Christians often wonder how does God test Believers. If some say that suffering towards individuals occurs randomly, this means that faith becomes a lottery.
Key Takeaways
- The Bible teaches that God tests Believers through suffering, which is purposeful, not random.
- Satan serves as the specific adversary in this testing process, allowed by God with limitations.
- Believers experience multiple tests designed by Satan to assess their faithfulness and obedience to God.
- The life on Earth serves as an arena for Christians to prove their love and loyalty to God while resisting Satan’s lies.
- Understanding how God tests Believers is essential for spiritual growth and navigating trials in faith.
The Bible does not present suffering as a random event or events. It presents it as being purposeful.
The Bible’s Book of Job indicates that God not only allows but requires Satan to test His people. This occurs as:
- more than one specific test, with a
- specific adversary, within a
- specific set of conditions.
Test #1 "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth [or abhors] evil?..."
"...12 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." (Job 1:8, 12)
Test #2 "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?..."
"6 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life." (Job 2:3, 6)
God has placed limitations (or boundaries) upon Satan’s ‘fiery trials‘ (1 Peter 4:12) that God has allowed Satan to afflict His people. In Job’s first test, Satan was prevented from afflicting Job’s body with illness throughout his first test (Job 1:12).
In Job’s second test, God permitted Satan to afflict Job’s body with boils; however, Satan was refused to do anything that would take his life (Job 2:6-7).
LESSON:
Satan does not afflict anyone who has any degree of unbelief in the Bible. This is because the Bible says that ALL UNBELIEF IS SIN:
"...for whatsoever is NOT OF FAITH is SIN" (Romans 14:23)On the contrary, ALL sincere Christians should expect to be tested by Satan multiple times throughout the remainder of their lifetime (Psalm 43:2; 107:2). These ‘trials‘ that Satan designs for God’s people are for God to approve and for Him to ASSESS whether His people are “OVERCOMERS OR have been OVERCOME by Satan’s lies and deceptions” (Luke 10:19; Revelation 3:21).
"HE [or she] THAT OVERCOMETH [Satan's 'devices'], the same shall be CLOTHED IN WHITE RAIMENT; and I WILL NOT BLOT OUT HIS NAME OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, but I WILL CONFESS HIS NAME BEFORE MY FATHER, and BEFORE HIS ANGELS." (Revelation 3:5)
The notes that follow relate to aspects of my recently published book, ‘God’s Great Plan for Mankind – REVEALED!‘
Comparing spiritual things with spiritual
To discover the many truths that the Bible contains, it says that students are to compare spiritual things with spiritual things:
"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; COMPARING SPIRITUAL THINGS WITH SPIRITUAL." (1 Corinthians 2:13)
With respect to the prophet Jeremiah, the Bible says he was foreknown by God before his birth – most likely during his previous lifetime on the Earth. This foreknowledge of Jeremiah by God most likely occurred long before he was conceived in his mother’s belly:
"Before I formed thee in the belly [of your mother on this Present Earth] I KNEW THEE; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ORDAINED THEE [to be for Me] a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5)
God ‘foreknew’ Jeremiah in the Original Earth
It seems that God foreknew Jeremiah because He had observed Jeremiah during his previous lifetime on the Original Earth. The Original Earth is marked #1 (Genesis 1:1) in the image below.
| Earth #2 | represents the period of Lucifer’s Flood (Genesis 1:2). |
| Earth #3 | represents the history and future of this Present Earth (Genesis 1:4 onwards). |
| Earth #4 | represents Christ’s Millennial kingdom on this present Earth (Revelation 20:6). |
| Earth #5 | represents the destruction and renewal of the heavens and this Present Earth by fire (2 Peter 3:10-12). |
| Earth #6 | represents the creation of the New Heavens and the New Earth (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13) |
It was during Jeremiah’s lifetime on the Original Earth that God ASSESSED Jeremiah’s love and obedience towards Him. During Jeremiah’s lifetime on this Present Earth, God again found him to be obedient, faithful and loving towards God. Therefore, he will most likely serve Jesus Christ in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:6). This is what God desires for every one of His children on the Earth (2 Corinthians 6:18).
It is to this end that God is assessing every individual Christian to determine if they accept, love and obey Him both in our past life and in this life (Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 Peter 1:22; Romans 10:16). To be “approved by God” (2 Timothy 2:15) means reading, believing and doing what the Bible says.
Nevertheless, God encourages Satan to tempt his people to become disobedient and rebellious (Matthew 26:41; Luke 8:13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 John 3:8). If they succumb and remain so despite their ignoring of 1 John 1:9, they therefore prove they are an enemy of God and Christ (James 4:4). This means they have NO Salvation.
The three generations of Earth as God’s testing framework (Book Figure 1)
Chapter 1 of my book introduces the Three Generations of Earth (#1, #3 and #6) as shown in the image above.
Life on the Original Earth (#1) is where all souls lived before this Present Earth was created (Genesis 1:4 onwards). This Present Earth (#3) is where each soul born upon it is tested under Satan’s influence. The New Heaven and New Earth (#6) is where those who have OVERCOME Satan’s lies and deceptions live throughout eternity with God and Christ.
Why does God allow suffering?
The testing that God allows Satan to perform on His people on this Present Earth is not an accident. Neither is it a function of this fallen world. On the contrary, it is a major aspect of God’s Great Plan for Mankind.
God’s plan is to ensure that He will live throughout eternity with His tried and tested “sons and daughters” (2 Corinthians 6:18) who have been truly “born-again” by BELIEVING the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13) and have then OBEYED the Apostle Paul’s Gospel (Romans 10:16). Such requirements prove to God that His children are indeed “walking in the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, 9).
Therefore, each individual’s lifetime on this Present Earth is not meant to be a spiritual tragedy. It is a deliberate arena where a contest takes place, which has been approved by God for each individual. It is where each contestant is in competition against Satan to win or lose the PRIZE of spending eternity with their Creator (Philippians 3:14; 2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Does God test Christians today?
Yes – very much!
In 1 Peter 1:7 and James 1:2-3, the Bible clearly states that our FAITH is on trial. This is because Faith commences as the size of a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31), but it is required to grow to the size that can enable the Christian to move mountains (Matthew 21:21).
These trials are often regarded as personal “tribulations” in one’s life (Acts 14:22). God has prescribed that such events are to happen to His “children“. This is so His children might grow in PATIENCE as being one of the various other qualities of their FAITH (Romans 5:1-6).
Why the test requires Satan’s presence – as the means to “OVERCOME” him
When God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, the Bible says that God gave him authority over everything on the Earth (Genesis 1:26). Satan (in the form of the serpent) then tricked Adam out of his inheritance by enticing him to eat the forbidden fruit (1 Timothy 2:14; Genesis 3:6). Satan did this so he (Satan) could accuse Adam to God that Adam was in no way different to him – i.e. a sinner and a rebel (Revelation 12:10). Therefore, from that point onwards, Satan became the defacto ruler of this Present Earth.
Jesus Christ recognised this claim of Satan when He referred to Satan as the “…Prince of this World“:
"Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world [i.e. Satan] cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 14:30)
Therefore, to prevent Satan gaining an advantage over God’s people, they are not to be ignorant of his “devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11 ).
Why God has erased our memory of our former lifetime on the Original Earth
Ecclesiastes 1:10-11 states that there is no new thing under the sun and that there is no remembrance today of events that occurred during our former life on the Original Earth.
In this regard, my book presents a claim that because people are to seek after God in this lifetime (Acts 17:27) this is for them to avoid spending eternity is Hell as a ‘rebel’ against God (Romans 6:23). Therefore our lifetime on this Present Earth is for us to prove ourselves to be loving, obedient and faithful towards serving both God and Christ throughout the remainder of our life on Earth (Matthew 25:21; Luke 19:16-17).
What passing the test and failing the test looks like
Passing Satan’s tests in this life does NOT represent the ‘perfection’ Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5:48. God requires persistent faithfulness towards Him while producing the required quantity of spiritual “fruit” unto Him (John 15:1-2; Matthew 13:8)!
The soul that keeps seeking God throughout a lifetime of Satan’s ‘…fiery trials‘ (1 Peter 4:12) can:
- Become an OVERCOMER of Satan’s lies and deceptions (Revelation 3:21);
- Complete the RACE that every Christian MUST RUN (Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 9:24);
- Arrive at FINAL SALVATION (or the end of their race – Philippians 3:14; 2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Failing such fiery trails is not committing sin. It symbolises of one becoming a fruitless branch (John 15:6) or a fruitless tree (Luke 13:6-9). Such fruitless ‘branches’ or ‘trees’ are unacceptable to God in His kingdom (John 15:2, 6; Luke 13:8-9).
Summary
The full framework of how God tests each soul across the three generations of Earth is established across Chapters 1 and 2 of God’s Great Plan for Mankind REVEALED! by Alan Manson.
Others who have read the book have posted their reviews here.
Get the paperback book on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Great-Plan-Mankind-REVEALED/dp/1764206843
Get the eBook on Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1927157
Other articles in this series are:
- In the Pre-Adamic world, did an Original Earth exist before Adam?
- Is ‘Salvation’ Simply Believing in Jesus?
- Biblical Salvation as viewed from the spiritual perspective
- What Does ‘Walking in the Spirit’ Mean?
- How Does God Test Believers?
- Who Is Satan in the Bible Really? <<Coming Soon>>
Invitation
I encourage you to share this article with your pastor and your trusted church members to determine for yourself whether the claims in this article are true or not.
On the contrary, if this article has caused you any concern about your Christian faith, feel free to post a comment or question in the Comments box below.
If you prefer to ask me a private question, feel free to contact me using my website’s Contact form.
Alan Manson
A Disciple of Jesus Christ
Retired engineer
Australia
