Nuggets 87: Where Did Evil Come From?

  • B. Shelburne
  • Nov 25, 2007
  • Series: Nuggets

God is perfectly good.  He cannot be tempted with evil nor does he tempt anyone to do evil.  God does not create anything evil.  It is the devil, not God, who causes evil.  But how did this evil being get to be among God's good creation?

We only have hints in the scriptures.  We know that some angels have fallen into sin.  We know that the fall of the devil was due to pride. It appears that Satan was once a good angel but became proud of his greatness and beauty and tried to become equal with God, something impossible for a created being.  Isaiah prophesies about the king of Babylon, and Ezekiel about the king of Tyre, two pagan kings who were very great in glory but fell far because of their pride and arrogance.  Some prophecies in scripture have dual fulfillments.  Many interpreters believe that these two prophecies have secondary spiritual reference to the fall of Satan.  The wording seems to fit.  Whether these prophecies directly refer to Satan or not, they illustrate what evidently happened to him.

Satan tempted Adam and Eve to the same sin, to "become like gods," independent of the true God.  They believed Satan and they fell.  Thus began suffering, death and all the selfish, hateful things people do to each other.  But why would God make humans in such a way that they could choose evil and ruin God's creation?

In order for us to be real persons, made in God's image, God had to make us truly capable of choosing between good and evil.  That included the risk that we might choose evil and bring a curse on the world. Of course God could have programmed us like machines to always do good.  But then we would not be real persons, able to genuinely love God.  And God made us for love and fellowship with him.

God is so great that he can overrule even sin and suffering to accomplish his good purposes.  And if he made us capable of falling, he also paid the price to redeem his creation.

James 1:13-17;  Genesis 1:31;  Jude 5,6;  2 Peter 2:4;  1 Timothy 3:6;  Isaiah 14:12-15;  Ezekiel 28:12-17;  Genesis 3;  1:27;  2:16,17;  3:8,9;  Genesis 4;  5:24;  Acts 17:24-27;  Matthew 22:36-38;  2 Corinthians 5:17-21;  Revelation 3:20;  James 1:2-4;  Romans 5:3-5;  8:28;  1 Corinthians 10:13;  John 3:16

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Copyright 2007 by G.B. Shelburne, III.  May be freely reproduced or forwarded for non-commercial purposes provided content is unchanged and this copyright notice is included.  These shepherding messages are sent to members and friends of New Beginnings Church (www.nbchurch.com), to students and alumni of South Houston Bible Institute (www.shbi.org), and to other interested persons.

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