Job Who Feared God (Job 1:1–7)

 

Job Who Feared God (Job 1:1–7)

God created the heavens and the earth and governs all things. Yet, God and His kingdom are invisible. But what is unseen is not nonexistent. In fact, what is unseen is everything. The universe operates in perfect order according to the will and purpose of God who made it. All creation fears and reveres Him, and therefore obeys Him. Even the flowing waters obey when God commands them to stop (Psalm 77:16).

However, humankind fell into sin and does not fear God. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Not knowing or fearing God is sin. Even so, God did not choose to condemn the world, but to save it by giving His Son without reservation.

In Job 1:1–7, we meet Job, a man who feared God with all his heart. We have heard his story since Sunday school. Through today’s passage, we will learn why we must fear God, and we will pray to fear and obey Him wholeheartedly.

Job Fears God

1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. (Job 1:1–3)

Job feared and revered God. His name means “hated.” He was blameless and upright, turning away from evil. His homeland was Uz (wooded), and most scholars place his time around 2500 B.C., likely before Abraham. He was prosperous, wealthy, and the most respected man of his generation.

He was called “the greatest man” because he feared God. Out of reverence for God, he turned away from evil and lived with integrity. He was generous toward the poor and those in need (Job 29:12–17; 31:16–21). He cared for the blind, widows, the disabled, the poor, and orphans. He also defended those who suffered injustice. Truly, Job was a man blameless in God’s sight.

Job Sacrificed Burnt Offering

4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom. (Job 1:4–5)

For example, whenever his children held feasts on their birthdays, Job would later call them together and purify them. He would offer a burnt offering for each one of them before God. He did this because he thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.”

A burnt offering was a sacrifice for atonement—a complete offering of an animal burned before God. The animal represented the person offering it. God accepted the sacrifice of the animal in place of the sinner and forgave sin.

This is clearly reflected later in the laws God gave to Moses regarding sacrifices. The fire on the altar of burnt offerings in the tabernacle or temple was never to go out, as it symbolized continual atonement before God (Leviticus 6:8–13). This reveals that forgiveness comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ. The sacrificed animal foreshadowed the coming sacrifice of Christ.

Today, we no longer offer animal sacrifices. Even the Jewish people ceased to do so after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70. In the New Testament, Paul explains that the burnt offering is now fulfilled as we offer our own bodies as a living sacrifice to God—this is our true spiritual worship.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Jesus Christ offered His own body completely to God the Father. This was not only through His sacrifice on the cross but also through His ministry—healing the sick, driving out demons, and performing miracles. In all these, Jesus presented His body as a living sacrifice to fulfill God’s saving work. Ultimately, He offered His body unto death on the cross.

How then can we fear God?

In the prayer Jesus taught His disciples, He said, “Hallowed be Your name.” For God’s name to be hallowed means that His honor, majesty, glory, and power are made known and revealed. When God’s name was revealed on Mount Sinai, the people trembled with fear before His majesty, power, and glory (Exodus 19:16). In this way, God has impressed His majesty and honor in the hearts of His people.

God is the Creator, and He rules over all things He has made with love and justice. Who can dare oppose the Creator? No one. To recognize this truth in our daily lives and to live before Him with this awareness is to fear God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, omnipresent, all-knowing, and almighty. He reigns forever in glory, honor, and power. Amen.

What Happened in Heaven

6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” (Job 1:6–7)

This scene was invisible to Job. The heavenly realm is unseen, yet God reveals its mysteries little by little through His Word. The “sons of God” here refer to angels, and the scene resembles a heavenly council. It is astonishing to see that Satan was also among them, standing before the Lord.

Satan first appears in Genesis 3 as the cunning serpent who tempted the woman to sin and thus came under God’s curse (Genesis 3:14). Yet here, he is seen standing among God’s heavenly beings before the Lord.

This raises a difficult question: why did God allow Satan to approach in the garden? God, being omniscient and omnipotent, already knew that Adam would fall. The answer to this question is not easy. We cannot fully comprehend the mind of the Almighty.

Yet, based on Scripture, we can see that Satan is one of God’s created beings. His fall occurred before the creation of the world, when he rebelled against God, refusing to remain in the position appointed to him. He desired to ascend to the heavens and make himself like the Most High (Isaiah 14:13–14). Because of this rebellion, Satan was judged and will receive his due punishment.

If a heavenly being like Satan fell despite seeing the glory and majesty of God, how much more prone is humankind—who cannot see God—to turn away from Him? This gives us much to ponder. But when we enter heaven, all such mysteries will be revealed to us clearly, like tangled threads finally unraveled.

The second question is, why does God not remove the fallen Satan? This question may not be so difficult to answer. Because if God were to remove evil, there would not be a single person who could be saved. This is because all people are under sin in Adam. To be under sin means not to obey the Creator God. Disobeying and rebelling against God is what Satan does. Therefore, God has not yet removed evil in order to save people from sin and death.

However, even though Satan stands before the Lord among the sons of God, his days are not eternal. The number of his days is set (Revelation 13:5). The day is coming soon when he will be cast out of heaven and thrown down to the earth. In the Revelation written by the Apostle John, there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven (Revelation 12:7–8). John describes the scene as follows:

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” (Revelation 12:9–12)

From this, one thing is clear: Satan, the devil, can do nothing except what God permits. God created, sustains, and governs everything according to His will and purpose. Nothing happens outside of God’s will. No matter how much the devil threatens or lies, like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, he cannot harm us even a little. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have any trouble at all.

Therefore, God is eternally righteous and also love. We cannot fully understand everything about God. Yet through His Word, God has revealed His holiness, righteousness, and love. Because God hates evil, He will certainly judge it (Romans 2:6). There will be trouble and distress for everyone who does evil (Romans 2:9).

At the same time, because God is love, if one repents and turns back to Him, He will forgive sins and purify from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He gives freedom and deliverance from hatred, jealousy, and resentment, and leads into rest and peace (Psalm 23:4). God delivers every believer from the snare of the enemy—from lies and threats—and gives living water flowing from the throne of grace in heaven. Amen!

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:24–25)

October 16, 2025

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Scripture quotes are from the NIV.