Long ago, a being named Lucifer was created by God. He was made glorious and beautiful and served faithfully until God's creation of humanity. Because of his pride and jealousy, he tempted Adam and Eve to sin, trying to show God that humans weren't qualified to inherit the blessings promised to them.
Satan's accusations appeared irrefutable for generations until a man named Job offered a glimpse of hope for all of humanity. About 400 years after the global flood, all the angels came to present themselves before God, and Satan was among them. The angels listened in anticipation as God and Satan made a wager of cosmic significance.
You see, before this conversation, Satan was roaming the earth, tempting the offspring of Eve to sin and accusing them of being failures. But there arose one man whom Satan seemed to be ignoring; his name was Job, a man who was blameless and upright, known as the greatest man of the East. Job would regularly sacrifice offerings just in case any of his children cursed God in their hearts.
He was a man who truly sought to live a righteous life, a man who seemed to be upholding God's image better than many before him. But Satan disputed the heart behind Job's righteousness. He was convinced that Job's faith was in the blessings God had given him rather than in God Himself.
He stated that if God were to remove the blessings from Job, he would surely curse Him to His face. God, willing to test His faith, agreed, and from that moment, Job fell into the hands of the devil. All his material possessions were destroyed, and all of his family and servants, except for his wife, were killed in tragic circumstances.
But instead of running from God or cursing Him like his ancestors, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. But there was one more thing Satan had yet to do—one last trick up his sleeve. The angels gathered once more in God's presence, and God questioned Satan once more.
He reminded Satan that his efforts against Job had proven fruitless. This wasn't good for Satan because if this human could resist his allure, he would be forced to admit that God was right and would be made a fool of before all of the heavenly hosts. So he snapped back at God and challenged His mercy again: "Strike his flesh and bones," he said; "surely then he will curse you to your face.
" God once again agreed but made it clear that Satan wasn't to take Job's life in the process. Job was covered from head to toe in blistering sores; his situation got worse and worse. But through it all, Job never cursed his Lord.
For the first time in human record, one of Satan's accusations fell flat; his promise that Job would blaspheme God hadn't come to pass. As a reward for his endurance, Job was exalted twice as high as he was when it all began. Through the faithfulness of Job, humanity had achieved their first minor victory, dealing Satan a small but shameful defeat.
But things weren't all hopeful for mankind. Though he didn't curse God, Job still had to repent for some of his conduct. He fell short and was still undeserving of God's mercy.
Before a holy God, he was still covered in filthy rags. It was clear to the heavenly hosts, and especially clear to Satan, that humans had a hard time living up to their image-bearing status. Mankind was still lost, fumbling around in the dark, piecing together their own idea of what it means to obey God and reflect His image.
So God revealed something to man that would help restore their relationship and something that the devil would quickly take advantage of. Around 640 years after Job, a man named Moses was given the law by God Himself, a system in which people could atone for their sins by sacrificing an animal in their place. God had offered a temporary solution to the problem of man's evil that Satan had highlighted time and time again.
But it was just that—temporary. Satan knew the offering of bulls and goats was incapable of truly satisfying God's wrath and cleansing the people of sin. He knew that the millions of animals that were slaughtered every year in God's name could never validate mankind as a race.
He knew that God didn't even desire the sacrifices of animals. In light of this, Satan took advantage of the new law given by God to His people and saw great success in tempting many to disobey Him. Because the law illuminated the difference between good and evil, Satan knew exactly what God was pleased with and what He disapproved of.
This made his job far easier, causing generations of kings to be led astray by foreign wives, unclean activities, and their own selfish pride. Once again, it seemed God's solution to mankind's problem had only served to strengthen the devil's arguments. As long as humans continued to sin, they were deserving of death.
The Lord looked down from heaven on the children of man to see if there were any who understood, who sought after God. But they had all turned aside; every one of them wandered the earth with filthy clothes. No one was righteous, not even one.
More than 1,000 years after the law was instituted, a prophet named Zechariah saw something incredibly interesting. Despite playing a minor role among the prophets of old, Zechariah was one of the few humans who met one of history's most mysterious characters, a being who had appeared in glimpses to Zechariah's ancestors, a being who would play a critical role in the upcoming events, and a being who would spell disaster for Satan's accusations. A man named Joshua served as high priest at the time of Zechariah's vision, due to their exclusive passage to God.
The priest had to follow stringent Purity laws and was often considered the most holy among men. Yet, Zachariah's vision opened with Joshua standing before his men, and the being dressed in filthy rags. Satan appeared and started accusing Joshua before God and the being: "This is the greatest among them; even the holiest of humans is covered in filth and mud.
What chance do they have in God's presence? Why don't you just destroy them already? " God had heard enough.
The being before Joshua rebuked the devil and silenced him. He then turned to Joshua and said to those nearby, "Take off his filthy clothes. " Satan listened in utter disbelief as the being said the following words to Joshua: "I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.
" "But it can't be so! He's done nothing to deserve to be cleansed. If anything, he should be destroyed!
" But the being, ignoring Satan's accusations, said to them, "You are men symbolic of things to come. The Lord Almighty says, 'I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. '" Satan listened, baffled by the promise that was spoken—a promise that would erase all of his tireless work, all of his accusations, and all of his authority in a single day.
"But how is this even possible? And who is this being saying these things? " The being that spoke to Joshua was known as the angel of the Lord.
