That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun; that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. - Isaiah 45:6-7
We humans struggle constantly with the age-old controversy of the origin of suffering. The dualistic approach opines that there’s a good god and an evil god. These two are constantly battling for control and we are simply caught in the middle. When the issue is stated so baldly, it is easy to see not only its logical problems but also (for we Christians) its Scriptural problems.
C.S. Lewis dealt with dualism best in his book Mere Christianity. Stated simply and succinctly, dualism is wrong logically because each god or power must think that it is right and the other is wrong. We must also think this. But in making that judgment we are appealing to a third force or power – “rightness”. That law must supersede the two gods. One is following that Law and so must be the “good” god. The other must be breaking it and thus can be identified as “evil.” But that still brings us back to an ultimate moral Law to which we are all beholden.
Scripturally, dualism is wrong because the Lord God has always stated without equivocation, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” I’m afraid that Christians sometimes fall for “Christian dualism” when considering the devil. They somehow feel that God may be the sovereign Lord but here on earth the devil rules.
There even seems to be some Scriptural backing for this theory. John 12:31; 14:30 and 16:11 refers to the devil as “the ruler of this world.” He is the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and "the whole world lies under his power" (1 John 5:19).
However, we must take the whole Bible into consideration. We must not only look at verses that state the doctrine, but also verses that show us application to be sure of understanding the doctrine. For instance – consider Job. Job did nothing wrong but the devil bet God that he could make Job break and God allowed him to try within certain limitations. After losing his children, his wealth, his health and the respect of his friends, even his wife suggested "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die." (Job 2:9)
Understandably, Job was frustrated and in agony of soul. He spent most of the book asking over and over “Why? Where is justice? What have I done wrong that you should treat me this way?”
When God finally responds however, He never answers Job’s questions. He basically says “Who are you to question me?” (Job 38-39)
Job’s reaction is to be imitated when he says "I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You ask, `Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far too wonderful for me. You said, `Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.' I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance." (Job 42:2-6)
Isaiah agrees with this concept when he portrays God as the Potter and us as the clay (Isaiah 64:8). Paul also puts in his two cents’ worth. “…Who are you, a mere human being, to criticize God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who made it, "Why have you made me like this?" When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? God has every right to exercise his judgment and his power, but he also has the right to be very patient with those who are the objects of his judgment and are fit only for destruction.” (Romans 9:19-22)
It is this balanced view that I seek. Not the view that holds God to be an eternally angry God waiting to zap us with lightning. Nor the view that holds God to be a great Teddy Bear just waiting with baited breath for us to accept his forgiving embrace. Both of these views are embarrassingly two dimensional and totally unworthy of Jehovah.
The devil does temporarily have some authority on this planet. But it is limited by God’s sovereignty. He can only go so far. And apparently he has to go to the throne room and get permission! (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6) Therefore, if I must go through any suffering, any pain, anything that I consider (from my limited perspective) evil – I must also understand that God had the power to stop it and chose not to. Everything can ultimately be laid at His feet. The buck stops there.
Christians shy away from this concept. They try to defend God to non believers by saying God is love (1 John 4:8). But God is also holy (1 Peter 1:16).
- He loved Mankind enough to not destroy us when we rebelled in the Garden of Eden. But He hates sin enough to have kept them from the tree of life, effectively killing what were previously immortal beings. (Genesis 3:22-23)
- He loved the people of Israel enough to free them from Egypt. But He hates sin enough to have slaughtered thousands of them for their rebellion. (Numbers 11 cp Psalm 78:27; Exodus 32; etc.)
- He loved the people enough to give them priests and a system by which they could be reconciled to Him when they sinned. But he hates sin so much that the people He chose to be the priests were the ones who went through the camp killing 3,000 rebellious sinners, not sparing their own families. (Exodus 32:25-29)
- He loved them enough to give them a Promised Land, but hates sin enough to let a whole generation of them die off for not crossing the Jordan when they were told todo so. (Numbers 14:26ff)
- He loves us so much that He died for us on the cross but He hates sin enough to cast recalcitrant sinners forever into a burning lake of fire “where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out.” (Mark 9:48)
- He loves us enough to come back and get us but He hates sin enough to kill off huge portions of the planet’s population at that time (Revelation 6:7-8).
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 exults, "For I proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.”
- He was just when He banished Adam and Eve from the Garden lest they eat of the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-23).
- He was just when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24 cp 2 Peter 2:6).
- He was holy and just when He ordered the genocide of the Amalekites (Deuteronomy 25:17-19).
- He was holy and just when He allowed His people to be repeatedly invaded, their women raped and their children kidnapped into slavery. (Zechariah 14:2)
- He was perfectly correct to strike Ananias and Saphira dead (Acts 5:1-11).
- He had every right to allow Christians to be sick and even die for their wrongful partaking of Communion (1 Corinthians 11:27-30).
- No one will be able to call Him unjust when He brings judgment upon the earth after the rapture in the Great Day of God’s wrath. (Revelation 6:12-17)
Now Isaiah 45:6-7 should be balanced with the knowledge that God does not sin and does not tempt anyone else into sin (James 1:13-17). So the darkness He brings is not the darkness of sin but of difficulty. Notice that Isaiah defines the light and darkness as “well-being” and “calamity.” He was perfect and holy when He repeatedly denied Paul’s petition to be healed (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). In fact, in that passage we are told specifically that God gave Paul that torment. Why? In order to keep him from being proud.
I doubt very much that a rose appreciates it when the gardener prunes it back to the nub. But the gardener knows that this is what is best for that rose and thus, out of his love, he holds nothing back but cuts everything off that is counterproductive to good health. When a surgeon tries to remove a cancer, he removes everything he suspects of infection and then a little more just to be sure. God is no less a Gardener. As Jesus said “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2). He is also Jehovah-rapha, the Great Physician.
My fear is that we fall into the sin of the people described in Romans 1. “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead.” (Romans 1:22-23 NLT)
Rather than reject a fearful and mighty warrior God (Exodus 15:3) we should exult in it. We must hold a true and balanced view of God. Yes, He is to be loved and reverenced but “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7; Psalm 111:10). Does the devil have power? Absolutely! But “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 cp John 10:29).
We need to hold firmly in our minds that God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, we should humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt us at the proper time (1 Peter 5:5-6). If we do humble ourselves before God, accepting His will no matter what it is, and if we put up some resistance, then and only then will the devil be forced to flee (James 4:6-7). It is precisely because we side ourselves with a great and powerful God against Whom there can ultimately be no victory that we can have hope.
