Two Baskets of Figs: In the Same Place at the Same Time

A Cup That We All Must Drink

Jesus said, “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with…” (Mk. 10:38-39).

When we read this passage of Scripture we often only think of Jesus and some of His disciples as drinking the cup that Jesus would drink or being baptized with the baptism of suffering that He, as well as they, would be baptized with. But what about us? Are we all to drink such a bitter cup or be baptized with some type of similar baptism that He was baptized with?

The Scriptures clearly answer such a question in the affirmative. God through the prophet Jeremiah says to the ungodly Edomites,

“This is what the LORD says: ‘If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, why should you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must drink it.’” The NLT reads, “And this is what the LORD says: ‘If the innocent must suffer, how much more must you! You will not go unpunished! You must drink this cup of judgment!'" (49:12).

And it is Jeremiah who also says,

“At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, ‘A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.'”

Psm. 44:17-22, likewise affirms:

All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant. Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Verse 22 is quoted by Paul in the context of suffering for Christ: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (Rom. 8:35-36). And he again briefly repeats this same idea to the Corinthians: “I die every day” (1Cor. 15:31).

In light of all this we can better understand the words of Peter, “Dear friends, do not be surprised ["think it strange", KJV] at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you” (1Pet. 4:12). God’s Word Translation says, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised by the fiery troubles that are coming in order to test you. Don’t feel as though something strange is happening to you.” All those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, temptations, trials, and heartache. And we are told by Paul to rejoice in such inevitable suffering, “because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). This is the outcome for all of God’s people who remain faithful in the midst of all their fiery ordeals.

Even the troubles that were to befall Daniel’s people in the future were troubles that were to fall on the godly and the ungodly alike. For Daniel says, “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand” (12:9).

Dan. 11:33-35 likewise affirms, “Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.”

Now we can better understand Peters words, “think it not strange”. To those who are the “wise” and “understanding” as noted by Daniel, they see God bringing all these episodes into their lives. And it is these “wise” ones who will be the ones that will “instruct” many; whereas, the wicked and unbelieving will never come to know the cleft of the rock and God’s “hiding place” of understanding. The Bible says, “He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel” (Psm. 103:7). And it was Moses who said, “With your own eyes you saw those great trials….But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands, or eyes that see, or ears that hear” (Deut. 29:3-4). And it is God who likewise affirms, "they have not known My ways" (Heb. 3:10).

Habakkuk (and all of God’s true prophets and people) was one who did “understand” such “ways” of God, when he said, “Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”

Habakkuk said this after knowing what God had said just earlier, “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own” (1:5-6). In other words, God was saying that the Babylonians were going to plunder and pillage the Israelites. In this context Habakkuk says he will wait “patiently” for God to do the same to them, and that through these calamities that were to befall him, as well as to those who were deserving of such judgments, he “will rejoice in the Lord”.

Now going back to Jer. 49:12, remember what God had said, “if those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it”. Habakkuk, Daniel, Job, Ezekiel, Ezra, Nehemiah and all those who are God’s chosen godly ones will sometimes indeed drink a cup that is truly deserving of others and, similarly, be baptized with some of the very same sufferings. That is what God is telling us in all of these verses. The plight of all of God’s saints is no “easy street” as many in God’s church so falsely believe and teach.

It was God who even told some of those of the church of Smyrna, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). We’ll come back to this verse a little later, but suffice it to say for now, the one in charge here allowing the persecution to come upon God’s saints is not Satan, but indeed God himself. God gives Satan permission to test and try our faith. We need to get “the big picture” here. Such trials are not just what Satan is doing, but what God has indeed allowed Satan to do! This is very important to realize, as we will see a little later. And we will be comforted by this understanding once we realize it to be so.


The Two Baskets of Figs

Now think about all that has already been said and think particularly about the plight of Jeremiah, Daniel, Job, Habakkuk and all the other righteous saints who had to go through some of the same ordeals as their ungodly counterparts; and as you do, let us now begin to read Jer. 24:1-10 concerning The Two Baskets of Figs:

“The LORD showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then said the LORD to me, What see you, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus said the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers” (Jer. 24:1-10, AKJV).

What is first to be noticed in this story is the fact that God said even of the “good” figs, “I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.” These “good figs” encountered some of the same calamities as the “bad figs”. The only difference between the two is that the good ones submitted to Nebuchadnezzar, while the bad ones became even “more wicked” as Daniel had noted above concerning those who would become more wicked in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes to which his prophecy pertained. The book of 1Maccabees says that many of them became really, really bad figs, so-to-speak. If you believe that this prophecy is for another day and era, so be it, but the truth of Daniel’s words still remain the same no matter what era we are talking about. Similar troubles would befall both types of individuals, but only those who stayed true to God would be preserved through their trials, though this was not always necessarily the case. Some would suffer torture, plundering, fire and death for their faith, looking forward to a better resurrection that would lie ahead. Hebrews chapter eleven graphically portrays both of these ideas and experiences of the faithful and concludes that all of these individuals are to be “commended for their faith” (11:39).

Now in prophesying Judah’s demise here in the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah also told the people when taken captive to “Build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; take you wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray to the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall you have peace” (24:5-7, AKJV). Instead of becoming “bitter” they were to become “better”. They were to embrace the conditions God had placed them in by having a positive heart and attitude, even seeking the peace and prosperity of the city, and even praying for it. But those “bad figs” who became more bitter and rebelled against the exile, God had this to say to them:

“Thus said the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them: because they have not listened to my words, said the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, said the LORD. Hear you therefore the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon: Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie to you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes” (vv. 17-21, AKJV).

Not only were there bad figs that would refuse to go into exile, but even some of those who went with those into the captivity were “vile figs” that God was going to destroy once they got to Babylon. The “good figs” were surely going to be “cast down” like the rest of the figs, but they would not be “destroyed” as others would be due to their stubborn and rebellious hearts. When they “go through the fire, they shall not be burned” (cf. Isa. 43:2c) as these bad figs were to be in verse 22. All the good figs, such as Ezekiel, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, would be spared such atrocities, similar to Joseph’s plight when imprisoned. The favor of the Lord was upon them while all the while preserving them through the fiery trials that were to try them as gold and silver is refined in the fires. Being one of God’s chosen ones does not guarantee always good times, but God does promise to preserve all of His faithful in the midst of their trials with a peace that surpasses all understanding. Daniel’s three friends acknowledged this when they said, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not…we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:17-18). All those so-called “servants” of Christ who think that we are to let “nothing but the good times roll” ought to read the plight of one of God’s true and faithful servants to His Word, God’s servant Paul. For the true and faithful servant of God says,

“Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” (2Cor. 11:23-27, NAS).

A couple of years ago when the tsunamis began to occur from the earthquake that occurred off of the coast of Somalia, a Pastor in a congregation I had been attending stated that he was asked by someone concerning all of that, “Did God do that to those people”? His answer to that person and the congregation went something like this:

“No, God doesn’t do such things like that. Our loving heavenly Father is not responsible for such calamities. There were good Christian people who died in that calamity also. Do you think God wanted them dead also? And what about innocent babies, Do you think God did that to those innocent children?”

You would have thought that we were not even listening to a Christian speaking these things, but to an unsaved, humanistic thinking individual. I thought for a moment, hasn’t he read his Bible? Are anyone’s children really “innocent”? My Bible says we are all sinners from birth and that from conception we were conceived in iniquity (Psm. 51:5). None of us are undeserving of the fate of such people. As unsaved individuals we are all children of wrath. And, if one remembers, it was even God who told the Israelites concerning Og, king of Bashan, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon”, so they “struck them down leaving no survivors” (Deut. 3:2-3), killing all the “men, women, and children” (v. 6; cf. 2:24, 32-34). The wrath and judgments of God are not just reserved for the final Day of the Lord when Christ comes a second time, “God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day” (Psm. 7:11).

To give another illustration, God told Ezekiel:

“Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth….In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash….So I will spend my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash” (13:11, 13-15).

God was likening all of these natural destructive forces to the Babylonians that He was going to use to destroy Jerusalem with. The analogies of “torrents of rain”, “hailstones”, and “violent winds” is forceful and to the point. And they are often the very things (one of His four sore judgments, Ezk. 15:21) that God uses to judge the ungodly with. Job 20:28-29 says of the ungodly, “A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath. Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.” And again, in chapter 27:20-22, Job likens the destruction of the ungodly to the storms and tempests that befall mankind: “Terrors overtake him like a flood. A windstorm snatches him away at night. The east wind carries him away, and he’s gone. It sweeps him from his place. It hurls itself at him without mercy. He flees from its power. It claps its hands [thunders] over him. It whistles at him from his own place” (GWT). And again, “He brings the clouds to punish men, or to water His earth and show His love” (Job. 37:13).

Such “destructive forces” pale in comparison to the evils that men would do to one another, and many would much rather have a tsunami or hurricane hit them, than the evil atrocities that men inflict, and are capable of.

God did all these things throughout the OT era, and He still does them today. He is a God that never changes. He loves, and He hates. He has mercy, and He hardens. He reveals His justice, and He manifests His forgiveness. He raises up the humble and needy out of the dunghill, while at the same time bringing down all who are of a prideful heart. And He expresses these Divine attributes of Himself every single day. And it is only because of His longsuffering toward us, His people, and not willing that any of us should perish, that the world hasn’t entirely suffered the same fate as that of Sodom and Gomorrah in a single day and in one single stroke of His hand. But the time is coming when He will cut His work short in righteousness and reward every man according to his deeds.

There is a tendency to begin with the presumption of human innocence, that basically mankind is good and undeserving of the atrocities that “only real bad people deserve”. Adversity then, in this mindset, is viewed as an unfair or unjust obtrusion into the life of one who is “undeserving”. But the Biblical place to begin in the consideration of any suffering is not with our “innocence”, but with our “guilt”. We live in a fallen world, a world that is under a “curse”. And as such, the response of God to the sin of Adam, and all of those “in Adam”, is judgment. Life consists of multiple miniscule-judgments that are meted out upon us because of the sin of Adam and even our own sins; and as previews and precursors to that one final judgment Day. These lesser judgments are really, in effect, God’s gracious stays of execution. Strict justice should just send each of us straight to hell. Anything less than this—sickness, injuries, poverty, famine, pestilence, imprisonment, the sword of an invading army, and all the things that would cause heartbreak—is mercy! It is the “longsuffering” of God.

Consider this: When Jesus answers His disciples’ question with regards to the Galileans that were slaughtered by Pontius Pilate (Lke. 13:2), the disciples wanted to know if these Galileans were worse sinners than other Galileans because they had suffered such an ill fate. This might just as well be those of us in our day who similarly ask: “Do those who suffer such atrocities do so because they are more sinful than other people?” Some of us might say, “yes”. Others would say, “no!” And this last answer would be the correct one. Because we can only stop and think of the plight of Job to realize that some people do not get what they get due to some gross sin in their life. The blind man in Jhn. 9:1-3 is just another example. But look at Jesus’ answer. Instead of going on as we might think and talk about the undeserving righteous people who suffer, such as Job and the blind man, Jesus answers them with: “I tell you, no!” (v. 3). No, it wasn’t because they were “worse sinners”. But what does Jesus then say? “But unless you [all] repent, you too will perish” (v. 3). In other words, it wasn't that they were more deserving sinners than others, but that this is what all unbelieving sinners deserve, and will get, in some way, shape, manner or form if they do not repent. Jesus focuses not on the tragic event that has befallen the few, but on the grace and mercy by which the majority can be spared such a similar fate.

Similarly, Jesus goes on to speak about the eighteen on whom “the tower of Siloam fell” and were killed (v. 4). Jesus says this time, “Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (vv. 4-5). And He wasn’t necessarily referring to suffering the exact same things in this life as these others had (which they could), but in the after-life to come their fate would be the same as it is for “all”—“you too will all perish!”

Once one understands the Fall and man’s total depravity, the philosophical problem will not be that of explaining why God allows suffering, but why on earth does He show grace and mercy to any at all !?! Even as Jeremiah laments, “Both good and bad come from the mouth of the Most High God. Why should any living mortal (any person) complain about being punished for sin?” (Lam. 3:38-39, GWT). That is just it! Why should any living man complain when he is just getting his just deserts? The way God and Jeremiah see it, man has nothing to “complain” about! It is only because of His mercy that we are not all instantly consumed like Sodom and Gomorrah. But there is coming a day when all such grace and mercy will come to end. And the Lord will cut His work short in righteousness.

The Word of the Lord also came to Ezekiel one day, saying:

“Son of man, if a country sins against Me by being unfaithful and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord. Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate…declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three…were in it, they could not save their own sons and daughters….Or if I bring a sword…and I kill its men and their animals…declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three…were in it, they could not save their own sons and daughters. They alone would be saved. Or if I send a plague…and pour out My wrath upon it through bloodshed, killing its men and their animals…declares the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it…they would save only themselves by their righteousness….Yet there will be some survivors—sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled…You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord” (14:12-23).

Throughout this fiery and “strange” ordeal, there would be some whose “conduct” and “actions” would speak louder than words, even like these three men “if…they were in it”. And the Lord knows, “these three men” were in some pretty bad situations themselves. And He also knew, given a similar situation, similar to the ones that they had, by His grace some would come forth as gold. Paul, as one of the “wise” ones that Daniel spoke of, “understood” such consolation from others and for others in such trials of affliction and hardship as Ezekiel speaks of, when he writes:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort” (2Cor. 1:3-7).

To the “uneducated”, such trials and hardships will always seem “strange”. They have an unscriptural view of God’s sovereignty over all things. Why is it that throughout the Bible you see the people who know their God time and time again attribute everything that occurs in their lives as the hand of God, saying, “The Lord did this”, or, “The Lord did that”? It was because they “understood” the ways of the Lord in all the events of life. Nothing goes by in our lives in which He (not Satan) hasn’t ordained for our lives. He ordains it all.

The Pastor I told you about above after saying what he said just shrugged off all such calamities as just a “natural phenomena that occurs in nature and happens to everybody”, giving no biblical explanation for his beliefs, and not knowing the real reasons why these things happen, and therefore giving no real encouragement, comfort, or instruction for God’s people. I asked this Pastor one time some questions regarding some other things that he said over the pulpit, asking him where he got such information. And you know what he said? Such and such a person or book said this or that. That was his answer. Not the bible, but some person or book outside of the Bible had told him the things he was believing and preaching over the pulpit. This pastor had not read his Bible concerning these subjects, but fell prey to the sentiments and beliefs of others, as if their words were the last words on the subject, esteeming their words more highly than that of the Word of God, as do many Christians still today with regards to their leaders and the books that they write, and just parroting them word for word.

But the Bible does give some Scriptural reasons why such calamities befall the righteous and the unrighteous alike:

1. God’s judgment for sin is one reason. We do not know the sins of those whom we are attempting to defend as unworthy of such calamities. They could just very well be worthy of such judgments in their lives, and yet they themselves in the end be saved, yet so also as by fire (1Cor. 3:15).

2. The very death of those whom we love is sometimes the very thing that can test even our own faith. Naomi’s life was a testament to that fact. As Daniel said, “the wise will understand” and become even more faithful and their roots will go down even deeper into the well-springs of Christ’s living waters; whereas “the wicked will continue to be wicked.” The one becomes more bitter, while the other becomes all the more better for their troubles. Isaiah writes,

“When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the Lord. O Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them. Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us” (26:9-12).

3. God, because of his own good pleasure, allows the death of the righteous sometimes unbeknownst to us as to what the reasons are for. Below is just one of the reasons:

“The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death” (Isa. 57:1-2).

Proverbs 14:32 also adds, “When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge.” What this verse affirms is that even though calamities come upon all for reasons known only to God—even to the point of bringing death—the righteous, even in such death, have their refuge and hope in God. All is not lost for the righteous soul, but woe to the wicked whose both body and soul are cast into hell.

Again, Proverbs affirms: “When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.” Literal storms come upon the righteous (think of Job’s possessions and household) as well as the unrighteous, but the difference between the two is where they will ultimately end up at. Our hope isn’t in physical preservation in this life, but in the eternal life which is to come. To be absent from this body, is to be present with the Lord! We have nothing to fear. And “be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free” (Pro. 11:21) like a bird that is let out of its cage.


Offenses Will Come

When we do say that such things are from the hand of God many become repulsed and take offense at such an idea. Some of God’s godliest saints can sometimes fall prey to this mistake. For example, consider John the Baptist. In Mat. 11:1-6 John was in prison, not knowing what was to truly befall him in his final days there in that condition. Like so many others, including Christ’s disciples, John had an expectation that the Messiah would come in blazing splendor, riding on a white horse, to set up a kingdom that was to be similar like so many of the other kingdoms of this world. One that was “worldly”, “earthly”, and “natural”, and surely not one that was to come “without observation”, of “another place” and “within” the hearts and lives of every believer as Jesus would later teach unbeknownst to the Baptist. John clearly understood that it was all about a change in the heart, but he, like many others, also thought that it entailed much more than that. John was a little despondent, to say the least. Christ was delivering others, so why wasn’t he delivering John? Even Peter in the book of Acts was later released out of prison. So what gives? Jesus’ final answer to John, “…blessed is anyone who is not offended by me” (ISV). The New Living Translation reads, “God blesses those who do not turn away because of Me.” Webster’s paraphrase says, “Blessed is he to whom I shall not be the cause of his falling into sin.”

Although the Bible here in this instance does not say that John’s plight was from God, we know from Joseph’s experience and many, many more passages of Scripture, that God does indeed put His most beloved saints through some of the most severest fiery trials, which are to test us. Of Joseph's hardships it is said: “Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him” (Psm. 105:19, NAS), or as God’s Word Translation says, “The LORD’s promise tested him through fiery trials…” And Joseph even stated that all that befell him was due to the hand of God upon his life, working all those things together for the good to those who love God. Such was also the case with Job. The first two chapters of that book tell us in no uncertain terms that it was God who gave Satan permission to afflict Job in order to prove God right about what He said about His servant Job, that it was all indeed true: “Have you considered My servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (1:8). Job was God’s standing trophy of one who exemplified one who loves God no matter what. In chapter 2:3, God repeats the same statement about Job to Satan, only this time He also adds, “…you incited Me against him to ruin him without any reason”.

What was Job’s confession throughout this ordeal? “But He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (23:10). God truly did know, didn’t He? We have the inside story on the whole ordeal right from the beginning. By faith Job had to believe that it was true. And he was also full of assurance that he would “come forth as gold,” even affirming the very same things that God had told Satan about him, that he was “innocent”, “righteous”, and “blameless” (9:15, 21; 12:4b) and that his wounds were being multiplied “for no reason” (9:17). Again Job affirms, “My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to His way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread” (23:11-12).

Does this sound like someone who got what they deserved because there was some sin in his life? Not on your life. All of his friends thought so though, but God didn’t—and hadn’t right from the beginning. And just as much as it “pleased the Lord to bruise” our Lord and Savior (Isa. 53:10, AV), so too it "pleases" the Lord to allow His saints to go through some of the very same sufferings and trials that only the ungodly are truly deserving to receive. Paul called it filling up “that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ” (Col. 1:24, ASV). As God had said through Jeremiah, “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, why should you [the ungodly and deserving] go unpunished?” And just what were some of those things in that “cup” that Job partook of that the ungodly are truly always deserving of everyday? The stealing away of his own oxen and donkeys by the Sabeans, along with the slaying of some of his servants (1:14-15; notice also how in 2 Cor. 11:26 Paul similarly had “perils of robbers”); the fire of God consuming many of Job’s servants and his sheep (v. 16); the Chaldeans forming three raiding parties to carry off Job’s camels and put more of his servants to the sword (v. 17); a mighty wind (could have very well have been a tsunami or a hurricane) came in from out of nowhere from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on his seven sons and three daughters, killing them all (vv. 18-19); Job’s body is afflicted with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head (2:7); and finally, if that were not enough, Satan even incites Job’s wife to be the very mouthpiece of what he had himself affirmed to God that Job would do if afflicted, “Curse God, and die!” (2:9).

If you recall, a similar plight happened to Peter, announced by the same God who was managing the plight of Job. He said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Lke. 22:31-32, NAS). No sooner had the Lord spoken these words when Peter takes “offense” at the words of his accusers who accuse him of being one of Christ’s disciples, and he denies the Lord three times. Peter had made the claim, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will” (Mat. 26:33). It looked like Satan had gotten just the advantage he was looking for in Peter. But instead of becoming bitter, Peter became better for it all—and stronger! He may have been knocked down, but he was not knocked out! Indeed, it would be Peter who would affirm with Job,

“Who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ….After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pet. 1:5-7, NAS).

In consideration of Job (as well as the plight of any of God’s servants), John Calvin insightfully reveals:

God was the author of that trial of which Satan and wicked robbers were merely the instruments. Satan’s aim is to drive the saint to madness by despair. The Sabeans cruelly and wickedly made a sudden incursion to rob another of their goods. Job acknowledges that he was deprived of all his posterity, and brought to poverty, because such was the pleasure of God. Therefore, whatever men or Satan himself devise, God holds the helm, and makes all their efforts contribute to the execution of His judgments….The Lord designs to exercise the patience of his servant by adversity; Satan’s plan is to drive him to despair; while the Chaldeans are bent on making unlawful gain by plunder. Such diversity of purpose makes a wide distinction in the act. In the mode there is not less difference. The Lord permits Satan to afflict his servant; and the Chaldeans, who had been chosen as the ministers to execute the deed, he hands over to the impulses of Satan, who, pricking on the already depraved Chaldeans with his poisoned darts, instigates them to commit the crime. They rush furiously on to the unrighteous deed, and become its guilty perpetrators….We thus see that there is no inconsistency in attributing the same act to God, to Satan, and to man, while, from the difference in the end and mode of action, the spotless righteousness of God shines forth at the same time that the iniquity of Satan and of man is manifested in all its deformity” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 1, p. 199 and book 2, pp. 266-267).

Truly, "all things work together for the good to those who love God," others though "intending it for evil, but God intending it for good to accomplish what is now being done…" (Gen. 50:20). Even in the case of David numbering the Israelites, the Lord, as well as Satan, incited David to number Israel (2Sam. 24:1; 1Chr. 21:1). It fulfilled the purpose and secret counsels of God in: (1) seeking out an occasion to judge some of the Israelites that He was angry with (similar to Samson seeking out a Philistine wife; cf. Jdg. 14:4); (2) the testing of His servant David (cf. Psm. 139:23-24), and; (3) most likely the overthrow and succumbing of even some of those of David’s own household who were clearly quick to betray David and sin with one another. And like Peter, after Satan had sifted both, they would both “return” unto the Lord even stronger and the better for it all. Both were humiliated, but both, unlike Judas, recognized their further need of a Savior. Such are the “ways” of God, which are oftentimes “past finding out”. They are “too marvelous beyond description”, but are all His “ways” with His creatures nevertheless.

In hind sight, we can now better understand the words of Christ in Rev. 3:10, “…the Devil will put some of you in prison to test you,” and even Rev. 6:11, which says, “Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed,” and thereby filling up more of the afflictions of Christ.

“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him
who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
I know where you live—where
Satan has his throne.
Yet you remain true to my name.
You did not renounce your faith in me,
even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness,
who was put to death in your city
—where Satan lives” (Rev. 2:12-13).
“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb,
and because of the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their life even unto death”
(Rev. 12:13, ASV).
“I face death every day!
That is as certain, brothers,
as it is that I am proud of you in the Messiah,
Jesus our Lord” (1Cor. 15:31, ISV).
“For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment,
works for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory”
(2 Cor. 4:17, AKJV)
Amen, and Amen!