Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Suffering & God's Will
Scripture answers yes, and it never makes God the author of sin. God rules over evil the way a king rules over rebels: nothing escapes His decree or His limits, and yet the guilt stays wholly with the one who does it. The cross is the proof. The worst deed in history was also the most certainly planned, and there God meant for good what men meant for evil.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/does-god-control-evil · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Genesis 50:15-21
As you read: Joseph speaks to the brothers who sold him, and names two intentions behind one deed.
15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him.”
16They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying,
17‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.
21Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
Acts 2:22-36
As you read: Peter holds God's plan and human guilt together in a single sentence about the cross.
22“Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in your midst, even as you yourselves know,
23him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
24whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
25For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
26Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;
27because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.
28You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29“Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.
32This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.
33Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.
34For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand,
35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
36“Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Isaiah 45:5-13
As you read: God claims the whole span of what happens in the world: light and dark, peace and calamity.
5I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me;
6that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
7I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.
8Distil, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it.
9Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
10Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?’”
11Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
12I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and I have commanded all their army.
13I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Job 1:6-22
As you read: Satan can do only what God permits, and not one step past the line God draws.
6Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them.
7Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
8Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”
9Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”
12Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.
13It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,
14that there came a messenger to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
15and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
16While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
18While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,
19and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
21He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”
22In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.
James 1:12-18
As you read: The guardrail, stated flatly, and then where temptation actually comes from.
12Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
16Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.
17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Joseph names both causes in a single sentence: 'you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.' The brothers were not puppets; their envy was their own, and Joseph still calls it evil. Nor was the outcome an accident God salvaged afterward, because God meant it, and the good He meant was the saving of many lives. Years before, Joseph had said it plainly: 'So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God.' Scripture does not choose between the brothers' guilt and God's purpose. It states both, about the same deed, in one breath.
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.”Genesis 50:20
“Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”Genesis 45:5-8
“His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.”Genesis 37:11
This is where the question stops being abstract. Peter tells the crowd in Jerusalem that Jesus was 'delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God,' and in the same sentence says, 'you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed.' The church's prayer later said the same: Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and Israel 'were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.' Isaiah goes further back and calls it God's own pleasure: 'Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him.' Jesus holds both truths at once. His betrayal 'has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!' A plan that certain, and a guilt that real. And He tells Pilate, 'You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above.'
“him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;”Acts 2:23
““For truly, in this city against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.”Acts 4:27-28
“Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand.”Isaiah 53:10
“The Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!””Luke 22:22
“Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.””John 19:11
Scripture is not embarrassed to say that disaster is under God's hand. 'I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.' Amos asks a question whose answer is built into it: 'Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn't done it?' Lamentations asks, 'Doesn't evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?' And God says of Himself, 'I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal.' These texts speak of calamity and death, the ruin that comes on a city or a life, and they tell us that nothing here simply happens. It all lies inside the counsel of the One who works all things after the counsel of His will.
“I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.”Isaiah 45:7
“Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?”Amos 3:6
“Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it? Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?”Lamentations 3:37-38
““See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.”Deuteronomy 32:39
“in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;”Ephesians 1:11
Here is the guardrail that keeps all of this from becoming blasphemy. James allows no one to blame God for temptation: 'Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God can't be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.' He traces temptation to its real source: 'each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.' John states it flatly: 'God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.' Habakkuk appeals to God's own purity: 'You who have purer eyes than to see evil.' And God says of the worst idolatry in Judah, 'which I didn't command them, neither did it come into my mind.' So Scripture never says that God sins, approves of sin, or delights in it. He decrees that it will happen, sets its limits, and turns it to His purpose, while the doing of it remains the creature's own and the creature is answerable for it.
“Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.”James 1:13-14
“This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”1 John 1:5
“You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,”Habakkuk 1:13
“They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through fire to Molech; which I didn’t command them, neither did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”Jeremiah 32:35
Scripture gives us a pattern rather than a formula. God permits, and He limits: Satan may touch Job's possessions, then Job's body, but never one step past the line God draws, 'only spare his life.' God moves even where a creature acts: one account says 'Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel,' and another says of the same event that 'he moved David against them,' naming God. God sends the deception that a rebellious heart has already chosen: 'I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets,' and in the next verse, 'Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets.' And when people insist on refusing Him, His judgment is to give them what they wanted: 'God gave them up to a reprobate mind,' and 'God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie.' Permission, limits, direction, judgment: through all of it the sin stays the sinner's own, and God stays holy.
“Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.”Job 1:12
“Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.””Job 2:6
“Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.”1 Chronicles 21:1
“Again Yahweh’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.””2 Samuel 24:1
“Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’ Now therefore, behold, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you.””1 Kings 22:22-23
“Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;”Romans 1:28
“Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie;”2 Thessalonians 2:11
It does not mean evil is not evil: 'Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.' It does not excuse the guilty: Peter says God planned the cross, and then tells the same crowd, 'you have taken by the hand of lawless men.' It does not promise we will be shown the reason now: 'the secret things belong to Yahweh our God,' and His judgments are 'past tracing out.' What it does mean is that no betrayal, no cruelty, and no loss is loose in the universe. Joseph's sentence is the whole answer, because what was meant to destroy became the means of rescue. Paul's promise stands on the same foundation: 'all things work together for good for those who love God,' and nothing, 'neither death, nor life… nor any other created thing,' can separate us from the One who rules it all. God controls evil, and evil does not control Him.
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”Isaiah 5:20
“him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;”Acts 2:23
“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”Deuteronomy 29:29
“Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!”Romans 11:33
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.”Genesis 50:20
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”Romans 8:28
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 8:38-39