I heard a sermon on why the Lord allows evil to exist this Sunday. I was very curious to hear the answer. Unfortunately, I was disappointed; the answer is that no one really knows, and that is pretty much what our pastor said. The Bible teaches that the Lord is omnipotent, meaning that there is nothing beyond His absolute power and authority.
Commentator after commentator on the news are asking the religious leaders of today how a “supposedly” loving God with absolute power and authority could allow innocent people, particularly children, to be slaughtered by evil men when He could prevent it. None can give an answer. It is a mystery. God has not chosen to reveal the answer, either because we do not have the capacity to understand with our limited intellect, or He doesn’t want to reveal it to us for whatever reason(s). The bottom line is that God is the creator and that is the way He set things up.
I don’t have a clue. Initially there was no death. God warned Adam and Eve in no uncertain terms not to disobey His commandment or suffer the consequence of introducing death into the world. Satan committed the first sin and convinced Eve to disobey God. She subsequently convinced Adam to join her, and with their deliberate disobedience of almighty God’s commands, death, evil, and destruction came into our world and have continued to plague us ever since, (just as God predicted that it would happen). God is not the type of parent that warns His children not to do something or they will suffer the consequence, and then does not deliver as promised. God cannot lie. The Bible states that our days will be short and full of trouble and will end in death because of our sin, and that is exactly what has happened and continues to happen right up to today.
The troubling thing to me is that so many people question God’s love for us. One should consider the awesome enormity of the universe and the portion of God’s creation of which we are aware, and we should be reminded of just how tiny we are. We are microdots living on a microdot of a planet in an unending creation of trillions and unending trillions of stars. It is so large and of such a magnitude that we cannot even comprehend it. The awesome God who created it all and holds everything perfectly in its place, loved us so much that He sent His son from His rightful place on a throne by His Father’s side, where He ruled all creation, to this tiny little planet to die for you and me. He did not have to do that and Jesus did not have to willingly and lovingly go. I am a father, and I have a hard time envisioning sending one of my sons to die for someone else, especially considering knowing that their behavior has been despicable. I also have a hard time envisioning my sons wanting to willingly go.
Jesus did not have to humble Himself, or allow us to spit on His holy face, or beat Him unmercifully with whips, or drive nails in His hands and feet, or listen to people jeer and curse Him, or pound a crown of thorns on His head, or let others hang Him on a cross until His bones were pulled out of their sockets, or drive a spear in His side. This almighty Creator and ruler of all creation did not have to take on the unimaginable punishment for all sins of all humanity that had ever been committed or will ever be committed, from a righteous and holy Judge. He was innocent and had never committed even one sin. He loved us so much that at the height of His anguish, He asked God to please forgive us, because we did not know what we were doing. He willingly came to this tiny little planet because He loved you and He loved me. With this act of love on the cross, Jesus defeated death, Satan, sin, and evil forever.
I believe that we are in the final days and can begin to hear Satan’s death rattle. Soon it will all be over and those who have chosen Jesus will rule with Him for eternity with God’s solemn promise that there will be no more death, sadness, tears, and evil for us. Why does He delay. Only He knows for sure. With His omniscience He might know that others will soon come to know Him and perhaps He patiently awaits them, not wanting one solitary soul, who would have otherwise come to Him, to face eternity in Hell apart from Him. Perhaps terrible tragedies like the trade center and pentagon bombings will spur some of these lost souls to turn to God to make their eternal decisions while there is yet time. Perhaps He is waiting for you to make your decision. Perhaps it is something else. We just do not know.
Maybe He will come today. God has given us a general timetable of when He will finally end it, and I believe the Bible clearly teaches that we are rapidly approaching it. This is good in a way because for those of us who have accepted Jesus, very soon death and evil will be defeated and Satan will be taken out of our lives, but it is so terribly bad for those souls who have still steadfastly refused to accept Jesus as their savior. All true Christians want the Lord to come back, but they like Jesus, don’t want anyone to end up apart from God for eternity. God has given His children the promise that ultimately there will be no more death for them. For those who do not choose to become His children, He has promised a second death – that will not be pretty! Based on what we have seen so far, I for one, know that He will deliver, albeit I can never fully understand it.
Rev.22:12, 21:4,7
And behold, I am coming
quickly, and My reward is with me,
to give to everyone according to
his work.
I am the Alpha and Omega,
the Beginning and the End,
the First and the Last.
Have a great weekend and go to church this Sunday!