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Soldiers in a Great Campaign

Years ago, the famous American jurist Oliver Wendall Holmes wrote: “We are all soldiers in a great campaign, the details of which are veiled from us. But it is enough for us to know there is a campaign.”

The justice had it partly right. We are all, indeed, “soldiers in a great campaign” but it’s not enough for us just to know there is a campaign. On the contrary. What good does it do a soldier just to know that he’s the midst of some great battle? Please! He needs to know who the enemy is, the nature of the fight, what’s being used against him, and what weapons he has at his own disposal so that he can fight back--and win.

That’s why the Lord has opened up to us through the Bible the reality of this “great campaign,’ this great controversy between Christ and Satan, a controversy that we are all involved in. God wants us to know not just the existence of this cosmic war, but the nature of it and the outcome, because He want us all to share in the victory that He has won for us. Yes, we are in a battle, but the good news is that, through Jesus, we can all be on the winning side.

For the past few days we looked at the origins of this battle, which began with Satan in another part of the cosmos: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9, NKJV).

Satan, a free being, abused his free will, and led a revolt against God. As a result, he lost his special place in heaven. The texts say, too, that Satan has come down to earth, and we saw yesterday how he deceived our first parents, got a foothold here, and as been waging war against us ever since. As Scripture says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1Peter 5:8, NKJV).

Seeking whom he may devour? Wow! I don’t know about you, friend, but if I thought I had an adversary like that, I’d like to know more about him, about what he’s doing, and most importantly, about how can I protect myself.

And we can. The good news is that God hasn’t left us in darkness about this foe. No, through the Bible God has pulled back the curtain, so to speak, and has revealed to us the working of Satan in this great controversy. None of us need to be deceived; even more importantly, none of us need to be defeated in it, either.

Let’s go to one the clearest places in all Scripture that reveals to us the reality of this great controversy, and that’s the book of Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible. This tells me that the Lord wanted us, from the start, to understand the nature of the battle we’re in and the foe we face.

The book of Job begins by depicting this man Job living in his own paradise.

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:1-3, NKJV)

Here’s a man who had the wealth of Donald Trump and the morality of Billy Graham, all rolled into one. The book opens, then, with Job living in great material prosperity with a large, loving family. This is reflective, I think, of what Eden should have been had humanity not fallen.

Thus all is well here, on earth, peaceful, calm, prosperous. Job’s own little Eden. Now, in contrast, the book then shifts scenes, and we’re taken to another part of the cosmos. We’ve given a view of the heavenly courts, and what goes on there, showing us things that Hubble never could. Though having lost his place in heaven, Satan apparently was able to come back for visits, if nothing else.

Let’s read the texts: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ So Satan answered the LORD and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it’” (Job 1:6,7, NKJV).

From going to and fro and walking back and forth upon the earth. That’s scary. It makes me think of the verse we just looked at, telling us to be careful because our “adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1Peter 5:8, NKJV).

What these verses tell me are that--with Satan going back and forth, to and fro on the earth--his presence is real, and it’s everywhere. Plus, they tell me he’s not some Johnny Appleseed, planting trees and doing good. No he’s walking about seeking whom he may devour. And that’s everyone he can. Satan isn’t prejudiced: he’s an equal opportunity hater.

So, we see Satan telling the Lord that’s he walking all over the earth, and from what Peter said, it’s clear that he’s seeking whom he can devour. It’s as if Satan is saying to God, “I’m all over the place, and look how many humans are following me.” After all, as we’ve read already, Satan “deceives the whole world.”

Notice, however, how God responds. “Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’" (Job 1:8, NKJV).

The Lord was saying, essentially, “So you’re going back and forth, and you’re deceiving all these people, everywhere, leading them into sin and ruin, but you haven’t gotten my servant Job, for there is none like him on the earth.” In other words, Satan had the whole world, but not Job. Thus, it seems that through his faithfulness, Job showed he wasn’t under Satan’s control, an interesting insight into how this great controversy between Christ and Satan is being played out there on earth.

Satan, however, isn’t ready to concede, not even one person. How does he respond?

“Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" (Job 1:9-11, NKJV).

What a taunt! Satan said basically, “Job serves you God not because you are good or worthy but only because you have rewarded him. You got all the friends, God, money can buy!”

In a real sense, it’s not Job on trial here; God is on trial. By impugning Job’s motives for being faithful, Satan attacked God Himself. If God were so good, so just, so merciful, would Job serve Him--no matter what? Implied in all this is that the Lord isn’t so good, and Job serves him only for selfish reasons.

Well, most of you, I imagine, know the rest of the story. Satan is allowed to unleash a host of evils against Job: he uses nature, human violence, even disease, to destroy all that Job has, and yet through it all, Job remained faithful. Amid incredible tragedy, all brought on him by Satan, Job refused to turn away from God, proving Satan’s accusations against God false. Job served God because he believed God was worthy, regardless of what Satan said.

Friend, there’s so much here to unpack. I believe, though, that at it’s core, the story of Job is a microcosm, a small example of the larger battle that the whole world is immersed in. Pain, suffering, violence, crime, sickness, death-- these are all results of Satan waging war here against us. Satan isn’t some fictional character; he’s real, and the war he’s waging is real. Look around, you can see the casualties everywhere: sickness, disease, death, turmoil, ruined lives, and on and on.

And though this controversy is manifested in as many ways as there are people, it’s really a battle for our souls. Satan unleashed hell on Job in order to get his soul, and he failed.

And he’s trying the same thing with each of us, too. Satan wants to devour you just as he attempted to devour Job. All around we are bombarded, in one way or another, with things that can keep us from knowing God, keep up from trusting in Jesus, keep us from staying faithful to Jesus, because if we are connected to Jesus, Satan cannot beat us. He can harass us, he can torment us, but he cannot win against us, because Jesus has already beaten Satan, and the victory Jesus won He offers to all who cling to Him in faith. “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ” (2 Co 2:14, NKJV).

Yes, it’s true, as Oliver Wendall Holmes said, we are all soldiers the midst of a “great campaign,” a great controversy between Christ and Satan. Through the book of Job, we can learn more about this great campaign that’s raging around us. And though we certainly need to be aware of it, we don’t need to fear Satan, because we have a commander, a leader, a King, who is much more powerful than Satan and who defeated Him 2,000 years ago, at the cross. Scripture tell us, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8, NKJV).

What a promise! What a hope. And it’s something you can share in through faith in Jesus Christ, as your Savior.

The war’s on. The war’s real. And the good news—the war has already been won—for you. Tomorrow we’ll see precisely how it was, indeed, won for us.