The LORD restored Job’s prosperity and gave him twice as much as he had before….The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first….Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life. (Job 42:10, 12, 17)
Job began with health and wealth. Then he was struck by setbacks and tragedies. Scripture exposed the force behind his suffering — it was a satanic attack. But afterward God restored him with healing and prosperity, and blessed him with much more wealth and longevity. Although faithless religion interprets his life as a story of suffering, in reality his story started with health and wealth, and ended with even more health and wealth.
His story is a message of healing and prosperity. Although he had fallen to great depths of suffering, he persevered with God, and God restored his prosperity and multiplied his wealth, and gave him a long life to enjoy it. We take inspiration from this. From the story of Job, we learn that even when someone had no known covenant with God, and no known promise of healing and prosperity, God still insisted on granting him healing and prosperity, as long as the man remained with God.
Our difference with Job is that we have a contract with God that allows us to refuse the suffering that happened to Job, and that enables us to dominate and cast out Satan in the name of Jesus. Satan could appear before the throne of God to obtain permission before he inflicted Job with diseases and tragedies. We are in a different and superior position compared to Job. The Bible says that we are now seated together with Jesus Christ at the right hand of God, and because we are in Christ, all things are under our feet.
Now when Satan approaches the throne of heaven, demanding permission to attack us, we are the ones on the throne! Christ is on the throne, and we are seated there in him. Where Christ is, there we are. We are seated in the same position as Christ. This is what it means to follow him. This is what it means to have him as our head. As Satan appears before us, do we grant him permission to afflict us like he afflicted Job? We have the authority to refuse. But those who are deceived by faithless religion would surrender to the “will of God” and accept suffering, when it is in fact the will of Satan.
In Christ, we are better than Job, and stronger than Satan. Just as Satan could do nothing to Job without God’s permission, he can do nothing to us without our permission. Do we deny the sovereignty of God? But God is the one who seated us at his own right hand in Christ. Thus anyone who denies that Satan needs our permission to afflict us is the one who denies the sovereignty of God and renounces the gospel of Christ.
The Bible says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” If Satan is not stronger than Christ, then he is not stronger than us. Satan cannot rise higher than the right hand of God. Either we say that Satan is higher than the throne of God, in which case Satan would be the true God, or we must say that Satan is not higher than the throne of God, and since we are seated together with Christ, then Satan himself is under our feet. If Job’s relationship with God led to healing and prosperity, and long life, our relationship with God in Christ must lead to far greater healing and prosperity for each of his followers, and healing and prosperity for all nations.