A friend of mine had been reading
my book, “Why? A Biblical Explanation for
Evil”. Certain statements I made in
the book prompted him to ask me some very important questions. On page 102 of
the book I wrote, “Though Satan’s time is short, God must honor the covenant He
made with man (Rev. 12:9-11).” My friend asked, “Can you tell me more about
your understanding about that or direct me to anywhere you have written about
it? I could not see the connection with Rev 12:9-11. Where are the details of
such a covenant?”
Furthermore he wanted to know if I
had any verses that supported the fact that, “God searches for someone on the earth to display His strength on
their behalf. By covenant right, God cannot just do anything that He wants on
the earth.” (p. 105) Finally, his last question is worth quoting verbatim:
Then you wrote: “Man became responsible
for inviting God into the earth to intervene on his behalf.” The question I
have is: since at the fall, mankind basically handed that dominion over to
Satan why isn’t it Satan who invites or bars God from intervening? I know Satan
would rather not have God involved and objects when God does act (eg blessing
Job). So why does man still have the option of praying to ask God to act or
not? Does man continue to have some degree of dominion? Perhaps man has
dominion just over himself but not over the earth?
I believe that these are important
questions to address if we are to fully understand the problem of evil and why
(as some claim) that God doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. It is
essential to tackle the difficulties that my friend presents in order to
understand why God can be good, loving, kind and powerful yet does not stop evil
(via Satan) from reigning in this world.
God’s Covenant with
Mankind
When God created man He made some unconditional statements to him:
So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you
every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every
tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for
meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given
every green herb for meat: and it was so. (Gen. 1:27-30)
A covenant is a binding agreement between two or more
people. Once God said these things to
Adam He was bound to them and there was no taking them back. Anything that God
says is binding on Him due to His inability to lie or go back on His Word (Ps.
89:33-35; Titus 1:1-3; Heb. 6:17-18). He cannot even change His mind concerning
unconditional statements (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Rom. 11:29; 2 Cor. 1:19-20).
God is very serious about His fidelity to His Word and in order to prove His
trustworthiness He has placed His Word above His very name. The Psalmist says:
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and
praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast
magnified thy word above all thy name (Psalm 138:2).
If God places His Word above His very name then we can have confidence in
His commitment to it. After all, God’s Name represents His person and
character. He regards His Name as holy
(Lev. 22:2, 32; 1 Chron. 16:10, 35; Psalm 99:3; 111:9). For Him to place His
Word above His Name means that He has a serious regard for it. God cannot have
a different and separate “will” than that of His Word since He places this
above His very Name which represents His character.
God cannot “sovereignly” do things that contradict His Word because doing
them would call His character and integrity into question. We can fully trust
His Word as a clear revelation of His will. Otherwise, we couldn’t, “praise thy name…. for thy truth”
Whenever God states a word or gives
a promise then this is binding on
Him, thus it is a covenant. A good
example is found in 2 Samuel 7. God gave the prophet Nathan a dream concerning
His wonderful plans for King David and his descendants. Nowhere in 2 Samuel 7
does God (or Nathan) use the word “covenant.” Yet, later revelation tells us
that God considers his promises to David as having made a covenant (2 Chron.
7:18; 13:5; 21:7; Psalm 89:1-4, 33-36; Jer. 33:21). Once God who is unable to
lie said these things to David they
became binding upon Him, thus it is considered to be a covenant.
Therefore, when we read, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s:
but the earth hath he given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16), this
was binding on God. Later, man abdicated his authority over the earth to Satan
(Luke 4:5-6). God has the omnipotent power to take back the authority over the earth
by force if He so chooses, but to do this would be at the expense of His
integrity.
Therefore, the only way for Him to
get back all authority on the earth is to become a man Himself. In order to
restore that authority to His beloved man, He would have to allow Satan to
illegally kill Him, which Satan blindingly did in his blood lust. But by doing
so Satan lost his legal rights to
have permanent authority. He no longer has a legal right over any man because
the blood of Jesus has potentially redeemed all men. Mankind now has a right to
come from under Satan’s reign.
But Satan does not back down
easily. He continues to assert his claim over the earth and over men by making
continued accusations against them. This is where Rev. 12:9-11 fits in. The
blood of Jesus frees man from Satan’s accusations. Furthermore, the blood of
Jesus guarantees us that Satan’s time is short and that he will only be able to
continue these activities but for so long before he is permanently removed from
the scene forever.
God Searching for Men
to Work Through
The whole Bible from the time of
Adam’s fall is a revelation of God seeking a man that He can work through in
order to save the people of the earth. When the destruction by water came in
Noah’s day God had to work through Noah to build an ark to save his family and most
species of earth’s animals. Had Noah disobeyed then mankind would no longer
exist.
Later, God found Abraham and,
through him, He would extend His blessings on the earth to the rest of the
nations. He told Abram:
And
I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee: and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Gen. 12:2-3)
There could be no blessing on the
earth apart from God finding a yielded person on the earth that He is able to
work through. Since Abraham yielded to God, he and his descendants (Israel)
became God’s channel of blessing for the earth.
As we continue to look at Bible
history we find that God needed to work through Moses to rescue Israel from
Egypt. Not one plague came upon Egypt nor did one plague cease apart from Moses
using the authority that God instructed him to use. In Judges, whenever the
people sinned and suffered the consequences God had to raise up a judge to work
through in order to rescue His people from it. Later, we find God working
through kings and prophets. In the New Testament there is no spreading of the
gospel and no miraculous intervention of miracles, healing and deliverances
apart from men who were yielded to God.
Because God cannot go back on His
Word to Adam He is ever looking and searching for those who will yield
themselves to Him so that He can work through them on the earth. When Israel
demanded a king against God’s will, God, being the ever loving God that He is,
chose someone at the time who had the best qualities, which was Saul. However,
Saul allowed his position to make him become arrogant and disobedient.
Therefore God, speaking through the prophet Samuel, told him, “But now, your authority will not go on: the
Lord, searching for a man who is
pleasing to him in every way, has given him the place of ruler over his people,
because you have not done what the Lord gave you orders to do.” (1 Sam.
13:14; Bible in Basic English).
The Psalmist wrote, “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did
understand, and seek God” (Psalm 14:2) God is always having to look and
search for yielded vessels that He can work through in order to accomplish His
plans and purposes on the earth. He told Asa:
For
the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou
hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (2
Chron. 16:9)
Because of God’s word to Adam, He
cannot intervene in the affairs of the earth apart from finding someone who has
a heart for Him. Jesus Himself told us, “But
the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23). Father God is actually seeking sincere worshippers. He needs
yielded vessels on the earth in order to accomplish His goals for mankind.
Ezekiel offers the most profound, but also, somewhat complicated statement
concerning this:
And
I sought for a man among them,
that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land,
that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out
mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath:
their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD (Eze.
22:30, 31)
God sought for a man to stand in
the gap? Why? So that He would not have to destroy the land. God has no
pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze. 33:11). However, God cannot intervene
to stop disaster apart from someone inviting Him.
We see from this passage that God needs
someone to pray in order to stop His judgments. On the other hand, if no one
prays then He seems to be able to judge without anyone’s consent. This appears
contradicting at first but if we understand God’s method of bringing judgment
it removes the seeming contradiction.
Verse 31 says, “Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have
consumed them with the fire of my wrath.” Here God takes personal
responsibility for the impending disaster. However, one must learn to interpret
Scripture with Scripture in order to understand the method by which God will do this. Ezekiel himself describes this
method only one chapter earlier:
And
I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the
fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into
the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy (Ezekiel 21:31)
In His wrath God will not personally do the destroying but He will
“deliver” His people over to evil destroyers. The word “recompensed” in Ezekiel
22:31 and the word “deliver” in Ezekiel 21:31 are both translated from the
Hebrew word “nathan” which means to allow or permit. God’s method of “destroying” is to remove His protection
and allow the forces of evil to have their way (Hosea 11:8-9). He has no choice
but to allow this apart from our
praying.
Sin is forfeiting God’s protection.
God wants to protect but men continue to rebel against Him. He looks for a man
who will invite Him in to stop the impending judgment but He is unable to find
anyone so He is left with no choice but to allow this destruction to come.
How God Works in the
Earth
The Psalmist wrote, “For thou hast
made him but little lower than God, And crownest him with glory and honor. Thou makest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet” (Psalm
8:5, 6; American Standard Version). According to an older version of the
Webster's dictionary, the word “dominion” is sdefined as, “Sovereign or supreme
authority; the power of governing and controlling.”[1] William
Wilson says that Hebrew meaning of the word dominion is “authority as lord and
proprietor.”[2]
God gave man domnion – sovereignty, authority, supremacy, lordship, and
propietorship – over the works of His hands. This is why I say without
hesitation that we must be careful when using certain Christian catch phrases
like “God is in control.” The
church has simply “left it in the
hands of God” while God is trying
to tell us that, due to covenant reasons, He is unable to demonstrate His
omnipotence apart from our cooperation. God has delegated authority to us and,
in most cases, He will not usurp that authority He has given even though
He has the raw power to do so.
God is not a covenant breaker (Psalm 89:33-35). When He delegated
authority over the earth he placed its destiny in our hands. Furthermore, He has made us free moral agents which means
that He will not force us to cooperate with Him. The covenant keeping integrity
of God coupled with the free-will of the humans God has created gave Him
limitations that he would not have had if He had not chosen to do it this way. Andrew
Murray writes:
In creating man with free will and
making him a partner in the rule of the earth, God limited Himself. He made
Himself dependent on what man would do. Man by His prayer would hold the
measure of what God could do in blessing.[3]
We must recognize that when God gave
the earth to the children of men, regardless of whatever capacity in which he
gave it to them, He was limiting Himself and sharing His sovereignty over the
thing that was given. What we do on earth determines what God will do in
Heaven (Matt. 18:18-19). Our failure to invite Him in can have devastating
effects (2 Chron. 16:12, 13;
Jer. 10:21; James 4:2). A profound statement is made concerning Jesus in the
gospel of Mark:
And
he was unable to do any work of
power there, but only to put his hands on one or two persons who were ill, and
make them well. And he was greatly surprised because they had no faith. And he
went about the country places teaching. (Mark 6:5-6; Bible in Basic English)
He was unable to do any mighty work. It did not say that He wouldn’t do it. It says that He was unable to do it. Our omnipotent God
obviously has the sheer raw power to force His will on our lives if He so
desired. However, His love and integrity prevents Him from doing so. This is
why He cannot work on the earth apart from a yielded vessel.
If God violated His word to Adam by
intervening apart from man’s invitation then Satan will have something by which
to accuse God since he is always looking for a way to make God look unfair in
the eyes of others (Job 1:8-10; Gen. 3:1-5). In order for God to be trusted by
men and angels He cannot go back on His Word or break covenant. Satan may rule
by force and violence. He may attempt to get his way by force. Satan wants to
convince men and unfallen angels that his methods are the most effective. For
God to do anything outside of His love and integrity would be to prove Satan
right and Himself wrong. From a power aspect, He could destroy Satan easily in
order to have His own way but then He must eternally live with the consequences
of having brought doubt into the minds of the rest of His creatures concerning
His integrity, righteousness, love, and holiness. To maintain His integrity in
the eyes of the watching universe God must work in the earth through yielded
vessels.
How Satan Works in
the Earth
On the flip side of this equation,
Satan is also unable to do any work on the earth apart from men yielding themselves
to him. Unlike God, Satan seems to have the majority of the earth’s population
under his control and they are more than willing to do his bidding. The thing
that makes him the “god” of this world is how he has deceived the majority of
men in order to control them:
In whom the god
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them. (2 Cor. 4:4)
Satan is “god of this world”
because he is able to blind men and deceive them into doing his will. 1 John
5:19 says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (New
King James Version). Satan has authority and control over the earth because he
has deceived the majority of men who God has made stewards over it. In Rev.
12:9 we read:
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels
were cast out with him.
Satan gained this power and
authority over the earth through deception (Gen. 3:1-7, 13; Luke 4:5-6; 2 Cor.
11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14) and he maintains this power through deception.
Like God, Satan cannot work
on the earth except through willing vessels (Gen. 4:7; Luke 22:2-6; John 8:44; Acts
13:7-12; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; Eph. 2:2; 2 Thess. 2:8-9; 1 John 3:8-12; Rev. 2:9,
13; 3:9; 16:13-14; 20:7-10). Unlike God, Satan seems to have an almost endless
supply of willing vessels ready to do their master’s will. While some,
specifically those who proudly deem themselves as “Satan worshippers” knowingly
do his will, the majority of men are deceived into believing that they are
serving God (Islamic terrorists being one of many examples) or their
communities (abortion doctors being among several examples). If some had their
eyes open to know that their actions were furthering Satan’s agenda they might
have second thoughts.
Despite some false
teachings in Evangelical circles that claim that man is so totally depraved
that he cannot choose apart from an “irresistible grace” that violates the
freedom of his will, God has allowed men the ability to choose between the
kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness:
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in
me. (Acts 26:18)
Men have the ability to
choose between God’s kingdom of light, life and love and Satan’s kingdom of
darkness, depression and destruction. Sadly we are told, “….and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19b).
The reason why Satan continues to exercise such dominion over the earth is
because men love his ways more than God’s.
The day will come when God
puts a permanent end to Satan’s rule (Rev. 20:10). However, for the end of
Satan’s reign to be complete, God must also forever ban from His presence and
from the universe those who followed after Satan (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:11-15).
Satan’s time is short. The end of evil will come, but sadly, this ending of
evil means the eternal damnation of the majority of the world. This is not
something God desires which is why the end has been so long delayed (1 Tim.
2:4; 2 Pet. 3:8-9; Eze. 33:11).
In conclusion, evil reigns
and Satan reigns on the earth because men, using their God-given free-will, choose
to do Satan’s bidding rather than God’s. If men would do God’s will rather than
Satan’s then evil would be gone. Since the majority of men love darkness and
since God has covenanted with man to allow his freedom to choose the bad as
well as the good without force or coercion on His part then evil reigns until
the coming of Christ. Be blessed.
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