Testing

Introduction

This is the third of five papers I am writing as a direct result of my recent heart attack and consequent bypass operation (the previous two are to be found at Physicians and The Heart). Why am I writing this paper? Well, around the same time that I suffered my heart attack my brother in Christ, Frank, also suffered a heart problem which led our Church President, Gordon, to believe that the LWs were under a Satanic attack/test. This particularly since all our active members have had their problems of health or other issues. Hence this paper is to see what the Good Book has to say on the subject of the testing of man.

My Trial

So what was, or rather still is, my trial and testing? Well, it was not the heart attack itself. This was almost a non-event in that the chest pain level did not exceed 5 on a scale of 1-10 from its first occurrence right through to my time in A&E prior to admission into the hospital as an in-patient. During that time I did not even have to consider taking any painkillers. It was not my time in hospital both pre- and post-op. In fact, that time was a major learning experience for me in all sorts of ways, hence my prospective series of five papers coming out of it. It was not my time in the operating theatre since I was, thankfully, out cold for the whole 7 hours and then some. Possibly there was a time of reckoning while I was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the immediate recovery following the operation when I was being tested. During that time, I wished I had not survived the operation since I was in considerable discomfort. In mitigation, however, I was still under the influence of the general anaesthetic so not really thinking straight.

No, my time of testing came once I was discharged from hospital and then was faced with severe disability which needed constant management and caused me to live the life of an invalid for a good month or so. Even more did I become in tune with my paper on The Disabled. This was not abnormal for the extent of procedure which I had undergone, but I was also left with the expectation of a further 2-3 months of recovery during which time my life was still to be rather less than a normal human existence and which is looking to be somewhat exceeding the three months promised. I am still currently in that stage as I write this paper with the expectation that some of the after-effects will still be with me for some considerable time to come. Not a prospect that I relish at all. On top of that, I have now contracted a heavy cold, care of my dear lady wife, which I rarely suffer with (the cold not my wife!!). I guess my immune system has been put under extreme pressure with all the trauma that my body has suffered during the operation and throughout the healing process, which is still proceeding albeit very slowly.

So, this is feeling like a war of attrition on my body and my spirit, particularly given my old age (check out my paper on Old Age in The Scriptures), which they are both struggling to deal with. My body will have to cope as best it can although it has been getting the very best of attention throughout this whole period. As for my spirit, well I am writing this bible research paper (and another four papers in this series) so I hope the unseen part of me is in reasonable shape. However, I have certainly had my moments asking God why all this has been necessary. I can only hope this is my final test of faith prior to my being sealed for salvation. If nothing else I have certainly become very conscious of the vulnerability of the human body, which will likely be the subject of the next paper in this series of five.

Fundamentals

I think one of the most relevant major stories in scripture is that of the testing of Job by Satan albeit with God’s permission being sought and given. So, the number one important point to consider is that although the testing may have been executed by Satan, was it not really God who was testing Job since he gave His permission? In fact, reading the relevant scripture again, it looks like God has actually invited Satan to test Job:

3 And Jehovah said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil: and he still holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4 And Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
5 But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face.
6 And Jehovah said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand; only spare his life.
7 So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. (Job 2 ASV)

In his response to Eliphaz the Temanite, Job questions God’s actions in terms of His interest in mankind that He should test man every day. This is interesting since it suggests that we are all being tested daily, probably through our actions even when we do not even realise we are under test:

17 What [is] man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
18 And [that] thou shouldest visit him every morning, [and] try him every moment? (Job 7 KJV)

My much earlier paper ‘The Trials of Job’ is making this webpage look a bit like Groundhog Day in that it was also written during a previous, albeit not so serious, illness. That paper also looked at my circumstances then as a test. There is much in that paper that relates to my current situation so I strongly suggest that you, my esteemed reader, go back and read that paper before continuing with this one. Perhaps I should have named the current paper ‘The Trials of Job – Part 2’.

Also, if we go back to the very beginning and look at the fall of Adam, this was not only a test on Adam from Satan, but really a test on Satan by God. Jehovah would have known the impact on Lucifer of His creation of an earthling brother to him. Check out the True Bible Code website at Introduction 10 - Why do we die?. Whilst a small section at the bottom of that webpage, it is of fundamental importance to understand that all testing of us is from Jehovah to find out our fitness of spirit for the Kingdom to come. Satan and his demonic horde are God’s means to carry out that testing. This brings us inevitably to the unedifying conclusion that God effectively created evil through His son, Lucifer:

7 I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things. (Isaiah 45 ASV)

However, one cannot have good without evil since it would have no meaning. We all, mankind and the angels alike, need to understand that and act accordingly to maintain moral sustainability in the Kingdom to come.

Test or Temptation?

Well, thank you James for coming to my rescue as soon as I started to look at the relevant scriptures. My first observation, however, is in regards to the Greek word ‘πειρασμοις’ which can confusingly take the meaning of ‘trial’ or ‘temptation’, hence my provision of the Green’s and Young’s Literal Translations below. Whilst these verses can be relevant for either meaning, mine was clearly of the trial variety. It seems we should be joyful when we are on trial, knowing our God is giving us the final test prior to our salvation. It also seems that one’s endurance also weighs into the test result. Well, I am certainly being tested heavily in that regard:

2 My brothers count [it] all joy when you fall into various trials, (GLT)
2 All joy count {it}, my brethren, when ye may fall into temptations manifold; (YLT)
2πασαν χαραν ηγησασθε αδελφοι μου οταν πειρασμοις περιπεσητε ποικιλοις (WHO)
3 knowing that the proving of your faith works patience. (GLT)
3 knowing that the proof of your faith doth work endurance, (YLT)
3 γινωσκοντες οτι το δοκιμιον υμων της πιστεως κατεργαζεται υπομονην (WHO)
4 But let patience have its perfective work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1 GLT)
4 and let the endurance have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire -- in nothing lacking; (James 1 YLT)
4η δε υπομονη εργον τελειον εχετω ινα ητε τελειοι και ολοκληροι εν μηδενι λειπομενοι (James 1 WHO)

James has the same translational issue down in verse 12 which caused me, unusually, to use the New World Translation. This is the only translation coming up with the meaning of ‘trial’ rather than ‘temptation’. This message is the jewel in the crown to demonstrate that the enduring of God’s test is His final blessing on us in this system of things:

12 Happy is the man that keeps on enduring trial, because on becoming approved he will receive the crown of life, which Jehovah promised to those who continue loving him. (James 1 NWT)
12μακαριος ανηρ ος υπομενει πειρασμον οτι δοκιμος γενομενος λημψεται τον στεφανον της ζωης ον επηγγειλατο τοις αγαπωσιν αυτον (James 1 WHO)

Going right back to Abraham, we have the same translational issue in the Old Testament Hebrew that we just saw in the New Testament Greek. The Hebrew word ‘נִסָּה’ can also take either the meaning of 'temptation' or 'test'. Well, I for one do not believe in coincidences, especially in the Scriptures, so there must be a strong connection between the two possible meanings in the two Testaments. The following verse is the lead up to God’s asking of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Whilst this clearly looks like a test on Abraham, could it be construed as a temptation in that Abraham could have been tempted to refuse God’s apparently harsh test on him. I suppose that although my case was not so graphic, perhaps the temptation, presumably via Satan, was to blame God for my problems or to assume there was no God that would allow this to happen to me. Either way this is clear evidence again that it is God who is effectively carrying out the test:

1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, [here] I [am]. (Genesis 22 KJV)
1 And it happened after these things, testing Abraham, God said to him, Abraham! And he said, Behold me. (Genesis 22 GLT)
1וַיְהִי, אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, וְהָאֱלֹהִים, נִסָּה אֶת-אַבְרָהָם; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי. (Genesis 22 WLC)

God’s testing of Abraham is confirmed by Paul in his letter to the Hebrew congregation:

17 By faith, being tested, Abraham offered up Isaac; and he receiving the promises was offering up the only begotten, (Hebrews 11 GLT)

Going back to The Disabled paper, I have to ask ‘What am I worried about?’ when I see severely disabled folk and the disenfranchised and losers of this world. I trust they will all be blessed appropriately in the Kingdom to come. In all this I am minded to recall that well known verse from Paul’s first letter to the congregation at Corinth, telling them that God will not test the faithful beyond their means to resist such test. Again, we have the translational question between ‘trial’ and ‘temptation’ for which I provide two comparative translations. But even the Kingdom Interlinear Translation translates the Greek ‘πειρασμος’ as ‘temptation’ twice and ‘test’ once in the single verse for which a case may be made:

13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10 ASV)
13 Temptation you not has taken if not pertaining to man; faithful but the God, who not he will permit you to be tested over which you are able, but he will make together with the temptation also the stepping out of the to be able to bear under. (1 Corinthians 10 KIT)
13πειρασμος υμας ουκ ειληφεν ει μη ανθρωπινος πιστος δε ο θεος ος ουκ εασει υμας πειρασθηναι υπερ ο δυνασθε αλλα ποιησει συν τω πειρασμω και την εκβασιν του δυνασθαι υπενεγκειν (1 Corinthians 10 WHO)

Tested By Jehovah

Furthering this discussion, we have the message from Jehovah to Moses telling him that He would test the Children of Israel so that they would walk in His ways whilst in the wilderness:

4 Then Jehovah said to Moses: Here I am raining down bread for you from the heavens; and the people must go out and pick up each his amount day for day, in order that I may put them to the test as to whether they will walk in my law or not. (Exodus 16 NWT)

This is then followed by a message from Moses to the Children of Israel, telling them that God had come to test them:

20 And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid, for God has come in order to test you, and so that His fear may be on your faces, that you may not sin. (Exodus 20 GLT)

And then a clear statement from Jehovah Himself that He will be carrying out the testing of mankind Himself:

2 And you must remember all the way that Jehovah your God made you walk these 40 years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, to put you to the test so as to know what was in your heart, as to whether you would keep his commandments or not. (Deuteronomy 8 NWT)

16 who fed you with manna in the wilderness, which your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and in order to put you to the test so as to do you good in your afterdays; (Deuteronomy 8 NWT)

In the Book of Psalms, David requests that Jehovah Himself tests his faithfulness:

2 Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me; Try my heart and my mind. (Psalms 26 ASV)

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139 KJV)

David is confident that he will pass any test of his righteousness from God:

3 Thou hast tried my heart, Thou hast visited it in the night; Thou hast tested me, and Thou findest not that I had a thought which should not pass my mouth. (Psalms 17 JPS)

Prior to that David tells us that Jehovah tests the righteous, hence his above request:

5 Jehovah trieth the righteous; But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. (Psalms 11 ASV)

17 And I well know, Oh my God, that you are an examiner of the heart, and that it is in rectitude that you take pleasure. I, for my part, in the uprightness of my heart have voluntarily offered all these things, and now your people who are on hand here I have enjoyed seeing make offerings voluntarily to you. (1 Chronicles 29 NWT)

9 Please, may the badness of wicked ones come to an end, And may you establish the righteous one; And God as righteous is testing out heart and kidneys. (Psalms 7 NWT)

And more of the same from Jeremiah:

20 But Jehovah of armies is judging with righteousness; he is examining the kidneys and the heart. Oh may I see your vengeance on them, for it is to you that I have revealed my case at law. (Jeremiah 11 NWT)

10 I, Jehovah, am searching the heart, examining the kidneys, even to give to each one according to his ways, according to the fruitage of his dealings. (Jeremiah 17 NWT)

Jeremiah compares himself, after testing from Jehovah, against the wicked ones and, in a somewhat unchristian manner, requests their demise from Jehovah (check out my Punishment and Vengeance paper):

3 And you yourself, Oh Jehovah, know me well; you see me, and you have examined my heart in union with yourself. Single them out like sheep for the slaughtering, and set them apart for the day of killing. (Jeremiah 12 NWT)

12 But you, Oh Jehovah of armies, are examining the righteous one; you are seeing the kidneys and the heart. May I see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have revealed my case at law. (Jeremiah 20 NWT)

Peter’s second epistle tells us that God will rescue righteous mankind from his trials in this life:

9 Jehovah knows how to deliver people of godly devotion out of trial, but to reserve unrighteous people for the day of judgment to be cut off, (2 Peter 2 NWT)

Just to prove the point that it is God Himself that is doing the testing of us, I pick a verse already covered in my previous 'The Heart' paper confirming the point. Here the Hebrew word ‘וּבֹחֵן’ is correctly translated as ‘trieth’ which we can clearly take to mean ‘test’:

3 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; But Jehovah trieth the hearts. (Proverbs 17 ASV)
3מַצְרֵף לַכֶּסֶף, וְכוּר לַזָּהָב; וּבֹחֵן לִבּוֹת יְהוָה. (Proverbs 17 WLC)

Then we have another example of God testing a particular man. This time it is King Hezekiah. Despite, or possibly because of Hezekiah’s good works, Jehovah stops giving direct help to him to test his faith when not being given that help. He clearly passed that test:

31 Even so with the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, those sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had been in the land, God left him to test him, to know all his heart.
32 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his godly deeds, behold, they [are] written in the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. (2 Chronicles 32 GLT)

Then we have a clear case of Satan carrying out his testing against all faithful brethren across the globe. Again, presumably this can only be with the overall permission of Jehovah to do so:

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [you]. (1 Peter 5 KJV)

But it is not only God/Satan that can put us to the test. Jesus put Philip to the test, although not the salvation test which this paper is really about. Again, however, this would only have been carried out under God's aegis since Jesus could only do what He saw His Father doing:

19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5 KJV)

Philip, along with the rest of the disciples and the following crowd had seen Jesus’ healing miracles but they still did not understand the full scope of Jesus’ powers. His prospective ability to conjure up enough loaves for the masses had not been considered by them:

5 When Jesus then lifted up [his] eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. (John 6 KJV)

To confirm this we have more evidence from the hand of Paul this time, in his first epistle to the congregation at Thessalonica, that it is God who carries out the testing of mankind:

4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2 KJV)

A Reprise on Abraham's Test

An interesting but somewhat startling realisation has just occurred to me in considering that last verse in the previous section. According to that, we are to please God not man. The two cannot become one in this system of things it would seem. We must learn to think like God if we are to truly become His sons and daughters. Mankind generally seems to either hate or ignore God or use his name in vain. As a member of the Fourth True Christian Church, I must say I feel that I have little in common with the bulk of mankind. From a child I have always felt like an alien on this planet. Now I think I know why. My views on life are poles apart from most of the people that I come across, either personally or through the media. Now I think I know why and, selfishly, I am rather glad that this seems to be the case.

Let us go back to the testing by God of Abraham, which we looked at earlier, and consider it in rather more detail. God made an apparently massive request of Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. This he appeared to comply with without question:

1 And it happened after these things, testing Abraham, God said to him, Abraham! And he said, Behold me.
2 And He said, Now take your son, Isaac, your only one whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. And there offer him for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will say to you.

3 And Abraham started up early in the morning and saddled his ass, and [he] took two [of] his youths with him, and his son Isaac. And he split wood for a burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place which God had said to him. (Genesis 22 GLT)

Isaac queried his father as to where the sacrificial lamb was, to which Abraham replied that God would provide it. Nonetheless, Abraham went all the way up to the point of killing his son. I hasten to add that Isaac did not appear to object to this treatment at the hand of his father:

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here [am] I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. (Genesis 22 KJV)

At the very last moment, God fulfilled Abraham's stated expectations by providing him with a ram to sacrifice in the stead of his son:

11 And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am.
12 And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind [him] a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. (Genesis 22 ASV)

So, what can we take from this account, other than the fact that Abraham passed Jehovah's test of his faith with flying colours? Everyone without faith would consider this to be an exceedingly inhumane act on the part of Abraham. Why? Because they cannot see the big picture since they are so focussed on this physical world. Even if God had not produced the said ram and Abraham had indeed sacrificed Isaac, Abraham (probably Isaac too) knew that God could/would resurrect him.

I think that is why I feel like an alien in the land as I am sure that Abraham did too. When you start to understand God's grand plan for us all, then you start to value this mortal life far less in anticipation of the life to come. As a result one then naturally starts to think in ways that are completely alien and arguably inhuman to this world. I believe you cannot become a true son of God until you start to think like Him. He would not want to share His enormous powers with someone that did not think as He thinks. That is what this life is really all about. God is testing us all in various ways to determine if we are ready for the next step in becoming divine beings ourselves. Check out the details on the True Bible Code website at Introduction 27 - Our destiny is to become Gods like Jehovah and Jesus for this massive LW understanding. We will all eventually get there, it will just take some folk more time than others to adjust to God's way of thinking. This world is very good, care of Satan and his friends, at providing us with distractions in trying to prevent our seeing the big picture.

Needless to say, this was not a section that I had planned to write in my original draft of this paper. I suspect that this is the main purpose for which I was driven to write it in the first place. So, it looks like I needed to have a heart attack as a pre-requisite! See what I mean about God's way of thinking!?

Comparison With The Refining of Precious Metals

A comparison of our testing with the refining of silver is in the Book of Psalms. Interestingly, we have a direct quotation that God will afflict the very essence of our physical being in that testing. Well, I can certainly identify with that description:

10 For You, O God, have proved us; You have tested us as silver is refined.
11 You have brought us into the net; You laid afflictions on our loins. (Psalms 66 GLT)

Job was very confident that he would pass his test from God in response to Eliphaz. He compared himself to the purity of gold. I wish I could be so confident in the result of my own current testing:

10 But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23 KJV)

Isaiah speaks of God’s having chosen the children of Israel as His people, despite their misdemeanours. Nonetheless, He refined them through their affliction which, I guess, sounds like the test of a whole people albeit for the sake of their Patriarchs:

10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48 KJV)

And we have a similar story from Jeremiah:

7 For this reason, so says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, I will refine them and test them. For what [else] can I do because of the daughter of My people? (Jeremiah 9 GLT)

More comparisons of one’s faith being tested with the refining of precious metals:

6 in which you exult; yet a little [while], if need be, grieving in manifold trials,
7 so that the proving of your faith, much more precious than perishing gold, but having been proved through fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
8 whom having not seen, you love; in whom not yet seeing, but believing, you exult with joy unspeakable and being glorified,
9 obtaining the end of your faith, the salvation of [your] souls. (1 Peter 1 GLT)

9 And I shall certainly bring the 3rd [part] through the fire; and I shall actually refine them as in the refining of silver, and examine them as in the examining of gold. It, for its part, will call upon my name, and I, for my part, will answer it. I will say, 'It is my people,' and it, in its turn, will say, 'Jehovah is my God.' (Zechariah 13 NWT)

Our Testing Should Be Expected and Welcomed

It looks like I am being admonished in Peter’s first letter for being somewhat surprised at my testing so late in the day. Seems that I should have expected my current trials. Again, more reason to not feel so bad about my current circumstances:

12 Beloved, do not be astonished at the fiery trial happening among you for your testing, as [if] a surprise [were] occurring to you; (1 Peter 4 GLT)

Paul tells the congregation in Rome that a Christian’s afflictions are to be welcomed and endured. This will lead to approval from God with the resulting hope for salvation. We must all remember to keep that in mind during our trying times. I have used the Emphatic Diaglot translation here. As an interlinear translation it may not read too smoothly, but I found it used the most appropriate meanings of the key words more effectively than the other translations that I reviewed:

3 Not alone and, but also we boast in the afflictions, knowing that the affliction endurance works out,
4 the and endurance approbation, the and approbation hope, (Romans 5 ED)

Paul complains to the congregation at Corinth about a ‘thorn in the flesh’ care of Satan. The nature of this thorn we do not know. I guess my heart attack, bypass operation and recovery represent my thorn. According to Paul, I should be thankful that although that has rendered me physically weak, it has hopefully strengthened my spirit:

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12 KJV)

Paul tells the congregation at Corinth about the trials that the churches in Macedonia suffered but from which they came through with great joy and generosity in their poverty, a great Christian virtue:

2 that during a great test under affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty made the riches of their generosity abound. (2 Corinthians 8 NWT)

And the overcoming of those afflictions is a necessary qualification for entry into the Kingdom of God according to Luke:

22 confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14 GLT)

And in similar vein, the sufferings of the current system of things will pale into insignificance compared with the life to come as joint heirs with Christ in the Kingdom of God:

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8 KJV)

When I was discharged from hospital, despite my infirmity at the time and now, I finished off a piece of Bible research that I had begun prior to my stay as an inpatient (Money) and then commenced the series of five post-op papers, this being the third. I guess I could easily have challenged God for letting me suffer from my heart disease, but I determined this was a test on my character and faith in the Lord. I can only hope that this current Bible research, plus all my previous and prospective offerings on this website, will be treated as my work that will abide. Amen:

13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. (1 Corinthians 3 KJV)

Form Of Our Testing

Suffering and testing can take several different forms. Hopefully I will not face the prospect of jail time! Here is a case where Satan is explicitly at work. Again our overcoming of our testing comes with the promise of God’s Kingdom and avoidance of the second death:

9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and [I know] the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but [are] the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast [some] of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (Revelation 2 KJV)

Similarly, one can face persecution as our test. Again, not something that I can say that I have suffered thus far as did Paul according to his second letter to Timothy:

10 And thou -- thou hast followed after my teaching, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, endurance,
11 the persecutions, the afflictions, that befell me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of all the Lord did deliver me, (2 Timothy 3 YLT)

Again, Paul praises the Thessalonians for their enduring of various afflictions and persecutions. As well as being rewarded ultimately for their faithful perseverance, it is noteworthy that evil-doers who persecute the faithful ones will get the appropriate recompense for their troubles. In my case would that be Satan or one of his fellow demons I wonder?

4 so as for us to boast ourselves in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions, and the afflictions which you endure,
5 a clear token of the just judgment of God, for you to be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you indeed suffer;
6 since [it is] a just thing with God to pay back tribulation to the ones troubling you,
7 and to [give] you, those being afflicted, relief with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from Heaven with angels of His power, (2 Thessalonians 1 GLT)

Notwithstanding the testing we receive from God or Satan, we are also capable of self-testing. Do we consider ourselves worthy of salvation? I have certainly been doing much of that myself over the last few months:

5 Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Or do you not yourselves perceive that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are worthless [ones]? (2 Corinthians 13 GLT)

While not quite in the vein of testing, the disciplining of God’s sons could be read in a similar context. For sure I am no perfect human being. If this is partly God’s way of disciplining me to become worthy as one of His sons then I guess I should embrace my current trials with joy rather than my current somewhat mixed emotions:

5 and ye have forgotten the exhortation that doth speak fully with you as with sons, 'My son, be not despising chastening of the Lord, nor be faint, being reproved by Him,
6 for whom the Lord doth love He doth chasten, and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;'
7 if chastening ye endure, as to sons God beareth Himself to you, for who is a son whom a father doth not chasten? (Hebrews 12 YLT)

If I be under test right now, I pray that my faith will put in me in the place of the faithful ones of Jesus Christ who will not be put to the final test of this world. Hopefully they will be raptured out of this world in the understanding of the Lords’ Witnesses' detailed timeline (Understanding 154 - Genesis 19: Armageddon, and the greater destruction of Sodom by volcanic fire, the greater flood of Noah):

10 Because you kept the word about my endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of test, which is to come upon the whole inhabited earth, to put a test upon those dwelling on the earth. (Revelation 3 NWT)

Testing of Jesus and Jehovah

We do not only have the testing of Adamic man but also that of Jesus. Here we have the well-known Gospel accounts of Jesus’ being tested by Satan in the wilderness for forty days. Here I think we can clearly see the see the connection between testing and temptation as previously described. Satan offered Jesus the whole world if He would worship him instead of Jehovah. Needless to say, Jesus politely refused. Clearly Jesus passed the test. It is not made clear in the scriptures if Jehovah requested Satan to test His prospective son, but I see no reason to consider that Jesus represented a special case in this particular regard. Indeed He did not since He was led by e Holy Spirit into the wilderness.

We also, in this account, have the recollection that mankind will not put God to the test. Further down, I reproduce the Old Testament scripture to which this refers:

2 forty days, being tried by the Devil. And He ate nothing in those days, and they being ended, He afterwards hungered. (Luke 4 GLT)

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered.
3 And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4 KJV)

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. (Luke 4 ASV)

5 Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4 ASV)

So, Christ Himself underwent His own testing from Satan to enable Him to support His faithful followers. He had already been through His own ordeal and therefore knew what His brethren would have to go through. Jesus most certainly did not portray a 'holier than thou' attitude:

18 For in that he himself has suffered when being put to the test, he is able to come to the aid of those who are being put to the test. (Hebrews 2 NWT)

15 For we have as high priest, not one who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all respects like ourselves, but without sin. (Hebrews 4 NWT)

Following this, we have an interesting few verses from the Gospel of Luke. Firstly, Jesus acknowledges that He has been under test and that His disciples have stuck with Him through His trials. As a result of their faithfulness, they are given the promise of a senior role in God’s Kingdom. Then we have Jesus telling Simon that Satan has been asking if he could test him as, indeed, he asked the same of Jehovah regarding Job. Clearly Satan had identified Simon as a particularly righteous disciple worthy of his testing.

Again, I have used the Emphatic Diaglot translation here. As an interlinear translation it may not read too smoothly, but I found it used the most appropriate meanings of the key words more effectively than the other translations that I reviewed:

28 You but are those having continued with me in the trials of me.
29 And I covenant for you, even as has covenanted for me the Father of me a kingdom,
30 that you may eat and you may drink at the table of me in the kingdom of me; and you may sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of the Israel.
31 Said and the Lord: Simon, Simon, lo, the adversary has asked for you, the to sift as the wheat. (Luke 22 ED)

As touched on earlier, it is not for mankind to test Jehovah:

16 You shall not test Jehovah your God as you tested [Him] in Massah. (Deuteronomy 6 GLT)

Despite the above command, here is an interesting example where the children of Israel are being invited by God Himself to test Him against the promises he made them:

10 Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, whether I will not open the windows of the heavens for you and pour out a blessing until there is no sufficiency [of room to store it]. (Malachi 3 GLT)

We are also invited to put to the test any other spirits to ensure they are from God, and therefore to be believed. If not they would represent false prophets and are not to be followed:

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world. (1 John 4 GLT)

21 Test all things, hold fast the good. (1 Thessalonians 5 GLT)

Synopsis

My own time of testing came once I was discharged from hospital upon which I was faced with a severe set of disabilities for which I needed constant care. I found out what it was like to live the life of an invalid.
Whilst it may be Satan and his cronies that directly attack and test God's faithful ones, it is with the desire of God who wishes to test the enduring faith of His chosen ones.
In that regard, God created evil to test all generations of mankind from Adam down to us.
Testing is intimately linked with temptation in both the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek texts.
There are several cases in scripture where God states directly that He will test His chosen ones and also the unrighteous.
The ultimate test from God on a man was when Abraham was requested to sacrifice his son Isaac. This he was willing to do since he was a man that thought like God and consequently understood the bigger picture which is outside the scope of unrighteous men's thinking.
God's testing of His righteous ones is compared in scripture to the refining of precious metals in making them pure.
Faithful ones should expect and welcome their testing by God since this will be their precursor for entry into the Kingdom of God.
Testing can take several forms from the physical affliction, such as I am suffering, to that of persecution by unbelievers.
To set us an example, Jesus also underwent His own temptation and testing at the hand of Satan. From His own experience, our Saviour well knows what His faithful followers will have to endure.
It is not for mankind to test Jehovah, although there is one example in scripture where God does indeed ask the children of Israel to test Him in His promises to them.

Date of Publication: 22nd October 2024

God Tests Abraham's Faith

Image Courtesy of biblical-christianity.com

Testing

Jewish Lords' Witness