Origin of Evil
If God is in control, why is there so much evil in the world? How did it begin, and when will it end?
Is God evil?
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
How did evil originate?
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.
God cannot be the originator of evil because that is contrary to His character of love. It was an enemy of God that was responsible for the birth of evil.
What was Satan’s name before he sinned?
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Lucifer means “light bearer”, and he was one of God’s angels.
Was Lucifer perfect when God created him?
Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
In Ezekiel 28 Lucifer is symbolized as the “prince of Tyre,” and we learn that he was created perfect. He was also a covering cherub, which means he had a high position in heaven and was next to God’s very presence. It’s unknown how long perfection existed in heaven, but eventually evil was born in Lucifer’s heart because he aall of God’s angels had freedom of choice. This is a risk God willingly took because genuine love cannot exist without a free will.
How did he taint his perfect heart?
By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Lucifer allowed his beauty to fill him with pride, and he started to envy God’s power, His throne, and the worship of the angels. Eventually, his goal was to unseat God.
What did this lead to?
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And he [Jesus] said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Lucifer was able to convince other angels to join him in his rebellion, leading to war in heaven. God could have then destroyed him, but He did not want the remaining angels to worship Him out of fear, so He cast Lucifer out of heaven and gave him an opportunity to demonstrate what would be the result of sin and rebellion. Would it bring more prosperity and happiness than God’s form of government?
Where did he end up?
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Earth is where Satan would have a chance to develop his own form of government.
What did God do next?
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
After losing some of His angels, God created a new order of beings after His own image. Adam and Eve were to be independent judges between the government of God and that of Satan since they did not witness the conflict in heaven. God gave them a perfect start, everything they needed for happiness and prosperity, but like His angels, they also had free will, and in order to be fair to Satan, God gave him access to them at the tree.
What lie did Satan tell Eve that was an echo of Isaiah 14:14?
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Satan used a serpent to deceive Eve and contradict God by telling her that not only would she not die if she ate the fruit, but she would also become like God, which is exactly what Satan himself desired in heaven. The implication was that God was holding her back from reaching her fullest potential, and Satan was actually the one who had her best interests in mind, not God.
What happened instead?
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
In order to deceive Eve, Satan mixed in some truth with his lie when he said she would know good and evil because now that they had sinned against God, Adam and Eve lost their innocence, and their eyes were indeed opened to shame, grief, suffering, pain, and death, but they did not ascend to a higher state of existence, as Satan had promised. It was not God’s will for them to know evil, but because Adam and Eve had chosen to believe Satan’s version of reality, he was now free to proceed with establishing his form of government on Earth.
What does sin do?
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God for the first time. Sin leads to separation from God because sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy God without being consumed by it. A chasm was now formed between the Giver of life and His creation, and the process of death had commenced.
What affect did sin have on the human heart?
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
Once the human heart was corrupted with sin, the door was opened up to the influence of evil in all it’s forms.
What does sin lead to?
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sin leads to separation from the Giver of life, which leads to death.
How many are under the power of death?
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Am I really sovereign in my fallen condition?
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Ever since the fall, the human race no longer has true freedom and has become a slave to sin and, ultimately, to death.
Is there any hope of escaping the power of death?
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Once Adam and Eve fell, God did not leave them in their hopeless condition but gave them a promise that sin would not reign on earth forever. A Redeemer would come who would crush the head of Satan and break the power of sin and death over the human race by paying for their sins Himself.
How can I go from death to justification of life?
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.
Christ’s perfect life gives us the ability to be free from the bondage of sin and it’s penalty of death! By paying for our sins, Jesus made it possible for anyone who receives this free gift by faith through repentance of sins to be forgiven and declared righteous before God!
What does God promise as I live in a world of sin and evil?
For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
God in His love and mercy does not leave us in our hopeless condition. He gave His own Son to give us a way out of our predicament and eliminate the separation that occured between Him and the human race in the Garden of Eden.
Will Satan live forever?
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
What will God do once evil is eradicated?
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
There will come a day when Satan will be destroyed and his flawed kingdom will come to an end. It will be replaced by an earth that will be even more glorious than the Garden of Eden, and we will once again be able to talk to God face to face!
Will evil rise up again?
What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Sin and rebellion will never rise up again because the pierced hands of Jesus will be an eternal reminder of the evil results of sin.