2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Today, I am led to examine the question: did God create anything that was evil? We will look at this question in the context our continuing discussion of spiritual warfare and with a focus on Satan's origin. We see evil in the world and experience things which bring us personal pain and suffering. When Paul wrote about the conflict of the flesh and the Spirit in RO 7: 14-25, he gave us a picture of what is going on inside every Christian and Messianic Jew. The outward flesh, the natural self, is in conflict with the inner self or spirit. In the process of sanctification, God's way of bringing His people to perfection and a work in progress in all believers, the flesh is dying and the spirit is getting stronger in preparation to dominate. I hope you will review this passage for Paul's words in it and to revel in the victory over evil that those who endure in their faith in Jesus Christ will have. What great hope it brings!
We must apply ourselves to that nagging question of why so much evil exists and why we must suffer the pain we do. We have already seen from our examination that Satan was not created to be evil in IS 14: 9-15 and EZK 28: 11-19. In fact, his name was originally Lucifer, and He was created to be beautiful and wise [EZK 28: 12], loved by God, and God's chief angel in charge of worship in heaven. What changed that and made him as JN 8: 44 describes as the "father of lies?" It was Lucifer's decision on his own to do evil, to think that he could be like God, and to surely die. We all know from REV 12: 9 that God's angels cast him out of heaven with "one-third of the heavenly host"-the heavenly angels who were foolish enough to believe Lucifer's lies. Since God loves all His creations, imagine what pain that brought Him! Lucifer was "honored with the music of harps," and he had lived among sparkling gems [EZK 28: 13]. With his decision to do evil, he is cast down to earth and the deepest part of world of the dead to "lie on a bed of maggots and be covered by a blanket of worms" [IS 14: 11].
To shed more light on this profound question, we must understand that our natural selves, that fleshly nature that we inherited because of Adam and Eve's original sin, leads people to blame God when they are in pain. The ask: "If God loves me, why does He allow such pain?" The very nature of that question reveals the doubt that God does love the person asking it. Satan listens in a loves this. He hates God and us, and takes delight when faith in God or His Son is weak, when trust in the Deity is not strong.
JN 1: 1-3 is the first of a number of citations we should examine for a better understanding of the fact that God loves each of His creations and wants them to come to faith. "Before the world was created, the Word already existed. He was God and He was the same as God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through Him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without Him." The Word is Jesus Christ, God's very own Son. Christ Who is the personification of love Himself would never have created something unlovable and evil.
When Nehemiah led worship in the recently post-exilic Israel, he gave us a picture of God's supremacy in NE 9: 5-6. "The following Levites gave a call to worship, Jehua, Kadmel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shevaniah, and Pethahiah. They said, 'stand up and praise the Lord, your God. Praise Him forever and ever! Let everyone praise His glorious name, although no human praise is great enough!' And the people of Israel prayed this prayer, 'You Lord, You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, the earth, and the sky. You made the land and the sea and everything in them. You gave life to all. The heavenly powers bow down and worship You.'" The people who had just been released from seventy years of Babylonian captivity were beginning to wake up and realize God's righteousness, His power, and that He was their Creator.
It is important for us to examine more citations, but as often happens, I'm running out of room to finish what needs to be said in today's message. So, Dear Ones, let me beg you to be patient and to join me in following God's direction to examine out own lives, in the light of what sin might be in them and the perspective of 1 PET 3: 17-18. "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God's will , than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good Man on behalf of sinners, in order to led you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually..." There is no evil in either God or Christ, so it is reasonable to believe that they would not create anything evil. However, tomorrow's message will continue in seeing what evidence God gives us in the Scriptures for making this assertion. In the meanwhile, we must trust in God that our pain and suffering is not useless or without meaning.
PRAYER: O Lord, the Psalmist in PS 145: 1-9 gives us words to express the praise we want to give You from our hearts. "I will proclaim Your greatness, my God and King. I will thank You forever and ever. Every day I will thank You; I will praise You forever and ever. The Lord is great and is to be highly praised; His greatness is beyond understanding. What You have done will be praised from one generation to the next; they will proclaim Your mighty acts. They will speak of Your glory and majesty, and I will meditate on Your wonderful deeds. People will speak of Your mighty deeds and I will proclaim Your greatness. They will tell about all Your goodness and sing about Your kindness. The Lord is loving and merciful, slow to become angry and full of constant love. He is good to everyone and has compassion on all He made." You, O Lord, allow us to see a picture of Your attributes in Your word. When we see this, we get to know You better and to know Your will for us. For the believers who love You as we do, You are a persistent, righteous, kindly, presence and authority in our lives. We never face the suffering our faith sometimes brings us without Your loving encouragement and wise guidance. When illness befalls us or we find ourselves amidst spiritual warfare with the adversary, You are there to equip us and lead us to victory in Christ's name. While we can't have Your full perspective on this difficulty, we can reach toward it by remaining grounded in daily study of Your word and active prayer with You. Thank Your for giving Your Son on the cross for us, salvation, and the hope of the resurrection. We confess our sins, and humbly offer You our worship, adoration, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and eternal thanks. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.
As promised, we will continue discussing the question posed above by looking at what God reveals to us in the Scriptures. Our need to understand this is important "combat intelligence" in waging successful spiritual warfare against the devil and his followers. Our awesome God is the Source of everything really beautiful, kindly, good, and life-giving in our lives. His love is all around us. Think of the a circle of loving angels around you today, and know that it was He who sent them. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn