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Job 1:4  And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Job 1:5  And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered 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 did Job continually.
Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Introduction

Last week we saw that Job’s ten children symbolize the completion and perfection of the flesh (To see what is the spiritual significance of the number 10, see this URL: http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ completeflesh. php. We saw that Job was said to be “a perfect and upright, [ that he] feared God, and eschewed evil”.

Job 1:1  There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

What could possibly be lacking in a person such as this? Something really was terribly lacking or there would be no need for this story about the incredible trials of Job. Job’s spiritual condition as being “perfect and upright” is the same as that of the rich young ruler, who went away sorrowful because our Lord said “one thing you lack”:

Mar 10:17  And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mar 10:19  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Mar 10:20  And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Mar 10:21  Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Mar 10:22  And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

As we saw last week, the type of ‘perfection’ Job first had is revealed by what God Himself tells us in chapter 40. But it is also indicated by the fact he was given ten children. That his perfection is the perfection and completion of the flesh is the very meaning and the point of this story. Job could have been given 12 children, as was Jacob, but then we would have been dealing with the subject of a foundation, and that is not the message we are being given in this story of Job. Job is given ten children, seven sons and three daughters because the message being driven home in this story is that the perfection of and the completion of our flesh is our greatest obstacle to coming to know God.
The message being delivered in this book is the idea that we all first think that our good works in some way obligates God to us, and the delusion of spiritual wisdom and perfection that comes with producing so “many wonderful works” through our own fleshly efforts. That is the message that comes from these forty- two chapters of this book which catalogs the trials of Job. These words proceed out of the mouth of God to show us what we are and what is needed to destroy our own old man and replace him with a new man.  But beyond all of that, this book also reveals that the first Adam and his carnal relationship with God – Adam wanting to attain wisdom in a way that is disobedient to God – is the necessary and essential first step toward our becoming like God:

Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

So what made Eve eat of this tree from which she was instructed not to eat? What is the answer of scripture?

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

The natural man does not appreciate the meaning of ‘the sum of God’s word is truth’ (Psa 119:160), and he clings to his fabled “free will”. So when he reads Genesis three, it appears to him that, like Joseph’s brothers, Adam just chose to do the wrong thing. But what really happened there in the Garden of Eden? The book of Job shows us how Adam was, in reality, “made to err” against his own Creator, and thereby take the first step toward making us all to ‘become like God, to know good and evil’, as God himself intended “before the world began” that it should be done.

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked [ Adam and Eve] for the day of evil [ eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil].

“In Christ Jesus before the world began” reveals to any who are not blinded by God Himself, that God knew, “before the world began” that He intended for Adam to disobey His commands, and in that way ‘become like unto God’.

Adam always needs and receives the approval of “the woman”, who has never to this day quit communing with the serpent, to whom God has granted “the power of death”.

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

God Himself made the tree of the knowledge of good and evil “good for food” and very appealing to look upon, Then God Himself sent “that old serpent the devil” (Rev 12:9), to convince Adam that the forbidden fruit would make him wise to the extent of knowing good and evil. Had the serpent lied to Eve? Let’s look and see:

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

No, not at all. The serpent had not lied when he told Eve that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would make her and Adam ‘like God’. God Himself tells us that what the serpent had told Eve was true. As hard as it is for our self- righteous Adamic nature to accept, the scriptures teach, and this book of Job demonstrates, that ‘the knowledge of good and evil’ is integral to becoming like God. The scriptures reveal that God intended, “before the world began” for Adam and Eve to sin and to be in need of a Savior who, in God’s own words, was “slain from the foundation of the world”.

Gen 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen 3:23  Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Job’s trials are our trials. This is not just a history lesson. Yes, indeed these things all happened to Job, but it happened and it is written down for our admonition. They happened to Job, and they are written down to show us what God is doing with mankind:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [ Greek – tupos, types of us]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Here is this verse in the Concordant Literal Version:

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained.”

Job’s trials and our trials are that “flaming sword” which ‘turns every way to keep the way of the tree of life’. We must all partake of the tree of life, but in doing so we too, will live by these words in this book of Job, and in the same manner, all our sins and weaknesses, and all of our own self- righteousnesses, and all of our false doctrines will be burned out of us just as, in type, they were burned out of Job. This experience within each of us is known in the spiritual words of scripture as “the day of the Lord” in which our old man is being destroyed, and Christ within us, our “new man” is increasing day by day.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

Let’s get started learning how the Lord goes about destroying our old man, and how through that destruction, He gives birth to the “new man” within us. Here is what happens to Job in type, and to us in spirit.

Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Job 1:4  And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

No doubt there is a cultural factor in informing us that Job’s sons sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them, but a spiritual point that can and should be drawn from this bit of information, is that women typify the church, and it is God’s own people, the church itself, which is Babylon, and Babylon is always ready to place her stamp of approval on our eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and on our innate enmity against the Word of God, and the ways of our Lord. It was Eve who gave the forbidden fruit to Adam.
Job’s sons celebrated “every one his day”. These parties lasted for days:

Job 1:5  And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered 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 did Job continually.

Just like the ministers of Babylon who “compass sea and land” to “save this world for Christ, Job actually believed that he could save his own children for God. “… Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all”. Just another example of how “that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

The Truth of the sum of the Word of God is that God is at this time blinding the multitudes who come to Him by speaking in parables (Mat 13:10-16 and verse 34).
“… His sons feasted in their houses… every one on his day”. Because we will be dealing with the meaning of the phrase ‘his day’ in chapter three, we need to ask what that phrase means, and we need to ask, What did Job think of  “his day”?

Job 3:1  After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Job 3:2  And Job spake, and said,
Job 3:3  Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Job cursed the day he was born, but he did not do so because he saw that flesh is “corruption”.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption [ flesh] inherit incorruption.

No, far from seeing the corruption that was his own flesh, here is why Job cursed ‘his day’:

Job 32:1  So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

“He was righteous in his own eyes… the pride of life”.

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

What we are being told is that we, with Job, actually believe that we know better than God how to deal with His Creation. “I know that “in me, that is in my flesh” (Rom 7:18), I can think of a much better way to bring mankind to God. Why, I would never in a million years be so cruel as to put Job through all this misery. I would never think of destroying everything belonging to a man who was ‘perfect and upright, who feared God and avoided evil’. I certainly would never kill all ten of his children and then strike such a good man from head to toe with boils. And if all of these things happened to me while I was ‘righteous in my own eyes’, then I too, would simply curse the day I was born, not because I saw my own wicked self- righteousness, but simply because I thought God had made a huge mistake by creating me to have to endure such misery and affliction.”

Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh [ To me, to you, and to Job], Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Pharaoh is our old man in each of us. He is the “wicked for the day of evil” in us all. The only person on whom God shows any mercy is our new man, and he hardens and destroys our old man. The Job at the end of this story is not the Job of the beginning.
“Who has resisted His will?” The answer is, no one can resist His will. Every effort to do so is really nothing more than His work in our life to bring about the destruction of our old man, and provide God an “occasion against” our flesh.

2Ch 20:6  And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? a nd rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

Indeed “the day [ will] perish” in which we were all born, and “times eonian” will be swallowed up in “the day of the Lord”, and we will all reckon ourselves as having died with Christ, and having been raised with Him in newness of life. If we have truly ‘died with Christ’, we will, given time, live and act accordingly. When that day arrives we will say with our Lord, “the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth”, instead of “feasting… every one on his day”. “The Lord’s day” is the destruction of our old man. Here is what happens on “the Lord’s day”.

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land [ the things of our flesh] desolat e: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Will we then celebrate “every one his day”? What do the scriptures teach concerning how we are to regard each other in these bodies of sinful flesh:

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Why should we “know no man after the flesh”? This is what the scriptures teach:

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Truly the Lord’s ways are higher than ours (Isa 55:9). Can we honestly say we “know no man after the flesh” while we are singing ‘happy birthday’?
Now let us ask, what is God’s perspective concerning “each one on his day”?

Ecc 7:1  A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

My Father just died last week. Yes, my flesh misses him sorely, but my spirit believes the truth of these words.

Ecc 7:8  Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

That is not how the natural man thinks. Who among us celebrates the death of their loved ones? That certainly is not something we ought to do, but if truly the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth, and if the end of a thing is better than the beginning, then why would those who have ‘died with Christ’, be celebrating the beginning of the first Adam, instead of his blessed end? The first Adam is essential to getting to the last Adam. But we ought not celebrate “corruption” simply because it must come before “incorruption”.

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

The end of this flesh is the very message which is being given to mankind in these 42 chapters of Job. Man’s flesh, regardless of the “many wonderful works” it may indeed perform, cannot inherit the kingdom of God for the simple reason that its best efforts are filthy rags, and it is in and of itself corruption. Isaiah was very familiar with the book of Job.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Job’s “righteousnesses” and our own righteousnesses being ascribed to ourselves, and maintaining ourselves as “righteous in [ our] own eyes”, is our ‘iniquity which, like the wind, takes us all away’. It is all “the pride of life” which must be burned out of us all, in our own appointed time. Job was incapable of saving himself, much less his seven doomed sons and his three doomed daughters. They are our doomed flesh.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. [ Including the sin of self righteousness]

So how does God deal with all of this? Let us observe:

Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

What in the world does this have to do with how God is working with Job? Without applying the principle of “the sum of thy Word is Truth”, it would be nothing more than a history lesson. But when we bring that sum together, this is the picture we are given to see clearly:

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

Yes, that evil spirit was sent by the Lord. Here is how that was done:

1Ki 22:19  And he [ the prophet Micaiah] said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he [ the Lord] said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

So, while it is hidden from the eyes of the natural man, what Micaiah said to King Ahab had already be said in the heavens. And what has already been bound in heaven is been bound on earth.

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Here is the Concordant Literal Version of that verse:

I will be giving you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth, shall be those having been loosed in the heavens. (CLV)

So Satan goes and comes only as “an evil spirit from the Lord” to trouble us at God’s command. Job knew this was the case. Job at least understood that evil was just a tool of God, and not a loose cannon in the hands of an out- of- control devil. Here in this book of Job, we will see with even greater depth, the truth that is revealed in these verses of God’s Word:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

“It was not you… but God”. Joseph’s brothers, just like all of us, thought that their evil deeds committed against their brother, were their own idea, when in reality it wasn’t their idea at all. It was God Himself who had sent an evil spirit which had used Joseph’s brothers to sell Joseph into Egypt.
Let’s look at one more example of how God uses the adversary to work all things after the counsel of His own will.

1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

What evil spirit had God sent to Job and to us all? They certainly are not apparent to us while we are under their delusion:

Psa 19:12  Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

“The great transgression” is the delusion that we are upright and righteous, when in reality we are just proud and stubborn, and in the clutches of our own self- righteousness.

Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

So Job and you and I are not self- righteous by choice. It was God who gave us that delusion. It is a very sad spiritual state in which to be, yet it is an essential step in the revelation of Jesus Christ within us, that we will all, in our own time and in our own way, “contend with God” and “condemn Him” for the purpose of maintaining  our own integrity. This is within us all. Not one of us would do things the way God is doing them.

Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Job 32:1  So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Did Job say, ‘The Lord is my righteousness?’ No, he did not. Job’s experience and our need for our own ‘Job’ experience, our own ‘road to Damascus’ experience, is to show us that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God, who wants us to know the depth of this Truth:

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Does “Without me you can do nothing” apply only to those who are “in me” that is “in Christ”? No, it certainly does not. We cannot sin without it first being “written in our book”.

Act 17:28  For in him we [ Pagan Athenians] live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Yet Job thought HE was of himself righteous, and he thought his Creator, our God “the Potter”, had no right to do as He would with him. Job, just like each of us, could not see his own self- righteousness, nor the fact that he has no right to question the ways and works of the Potter, who has every right to do as he wills with His own creation. What is our reaction to seeing that God is sovereign?

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

“Thou wilt say” is speaking of you and me. We are Job, and Job is us, and we all ask “Why does He yet find fault” when it is He who has made us thus?
God’s sovereignty versus Job’s and our self- righteousness is the subject of this book. So let’s let God reveal to us how He goes about working with mankind.

Job 1:7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

One thing we need to realize is that God never asks anyone a question because He does not know the answer to His question. When He asked Adam “Where are you”, He did so to demonstrate to Adam that things were not what they had been. Adam knew he had disobeyed God, and he now knew this was obvious to God. Adam now knew He was naked before God, and like Job, Adam attempted to cover his own sin and to do so without the need for a messy blood sacrifice.

Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

“They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons”. This is our first demonstration of our own self- righteousness.
When God asked Cain “Why is your countenance fallen?”, God wasn’t trying to learn what Cain had done to cause his countenance to be fallen. Again, God posed that question only for Cain’s own benefit. Likewise when He here asks Satan “Whence came you?” God knew exactly where Satan had been because, as we will see in His dealings with Satan in this story of Job, Satan goes only where God sends him, and does only what God sends him to do. Satan here tells us that he has been “going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
Here is what more of “the sum of God’s word” reveals concerning what Satan is doing as he “goes to and fro in the earth, and walks up and down in it.”

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

God has given Satan the power of death.

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Where does Satan receive all this power?

Isa 54:16  Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

Job 26:13  By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

So Satan was created by God as a spiritual “waster” for the specific purpose of destroying us. When God creates anything for any reason, He does a good job of creating. So if God created Satan to waste and destroy, then rest assured Satan is the very best destroyer and waster that can be made. If he has created Satan to tempt us and to deceive us, then rest assured Satan is the best tempter and deceiver that can be found.

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
1Th 3:3  That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
1Th 3:4  For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
1Th 3:5  For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

“These affliction… that we are appointed thereunto… by some means the tempter”. Again, we are Job, and Job is us, and our afflictions are from God at the hands of the tempter.
Next week, Lord willing, we will look into the revelation of Jesus Christ that is to be found in these verses:

Job 1:8  And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:9  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.