Exploring Big Questions of Faith: Understanding God's Sovereignty and Goodness
Delve into the profound theological inquiry of why God allowed sin into the world and how His omnipotence, goodness, and mysterious ways intersect with the presence of evil. Drawing from biblical passages and insights from theologians like John Piper, this exploration contemplates God's glory, His hatred of evil, His power to stop it, and the unfathomable nature of His creation. The discussion highlights key verses from Psalms, Genesis, Matthew, and Romans, emphasizing God's goodness, power, and the enigmatic aspects of His divine plan.
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BIG BIG& &small QUESTIONS OF THE FAITH small JASON S. DEROUCHIE, PHD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OT AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY BETHLEHEM COLLEGE & SEMINARY WWW.DEROUCHIE-MEYER.ORG BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH, 2016
QUESTION Why did God let sin in to the world at the beginning? Is God less glorious because he ordained that evil be? (John Piper, Desiring God, 2003 ed., 335 51)
God is all good and hates evil. God is all good and hates evil. Ps 5:4. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. Ps 100:1. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations. 1 John 1:5. God is Light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
God is all powerful and can God is all powerful and can stop evil. stop evil. Gen 18:14. Is there anything to hard for the LORD? Job 42:2. I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Matt 19:26. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
God makes everything and God makes everything and leaves mystery in all. leaves mystery in all. Rom 11:33 36. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Heb 1:13. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Col 1:1620. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him. o Eph 6:12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. o Col 2:15. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
Col 1:1620. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Gods relation to natural evil: God s relation to natural evil: death, disease, destruction death, disease, destruction Life and death o Job lost his ten children at the instigation of Satan, but he would not attribute to Satan the ultimate causality. Job 1:21. Naked I came from my mother s womb, and naked I shall return. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Job 2:3. He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.
o Deut 32:39. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. o 1 Sam 2:6. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. o James 4:14 15. You do not know what tomorrow will bring . For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes . You ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. Cf. 1 Sam 4:14 15; 2 Sam 12:15, 18 o Conclusion: To have life is a gift, and to lose it is never an injustice from God, whether he takes it at age 5 or age 95.
Disease o Exod 4:11. Who has made man s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? o As for Job s sickness: Job 2:7. Satan struck Job with loathsome soars. Job 2:10. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. o 2 Cor 12:7. To keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself.
o Conclusion: Behind all disease and disability is the ultimate will of God. While Satan is probably always involved, his power is not decisive. He cannot act without God s permission.
Natural disasters o Job 5:10. He bestows rain on the earth; he sends water upon the countryside. o Ps 104:4. He makes winds his messengers, a flaming fire his ministers. o Ps 105:16. He summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread. o Ps 135:7. He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses. o Ps 147:18. He makes his wind blow and the waters flow . Fire and hail, snow and mist; stormy wind fulfilling his word! Cf. Ps 65:9 10; 78:26; 148:8
Theres not a plant or flower below but makes your glories known; and clouds arise and tempests blow by order from your throne (Isaac Watts, I Sing the Mighty Power of God, verse 3). o Conclusion: All the calamities of wind, rain, flood, and storm are owing to God s ultimate decree.
All other kinds of natural evils o Eccl 7:14. In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. o Isa 45:7. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these. o Amos 3:6. Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD had done it?
Overall Conclusion: All natural evils ultimately derive from the decree of God and fit into his ultimate purpose. What, then, is that ultimate purpose? o Basic answer: God does what he does in order to preserve and display his glory. o But how does God s glory relate to his love for us, and how does this work itself out?
One of Gods purposes in our suffering o Eccl 11:5. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. o Eccl 8:17. Then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. o Eccl 7:13 14. Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
o Eccl 3:14. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever, nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. o Eccl 8:12 13. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. But it will not be will with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
o 1 Pet 5:57. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
