This series feeds our appetite for a good courtroom drama. It concludes with one of the most shocking plot twists you will ever encounter! The characters are real, and any representation of their true nature is intentional. The stage has been set. You are on trial. You stand accused. And so do I. Today we unveil the Prosecutor.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And 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, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. – Job 1:6-12 (ESV)

I can assure you that I hate this prosecutor, Satan. He is referred to in Genesis 3:1, from the very beginning of creation, with words such as crafty, subtle, and cunning. His lying ways led to original sin in the garden of Eden, and earned him the reputation that Jesus called him out for:

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. – John 8:44

You and I are in trouble from the start. The prosecutor of our case isn’t interested in discovering the truth. He will use his craftiness, his cunning and outright lies to get us condemned. And the problem with his lies is that often they are not blatant – he subtly twists the truth to make it seem believable.

Now I jumped from the case being made against Job to refer to our own trial, but this is not a big leap. Consider the case that was made against Joshua the high priest, as recorded in Zechariah 3:1, where we are told that as he stood before the angel of the Lord, Satan was standing at his right hand to accuse him. Consider the case of the apostle Simon Peter who walked side by side with Jesus, when Jesus said that Satan had demanded permission to sift him like wheat (Luke 22:31). And finally, consider what the apostle John wrote from his vision of the end times:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “…for the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night…” – Revelation 12:10

So, from Genesis to Revelation, from the beginning of time to the end of time, and at every opportunity in between, our prosecutor is on the job. To make matters worse, he is too thick in the head to understand that he doesn’t have a chance. Earlier, when he got permission to test Job, I can just imagine him skipping away from the throne of heaven, chuckling to himself, thinking he’d won.

And in the case against you and I, maybe he has. Let’s see how this drama unfolds.