God's allowance of Satan's test of Job's faith symbolized God's test of His own image that He has put into every man. God has allowed Satan to tempt man into committing the worst evils imaginable in order to thoroughly test His Love for His creations. Even though God allows Satan to do his worst, God intends to do His best for mankind. Job's faith and righteousness could not have succeeded without God's help. Satan would succeed in destroying God's image in man if God did not help man. Job's burnt offering sacrifices symbolized his reliance on God's help. Even though God has allowed Satan to tempt man to commit the most horrible crimes against each other, nevertheless, God's Love in man cannot and will not fail. I Corinthians 13:8.
God's help for man came when His Son was nailed to a cruel cross taking all of the sin and evil and spiritual death of mankind on Himself. Satan intends to permanently ruin God's Love in man by holding him in spiritual death forever. Jesus suffered that eternal spiritual death in man's place and destroyed all of the evil works of the Devil in the process. Hebrews 3:14-18; I John 3:8. God's answer to Satan's mocking taunt "curse God and die" was that He would take that eternal curse and spiritual death on Himself on that cross and suffer man's curse and death in man's place. Without Christ's salvation of man, Satan would be able to claim the image of God in man as his own and torture man forever. In the process, Satan would prove that God's Love in man can be destroyed, that God is not Almighty, and that He can thus be killed and replaced with Satan's world. But Christ saved all mankind forever from that curse and death through His death, burial, descent into hell, and resurrection from the dead. John 6:33; John 12:47; I Timothy 4:10; John 1:29; Revelation 5:11-13.
Job's and the Old Testament burnt offering sacrifices symbolized Christ's descent into hell where He left behind the sins and evils of all mankind not saved by grace when He rose immaculate from the grave. By this manner, God saves His image in all persons not saved by grace. God cleanses their sin and evil by the use of His consuming fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Matthew 3:11-12. God has a special salvation for all persons saved by His grace. When they put their faith in the cross of Christ, God washes all their sin and evil away into the sea of forgetfulness by His use of the blood and water that flowed from Jesus' body on the cross. I Corinthians 6:11; Micah 7:19. Christ eliminated the eternal death of every person when He died on the cross, descended into hell, and was buried in the grave. But He gave His eternal life to every person when He rose from the dead, some directly to those saved by grace to live with Him in heaven forever, and all others by the use of His consuming fire to separate their life and goodness for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Hebrews 2:8-9. By these two methods, God separates the sin and evil from every person, which is their spiritual death, preserves their lives which He created forever and casts their deaths into the lake of fire forever. John 12:47; John 6:33; Luke 20:38; I Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15.
No comments:
Post a Comment