there and and so um I think I shared with this group uh last week perhaps that um for me the study in the book of Job started very early on in my spiritual life um shortly after I got baptized in 1988. Um, I decided to read the book of Job and um, and I and I I read it all the way through in one sitting. And I remember very distinctly that moment of um, finding myself agreeing with Job’s friends and all the things that they were saying and feeling like in my heart that Job was just being defensive. And then you get to almost the end of the book when Yhovah shows up in a storm and he ends up rebuking the three friends. And I remember reading that going, “Wait a minute. What did I miss here?” I found myself agreeing with the three friends only to learn that the father wasn’t fired up about the three friends and they got rebuked. Well, what did that do? That sent me back to the beginning of the book and I was just going over page by page by page trying to figure out what his three friends did or said that merited the rebuke from the father and how Job’s defensiveness seemed to be justified at the end of the book. So this started a cycle of uh study for me that no no exaggeration uh here but it was probably a good 25 years of study where I would I would think that for a moment I figured the book of Job out. And I would land on a paradigm and then I would read it and then somewhere in the course of my reading that paradigm got shattered and I had to start all over and then I would come to another paradigm and the same thing would happen over and over again until one day uh I was listening to a lesson. I don’t even think it was a lesson on Job. It was somebody else talking about Noah and something about Noah that rang a bell with me and I thought, could this be it? And I went back and I started, you know, as you’re supposed to do, test your assumptions through by everything, you know, test it. And the more I did this, the more I realized, oh my gosh, my this new paradigm that I think I’ve got is not being destroyed. It’s consistent. And so I was so excited about it that I sat down and wrote a book on the book of Job. Um, and this was years before I actually published my book on finding the ancient path. That book never got published. I never published that book. Um, I might someday in the future, but I thought it would be fun for us to for me to share with you what I feel in my heart is the overarching theme of the book of Job. And it’s about so much more than suffering. So, Job, his story is about so much more than suffering.

History and context

Let’s get into the history and the lore because there’s a little bit of both. Some history, a lot of lore. We don’t know a lot of things for sure when it comes to the book of Job. Ancient lore claims that Job may have been a descendant of Esau or Nahor, Abraham’s brother, though the Bible remains silent on his genealogy. The land of Us, where Job lived, is traditionally associated with Edom or northern Arabia. Early Jewish and Christian traditions suggest Moses compiled the book given its ancient Semitic style and patriarchal customs. Rabbitic writings and extrabiblical texts often elevate Job as a non-Israelite. That’s that’s an important little note to keep in your brain. a non-Israelite righteous man illustrating that faithfulness to Yahw transcends lineage and covenant status. That whole statement I want you to remember non-Israelite righteous man illustrating that faithfulness to Yahw transcends lineage and covenant status. Job’s life reflects customs of the patriarchal age, acting as a priest for his household, possessing vast livestock based wealth, and living an exceptionally long life. His setting in Us situates him east or southeast of Canaan, likely near Edom, based on Lamentations 4:21. While his genealogy is unrecorded, ancient tradition links him to Esau or Nahor’s line, notably Job’s narrative stands apart for its absence of Israelite law or covenant language, presenting a universal exploration of divine justice and human suffering. Early tradition attributes the book’s preservation to uh I think that was supposed to say to Moses and his writings, but it got cut off. I don’t know why I got cut off. The story of Job is not just about suffering. It goes deeper to show what real faith is. True faith isn’t about expecting blessings or rewards, but but about trusting Yahw personally. Job’s story highlights that humans can’t fully understand Yahw’s ways and just being good isn’t enough without knowing him. The message is that real faith grows when we struggle between obeying Yahw and having a relationship with him. And it lasts even when we don’t understand why things happen or when blessings don’t come. In the end, it’s about moving from just hearing about Yahw to actually knowing him. So, let’s get into the book of Job. Job chapter 1 verses 1-5.

Analyzing Job’s character

I’m going to read this and then I’m going to ask you David, what do you see? There was a man in the land of Os whose name was Job. And that man was blameless and upright and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also his possessions were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yolk of oxmen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large household. So that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. So it was when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly. David, I want you to tell me maybe one or two striking things about this passage that teaches us about Job. I guess it sets the stage in terms of who he is. Family man, person of wealth, well known. And it says here that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east, which is interesting. Uh very prominent person, very uh devoted to his family and family life. uh to the point that also and and then also he quote unquote knows God or knows of God and knows about the concept of sin knows about the concept of of offerings that should be given uh you know for the forgiveness of sin if you will and he does that for his family so I mean there’s a lot obviously packed into these five verses okay I want to point two things out in this section of scripture Remember as a student I was trying to figure out what the story was about. So in starting from the very beginning I had to try to understand what the Holy Spirit was trying to teach us. And the first thing that jumps out to me in my mind was this. He was blameless and upright and he feared God. That that’s pretty awesome, right? That’s the first thing that jumped out at me. These two facts concerning Job possess the potential to establish the framework for the entire book and to shape your understanding of who Job truly was. When you open up the book and the first sentence tells us that he was blameless and upright one who feared God, that little nugget of information could potentially ruin how you see the entire book. If you read Job’s story believing that these descriptions define the totality of Job’s character and the condition of his heart before Yahw, then you like me will miss the point of the book altogether and likely be confused by its ending. So as I was going through this, I had to go, okay, here’s a couple of nuggets. Here’s a couple of things about Job. He is blameless. He is upright who feared God. But what does that mean? What was the Holy Spirit trying to tell me? There is something else, the second thing in this two paragraph section of scripture that tells me something completely different about Job. What do you think it is, David? Um, I don’t know. Number two, are you He was acting as as an intermediary for his kids. He’s acting as a priest. Yes. And um he was at this point he was untested. Was untested. Okay. Okay. Well, here’s the thing that jumps out at me. The Bible says that he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of his kids. Because, and this is something that’s in his heart, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus, Job did this regularly. So what that’s what that means is he was offering sacrifices for sins that may have happened. Not that had happened. He didn’t even know. But he was going to offer that sacrifice nonetheless. That’s what a exactly. That’s exactly what a burnt offering is. But he was doing this for something that he wasn’t even certain happened. And the Bible said he did this regularly. Okay. What does that teach us about Job? He’s doing this regularly. He is he is offering these sacrifices based on the possibility that his children may have sinned. He’s trying to again be, you know, blameless, above reproach, but to some extent he’s going beyond what maybe God is expecting or God commands. Okay. Yeah. And to make make to make sure you all understand, he was the priest of his house, so to speak. This this would have been if you recall my study on the mazesc priesthood, the priesthood of the firstborn son. This would have been during that time. So it was his responsibility to act as a priest for his sons. There’s there’s no question. But this whole thing about him doing something in the chance that his kids committed sin tells us something more about Job than we realize because we don’t see this mentality anywhere else in scripture. So what does it tell us about Job? Well, let’s get into this. Job’s religion, if it were, was transactional.

The danger of moralism

and fear-based. And I’m going to show you, I’m going to prove all these things. His ritual acts reveal the worldview where the relationship with Yahw is maintained through rigorous precaution and sacrificial acts aimed at first for stalling divine displeasure. His piety was thorough yet relationally distant. While devout, Job is portrayed as relating to Yahw through ritual, not through relational intimacy. His sacrifices address sin hypothetically, reflecting an anxiety to cover every possible transgression rather than trusting in Yahw’s character. He has a legalistic theology. He has almost a oop typo. He has an almost phariseaic mindset. And that was the what that’s what I titled my book, the unpublished book, Job, the first Pharisee. Obedience via religious boxchecking without relational knowledge. He acts as a priest for his family. Yet there’s no record of Job seeking Yahw personally for his relational communion until the crisis forces him to do so. What do we call this behavior? There is a word for this kind of behavior that you may or may not be familiar with. David, can does it flash across your brain? I mean, you use Pharisee, legalistic, moralism, humanistic moralism. What does that mean? Moralism is the belief that righteousness before God is primarily maintained through strict adherence to moral and ritual codes apart from relational trust or transformative faith. It tends to substitute external moral conformity for internal relational covenant loyalty. Now, I’m tossing around a lot of interesting words here. And as I’m seeking to define Job here for you in these first few slides, yes, it’s meant for your information, but I also want you to look at this and go, is this me? Because as my overall title suggests, we are Job and Job is us in a lot of ways. So I want you to be care comparing yourself to what we’re learning about Job. And I think if you do that, if you have the humility to do that, you’ll begin to see that we’re a lot more like him than we want to be. So moralism, he was a moralist. And I think it’s time that we kind of take a peek at what that means. To the moralist, following God is not a relationship. It’s a formula. And it looks like this. A good God plus good deeds equals good life. What do we call that according to Deuteronomy 28? Blessings. A good God plus bad deeds equals bad life. What do we call that? Curses. Right. Right. But that’s that’s the formula in the moralist mind for what it means to believe in God. in Elohim, in Yah. The irony of this fact is that there’s truth to this according to Deuteronomy 28. It’s an entire chapter on blessings and curses. Now, I have to stop right here for a moment and explain something to you. You have heard me say in lessons in the past that when it comes to blessings and curses, I believe with every fiber of my being that the blessings and curses that come as a result of your obedience or lack thereof is hardwired into the fabric of our universe. I don’t believe that Yah is up there with a checkbook saying, “Oh, I saw that Glenn curse or I saw that David blessing.” I don’t believe that’s the case. That’s what we like to believe in our minds. Right? Because since our childhood, we’ve had teachers and instructors and parents watching over us and pointing out the good things and the bad things. So, we’re kind of raised to believe this. No, I believe that just like, and you can argue with me about gravity if you want. Some people don’t believe in it. There are certain physical laws built into the universe that we can try to break, but when we do, we usually die. Gravity is one of those physical laws. We can try to defy gravity with wings and parachutes, but inevitably what goes up must come down, right? And you learn that the moment you step off the edge of the Grand Canyon. Okay. Another law is you can’t breathe underwater as a human being. We do all kinds of things to overcome that with wet suits and oxygen and submarines, but you get exposed, you’re going to die, and you can’t do anything about that. That’s a law of the universe. I believe that the blessings and the curses associated with our obedience or disobedience is hardwired into our existence just like those other physical laws. Now these happen to be moral laws but no less built into the fabric of our existence. So what does that mean? Does that mean that a complete pagan can be obedient to every law in the Bible and be blessed? I do believe that’s the case. We see it all the time. It really is. We see businesses using Yeshua’s disciplehip model and it thrives. These guys aren’t even thinking about Yeshua, but the modeling without knowing that their source is biblical. And yet, Exactly. Exactly. So, that’s the irony of this. Yes, these things were true. Yes, God is good. And yes, if you obey him, yes, you’re going to have a good life. Leviticus teaches us that blessings and the opposite is also true. But that doesn’t mean you know the lawgiver, right? This whole approach of moralism is a faithless form of human- centered ideology and it’s humanity’s natural disposition due in part to our upbringing being punished for being naughty and getting ice cream when we did good. We’re taught this from the very early age. And the only way to overcome this in our hearts is to truly understand what it means to live by faith. Now, I want to stop there. I’ve been a believer for going on 40 years now, Glenn, longer. We are around people that talk about faith daily because we’re believers, right? But I’m here to tell you where I’m at today in my understanding of faith is not where I was even 10 years ago. I don’t think I still truly understand what it means to live by faith. I mean, I can understand it in my head, but practically on a daily basis to do it, there’s a there’s a huge chasm between those two. And I think because of that chasm, I as well as you can still fall into this moralistic trap for sure. So we like or are like Job. LJ Waters uh made this quote, the pragmatic approach, this pragmatic approach reasons that all blessings are evidence of goodness and righteousness. Conversely, all suffering is evidence of unrighteousness and sin. the friends were trying to tell him and I was just getting ready to say that Glenn beat me to it. That’s exactly what all of his friends were were doing when they were talking to him. They were trying to prove to Job that he must have sin somewhere because suffering is evidence of unrighteousness and sin. Right? So, we’re starting to peel back the layers here a little bit to see who Job was. As we’ll see, this is exactly the kind of arguments that Job’s friends were making against him. Now, let’s take a closer look at Job’s quote

The theme of faith

blamelessness. In Job 15, we’re presented with this opening verse that he was blameless and upright and one who feared God and shunned evil. And I asked the question, which of us wouldn’t love to have the father say these words about us? So, I’m not trying to take anything away from Job here. Those words that you are blameless and upright and you fear God, those words are right up there with well done, good and faithful servant, right? It’s real close. But those two statements are not the same, are they? Being blameless and upright and one who fears God is not the same as well done, good and faithful servant. How are they different? Yeah, faithful. Let’s compare Job’s description with three other men that came before him and tell me what you see. Enoch, Genesis 5. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. Noah, Genesis 6. Noah was a just man, blameless in his generations. Noah walked with God. Abraham Genesis 17, I am almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless. What do you see, David? There’s the element of walking with God as, you know, having that close connection relationship. Yeah. And it’s mysteriously missing in Job’s description. Remember when I told you in the opening thoughts that a study on Noah gave me the hint on Job? I saw this description of Noah and I thought, “Wait a minute. How how many other men in the Bible are described by God in this way?” Well, it turns out that there’s three or four of them, right? Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Daniel, Job. But you know what? Job’s missing. He didn’t walk with God. Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. Abraham was told to walk with me and be blameless. Job was blameless and upright and one who feared God. There has to there’s got to be more there than the Holy Spirit’s trying to tell us. And that’s exactly the the point that I started to build on in my understanding of Job. Why was that fact why was that little phrase missing in Job’s description by the father? So, as I said, this was the clue that finally helped me understand the overarching theme of Job. This was the clue that made everything Job said make sense to me and why his friends were rebuked at the end. A lot of the things that you’ll see that Job said just didn’t make sense to me. That there were so many things about the whole story between chapters 1 and two and the end of the book that just didn’t jive. But when you hold the following metric to it, and you’re going to see it in a second, then all of a sudden it does make perfect sense. Ask yourself this question. What is one of the greatest themes of the entire Bible? Something that Yahw has been trying to teach his people from the beginning, David. What is one of the greatest themes of the entire Bible? Something that he has been trying to teach his people from the very beginning. I mean, there’s obviously many themes. I know, but I’m looking for one. Put you on this spot right here. It’s okay. To honor, you know that he is the sole god. To honor him, to love him, to obey him. Okay, this particular theme, the one that I’m looking at, literally runs through the veins of the entire Old Testament and the entire New Testament together, even in the garden. Yes. Here it is. Justification by faith, obedience by faith, salvation by faith. This is one of the greatest themes throughout all of scripture. We know because we’ve studied it that Israel wasn’t real good at being faithful. Mhm. They weren’t really good about believing. They had a very moralistic mentality as it pertained to the father. Job’s story is a one-man microcosm of all that Yahw did to discipline Israel in order to teach her this lesson. And she still failed while Job did not. And that is the overarching theme of the book of Job. And in my humble opinion, one of the reasons why it’s considered to be the oldest book in the Bible predating Genesis, the writing of whether that’s true or not, I’m not sure. That’s what they say. A lot of scholars say, but it would make sense that the father would make this topic one of the most first things that his people came to understand. Job is that one man microcosm of everything that the father did to Israel over the years to try to teach her faith. I mean, think about what he did. Think about all that he did. All the discipline, all the death, all the rebuking, all the pain trying to teach her faith. And she failed and was eventually blinded where Job did not. He learned the lesson. And we’re going to see that as we go along. So, let’s look at the accuser’s

Satan’s role in the trial

case against Job. Job 1 6-12. Before I go on, let me just stop here for a moment and um ask you David and maybe you Glenn number two, any initial thoughts or reactions to um that conclusion that I just gave you. I see the contrast between the old and the new covenant. Job was going through the process of salvation being tested and tried and beat up until he finally got it. And then he he saw the reality of Yhovah. Yeah. And and instantly, oh, okay, now I get it. Yep. Okay. Good stuff. And there’s some truth to that, too. But we’re we’re that’s we’re kind of jumping ahead of ourselves, but very good. What about you, David? I think that that uh just providing that uh context and framework of how to look at Joe differently I think is and like you said keeping that in mind in the back of our mind that where do we you know where do we measure and where do we stand in our life and on our thoughts and in our deeds uh compared to how Job has lived. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Okay. Job 1 6-12. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth and walking back and forth on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? But there is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him and around his household and around all that he has on every side? You’ve blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. only do not lay a hand on his person. So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. So, what do we see? The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. I don’t know about you, but as I was studying this, I couldn’t help to wonder what the logistics were about this event, right? Have you ever stopped to to wonder yourself what were the logistics in this event? I mean the angels are presenting themselves before the Lord and Satan just happens to be there also. I asked myself how often does this happen? Does it still happen? Right? And I asked how can it happen at all? And I think there’s a lot of people when they come across this verse try to imagine this event in their brain and what it might have looked like but they’re there presenting themselves before the father and Satan is also among them. It does say hassatan which means he was the enemy even at this point and yet he’s there presenting himself to the father. So does this still happen? I think there’s a lot of people who go who might think or might even ask if Satan is cast down, how does he how is he up here in the throne room presenting himself to the Lord? Right? It’s a good question. My wife says, well, let’s look at the instances where we see this happening. Obviously, Job 1 6 verse 6, we see it there, right? There’s another there’s another time in Job chapter 2 where he comes before him again and this is where he’s given permission to strike him personally. But there’s also a time in Zechariah where he did this with Joshua. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. So we see this effort to oppose a man in the story of Job. We see this effort to oppose a man in the book of Zechariah as it pertains to Joshua. Where else do we see it? We see it in Luke 22 where the Lord said, “Simon, Satan has asked for you that he may sift to you as wheat.” So here in Luke 22, the enemy is doing the exact same thing in regards to Peter that he did with Job. Hm. So the questions in blue, how often does this happen? Does it still happen? Can it happen at all? Yes. Yes. Yes. It happens often. It still happens. It can happen. The glaring question is, and I’ve already asked it, if cast out, does he still present himself before you? Yeah. How would you answer that question? Well, the most recent example of this, that being Peter, proves that it was still happening in the days of Yeshua, right? It was still happening in the days of Yeshua that Satan was presenting himself before the Lord and in the throne room to sift Peter. So, that’s pretty recent in the grand scheme of things. Peter goes on to tell us in 1 Peter 5 that your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. This is exactly what he did to Peter. Peter’s passing it on to the reader that this is happening. He’s walking about. You look at that phrase in the Greek parapatio and it means comprehensively around to properly walk around i.e. in a complete circuit going full circle and isn’t that what we see in the book of Job going to and fro on the earth and walking back and forth on it. So we see the same terminology in first Peter 5 that we do in Job chapter 1. He’s going to and fro, back and forth, making a complete circle, going full circle in the hopes of finding someone that he can devour. But I thought Hassaton was cast out of heaven. How can he still present himself to Yahw number two? Well, I I think you know at one time he was an angel to coverth and uh he lost that position. He was cast down to the earth with that’s his domain. That doesn’t mean that he was blocked from visiting. Yeah, I think you’re scratched at the surface of what I’m about ready to tell you. So yes, he was cast out from among the angels from his heavenly post. Okay, he was the angel that covers as Glenn number two just said. He was stationed at even uh at Eden, but he was also the most immaculate of all angels. He was the right hand so to speak, and that position was lost as a result of his continued sinning. Ezekiel 28, therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, oh covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stone. So here, I believe what the Bible is telling us is that he is losing that position. But his ultimate removal of being truly cast out or I should say thrown out of from the other side of the veil because right now we have a veil that prevents us from seeing into the father’s realm. At some point, as we see in Revelation 12, he is going to be cast out of that veil, that membrane, if you will, and restricted completely to earth. And I believe that’s what Revelation 12 is telling us when they saw the de the dragon fighting with Michael and the angels and being cast out. There was a place nor was there a place for them in heaven any longer. In other words, that that phrase any longer means that they still had access to that spiritual realm until this moment. So yes, what we see happening in the book of Job is very real and it’s a picture of what still can happen today. Let’s continue. And it says here, the Lord

God’s sovereignty

said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Now, let’s let’s talk about this for a second. Let me ask this question. What is the most common misconception about this verse? Yeah. God drew attention to him that he, if you will, offered him up. Yeah. And that stumped me for a long time. You know, when I was studying this stuff out in my early years, this was long before I was getting into the Hebrew and the Greek. And all I had was my NIV, my nearly inspired version. And this confused me because it seemed that the father is the instigator in all of this. Is that the case that Yahw offered up Job or instigated the conflict? Well, here’s the misconception. Many assume that God initiated Job’s suffering by bringing Job to Satan’s attention, essentially volunteering him for affliction. The correct pos way to look at that is the text shows that Satan was already moving about the earth as we saw in verse 7. And Yahw’s question, have you considered in the Hebrew is actually have you set your heart upon showing an ongoing observation rather than an unsolicited offering. It is a judicial inquir inquiry with a divine council setting, not a provocation. So what does that mean? That means the enemy was already circling Job was already watching Job. And the Hebrew isn’t, “Have you considered my servant?” In other words, try Job out, but have you set your heart upon? I noticed you looking at Job. I noticed you circling him. Have you set your heart upon him? That’s more of what’s going on here than the father actually offering up Job to be destroyed. And when I learned this, it really calmed my heart down quite a bit. However, despite that correction, we still see this. Behold, all that he has is in your power. So even though he didn’t instigate it, did he allow it? Yes, he allowed it. What does that mean? Well, I thought it would be helpful for us to take a look in other instances in the Bible where God did something similar. In Judges chapter nine, the Bible said that God sent a spirit of ill will between Aimilec and the men of Shem. And the men of Shem dealt treacherously with Aimilec. So this spirit of ill will was sent by the father. 1st Samuel 16, the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. I believe the word for distressing in the Hebrew is evil. So the spirit of the Lord was pulled from Saul and replaced with an evil spirit quote from the Lord. First Kings 22. And a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, “I will persuade him.” The Lord said to him, “In what way?” So he said, “I’ll go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets.” And the Lord said, “You shall persuade him, go and do so.” So here we see these three instances where or I should say four if we want to include Job instances where the father allowed a quote evil spirit, a distressing spirit, a spirit of ill will, a lying spirit to do his bidding. Well, is that is that a safe assessment in looking at these verses? Glenn number two, I give them amen. Okay, Glenn number two says, “Amen.” David, would you agree? Yeah. I mean, there’s definitely an an intervention there of God. Okay. So, what does that mean? Isaiah 45 6-7 says, “I am the Lord and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and do what?” Create evil. I create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Now, does that mean the Lord himself is evil? Let it not be ever said the Lord is evil. But how this is a statement about his sovereignty. This is a statement about what he will allow in our lives to get us from point A to point B in our understanding of him or in our faith in him. And it almost always includes pain. Sometimes that comes in the way of an evil spirit or a spirit of ill will or a lying spirit that the father is sovereign over. You’ve always heard the statement no pain no gain. That’s certainly true in our lives as believers. We are hardwired to respond to pain. If you don’t believe that’s true in your spiritual life, consider your upbringing. I saw my dad’s two and a half inch trucker belt on my butt many times to correct behavior. Right. The father is doing the same thing. It’s sovereign over it. Sorry, David. No, Proverbs. He says it talks about, you know, hitting the rod. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Talks about in Hebrews 12. Indeed it does. Okay. Here’s my concluding thoughts on part one because I want to have some discussion after this.

Lessons from adversity

Isaiah 45, the verse we just looked at, is a clear declaration that Yahw alone is in charge of both peace and calamity. There are no rival powers, no forces of good and evil battling for control. Everything, both the good we enjoy and the adversity we face, comes by his hand and under his authority. The Hebrew word rah is the word for evil in Isaiah 45 doesn’t mean moral evil like sin but calamity, disaster, adversity. And Yahw uses both to accomplish his purposes. The same truth is laid out plainly in the book of Job. When Job suffers, it isn’t because of dualistic powers at war that are at war or random misfortune. It’s because Yah and his sovereignty allowed it for reasons higher than human understanding. Job himself confesses this when he says, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity?” The word for adversity there in Job 2:10 is also rah. The very same word. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept evil? So Job was a wise guy and we’re going to see that he is going to be introduced to the God that he serves in a way that he never could have imagined. Both texts affirm this same truth. There’s one God on the throne. He dispenses both prosperity and calamity. Nothing happens outside of his authority. What we call suffering and adversary and adversity doesn’t come from a separate evil power. It comes from the same God who gives peace. And sometimes, as with Job, we’re not given the reason why, but it’s all under his rule. And his purposes are always just. Let me close by saying this. When I look back at my life, I’m 50. How old am I, babe? I’m 58 years old. When I look back at my life, I can identify with great clarity some of the worst moments in my life. Calamity, disaster, death, sin. I can look back at all those things and I can tell you two things in in with great confidence. One, I didn’t understand what was going on while I was going through it. I had no idea. It also drew me closer to him. The second thing I can tell you with great confidence is I didn’t understand the purpose of any of it until I was way beyond it. And I was able to look back with 2020 vision, if you will, knowing what I know about God. The spirit has a funny way of telling you, instructing you after it’s all done, why you went through that and how you grew as a result of it. And that’s what we’re going to see in the story of Job. We’re going to see great calamity, great adversity, great disaster, and even sin. in the story of Job, but what happens at the end and all the ways that he changes and all the things that he sees just like us, he gets 2020 vision. So to end part one, I want to say that in my Oops, there’s the beginning of part two. I close that so you guys don’t see the the good stuff. um is the story is about his faith, about having no faith, about following God moralistically, legalistically, checking boxes, and that all that the father did to teach him. And then the lesson for us is that Job gives us insight into how far the father will go to get you there if you if you resist it. So that’s my story in the book of Job. Let’s open it up for some thoughts, some questions, rebuttals,

Group discussion

rebukes. You know, I take them all. And if you want to share, don’t don’t forget you’re muted, so you’ll need to unmute yourself to share. Go ahead, Samuel. I can always trust you to be the first brother to share. Come on, man. You’re too kind. You’re too kind, brother Doss. Shabbat shalom to you. Um, very, very good teaching and you explore some things that never even crossed my mind. So, I thought I had a firm grasp of it, but not as firm as I thought I did. So, thank you for that. Um, one thing that I I take from Job is that it will expose secret idolatry because nothing is supposed to be above the father. And I think what we do without really knowing we’re doing it, our spouses, our children, our wealth, our things are above the most high. And so when certain things happen to us or to obey Torah um and I think it all goes to circumcision of the heart. So to be in in covenant but circumcision of the heart precedes all of that. M when you come to the bitter waters, that’s the test. Thank you. Shalom. Amen, brother. Thank you. Thank you. Somebody else. Allan D. Uh good morning. Um I think the overall theme from start to finish uh shows that uh true worship doesn’t necessarily depend on our circumstances. Um, and was was Satan’s challenge uh to Job really directed at Job or directed at uh the father? And um because he goes on to say that Job only worships you because you protect him and give him things. Um so that that’s all that was just my thought. That’s good stuff, brother. And yes, we’re going to cover those questions in part two for sure. somebody else. Uh let’s see who’s got their hand raised. Go ahead. Uh Richard, is it? Yeah, it’s Richard. And uh I I want to appreciate you bringing out uh the relationship versus the uh legalistic or methodical uh adherence to to the rules and the commands and righteousness because that’s one of the overarching themes that I’ve seen going back to what Yeshua indicated was the two commands. Love your God with all your soul, heart, and strength. Uh that’s his first desire. And he has filled the scriptures full of patterns such as the parent child relationship, the husband wife relationship. And when I think about that, I think about what do we as men look for in our brides? And then how do we mimic what we’re looking for and become that for him? And it’s not checking off boxes. It’s not just there for the, you know, just for the ride or the provision or anything else. It’s a true relationship with his bride. Amen. Amen, brother. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else? Certainly, we have to have some thoughts or questions. I’m new here, but I could speak for a second. Oh, go right ahead. Is that Howard talking? Jump in there. Howard Satan is brought up. I’m I’m good. I’ve uh watched a number of your videos, a lot of your videos, and good teachings, man. Um, Satan is brought up multiple times throughout Job, and you mentioned a lot of other passages where Satan is spoken of. And maybe I should turn the camera on if I’m going to speak. I apologize. Um, but if we go back to the garden when um, the serpent deceived Eve, it was by a lie. Mhm. But something happened in the garden that we don’t see happen again until I think it’s in Acts where Messiah comes to the disciples the second time. He breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Okay. So, Adam was created um our English translations say from the dust but if you go into the inner linear it says he was created dust and Yahw breathed into him the breath of life. So we have the very same thing happening in the garden that happened in acts breathed in the life the ruach and the curse of Satan was that he would de eat dust all the days of his life. So symbolically, a man without the spirit of Yah is dust. And Satan will devour us if we don’t have that spirit to ward him off. Amen. That’s a great thought. So, it’s only by Yahw’s spirit, not by his power, by his might, but by his spirit that we’re able to overcome these things. And awesome. You talked about the prophet that uh said he would go out and be a a lying spirit or Satan said he’d be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets. And that’s what he done to Eve is that lying spirit. He twisted what Yahw had said and caused her to doubt because he presented it in another way. We see that so prevalent with the pastors in the world today is that they’ll twist things to get the sheep to follow them and it’s by a different spirit. Anyway, that’s my piece. Well, thanks brother. Appreciate your thoughts. Really do. fall and worry. Ours was uh like a personal experience and um in 2003 and 2004 for about 9 months our whole life was basically turned upside down. Uh we had um people that were very close to us to die. We had lots of health issues. Uh Lori lost her job. I lost my job just after I bought another house and we dumped all our money into it. we were flat broke and I didn’t have a job and everything really went upside down and it was like we had no control over anything and uh it was so much so that the church that we were attending our pastor brought us up in front of the whole congregation and we just sort of spill our guts out and all through the nine months we were trying to figure out what is the father trying to teach us through this am I learning anything through it and I just couldn’t come up with any answers. We just said, you know, he loves us and we will get through it somehow. But um there was nothing that we could do. We just had to ride out the the storm and come out of it. And of course, we we lost a lot through it. And I don’t know whether we learned anything through it except that just to have faith that the father loves us. And uh you just keep on going. And it was a it was a it was a tough time, but it was it was very reminiscent of Job. But now that I’m started seeing Job from a different different um perspective, maybe it wasn’t like Job. It was just these things happen in life and you just have to you have to go with it and not not blame God for things. No, because you hear all these stories that I don’t believe in God. God would not allow this to happen. Well, things do happen and you just got to go with it. Mhm. And uh many years later, you know, we just uh we don’t know why we went through it, but it did happen and we’re still here. So that’s it. Amen. Well, thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Um let’s see. I think somebody else had their hand up. Is that you, Luke? Did you start raise your hand? Yeah, I did. Um, I just to kind of reiterate what Paul was saying, you know, I I think, you know, a lot of people ask that question, why is this happening to me, Lord? Why are you doing this to me? I mean, I’ve done that. We’ve all done that. And this is just a great reminder that we just all have to just know that whether it’s in good times or in the storm, it’s for a greater good. And it’s for his greater good, not ours, but for his greater good. and he wants us to draw closer to him. And you know, I think really if if he didn’t have bad things happening to us or allow bad things to happen to us, uh we’re not allowed to grow, I don’t think. And I we have to praise him in those storms because that means he’s he’s thinking of us and he’s allowing us to because we’re going to have a a we’re going to have a moment of growth, I guess, is what I’m getting at, you know, and so we should be praising him for the the bad times even though they may really stink while you’re going through it. I mean, Lord knows we’ve all had our fair share of just really awful awful things. But if we can have that perspective, I think that will not only make the storm a lot easier, but it’ll also grow grow our faith that much more. So that’s all I wanted to say. Amen. Amen, brother. Thank you so much. Well, guys, if there’s no other thoughts or questions, man, it was great to see you all today. Great to have see some new faces. I’m excited about seeing you. And if you’re here today for the first time, thanks for coming. uh you got to see, like I said earlier, some of the um the the behind the scenes stuff, but we’re grateful to have you and and hope that you come back. Remember, next Shabbat, next weekend, I’ll be traveling, so I won’t be here, but um guys, have a fantastic uh fantastic weekend and a great a great peaceful Shabbat. Happy happy trails. Yeah, happy trails. Thank you. Byebye