Job 1:7 “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.”
It has always bothered me that fallen archangel Lucifer, Satan, the devil had an audience and chat with Creator God in the book of Job. Further, I read that this remarkable scene in heaven provides us a striking picture of Satanic activity. The devil, in his opposition to God and His program of salvation, evidently never rests. We know that Satan is not omnipresent, like God, because he is a finite (though very powerful and brilliant) created being. To accomplish his goal, therefore, he is never at rest, but keeps going from place to place and working lies and deception after lies and deception, bringing everyone he can under his damming influence. Therefore, God urgently warns us: 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
Living in a material world, we tend to focus on the physical and not on the spiritual realm that co-occupies time and space of this cosmos. But, the same is true of the demonic spirits (fallen angels) who have followed the devil in his rebellion against God. They never rest until they can take possession of some person’s mind and then control that person’s behavior. Matthew 12:43-44 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.”
Some people cannot accept the spiritual realm, but Satan does not spend time going after those that he already owns. This restlessness that characterizes the devil and his demons often also manifests itself in the unsaved, and this will be the ultimate state of those who yield to the pressures of these evil spirits. Revelation 14:11 “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” This issue is not mentioned much, but reality drives us to the foot of the cross.
True rest of soul is found only in Christ, with His forgiveness, cleansing, and guidance: John 10:25-30 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”
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