If you don’t believe in the devil, then …
The man’s gentle face slowly sagged and became a picture of foreboding. “I can hardly advise you, who thinks the devil is only hot air, now can I?”
from “Immanuel’s Veins” by Ted Dekker
Ted Dekker really has a way of getting right to the point, doesn’t he?
He looks at the dark side of life. The all-too-real dark side of life. The one that Jesus spoke of, right after the very famous John 3:16 –
Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Yes – men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. It was true in Jesus’ time.
It’s true in our time.
And it was true back in Noah’s time. You remember the flood, right?
The Flood
…
Ge 6:5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
And let’s not forget about the “incident” with Cain and Abel –
Cain and Abel
Ge 4:1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Ge 4:6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Ge 4:8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Ge 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Ge 4:10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. ”
Oh – and then there’s the “original sin” –
The Fall of Man
Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Ge 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Ge 3:4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Ge 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Ge 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Ge 3:10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Ge 3:11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? ”
Ge 3:12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Ge 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
And, of course, it was all downhill from there.
Yes, there really is a downhill from there.
If you want to see some current examples of our evil – just check out the 10 PM news.
Or, if you want examples that really show just how evil we are – check out the internet.
But be careful don’t go too far.
Some of those things could land you in jail.
Not to mention get you hooked and drag you into the darkness if you’re not already there..
Doing Good to All
Gal 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
I can’t stress this point enough. Even while writing of helping another Christian with their sins, Paul gives this warning to watch ourselves. I certainly don’t want to be the one leading anyone into temptation. At the same time though, I have to agree with the quote at the top – warning that we should not believe the devil is merely hot air. For those of you who know this world is full of evil – no further exploration is necessary. For those who believe people are “good”, even a little exploration should be more than enough to let you know that the devil is real.
In light of where this topic is right now, and in light of the title – I want to share something with you about this. Something you need to stay away from. Years ago, we had hired some IT consultants to work with us, since we needed some expertise that we didn’t currently have. All of a sudden, one of them didn’t show up for work. Turns out he was into internet pornography. That got him into sites that had underage girls – young teenagers. That got him into sites where he could meet the girls for – let’s be polite and leave it there. Next thing you know – he was arrested. Life as he knew it was over.
That also happens when we don’t believe the devil is real.
We can come to believe that evil isn’t real either. Or, as we saw in The problem of sanitized evil, even though we have a realization that evil does exist – we don’t know very much about it. Or how to avoid it. And then, when we start to get into it – we don’t know how to get out.
Yes – a way out is available to us.
Warnings From Israel’s History
1Co 10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
This is tough to hear. Even though God was with them every step of the way, Paul writes that God was not pleased with most of them. The truth is – that’s putting it mildly. Remember this?
Nu 14:26 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: 29 In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
Considering that the number of men over age 20 was 603,550 – with women, children, and the tribe of Levi not even counted, we have 0.000000033137271%. Adding in the women, children, and Levites would make that tiny little percentage even smaller. Out of what was clearly over 1 million people, God was pleased with only two.
And what makes this number so disappointing and scary – God was with them – literally.
1Co 10:6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
We talked about fire and brimstone preaching in The problem of sanitized evil. Here’s a version of it from Paul, to the early Christians. And, since God chose this letter to the church in Corinth to be included in the New Testament, it’s for us as well.
Twenty-three thousand people died in one day for sexual immorality. That’s out of something over 1 million people. Today, there are an estimated 7.6 billion people in the world. If that 23,000 people were put into today’s population numbers – it would be nearly 175 million people dying because of sexual immorality.
But let’s be realistic.
That number is too small! Remember what Jesus said about murder.
Mt 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
That was bad enough in Jesus’ time, when saying Raca to a brother meant seeing them face to face. (Although I doubt that Jesus meant this to be only face to face.) Now, with the internet – social media – it’s possible for complete strangers to say all sorts of things to and about people they have never met and may not even know anything about! If we think the “murder” rates are too high – what would we think if we were in God’s place and defined murder the way He does?
And that’s just murder. What about sexual immorality? Do we think the definition God uses is any different from the one for murder? Jimmy Carter famously admitted that he had looked on a lot of women with lust. If that’s included in God’s definition of sexual immorality – then what about “adult” sites on the internet. Once again – it’s not necessary to have any contact with the person at all. And the person on the web site may not even know they are being viewed. Plus, one thing leads to another. Then the number of people goes even higher than the projected 175 million people.
We hopefully think of these things as wrong, at a minimum. But – do we think of them as evil? And I mean all of them. No matter how we may to trivialize – justify – morally compare – them, they are all evil in God’s eye.
Another question. If we were in the group of Israelites making the Exodus from Egypt – do we honestly believe we would have lived to see the Promised Land? Jesus talked about the narrow path – but 2 out of over 1 million is incredibly small.
The thing we need to remember is that this isn’t what God originally had in mind for us. It was Satan who introduced evil into the world. Failing to believe and recognize the existence of Satan and the fallen angels who went with him leads us way too easy a target for them.
Why?
Why evil things happen is always a difficult thing. The short answer is – it depends.
For instance, there’s what happened with Job. Job didn’t do anything wrong – but look what happened to him.
Other times, what we think is bad / evil may not be. One example there is when someone dies. We are upset. We grieve. Maybe we get mad at God. But what if God was calling this person home? The thing we perceive as bad is actually good. That’s a hard thing. I’ve had people get mad at me for suggesting that before. For one view of this, see The Problem of Healing (or Not). For quite another view of death, see The problem of “a Better Place”.
There’s also this view from Paul.
1Co 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
It’s pretty arrogant of us to think that we can actually stand firm on our own. Or to think that Satan’s not going to attack us, even if we are standing with God. Remember – even Peter had to go through trial because of Satan.
Lk 22:31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Lk 22:33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
Lk 22:34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
For more on that, please see Before the rooster crows, but was it once or twice?. Even though Peter was with Jesus, Peter failed. His arrogance got the better of him. And notice – Jesus didn’t pray that nothing would happen. No, Jesus prayed that after it did happen, that Peter’s faith would not fail.
Here’s just a couple of things the Bible says about arrogance. Notice that “evil” is also mentioned in both of them.
Proverbs – on arrogance and evil
Pr 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
In a section the NIV subtitles Wisdom’s Call, we read that fear of the Lord involves hating evil. That alone tells us something. At least it should. Adding pride, arrogance, and perverse speech add to it. We probably assume evil behavior would be included – but the perverse speech goes back to the issue we just looked at where Jesus equates calling someone a fool to murdering them. Proverbs includes a couple of verses about pride, including:
Pr 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
“Disgrace” is a word that doesn’t seem to have much meaning today. Politicians, celebrities, sports stars, Etc. are supposedly disgraced for various things they say and do – and yet there seems to be very little consequence. However, in Old Testament times it had a deeper meaning and real consequences. We can see that by looking at the root word for the Hebrew word from which disgrace comes.
7034 קָלָה [qalah /kaw·law/] v. A primitive root; TWOT 2024; GK 7829; Six occurrences; AV translates as “seem vile” once, “shall be condemned” once, “lightly esteemed” once, “despised” once, “base” once, and “settest light” once. 1 to disgrace, dishonour, be lightly esteemed, be dishonoured, be despised. 1A (Niphal) to be dishonoured, be despised, be lightly esteemed. 1B (Hiphil) to treat with contempt, dishonour, treat shamefully. 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
Regardless of what we may think about a loss of honor, concepts like vile, despised, and condemned certainly have weight. Condemnation by God is the ultimate end to a life that is disgraced.
Isaiah – on arrogance and evil
Pay attention to verse 11. It is the cause for everything else that happens in the passage.
A Prophecy Against Babylon
Isa 13:9 See, the day of the LORD is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
Isa 13:10 The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
Isa 13:11 I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
Isa 13:12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
Isa 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
If the verse from Proverbs didn’t make the point about the consequences of doing evil, this passage certainly should. And that’s evil in any form – actions, words, even thoughts.
But what about the devil?
We’ve looked at evil quite a bit here. But we haven’t talked about the devil. At least it may seem that way. But really, why do you think we do all these evil things? Whether it’s actions, words, or even thoughts – there’s a reason for them.
From what Paul wrote above, we might get the idea that God is tempting us – and God’s the one who causes us to do these things. 1Co 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. But there’s a problem with that kind of thinking. Look at what James wrote about trials and temptations.
Trials and Temptations
Jas 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Jas 1:9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
Jas 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Jas 1:16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Notice verse 13 especially. God does not tempt us. In the conclusion to this series, we’ll look at the difference between the knowledge of good and evil – as opposed to actually doing evil. We’ll get into a deeper discussion of it in that final article. However, I do want to point out something here. Take a look at the following passage.
The Temptation of Jesus – Matthew
Mt 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Mt 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’’”
Mt 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’’”
Mt 4:7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’’”
Mt 4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Mt 4:10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’’”
Mt 4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
So if you think it’s God doing the tempting – what’s going on here? Is God tempting Himself? How pointless would that be? Why would Jesus go through all of that – going through all that until He’s in such physical strain that He needed to be physically attended by Angels – if it was all staged and wasn’t real? While conspiracy theorists, and those who don’t want to believe in God, may still believe God does the tempting – no Christian should hold that belief.
And let’s add one more thought from something Jesus said. While it isn’t directly on topic – it does bring us to a conclusion that is valuable when considering whether or not God tempts us.
Jesus and Beelzebub – Matthew
Mt 12:22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
Mt 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
Mt 12:25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
True enough – Jesus is not driving out demons in the name of the prince of demons, IE. Satan. However, notice also what Jesus says about a house divided. While it not an exact analogy, if we put God in the position of both the one doing the tempting and the one doing the forgiving – that’s an odd situation at best – and well on its way to a house divided.
There’s probably some who may think of a teacher from school. Someone who gives a test, with trick questions. And then that same teacher grades the test. And if everyone messes up on a question – maybe the teacher “forgives” the class by not counting the question. But that’s not what’s happening here. Why not? Because we have all messed up, as Paul reminds us.
Righteousness Through Faith
Ro 3:21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Yes – all of us have sinned. And every one of us falls short of the glory of God. And Jesus, as the “teacher”, is the one helping us to not fail – not the one who designed the test and wrote the questions. Further, Jesus doesn’t give us a free pass, just because everyone sinned. We’ll get more into that shortly. My point here is simply that the “evil” teacher scenario does not fit.
then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
And here is the key point of the passage, in terms of our discussion.
But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
The reason for Jesus coming to this earth – suffering – dying on the cross – is not to keep us from entering the Kingdom of God. It’s to give us the possibility of entering the Kingdom of God.
The source and the point of trials and temptation
Stay with me here on this thought. People ask why bad things happen. And we ask if God makes them happen. Note: as we’ve seen, for those that accuse God of causing evil things (as I myself have done before) are accusing the wrong one. So it’s down to these two questions.
I’ve already said that God doesn’t make evil things happen. How then can God always use our trials and temptations to come out for good? First of all, I think lots of people have a misconception of the verse from which this thought comes. (I don’t normally like to pull out one verse, because it loses the context. But in this case, the context draws us too much into that context – and away from the point of this one verse. For a detailed look at the whole passage, please see The problem of Either/Or: Free Will vs Predestiny.)
Ro 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
While many think this verse says that God makes everything coming out for good – that’s not at all what it says. It says that God will make all things come out for the good of those who love Him. As the referenced article points out – this doesn’t even mean for everyone who claims to be a Christian. It’s only for those who truly love God.
Having said all that, I submit that God doesn’t have to make evil things happen. Take a look at this passage from Revelation.
The Woman and the Dragon
…
Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
Rev 12:11 They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
…
Yes, this passage is about the end for Satan. It’s one that most Christians would recognize, in concept if not actually remembering the words and where they come from. But did you catch this part:
the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night
Most of us would also recognize Satan as our accuser. But it’s “day and night“. Constant. Satan is not omnipresent. In other words, Satan isn’t everywhere all the time. From this, we can conclude at least two things.
- Satan probably isn’t the one actually tempting us – he’s too busy accusing us before God. It’s his legion of fallen angels who are doing the tempting. So when we read about Jesus being tempted by Satan, the leader, we are facing something less than that. While that may lead us to think we can deal with it – we cannot get arrogant (as we saw earlier) and think we can take care of things without Jesus. The takeaway for us should be, if Jesus’ example works against Satan, then our following His example will work against his minions. That is, as long as we keep Jesus with us. And finally, we need to remember that “work against one of his (Satan’s) minions” doesn’t mean everything will work out the way we want. We also have to look at Peter’s example and recognize that we may fail – but that Jesus is praying for us to keep our faith no matter what happens – and that when we turn back, we’ll help our brothers and sisters.
- As we learned from both the example of Peter and from the book of Job – Satan can accuse, but he must also get permission from God before anything can be done against us.
When we put these two things together, we see that God has no reason to make evil things happen. (And that’s ignoring the simple truth that God is good and cannot commit evil.) There’s plenty of evil already taking place, just from what God allows out of Satan’s constant accusations and requests. Keeping in mind that everyone has sinned, then everyone is also a target of accusation and a possible target of evil from Satan. Just as all have sinned, and just as all have fallen short of the glory of God, so are all a target of Satan.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
This is a question that has to come up at some point. Why do bad things happen to good people?
This section is going to brutally honest. But then, I can look at myself in the mirror and say every word of it to myself – knowing that it’s true.
First off – who exactly are the “good” people? Here’s a definition of the word translated as good, from one instance when Jesus was speaking.
18 ἀγαθός, ἀγαθοεργός [agathos /ag·ath·os/] adj. A primary word; TDNT 1:10; TDNTA 3; GK 19 and together with Strongs 2041 as GK 15; 102 occurrences; AV translates as “good” 77 times, “good thing” 14 times, “that which is good + 3588” eight times, “the thing which is good + 3588” once, “well” once, and “benefit” once. 1 of good constitution or nature. 2 useful, salutary. 3 good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy. 4 excellent, distinguished. 5 upright, honourable. 2Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
If you think that includes you – think again. Here’s the passage where this translation comes from.
The Rich Young Man – Mark
Mk 10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Mk 10:18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’’”
Mk 10:20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Mk 10:21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Mk 10:22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Mk 10:23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
Mk 10:24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Mk 10:26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
Mk 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
We assume this young man wanted to impress Jesus. As we see – he failed. That last verse also pints to something we’ve looked at here – by ourselves we have no hope of being saved. Even Satan’s least effective fallen angel is too much for us to deal with on our own. But with God – we can be saved, no matter how powerful the fallen angel(s) attacking us might be.
However, for this particular question of why do bad things happen to good people, verse 18 is the one we want to look at. Jesus says, No one is good—except God alone. As a Christian – we should (must) believe this. Therefore, if it’s true that no one is good except God alone, then where do we come off asking why bad things happen to good people? The first answer is that there are no good people. No good people. Like I said – brutally honest.
Good is a relative term for us. So is evil. We’ll get more into that thought in a later article in the series. But to God – good isn’t relative. And even the “best” human that ever lived is so far short of God that they may as well be murderers by comparison. Oh. Wait. David – a man after God’s own heart did cause the husband of the woman with whom he had an adulterous relationship to die. (see Acts 13:22) And Moses did kill an Egyptian. (see Exodus 2:11-14). And these were among the best of the Old Testament men. For the New Testament – we need look no further than Paul, who persecuted and was involved in killing Christians as Saul.
Even if we want to be so bold, and arrogant, as to say that we never murdered anyone – don’t forget about what Jesus said. Which of us can honestly say we’ve never called anyone foolish?
As I said – there are no “good” people.
And that conclusion – that there are no good people – also answers the question of why bad things happen. Bad things happen because Satan has a legitimate accusation against every single one of us. This is something we cannot deny. And we ultimately have no basis for claiming that some bad things should not have come upon us.
Again, brutal. But honest.
But let’s proceed to the question of why, in spite of what we’ve just seen.
As much as we might wish the Bible said something else, remember that it does say:
Ro 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
As we saw – this isn’t everyone in the world. It’s also not even everyone who claims to be a Christian. So it’s saying that God works for the good of those who love Him. So we have essentially two groups of people.
- Those who do not love God. Nothing is said here about them. We cannot even say that God is necessarily going to bring something good out of an event where only those who don’t love Him are involved.
- Those who do love God. And remember – this is those who truly do love God, in their heats – not just in words. For this group, bad things happen so that God’s glory will ultimately be shown. However – it’s not that God makes them happen – it’s that Satan has requested – and God has granted, within limits – that bad things happen.
While this may seem unfair, we must remember that it is not unfair. Fair would be God leaving us pay for all the evil we did – even those who truly love Him.
After bad things happen to people who truly love God
So now we’re down to a question of: why do bad things happen to people who truly love God?
Well, we’ve already seen part of the answer. Sometimes God allows it to test us. Sometimes God allows it to strengthen us. Maybe it’s for reasons that we’ll find out later in life. Or maybe it’s for reasons that we won’t find out until we’re in Heaven, if even then. But no matter what, we must not lose sight of this: in all things God works for the good of those who love him.
We also need to remember that bad things happening to those who truly love God are to ultimately bring glory to God. And that involves us. When those bad things happen to us – if we truly love God – our role in those bad things isn’t to curse God because of them. Far from it – our role is to bring glory to God. That’s why James says:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds
He says this because God knows that we will bring glory to Him through those trials. That’s an amazing thought, isn’t it? How many of us think God has enough faith in us to bring glory to Him when bad things happen to us? But look at Job. That’s exactly what was going on.
Let’s take this one step further.
I submit to you that when God does give Satan permission to do something evil to someone who truly love God – God is using Satan. Satan thinks he’s going to bring grief to us. But God is allowing it to (1) bring joy to us – for the reasons we just saw and (2) bring glory to Himself. While Satan thinks he’s scoring a victory over God – God is actually scoring a victory over Satan.
Furthermore, the more people we who experience the trials / recognize the joy and then share all of that with others – how much greater is Satan’s loss and God’s glory?
But if you don’t believe in the devil, then …
But if we don’t believe in the devil, then …
- We don’t believe God’s word – because the Bible makes it quite clear that Satan and the devils are real
- which means we don’t truly love God
- and that means everything I just said above about the joy of facing trials doesn’t apply
- which leads to the sad conclusion that we’re the ones talked about in James 1:15: Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Conclusion
“The man’s gentle face slowly sagged and became a picture of foreboding. “I can hardly advise you, who thinks the devil is only hot air, now can I?”
That’s where we started.
Where are you now?
C S Lewis wrote this in The Screwtape Letters:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.
We should be in the middle. Not ignorant of the devil. But not obsessed with him either.
Where are you?
Footnotes
- 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
- 2Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.