The Nature of Evil and Suffering (Part 3)

Creation is Cursed... But Not For Long!

When Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible tells us that not only that we as a human race were cursed, but creation was cursed as well. When God created everything, he brought order out of chaos, order out of disorder. Before the fall, everything was in harmony; I can say this because of what God promises when He creates a new earth (see Isaiah 65:17ff.) The Bible says that not only will we be in harmony with God, but all of creation will be at peace with itself; why else would God promise that a day is coming when the Child will play with the viper and the wolf and the lamb shall graze together?

When Adam and Eve rebelled, Adam rebelled as one commissioned to care for earth. Because of the curse the peace of creation has been disturbed, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, droughts, famines, and tsunamis are not natural; they are all products of a cursed earth. But guess what? God is not going to leave things the way that they are, for in Genesis 3:15-16 He promised a deliver who would crush the head of Satan, while Satan would wound that promised deliver. That promised deliverer is Jesus Christ; the wound that was delivered unto Him occurred on a hill called Golgotha upon a wooden cross.

It is through Jesus that God promises to make all things new, and He has begun to make all things new by rescuing sinners like you and me from an impending judgment in Hell. How did Jesus do that you may ask? He did it, the Bible says, by “redeeming us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13). One day those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus, that is those who have become His followers will be freed from the curse of sin. When this happens, the Bible promises that all of creation will soon follow (Romans 8:18-25).

So why do bad things happen? We live in a sin cursed world as creatures who are cursed with a nature to sin. Is God somewhere off in the distance removed from His creation? Absolutely not! He “sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever” (Ps. 29:10). He is the King and Creator of all that exists. The mystery is that He is using a sin cursed creation to accomplish His purposes. I must trust that in His goodness, He always will do right because He is not only perfectly good, loving, gracious, and merciful, but perfectly just and perfectly holy.

Perhaps Christopher Wright is able to say it better than I can in drawing this subject to a close:

...for the moment, I grieve and lament, I weep and I feel intense anger, and I do not hesitate to tell God about it and to file my questions before his throne.... However, I express all this protest within the framework of a faith that has hope and a future built into it. For the present state of creation is not its final state, according to the Bible. And in the resurrection of Christ we have the first fruits of a new creation in which the old things will have passed away. I cannot claim to understand this great biblical hope terribly well either, but I draw enourmous comfort from the earthiness of the Bible's visionof the ultimate destiny of creation.... So my cry against the disasters of the present is not just a candle in the dark or spitting into the wind. It is much more akin to the agonized longing of the Psalmists: "How long, O LORD, how long?" They were certain that God would do something, but they were consumed with longing that he should do it, sooner than later. [1]

[1] Christopher Wright. The God I Don't Understand (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan; 2008), pp. 54-5.

To listen to the sermon "The Origin of Evil and Suffering" right click on the following link and select "save target as": http://bootes.websrvcs.com/clientimages/29768/sermons/audiosermons/theoriginofevilandsufferinggenesis3job24.wma

We are a Sinful and Cursed Race

The hatred of Satan for humanity is most clearly seen in Genesis 3. God created all things and ended his creation work with two human beings made in His image. Everything in the garden was given to Adam and Even for their managing, but from the fruit of one tree they were prohibited from eating. When we come to Genesis 3, we find Eve with Adam before the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil talking to a serpent. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” the serpent asked. The very first thing he got Adam and Eve to do was doubt the goodness of God by getting them to focus on the one thing God kept from them as opposed to the rest of the garden he gave for their enjoyment.

After a brief conversation about what God did and did not say: Satan deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit while her husband watched. After she ate, Adam ate what his wife gave to him. Donald Grey Barnhouse had a way of putting the Bible into perspective; in one of his sermons on what happened in the Garden of Eden, he said:

Adam’s choice was an act of rebellion, the equivalent of a declaration of independence…. Adam, in effect, said, “I am tired of having everything north, south, east, and west of this tree. I will be independent. I will run my own affairs.” It was not a request that God share the throne of government with man; it was an ultimatum to Him to abdicate and leave full control to man. (Donald Grey Barnhouse, “God’s River,” Romans vol. 2; p. 17)

Now you may say, “How can you know for certain Adam actually thought these things?” I would say to you that he knew full well what God had commanded him concerning the tree; and not only did he stay silent while she was being tempted, but took some of the fruit and ate also… after Satan commented that if they ate of the fruit they too could be like God. Doesn’t that sound a bit similar to what we read in Isaiah 14 earlier? It is almost as if Adam said in his heart: “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

In Romans 5 we learn that it was through Adam’s sin that we inherited our sin nature. Every single one of us was born into the world with sin, with a natural disposition to rebel with the same type of rebellion Adam was guilty of. Somehow the curse of sin was spread from Adam’s sperm cell to Eve’s fertile egg transmitting sin from one generation to the next. I guess you can say sin is a sexually transmitted disease that affects the entire human race. We run from God like vampires run from the sun light. This is our nature and that is why the Bible states very plainly: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:10).

Satan is not the cause of most of the world’s evil and suffering, his demons are not the cause for most of the evil and suffering in the world… we are the cause of most of the evil and suffering in the world. Sure, we may not cause the Tsunami nor are we able to prevent the Tsunami, but how much more evil and suffering come by way of our sinful pride, arrogance, selfishness, lust, and greed. It is mostly human wickedness that results in the amplification of preventable diseases, world hunger, poverty, trafficking of children and women as slaves, and so much more. Think of all the wars and genocides governments invited into the world that resulted in the murder of not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of people.

All Satan and his demons need to do is entice us to carry out the desires of our heart. Think about it, how do marriages break up? Why do children run away? What causes a nation to go to war with another? What motivates a corporate executive or CEO to pocket what belongs to another? Why does one take a life? I am convinced that Satan has to do very little when it comes to evil and suffering in the world.

The older I get and the longer I follow Jesus, the more I realized that I am my worst enemy when it comes to evil and suffering. I am lazy when it comes to taking care of my body, so I have had certain health problems – it’s my fault! I know if I do not guard what I look at and think about, my heart could be tempted to betray my wife, son, and the church I pastor because I have to battle the lust of my own flesh. I have a temper problem at times; when left unchecked I have said or done things that I regret. There is a war that wages in my own soul and mind that wages in you that can bring all kinds of sorrow and pain. Is this not why Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away…. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” (Matt. 5:29-30).

This still doesn’t completely answer the question regarding evil and suffering in the world. Sure our own wickedness is to blame for many of our planet’s woes, but what about natural disasters? What about the 2004 Tsunami? What about the Earthquake that hit China that killed nearly 70,000 people or Cyclone Nargis that snuffed out an estimated 146,000 lives in Myanmar? This leads me to a third and final reason for the evil and suffering of our world that I will attempt to give in the next post.

To listen to the sermon "The Origin of Evil and Suffering" right click on the following link and select "save target as": http://bootes.websrvcs.com/clientimages/29768/sermons/audiosermons/theoriginofevilandsufferinggenesis3job24.wma

The Nature of Evil and Suffering

On December 26, 2004 an earthquake measuring around 9.1 on the Richter scale hit off the coast of Indonesia creating the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded in modern history. No one knew it was coming; in fact there are pictures that have been recovered of children gathering some of the fish left on the ocean floor as the waters receded as a towering Tsunami approached. It is reported that some of the waves of the Tsunami measured in upwards of 100 feet high and moved towards the various shores at around 500 MPH. Nearly 230,000 people died on that day.

For the atheist, deist, polytheist, and open theist… December 26, 2004, or any other day bringing evil or suffering, poses no problem. But for the one who believes the words of the Bible to be true, “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever” (Ps. 29:10), has a potential problem. How do we have a potential problem? If God is good and if he is completely sovereign… how and why did He allow the Tsunami of 2004, the cyclone that hit Myanmar in 2007, and such much more to happen? How is it that He allows so much evil when he is the measure of all that is holy and good? There seems to be a great gape between the God we read about in our Bibles and the world we live in. Christopher Wright acknowledges this in his book, The God I Don’t Understand, and points out that men and women in the Bible who followed God lovingly and passionately struggled with this seemingly irreconcilable problem:

Such radically inexplicable disasters fill biblical believers with desperate,passionate concern for the very nature of God. So they cry out in vertigo above the chasm that seems to gape between the God they know and the world they live in. If God is supposed to be like that, how can the world be like this?

For us who share the faith of these biblical believers, this is an agonizing emotion precisely because we too love God In such moments we can even understand those who hate God, and our anger and pain could easily make us shake our fists with them. But we don’t, because our whole lifetime of trust and love for God and gratitude for his limitless goodness and mercy toward us in Christ cannot be overthrown in the day of disaster. But the pain remains, and the pain is acute.[1]

One such example is found in Job 24. As you know, the story of Job is one of a righteous man who loses everything but his life because Satan thought he could get him to curse God. The book serves as a template for God’s people when it comes to dealing with the type of pain brought by evil and suffering in one’s life. Job’s kids and home were destroyed, his wealthy was depleted, his body was filled with blisters, his friends were an annoyance instead of a help, and his wife wanted him to throw in the towel of his faith. This man could have written a very good country song. In the middle of all his suffering, he asked what we not only seeing the Psalmist ask, but what we ourselves ask from time to time if we are honest:

Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge. They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children. They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.) They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves; among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst. From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

Have you not asked similar questions in your own life? The first time I sat at the bedside of a person I cared about as she lay dying of cancer, I kept asking God why he allowed her to linger for so long. Watching the woman struggle for air, seeing her facial expressions as she lay very uncomfortable while her body shock in periodic convulsions rocked my faith as a young Christian; I just could not understand why a God who with the breath of his nostrils could part the Red Sea, but did not remove this woman’s cancer nor allow her to die a quick painless death. I still do not know why He allowed this woman to die the way that she did. I am sure you have stories of your own as well as questions you still wrestle over concerning the actions of a good and loving God.

I am not going to pretend that what I write here will give you any real satisfactory answer because the Bible only answers this question to a certain point, but leaves what is unanswered for us to believe by faith that all that God does is shaped by His love for you and me. Permit me to offer some answers that the Bible does give.

Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth
I want to be very clear that the Bible is also very clear that Satan is not the cause of most of the evil and suffering in the world. He certainly hates good and loves evil, He has command over the thousands of demons who operate under him, and He despises God and His people with deep hatred. The Bible points to him as the originator of evil, suffering, and sin.

Satan at one time was known as Lucifer. He was the highest ranking angel with the title of “Guardian Cherub” (Ezek. 28:14). We are told very little of what went wrong in Lucifer, but we are given some idea in Isaiah 14,

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

When he rebelled, we learn from Revelation 12:7-9, that he convinced one-third of the angels to help him sit on God’s throne by rebelling alongside of him. I am not sure how many one-third equaled out to, but currently there are millions of Angels who did not rebel against God, which means there are probably hundreds of thousands of demons. Lucifer was not created evil, he chose to be evil; God knew what Lucifer would become, yet He created him anyway. We are not told how long Lucifer existed as God’s “Guardian Cherub”; it could have been hundreds or thousands of our earth years that he served God before he fell. However, the Bible does say that, “He was guilty of sinning from the beginning” (1 John 3:8).

Lucifer is not just known as Satan, but he is given a whole host of names such as the Accuser (Rev. 12:10), the Adversary (1 Peter 5:8), the Beast (Rev. 14:9-10), Beelzebub (Matt. 12:24), the Deceiver (Rev. 12:9), the Devil (1 John 3:8), the Dragon (Rev. 12:9), the Enemy (Matt. 13:39), the Evil One (John 17:15), the Father of lies (John 8:44), the God of this age (2 Cor. 4:4), the Lawless One (2 Thess. 2:8-10), Murderer (John 8:44), the Prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:1-2), the Ruler of Demons (Luke 11:15), Ruler of this World (John 12:31-32), Serpent of Old (Rev. 12:9), the Tempter (Matt. 4:3), Thief (John 10:10), and the Wicked One (Eph. 6:16).

There are other names for Lucifer, but the one we must always remember, for I think it embodies all his other names, is found in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Understand this dear friends; Lucifer wants nothing but harm for you. If you are a follower of King Jesus, he knows that he cannot touch your soul, but he wants nothing more than to see you rendered impotent for the Kingdom of God. If you are not a follower of Jesus, then he will do all that he can to keep you from seeing and knowing the truth of the Good news of Jesus Christ. Know this friends: we are warned that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light; the demons and all of his other servants do the same (2 Cor. 11:14).

Satan tried to tempt Jesus to sin, tried to keep Him from the cross, and when handed over to die, poured out all he had to make sure His suffering was ruthless. I believe he had a heavy influence on the likes of Hitler and Stalin, as well as other leaders in the past, present, and future. He is strategic, wise, cunning, crafty, and very intelligent. He has had the opportunity, along with his demons, to observe mankind for thousands of years which makes him all the more dangerous. I believe he targets God’s people, especially pastors, evangelists, and all those in places of leadership in the Church and has the demonic “man” power to do so. As followers of King Jesus, we ought to respect who Satan is – a very dangerous and intelligent adversary that hates you and me with the deepest of hatred.

All that being said… you must also understand that Satan is a defeated foe whose doom is sure to come. When you fall into sin or things do not go your way, understand that it is most likely not Satan tempting you or frustrating your plans; he is one person and cannot be everywhere at once. There are 6.8 billion people for him to choose to directly harm, and the chances are you are not that person. Now with that being said – On Tuesday morning I was mostly done writing my sermon having just made this very point. I took a break to write on my Facebook profile: “Finishing up my sermon... heavy, scary stuff: The Nature of Evil and Suffering. Right now I am writing the part of my sermon on the nature and character of Satan. Praise God that Jesus will squish Satan's head like a grape.” About 15 minutes later my computer crashed and I had to reformat my hard drive, losing my entire sermon in the process. I am not saying that Satan possessed my computer, but I did find a bit of irony in the timing.

When it came to the suffering of Job, we are told that it was Satan who approached God seeking permission to harm him. What the Bible makes emphatically clear is that Satan’s power is limited, and should he chose to bring harm upon God’s people, he must first seek God’s approval.

[1] Christopher Wright. The God I Don’t Understand (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan; 2008), p. 53.

To listen to the sermon that this blog came from, click on the following link:
http://bootes.websrvcs.com/clientimages/29768/sermons/audiosermons/theoriginofevilandsufferinggenesis3job24.wma