The Israelites had answered their questions by saying to them, ‘This is the history of how we came to be back in Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple. We have come back from Babylon.
There is a lesson for us in that. When you witness and you start being opposed, why do people oppose you? Because they don't believe you. ‘These people talk about turning to God, being converted and finding him, knowing him and walking with him. It’s just in their imagination. It is rubbish, and its dangerous and offensive rubbish.’ The evolutionists hear us, and they hear some of the scientists among us putting up a powerful case. ‘Rubbish!’, they say. They just don’t believe it; they don't even consider it. ‘They believe that book, the Bible. What does that have to tell us about science? How could anyone who wrote so long ago know all the things we have discovered with our great learning?’ Neither does Satan believe you are converted. Why does he tempt you to doubt? Why does he tempt you to sin? Why does he tempt you with worldly things? Because he doesn't believe that any Christian is really converted. How do we know that? Well, we have it in the Book of Job. We are told there the whole theology of this. Satan said to God, ‘That man Job doesn't trust you for nothing. He only trusts you for what he thinks he gets from you. Let me take away his health and his family and his riches; you will find the truth. There's no such thing as conversion. He doesn't really know you, and he doesn't trust you, and he will curse you.’ So God said, ‘Do it. Take away his material blessings’, and Job said some quite bad things, but he never doubted his God, and he called upon him all the way through the trial. But Satan still doesn't believe that any Christian truly loves the Lord, and that’s the basis of many of his temptations and of his optimism that he can bring us down. We see it reflected here in this letter. We are learning about the methods of the enemy in these opening chapters. and it helps us to understand our situation and the spiritual warfare.