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WHY DID GOD CREATE EVIL? |
We know from scriptures that God created everything -- "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)". As each step of creation is unfolded in the early part of Genesis, God clearly reveals that everything He made was perfect. Genesis 1:4, 1:10, 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, and 1:25 all proclaim God's view of everything, "it was good". (The Hebrew word translated as "good" encompasses a full meaning for goodness, equally implying "best"). In case the fullness of how good and perfect everything was hadn't been gathered by the reader, God leaves nothing to the imagination in verse 31, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." (And the Hebrew word for "very" implies intensity and such superlatives as "wholly" and "exceedingly"). The bottom line is that everything God created was perfectly good. Which makes sense since God is good, and can be nothing but. Psalms 100:5 echoes numerous other verses throughout the Bible... "For the LORD is good..." But what about the devil (or Satan)? He's not good and God created Him!? Or so many other questions go. Once again, the Bible gives us insight into the devil's origins (and the other demons as well).
Some have tried to say that this passage pertained only to the earthly ruler of the ancient kingdom of Tyre, but the clear sense of this passage reaches far beyond into the spiritual realm. Earlier, at the beginning of chapter 28, God had already spoken about the earthly ruler. Verse 2...
This godless kingdom had a ruler that liked to think of himself as a god, but God clearly rebukes him and says he was merely "a man." -- one who had bought wholeheartedly the lies of Satan. When the "king of Tyre" is addressed, immediately following, it looks to that spiritual "king" that was empowering the earthly ruler. And that spiritual king was said to have been in the garden of Eden. Process of elimination tells us that since it wasn't referencing God, Adam or Eve, it was the only other intelligent participant in the garden... the devil (see Genesis 3:1-15).
Having established that Ezekiel 28:12-17 references Satan, we need to note that his original perfection (how he was created) is clearly pointed out. And after that something happened... "You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. (v. 15)" Another passage (this one addressed to the king of Babylon, but again reflecting the spiritual power behind that evil kingdom) tell us more about what happened.
Some translations render "Lucifer" as "morning star" or "day star", the very meaning of the name Lucifer. The sense of the word Lucifer implies "brightness". As we could see in Ezekiel, Lucifer had been a powerful and beautiful angel, one that was the brightest star. And using stars to symbolize angels is not unique to just one passage in scriptures. The book of Revelation uses it for both God's angels and Satan's followers (demons)...
This perfectly created angelic being, Lucifer, succumbed to pride and rebelled against His creator. From Revelation 12:3-4 we know that a third of the angels followed after him. Revelation 12:9 tells us exactly what Jesus said in Luke 10:18, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." This rebellious being was cast out of heaven and it is he "who leads the whole world astray". All sin, all evil, has come from this source... the once perfect, but now fallen angel, Lucifer. Evil did not originate with God, but rather with Satan. God created him with a perfect free will, capable of making choices -- and Lucifer freely (spontaneously) chose to sin. (The same choice our first parents also made, albeit with temptation placed before them). As John 8:44 tells us, the Devil is the father of lies. Lying was his baby, and he's being doing it from the beginning (check out Genesis chapter 3). Remember, God is only good -- perfect (Matthew 5:48) -- and that can never change (see Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8). He can't be tempted, nor does He tempt anyone else (James 1:13-14). You see, God is not the author of evil. The next logical question is usually, "But why would God create Lucifer if he knew he was going to sin?" Immediately we need to lay to rest the "if" in that statement. God knew that Lucifer was going to sin before He created him, even as he knew that Adam and Eve would sin before He created them (and had even made provision for salvation before creation, see 1 Peter 1:20 and Ephesians 1:4!). God knows everything past and present...
So, knowing that He knew what would happen, why? Perhaps it would be good to back up three verses and read Isaiah 46:10 again. It was ultimately for God's purposes and His alone. We must trust that any and every plan God has is of His choosing and always for good (because, once again, God is only good!). This being said, we are given a hint of God's overall reasoning though. In Romans 9:22-24 we have a glimpse of the big picture...
Consider for a moment that all that has happened shows clearly God's attributes. In God's dealing with sin we can see His Holiness and His Justice, and in His plan of salvation we can clearly see His Love, Grace, Mercy and Patience. In the perfection of God's plan, He is to be praised!
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Written by
Brent MacDonald of Lion Tracks Ministries. (c) 1998. |