Articles
Why is there Evil in the World?
We continue our study from last week from a newspaper clipping from the Tampa Tribune that asked, "What question would you ask God if you could talk to him?" The survey's third most asked question was: 3) "Why is there evil in the world?"
SATAN! The Devil is the reason for evil in the world. Jesus called him, "the prince of this world" (John 12:31) and the apostle Paul called him, "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Did God create evil? NO! God is absolute good, for "there is none good but one, that is, God" (Matthew 19:17). Because God is good, He created all things good, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold it was very good" (Genesis 1:31).
We learn from the Scriptures that Satan is a created being and thus was not created evil, but good. We also learn that Satan is one of the angelic beings created by God, "Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts...Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created" (Psalms 148:2,5). Paul says, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him" (Colossians 1:16).
Satan is an angel that was created good and then chose to do evil. Jesus made an interesting statement to His disciples, "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18). The Bible teaches that Satan was not the only one that chose to do evil, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6). God did not allow evil to remain in heaven, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (II Peter 2:4).
Satan, disguised as a serpent, successfully tempted Eve to disobey the command of God. The book of Job reveals the activity of the Devil, "And the Lord said, unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7). The apostle Peter adds, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8).
Evil has been in the world since the Garden of Eden and will remain as long as time continues. When Jesus Christ comes again to judge the world, He will put an end to the Devil and all his evil, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41).
