- Published on
The Why of Evil
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by George Sidney Hurd
Having determined in the previous blogs what evil is, and when it first entered into creation, we can now consider the most important question: Why did God allow evil to enter His creation? What good purpose does it serve?
The Scriptures reveal to us that God’s essential nature is love and that He is at the same time omniscient, omnipotent and infinite in wisdom (1Jn 4:8,16; Isa 46:10; Job 37:23; Rev 1:8). They also declare that all His works are known to Him from eternity and that He works all things according to the determinate counsel of His will (Acts 15:18; Eph 1:11).
All these things considered, it logically follows that He would not have created, knowing that evil would enter His good creation, resulting in so much suffering, unless the end result would be exceedingly and abundantly good, above and beyond what we can think or imagine, and that, when all is said and done, it will magnify His infinite wisdom and goodness in having permitted its existence (Eph 3:20-21). The end result will be such that all creation will be eternally grateful, spontaneously praising Him for His marvelous works (Psa 145:10; Rev 15:3-4; 5:13). The final outcome of God’s creation must be better than its commencement – otherwise He, in His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, would have never commenced creation. What God begins He perfects.
In this blog I want to consider three primary reasons why it was necessary for God to allow for the entrance of evil in His good creation: 1) Freedom to choose is necessary for a meaningful relationship. 2) Evil is necessary in order to reveal God’s glory, and 3) Evil is necessary for our formation.
1. Freedom to choose is necessary for a meaningful relationship
We have already seen that there is no evil in God, but rather, evil was first conceived in the hearts and minds of God’s creatures whom He created as free moral beings, capable of choosing to either willfully subject themselves to Him, or act independently of Him.
Relational love is an impossibility without free-will. Since God created us in His own image and likeness in order that we might truly know Him and have a loving relationship with Him, our ability to choose whether or not we are going to correspond to His love is a logical necessity. True love in any relationship must be freely chosen by both parties.
The only way God could have eliminated the possibility of evil would have been to create amoral robotic beings, incapable of making independent decisions contrary to His will. Such beings would indeed do whatever He programmed them to do, and they would be incapable of sinning against Him. However, any loving relationship with them would have been impossible. Relational love, by its very nature, must be freely chosen by moral and relational beings possessing free-will.
While it is another subject in itself, God's sovereignty is not limited nor hampered by the free-will decisions of His creatures. Although all things are known to God from eternity, not all things are dictated by Him. In His infinite wisdom, He is able to work all things according to His eternal purpose without the need to manipulate our every move like a puppet or a pre-programmed robot.
There are a few hyper-Calvinists who still hold to a rigid determinism, claiming that all our thoughts and actions are predetermined by God and that there is no such thing as human free-will. While it is true that God is sovereign and, as any loving father, He may restrain the free exercise of our will as He deems necessary, the total denial of our ability to independently choose would defeat His good purpose in creating us, which is to be loved by Him and for us to reciprocate in a loving, intimate relationship with the triune Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. Evil is necessary in order to reveal God’s glory
Although Adam and Eve were created flawless and innocent, they lacked an experiential knowledge of God, much as newborn infants lack any real knowledge of their parents who brought them into the world. Adam and Eve were the recipients of God’s love and goodness, but without ever having experienced hatred and evil, their understanding and appreciation of His love and goodness was very rudimentary.
Only through the fall and God’s redemption and salvation was it possible for us to have any real comprehension of His multidimensional love. Only those who have become acutely aware of their own depravity and unworthiness come to know the depth of God’s love in the form of longsuffering, grace and mercy. Had Adam and Eve continued in their state of innocence, neither men nor angels would have ever had the opportunity to know the width and length and depth and height of the love of God which surpasses knowledge.
Suffering and evil are only for a brief moment in comparison to eternity, but the experiential knowledge of God’s love which we acquire in this brief lifetime will be a priceless and eternal treasure. It produces an intimacy with God that Adam and Eve could have never even imagined in their primitive state of innocence.
3. Evil is necessary for our formation
It is a true saying that our character is formed in the school of adversity. And adversity, or natural evil, is a consequence of moral evil. Without the entrance of moral evil, mankind would have never known adversity. Without adversity we would have never matured. Adam and Eve were perfect and innocent before the fall in a way similar to that of a newborn baby. However, there is a great difference between infantile innocence and positive righteousness.
Before the fall, Adam and Eve were innocent and naïve. They had no concept of sin and its consequences. It is only through the fall and the resultant suffering under the heavy yoke of sin that we all eventually come to hate evil and seek God and His righteousness. Once mankind has been delivered from sin’s dominion and restored to full communion with God, we will not be innocent and naïve as Adam and Eve were in the beginning. Instead, we will forever possess a positive righteousness in union with God, abhorring evil and loving that which is good.
Contrary to the doctrine of eternal torment which perpetuates evil (albeit quarantined in hell), once all creation has been restored and God becomes all in all, evil will forever cease to exist, no longer having any host willing to nurture it. Moral evil only exists in the minds and hearts of individuals. When God becomes all in all, the last enemy, death, will have been destroyed, and evil in all its forms will forever cease to exist (1Cor 15:26-28; Isa 25:6-8 cf., Rev 21:3-5).
The belief in the final extinction of evil and the end of death (whether it be the first or the second death) through the restoration of all, was the dominant belief of the most prominent Ante Nicene Fathers prior to the fifth century, and was eloquently expressed by Gregory of Nyssa (330 to 394 AD) when he said:
“Wherefore that at the same time liberty of free-will should be left to nature and yet the evil be purged away, the wisdom of God discovered this plan, to suffer man to do what he would, that having tasted the evil which he desired, and learning by experience for what wretchedness he had bartered away the blessings he had, he might of his own will hasten back with desire to the first blessedness . . . either being purged in this life through prayer and discipline, or after his departure hence through the furnace of cleansing fire.” [1]
“For it is needful that evil should someday be wholly and absolutely removed out of the circle of being. For inasmuch as it is not in the nature of evil to exist without the will, when every will comes to be in God, will not evil go on to absolute extinction by reason of there being no receptacle of it left?” [2]
“When every created being is at harmony with itself…and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord … Everything shall be subdued to Christ, and they shall be subdued by a full knowledge of Him, and by a remodeling… Now God will be all in all at the time of restitution.” [3] (emphasis mine)
In this brief window of time on earth, God is preparing us to reign with Him. The only way we can be perfected or matured is in the school of suffering and affliction. There are no shortcuts to maturity. We must all die two deaths. We must not only die physically, but we must also die the second death to the flesh and the soul/life, either in this life, or later in the purifying lake of fire (Rev 2:11). Paul exhorts us to continue in the faith, saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
What is Paul saying here? Elsewhere he said that we have already been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13). All who have been born again are now children of the kingdom (Jn 1:12; 3:5). However, we are only perfected in suffering, and in that sense, whenever we submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God in the midst of suffering, we are entering into a greater level of maturity and kingdom authority in preparation to reign with Him when He comes to reign and to be glorified in His saints (2 Tim 2:12; Rom 8:17; 2Thess 1:10).
Understanding that we are perfected in suffering, for us to ask God to remove us from all suffering in this world would be asking Him to love us less. Rather than removing us from life’s trials, He gives us the grace to bear up under them (1Cor 10:13). The Psalmist said: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Ps 34:19). Paul said that in all these things we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:35-37). After saying that the world would hate us, Jesus prayed to the Father that He would not remove us from the world, but rather keep us in the midst of it (Jn 17:14-15). Rather than denying Satan’s request to sift Peter, He prayed that his faith would not fail in the midst of his trial (Luke 22:31-32). Peter says that the suffering we must undergo is only for a little while in comparison to eternity, and the God of all grace is faithful to keep us and perfect us through it. He said:
“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11)
Peter saw trials and afflictions as being needful or necessary for our own purification:
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
Paul, likewise, saw the present brief lifetime of affliction as nothing in comparison to the eternal benefits we receive through that which we suffer in this fallen world:
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18)
That is why a long life is considered to be a great blessing in Scripture. Being now in my 70s and still alive ten years after receiving a liver transplant, I am grateful to God for each new day that He grants me, in spite of the increased aches and pains and the trials which will doubtlessly come my way, since I have come to appreciate the eternal value of each day lived in this fallen world, submitted under the mighty hand of God. It saddens me to see some advocating for euthanasia rather than encouraging the elderly to endure until the Lord takes them home.
I have heard some who defend abortion say that nothing is lost, since they go to heaven anyway. While it is true that we will see them in heaven, whenever a baby is aborted, that soul is deprived of an eternal weight of glory which can only be obtained by living out one’s lifetime in this fallen world in submission to God.
While it would defeat God’s purpose to fully reveal all of His reasons for permitting evil in this present world, He has revealed enough in order for us to trust that He is working all things together for our good. What He has revealed is sufficient so that we should willingly submit ourselves to His plan for our lives, knowing that, when evil has served its purpose, it will be no more, and God will have restored all creation to a level of glory much greater than it was in the beginning. God makes all things beautiful in His time.
[1] Gregorio de Niza, Orat. pro Mortuis, ad. fin. p. 634, Ed. Paris. 1638.
[2] Gregorio de Niza, Dial. de Anima et Resurrect. tom.iii. p. 227, Ed. Paris. 1638
[3] Gregorio de Niza, Catechetical Oraciones, (36)
--
by George Sidney Hurd
Having determined in the previous blogs what evil is, and when it first entered into creation, we can now consider the most important question: Why did God allow evil to enter His creation? What good purpose does it serve?
The Scriptures reveal to us that God’s essential nature is love and that He is at the same time omniscient, omnipotent and infinite in wisdom (1Jn 4:8,16; Isa 46:10; Job 37:23; Rev 1:8). They also declare that all His works are known to Him from eternity and that He works all things according to the determinate counsel of His will (Acts 15:18; Eph 1:11).
All these things considered, it logically follows that He would not have created, knowing that evil would enter His good creation, resulting in so much suffering, unless the end result would be exceedingly and abundantly good, above and beyond what we can think or imagine, and that, when all is said and done, it will magnify His infinite wisdom and goodness in having permitted its existence (Eph 3:20-21). The end result will be such that all creation will be eternally grateful, spontaneously praising Him for His marvelous works (Psa 145:10; Rev 15:3-4; 5:13). The final outcome of God’s creation must be better than its commencement – otherwise He, in His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, would have never commenced creation. What God begins He perfects.
In this blog I want to consider three primary reasons why it was necessary for God to allow for the entrance of evil in His good creation: 1) Freedom to choose is necessary for a meaningful relationship. 2) Evil is necessary in order to reveal God’s glory, and 3) Evil is necessary for our formation.
1. Freedom to choose is necessary for a meaningful relationship
We have already seen that there is no evil in God, but rather, evil was first conceived in the hearts and minds of God’s creatures whom He created as free moral beings, capable of choosing to either willfully subject themselves to Him, or act independently of Him.
Relational love is an impossibility without free-will. Since God created us in His own image and likeness in order that we might truly know Him and have a loving relationship with Him, our ability to choose whether or not we are going to correspond to His love is a logical necessity. True love in any relationship must be freely chosen by both parties.
The only way God could have eliminated the possibility of evil would have been to create amoral robotic beings, incapable of making independent decisions contrary to His will. Such beings would indeed do whatever He programmed them to do, and they would be incapable of sinning against Him. However, any loving relationship with them would have been impossible. Relational love, by its very nature, must be freely chosen by moral and relational beings possessing free-will.
While it is another subject in itself, God's sovereignty is not limited nor hampered by the free-will decisions of His creatures. Although all things are known to God from eternity, not all things are dictated by Him. In His infinite wisdom, He is able to work all things according to His eternal purpose without the need to manipulate our every move like a puppet or a pre-programmed robot.
There are a few hyper-Calvinists who still hold to a rigid determinism, claiming that all our thoughts and actions are predetermined by God and that there is no such thing as human free-will. While it is true that God is sovereign and, as any loving father, He may restrain the free exercise of our will as He deems necessary, the total denial of our ability to independently choose would defeat His good purpose in creating us, which is to be loved by Him and for us to reciprocate in a loving, intimate relationship with the triune Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. Evil is necessary in order to reveal God’s glory
Although Adam and Eve were created flawless and innocent, they lacked an experiential knowledge of God, much as newborn infants lack any real knowledge of their parents who brought them into the world. Adam and Eve were the recipients of God’s love and goodness, but without ever having experienced hatred and evil, their understanding and appreciation of His love and goodness was very rudimentary.
Only through the fall and God’s redemption and salvation was it possible for us to have any real comprehension of His multidimensional love. Only those who have become acutely aware of their own depravity and unworthiness come to know the depth of God’s love in the form of longsuffering, grace and mercy. Had Adam and Eve continued in their state of innocence, neither men nor angels would have ever had the opportunity to know the width and length and depth and height of the love of God which surpasses knowledge.
Suffering and evil are only for a brief moment in comparison to eternity, but the experiential knowledge of God’s love which we acquire in this brief lifetime will be a priceless and eternal treasure. It produces an intimacy with God that Adam and Eve could have never even imagined in their primitive state of innocence.
3. Evil is necessary for our formation
It is a true saying that our character is formed in the school of adversity. And adversity, or natural evil, is a consequence of moral evil. Without the entrance of moral evil, mankind would have never known adversity. Without adversity we would have never matured. Adam and Eve were perfect and innocent before the fall in a way similar to that of a newborn baby. However, there is a great difference between infantile innocence and positive righteousness.
Before the fall, Adam and Eve were innocent and naïve. They had no concept of sin and its consequences. It is only through the fall and the resultant suffering under the heavy yoke of sin that we all eventually come to hate evil and seek God and His righteousness. Once mankind has been delivered from sin’s dominion and restored to full communion with God, we will not be innocent and naïve as Adam and Eve were in the beginning. Instead, we will forever possess a positive righteousness in union with God, abhorring evil and loving that which is good.
Contrary to the doctrine of eternal torment which perpetuates evil (albeit quarantined in hell), once all creation has been restored and God becomes all in all, evil will forever cease to exist, no longer having any host willing to nurture it. Moral evil only exists in the minds and hearts of individuals. When God becomes all in all, the last enemy, death, will have been destroyed, and evil in all its forms will forever cease to exist (1Cor 15:26-28; Isa 25:6-8 cf., Rev 21:3-5).
The belief in the final extinction of evil and the end of death (whether it be the first or the second death) through the restoration of all, was the dominant belief of the most prominent Ante Nicene Fathers prior to the fifth century, and was eloquently expressed by Gregory of Nyssa (330 to 394 AD) when he said:
“Wherefore that at the same time liberty of free-will should be left to nature and yet the evil be purged away, the wisdom of God discovered this plan, to suffer man to do what he would, that having tasted the evil which he desired, and learning by experience for what wretchedness he had bartered away the blessings he had, he might of his own will hasten back with desire to the first blessedness . . . either being purged in this life through prayer and discipline, or after his departure hence through the furnace of cleansing fire.” [1]
“For it is needful that evil should someday be wholly and absolutely removed out of the circle of being. For inasmuch as it is not in the nature of evil to exist without the will, when every will comes to be in God, will not evil go on to absolute extinction by reason of there being no receptacle of it left?” [2]
“When every created being is at harmony with itself…and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord … Everything shall be subdued to Christ, and they shall be subdued by a full knowledge of Him, and by a remodeling… Now God will be all in all at the time of restitution.” [3] (emphasis mine)
In this brief window of time on earth, God is preparing us to reign with Him. The only way we can be perfected or matured is in the school of suffering and affliction. There are no shortcuts to maturity. We must all die two deaths. We must not only die physically, but we must also die the second death to the flesh and the soul/life, either in this life, or later in the purifying lake of fire (Rev 2:11). Paul exhorts us to continue in the faith, saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
What is Paul saying here? Elsewhere he said that we have already been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13). All who have been born again are now children of the kingdom (Jn 1:12; 3:5). However, we are only perfected in suffering, and in that sense, whenever we submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God in the midst of suffering, we are entering into a greater level of maturity and kingdom authority in preparation to reign with Him when He comes to reign and to be glorified in His saints (2 Tim 2:12; Rom 8:17; 2Thess 1:10).
Understanding that we are perfected in suffering, for us to ask God to remove us from all suffering in this world would be asking Him to love us less. Rather than removing us from life’s trials, He gives us the grace to bear up under them (1Cor 10:13). The Psalmist said: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Ps 34:19). Paul said that in all these things we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:35-37). After saying that the world would hate us, Jesus prayed to the Father that He would not remove us from the world, but rather keep us in the midst of it (Jn 17:14-15). Rather than denying Satan’s request to sift Peter, He prayed that his faith would not fail in the midst of his trial (Luke 22:31-32). Peter says that the suffering we must undergo is only for a little while in comparison to eternity, and the God of all grace is faithful to keep us and perfect us through it. He said:
“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11)
Peter saw trials and afflictions as being needful or necessary for our own purification:
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
Paul, likewise, saw the present brief lifetime of affliction as nothing in comparison to the eternal benefits we receive through that which we suffer in this fallen world:
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18)
That is why a long life is considered to be a great blessing in Scripture. Being now in my 70s and still alive ten years after receiving a liver transplant, I am grateful to God for each new day that He grants me, in spite of the increased aches and pains and the trials which will doubtlessly come my way, since I have come to appreciate the eternal value of each day lived in this fallen world, submitted under the mighty hand of God. It saddens me to see some advocating for euthanasia rather than encouraging the elderly to endure until the Lord takes them home.
I have heard some who defend abortion say that nothing is lost, since they go to heaven anyway. While it is true that we will see them in heaven, whenever a baby is aborted, that soul is deprived of an eternal weight of glory which can only be obtained by living out one’s lifetime in this fallen world in submission to God.
While it would defeat God’s purpose to fully reveal all of His reasons for permitting evil in this present world, He has revealed enough in order for us to trust that He is working all things together for our good. What He has revealed is sufficient so that we should willingly submit ourselves to His plan for our lives, knowing that, when evil has served its purpose, it will be no more, and God will have restored all creation to a level of glory much greater than it was in the beginning. God makes all things beautiful in His time.
[1] Gregorio de Niza, Orat. pro Mortuis, ad. fin. p. 634, Ed. Paris. 1638.
[2] Gregorio de Niza, Dial. de Anima et Resurrect. tom.iii. p. 227, Ed. Paris. 1638
[3] Gregorio de Niza, Catechetical Oraciones, (36)
- Published on
The Where of Evil
by George Sidney Hurd
Having considered the what of evil in the previous blog, we will now be looking at the where of evil. Where and when did evil first originate?
We have already seen that evil did not exist in the beginning. God is perfect and just, and therefore all that He originally created was good (Gen 1:31; Deut 32:4). For that reason, evil had to have entered into the world by an independent agent other than God, subsequent to creation. And as I hope to demonstrate from Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, that free agent was the anointed cherub prior to his fall, originally called Helel, or in Latin, Lucifer, which means “morning star.”
In Ezekiel 28 verses 1 through 10, God begins by speaking directly to the earthly king of Tyre who had become lifted up with pride, proclaiming himself to be a god. God said to Ezekiel: “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre…” Everything said in these ten verses is applicable to the human leader himself.
However, beginning in verse 11 thru to verse 19, Ezekiel is not told to speak directly to the king, but rather to sing a lamentation or song of mourning over him. In this dirge, which is sung over the king of Tyre while yet still alive, it immediately becomes evident that the Lord is no longer addressing him alone, but rather the prince of darkness who was actually the one who incited the king of Tyre to pride and self-exaltation, bringing him under the same judgment which had previously befell him.
What many are unaware of is that national leaders have spiritual principalities assigned to them. That is partly what Paul meant when he said: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). When Daniel sought the Lord with prayer and fasting for his people Israel, it was the spiritual prince of Persia who opposed the angel sent to answer Daniel’s prayer, requiring the assistance of Michael the archangel who was the prince of Daniel’s people Israel (Dan 12:12-13, 20-21). With this in mind, upon reading this dirge, it becomes evident that God is speaking primarily to Satan himself, who is the god of this age and the principality exercising influence over the king of Tyre:
“Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God:
"You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. 16 "By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, o covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. 17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.” (Ezek 28:11-17)
There are numerous things said of this ruler which could not be said of a mere human ruler: 1) He was created, rather than procreated. 2) He was a cherub. Cherubim are created spiritual beings, not men. 3) He was perfect and without iniquity, something that God would never say of any sinful human king. 4) He was originally in the heavenly Eden on the holy mountain of God.
Therefore, we see that even Satan, who originally was called Helel or Lucifer, was perfect and free from iniquity, just as God had created him, until his heart was lifted up with pride because of his exceptional beauty and wisdom. Once pride was fully conceived in his heart, he committed the first sin of self-determination in the form of his five “I wills,” which led to active rebellion against God, as we see described in Isaiah 14. Just as in Ezekiel 28, the chapter begins by speaking to a mortal king and then addresses Lucifer who is the principality behind him. Beginning in verse 12 God says:
“How you are fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” (Isa 14:12-15)
As a result of his rebellion, he was cast out of the holy mountain of God. While Satan will not be totally deprived of access to God’s heavenly throne until he is finally confined to the earth along with a third of the angels three and a half years before Christ’s Second Coming (Rev 12:6-9), he is no longer the glorious cherub that covered God’s throne. Now he is the prince of the power of the air and the god of this age. And he only has that position because Adam relinquished his God given authority over the earth to Satan when he obeyed the serpent, rather than God.
That these passages are primarily making reference to Lucifer’s fall is confirmed by Paul’s allusion to it when he instructed Timothy to not appoint a recent convert as a bishop or pastor “lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” (1 Tim 3:6). The only passages in Scripture revealing that the devil’s fall was due to pride are here in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.
Numerous quotes from the Early Church Fathers also indicate that they likewise understood these two passages to be referring to the fall of Lucifer. For brevity, I will just include one quote from Origen. He said:
“But the angels also wonder at the peace which is to be brought about on account of Jesus on the earth, that seat of war, on which Lucifer, star of the morning, fell from heaven, to be warred against and destroyed by Jesus.” [1]
The Liberal Higher Critics of the sacred text, in their attempts to discredit the Scriptures, point out similar beliefs of cultures which predate the writing of the Old Testament Scriptures. For example, the Canaanites spoke of a mighty warrior called Helal, who sought to ascend higher than the other gods, but was defeated and cast down to the depths.
However, to me, the fact that these similarities exist in other ancient post diluvian cultures further confirms the truth of the biblical account, since after the flood all would have shared a common oral tradition. As time went on and Noah’s descendants were dispersed at Babel, these oral traditions lost their purity compared to the divinely inspired biblical account, but their similarity only serves to demonstrate that they shared a common prior source.
I have heard some argue that Satan was originally created evil, based upon the words of Jesus when He said that the devil was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (John 8:44). However, we have already seen that Lucifer was created perfect and remained perfect until iniquity was found in him. So, clearly the “beginning” Jesus was referring to was not the moment of Lucifer’s creation. One cannot be a murderer before a physical being even exists to kill. Clearly, the beginning Jesus was referring to was the moment of the first acts of Satan which were recorded in Genesis when he lied to Eve and brought physical death to mankind. That was the beginning of his career as a murderer and the father of all lies.
So, in answer to the “where” of evil, clearly evil was first conceived in Lucifer’s own heart. Some have trouble seeing how a perfect being in a perfect environment could be capable of conceiving evil. However, I personally don’t see that as a problem, considering that God created men and angels as free rational beings, capable of thinking and acting independently from Him. As I understand it, the angels were enamored by his majestic beauty and wisdom in a way that he couldn’t help but notice. Apparently, at some point, due to all the admiration he continually received, he began to look away from God to himself and became inflated with pride, which in turn led to independent self-determination and finally rebellion.
The primary question still remains: why would God create free rational beings, knowing all along that they would introduce evil into His good creation? That is the question I hope to answer in the next blog.
[1] Origen, Commentary on John, book 1, chapter 13
by George Sidney Hurd
Having considered the what of evil in the previous blog, we will now be looking at the where of evil. Where and when did evil first originate?
We have already seen that evil did not exist in the beginning. God is perfect and just, and therefore all that He originally created was good (Gen 1:31; Deut 32:4). For that reason, evil had to have entered into the world by an independent agent other than God, subsequent to creation. And as I hope to demonstrate from Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, that free agent was the anointed cherub prior to his fall, originally called Helel, or in Latin, Lucifer, which means “morning star.”
In Ezekiel 28 verses 1 through 10, God begins by speaking directly to the earthly king of Tyre who had become lifted up with pride, proclaiming himself to be a god. God said to Ezekiel: “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre…” Everything said in these ten verses is applicable to the human leader himself.
However, beginning in verse 11 thru to verse 19, Ezekiel is not told to speak directly to the king, but rather to sing a lamentation or song of mourning over him. In this dirge, which is sung over the king of Tyre while yet still alive, it immediately becomes evident that the Lord is no longer addressing him alone, but rather the prince of darkness who was actually the one who incited the king of Tyre to pride and self-exaltation, bringing him under the same judgment which had previously befell him.
What many are unaware of is that national leaders have spiritual principalities assigned to them. That is partly what Paul meant when he said: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). When Daniel sought the Lord with prayer and fasting for his people Israel, it was the spiritual prince of Persia who opposed the angel sent to answer Daniel’s prayer, requiring the assistance of Michael the archangel who was the prince of Daniel’s people Israel (Dan 12:12-13, 20-21). With this in mind, upon reading this dirge, it becomes evident that God is speaking primarily to Satan himself, who is the god of this age and the principality exercising influence over the king of Tyre:
“Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God:
"You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. 16 "By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, o covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. 17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.” (Ezek 28:11-17)
There are numerous things said of this ruler which could not be said of a mere human ruler: 1) He was created, rather than procreated. 2) He was a cherub. Cherubim are created spiritual beings, not men. 3) He was perfect and without iniquity, something that God would never say of any sinful human king. 4) He was originally in the heavenly Eden on the holy mountain of God.
Therefore, we see that even Satan, who originally was called Helel or Lucifer, was perfect and free from iniquity, just as God had created him, until his heart was lifted up with pride because of his exceptional beauty and wisdom. Once pride was fully conceived in his heart, he committed the first sin of self-determination in the form of his five “I wills,” which led to active rebellion against God, as we see described in Isaiah 14. Just as in Ezekiel 28, the chapter begins by speaking to a mortal king and then addresses Lucifer who is the principality behind him. Beginning in verse 12 God says:
“How you are fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” (Isa 14:12-15)
As a result of his rebellion, he was cast out of the holy mountain of God. While Satan will not be totally deprived of access to God’s heavenly throne until he is finally confined to the earth along with a third of the angels three and a half years before Christ’s Second Coming (Rev 12:6-9), he is no longer the glorious cherub that covered God’s throne. Now he is the prince of the power of the air and the god of this age. And he only has that position because Adam relinquished his God given authority over the earth to Satan when he obeyed the serpent, rather than God.
That these passages are primarily making reference to Lucifer’s fall is confirmed by Paul’s allusion to it when he instructed Timothy to not appoint a recent convert as a bishop or pastor “lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” (1 Tim 3:6). The only passages in Scripture revealing that the devil’s fall was due to pride are here in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.
Numerous quotes from the Early Church Fathers also indicate that they likewise understood these two passages to be referring to the fall of Lucifer. For brevity, I will just include one quote from Origen. He said:
“But the angels also wonder at the peace which is to be brought about on account of Jesus on the earth, that seat of war, on which Lucifer, star of the morning, fell from heaven, to be warred against and destroyed by Jesus.” [1]
The Liberal Higher Critics of the sacred text, in their attempts to discredit the Scriptures, point out similar beliefs of cultures which predate the writing of the Old Testament Scriptures. For example, the Canaanites spoke of a mighty warrior called Helal, who sought to ascend higher than the other gods, but was defeated and cast down to the depths.
However, to me, the fact that these similarities exist in other ancient post diluvian cultures further confirms the truth of the biblical account, since after the flood all would have shared a common oral tradition. As time went on and Noah’s descendants were dispersed at Babel, these oral traditions lost their purity compared to the divinely inspired biblical account, but their similarity only serves to demonstrate that they shared a common prior source.
I have heard some argue that Satan was originally created evil, based upon the words of Jesus when He said that the devil was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (John 8:44). However, we have already seen that Lucifer was created perfect and remained perfect until iniquity was found in him. So, clearly the “beginning” Jesus was referring to was not the moment of Lucifer’s creation. One cannot be a murderer before a physical being even exists to kill. Clearly, the beginning Jesus was referring to was the moment of the first acts of Satan which were recorded in Genesis when he lied to Eve and brought physical death to mankind. That was the beginning of his career as a murderer and the father of all lies.
So, in answer to the “where” of evil, clearly evil was first conceived in Lucifer’s own heart. Some have trouble seeing how a perfect being in a perfect environment could be capable of conceiving evil. However, I personally don’t see that as a problem, considering that God created men and angels as free rational beings, capable of thinking and acting independently from Him. As I understand it, the angels were enamored by his majestic beauty and wisdom in a way that he couldn’t help but notice. Apparently, at some point, due to all the admiration he continually received, he began to look away from God to himself and became inflated with pride, which in turn led to independent self-determination and finally rebellion.
The primary question still remains: why would God create free rational beings, knowing all along that they would introduce evil into His good creation? That is the question I hope to answer in the next blog.
[1] Origen, Commentary on John, book 1, chapter 13