In the O.T. story of Job, he explains to his friends why he doesn't deserve his suffering. https://levaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/book-of-job.jpg
[Job’s trials are often referred to as evidence that God allows, and some say orders, Satan to test us and teach us a lesson. This is a dangerous teaching. It can undercut our belief that God wants us to pray against and resist the trials Satan brings into our lives.]
[Job 1:12 NKJV] 12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he [Job] has [is] in your power; only do not lay a hand on his [person]." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
[2Co 4:4 NLT] 4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
[1Pe 5:8-9 NKJV] 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
[God and Job did not have a covenant or contract like Abraham and Moses did with God, or like we as followers of Jesus have with God. As Christians we have the indwelling and power of the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul teaches that, Satan is looking for those who won’t resist him, whom he may, if possible, blind their minds by deceit so he can consume and destroy their lives.]
[Jas 1:13-14 NKJV] 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed [and deceived by Satan].
[Job was not party to any of the covenants with Abraham and Moses, and especially not the one signed by Jesus’ blood delivering us from Satan’s authority.]
[Col 1:13 NKJV] 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
[Satan had every right to approach God’s throne and call God out for protecting Job on earth, which was under the sole dominion of man at that time, without an agreement. Unlike today where Satan was vanquished when Jesus arose from the tomb, delivering us from the power of darkness and death caused by Satan’s deception and usurping of man’s dominion over the earth.]
[Gen 50:20 NKJV] 20 "But as for you, you meant evil against me; [but] God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as [it is] this day, to save many people alive.
[I believe God is like a master chess player. God, with His foreknowledge, can counter any move Satan makes and turn it into good, but it is Satan, a creature with free-will, who is responsible for the evil in this world.]
[Rom 8:29 NKJV] 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
[So why did God create the fallen angel Satan and put him in the garden? Isn’t that like putting a deadly serpent in the playpen with your baby? The N.T. says this about angels.]
[Heb 1:14 NKJV] 14 Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
[Mat 4:11 ESV] 11 Then the Devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
[It is likely that God placed Lucifer—as he is called in the O.T. book of Ezekiel—in the garden to minister to man because he was Heaven’s musically endowed angel and cherub of authority. Being a creature of free will, Lucifer saw man’s authority over the Earth granted by God in Genesis 1:26, and was jealous. So he chose to deceive man into giving him that authority by causing man to obey Lucifer instead of God, thereby becoming the fallen Satan. This thief, usurper, and devil has been deceiving man, creating loss, death and destruction ever since.]
[Jhn 10:10 NKJV] 10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly.
[Ezekiel describes Lucifer when he was placed in Eden as a ministering spirit. God placed Lucifer in Eden, who then of his own will, took the form of a serpent and deceived Eve, against God’s will but not without God’s foreknowledge. Here is how Ezekiel describes Lucifer before the fall.]
[Eze 28:13-15 NKJV] 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone [was] your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 "You [were] the anointed cherub who covers [angel of authority]; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You [were] perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
[There was a time when no sin was found in Lucifer. The iniquity found in him was likely his pride and coveting of man’s complete dominion over the Earth, just like God. Here is how God granted this dominion to man.]
[Gen 1:26 NKJV] 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
[Psa 115:16 NKJV] 16 The heaven, [even] the heavens, [are] the LORD's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
[God gave all His authority over the Earth to man. Here is a description of Satan’s pride which causes his fall.]
[Isa 14:13-14 NKJV] 13 For you [Satan,] have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
[When man believed and obeyed Satan instead of God, he enslaved himself to Satan and made Satan the god of this world.]
[Rom 6:16 NKJV] 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin [and Satan] [leading] to death, or of obedience [leading] to righteousness?
[1Ti 2:14 NKJV] 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
[Paul teaches that Adam knew what he was doing when he sinned in the Garden. It is possible that the moment Lucifer transgressed against God, he fell from his angelic authority. Satan now has no authority or power of his own on this Earth; he only has what authority he has been able to deceive people, who have the dominion over the Earth, into giving him.
Think about what that means to you as a believer. This is too-good-to-be-true good news (definition of the word: Gospel)! When we resist the Devil and fight against him with our spoken words and in prayer, Satan does not have a superior power or authority. He is absolutely dependent upon the cooperation of human beings who empower him with the authority God gave man over the Earth. This is why Satan is going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He can do nothing without our consent and cooperation. He deceives people into thinking the devil has more power than he does, and that we don’t have any choice when it comes to sin. That’s why the apostles Peter and James say:]
[1Pe 5:8-9 NKJV] 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
[Jas 4:7 NKJV] 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.
[It doesn’t say he will flee from us some times, or only when God will’s it. The devil will flee from us every time when we use our words and prayers, to actively fight against him, invoking the authority of the Holy Spirit, part of the triune Godhead in us! Now that is the too-good-to-be-true GREAT news of the Gospel!]
[Rom 8:37 NKJV] 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
[Unlike Job, those of us who have been chosen and choose to be covered by the new covenant are protected from Satan, the god of this world.Under the new covenant we are more than conquerors.What is more than a conqueror?The wife of the conqueror, because they get the benefit of all the spoils without ever having to go to battle.In the same way, the church is the bride of Jesus, and we get the benefits of the victory over Satan whom Jesus conquered and imprisoned.The only ones who succumb to him now are those who are deceived by his lies.But those who know the Word of Truth will be set free from those lies.]
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