Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Q & A: Why Did God Create Satan?


Q. Why would God create Satan knowing that he would fall and bring sin and death into the world?

Picture a man who owns a fine china shop. He sells the most exquisite tea sets, glasses and vases. This same shop owner also fancies himself to be a cowboy in his spare time. He likes to raise cattle, rope and ride. Now imagine that this man invites his prized bull into his china shop. We’ve all heard this one before. Of course, the bull in the china shop is not going to end well. And what did the shop owner expect would happen when he let a wild beast run loose among his delicacies?

It's not a perfect parable, but it captures the idea behind the age-old question, “Why did God create Satan?” It doesn’t make much sense for the shop owner to let a bull run amok, and to us it doesn’t make sense that God would create Satan and turn him loose to steal, kill and destroy. Inherent to this thorny problem is the assumption that we see no good reason for Satan’s existence. After all, wouldn’t the world be a much better place without him? This question also strikes at the goodness of God. If God was really good, then why would He make the Devil?

This is not as easy question, but it is one that I have pondered myself and have been asked before by curious minds. Theologians have been wrestling with it for thousands of years and there isn’t a black and white answer. The reason is because the Bible does not address this question specifically. The Bible reports what happened in the creation, fall and consequences of Satan’s revolt, but it doesn’t give the why. That means that any answer given to this question will be based on sanctified speculation.

 Before we try to answer this question, we should lay the foundation with some non-negotiable truths.


·         God is all-knowing or omniscient (Psalm 139:4, 147:4-5). When God created, He knew in advance all the evil Satan would eventually cause. Yet, He created anyway.

 

·         God has not revealed everything to us about Himself or His plan (Deut. 29:29). In areas where we lack knowledge, we must be careful not to tread beyond Scripture. This is where faith comes in. We do know enough about God that He is trustworthy, sovereign and good (Job 42:2-3). We must trust Him even when we don’t understand it all.   


·         God’s ways are not man’s ways (Is. 55:8-9). What makes sense to us from a finite, fallen perspective, doesn’t always make sense from an infinite, perfect perspective. Along with that, God doesn’t owe us anything, especially the reasons for why He has set up the world this way. In that china shop parable, we are merely a broken, chipped vessel. “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?” (Isaiah 45:9).


·         God did not create Satan, but Lucifer – an angel of light whose original purpose was to glorify God (Ez. 28; Is. 14). However, Lucifer chose to rebel against God’s design. That means that in the beginning God made the angelic beings with a free will to love or reject Him (just like humans). This is key because unless there is free will, then all self-conscious creatures would be robots, automatons, programmed to respond one way. God valued free will and love more than He did having robotic creatures. Free will opened the door for evil and sin to enter the story.     


·         God’s sovereignty extends to Satan, even in his fallen condition. God is able to use Satan’s evil actions to ultimately bring about His plan (Gen. 3:15). Satan played his role as tempter and would also play his role as vanquished foe. As Reformer Martin Luther would say, “The Devil is still God’s Devil.”


·         God’s plan of salvation was ordained from eternity past (Rev. 13:8); salvation requires something to be saved from, and so God allowed Satan’s rebellion and the spread of sin.


·         The suffering that Satan brought into the world actually became the means by which Jesus was able to be the complete and perfect Savior of mankind: “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered” (Heb. 2:10). Indeed, Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8).


·         Ultimately it is by and through the defeat of Satan that all of God’s glorious attributes are displayed. We see his sovereignty, holiness, mercy, love, justice, wisdom, grace, omniscience and omnipotence.

Erwin Lutzer writes, “Our spiritual war is a classroom where we can learn about the deceitfulness of sin and the chastisement of God—along with His grace and power. God could have banished Satan to another planet or cast him immediately into the lake of fire. But He chose to use the Devil, to give him a role to play in the divine drama. God uses our conflict with Satan to develop character and test our faith. God knows that we must fight before we celebrate. We must learn before we are approved. God permits Satan’s temporary reign, as the Puritans used to say, ‘to increase the saints’ eternal joy.’”[1]

Perhaps an analogy will help. This is not a perfect one, but bear with me. Let’s think about a husband and wife deciding to have children. In that decision there is sacrifice and risk they must think about. Do they want their lives utterly changed forever? What if the kid grows up to hate them? What if she/he rebels and causes them incredible heartache? Why do they want to bring a child into world knowing there is so much evil, pain and death? Yet, despite all the risks and possible sources of pain – the man and woman decide to start a family. Could it be that the husband and wife believe the love they are able to bestow upon the children, and the love returned by obedient children make it all worthwhile? In a similar way, could it be that God thinks that the 2/3 of the angels who are still holy, and the millions of redeemed people who will worship Him for all eternity are worth it all? God chose to create because He is absolute love and love takes pleasure in sharing the best things with others. The ultimate and best thing is God Himself. By creating God shared His love with the creation. Even though there would be great evil, death and destruction – God’s love and glory would be manifested through all eternity and that is His ultimate end. As Paul said, “7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends…12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” In eternity, “we will understand it better by-and-by” as we look back at history through the lens of God’s love.

Finally, we must be careful in our questioning. A question like this assumes that we can objectively sit outside the universe and judge that the situation could and would be better if God would have done things differently. In other words, we run the risk of falling into the same sin that caused Lucifer to become Satan. We can think we have a better idea of justice, righteousness and goodness than God. But let us not forget that while man tries to take God’s place on the throne, Jesus left His position to become a man, entering into the problem of evil to suffer and die. Why did God create Satan? We don’t know ultimately, but the question only begins to make sense at the foot of the cross.     

-DM

[1] Erwin Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1996), 21. 

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

God Goes Ahead

Recently while studying my Bible, the Holy Spirit alerted me to an interesting pattern we see through the Scripture. God goes ahead of His people preparing blessings and providentially working out details in their favor. While we are stuck in the quagmire of present problems and our vision ahead impaired by the high mountains of obstacles all around, God is already in the future. The Good Shepherd is clearing our path and preparing our steps. Jehovah Jireh is laying out manna for the next day and running the errands we can’t.

God said to Israel in Deuteronomy 31:8, “The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” David wrote in Psalm 139:5, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. In Isaiah 45:2 God gave an amazing prophecy about how He would use the pagan king Cyrus to do His bidding, “I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron” Amazingly, God named Cyrus as His instrument 100 years before his birth.

Often in the Bible we see God reaching ahead into future circumstances to act on behalf of His people. God sent the ram on a path up Mt. Moriah before Abraham nearly plunged the knife into Isaac (Gen. 22:13). Jesus healed the nobleman’s sick son the moment he headed down the road to his home in Capernaum. It took 24 hours for the nobleman to return and discover the miracle was there waiting on him to catch up to it (John 4:46-54). On Easter morning, the women wondered who would roll the stone away from Jesus’ tomb, yet when they arrived, they discovered an angel had already done the heavy lifting (Mark 16:3-4). When Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch in the desert, it was clear the Holy Spirit had already been drawing the man to Christ because he’d been reading the “Suffering Servant” passage in Isaiah 53 (Acts 8:26-40).  

In his book, The Jordan River Rules, Robert Morgan wrote about Laliso, an evangelist missionary working in Ethiopia. Laliso wanted to take the Gospel to a remote, unreached tribe in the village of Goybi. Along the way, Laliso got lost on the dark jungle trail. He tripped and tumbled into a rushing river. Laliso tried to fight the current, but he was carried downstream. When he floated to a clearing, Laliso could hear approaching voices and he cried for help. As he was pulled out of the water by a stranger he exclaimed, “He is the fair one who has come out of the water to us!” A murmur of excitement arose among the small band of villagers, who took Laliso into one of their huts where they dried out his clothes and gave him food. Laliso wondered why this tribe – who had a reputation of hostility towards outsiders – was being so hospitable.

Then a local medicine man arrived and examined Laliso up and down. The medicine man asked, “Sir, are you the holy man? Did you bring the golden leaves?” Laliso thought for a second, then he produced a water-logged Bible from his backpack, which had a black cover and gold edges on the pages. The people gasped, “It is true! The gold leaves have come!” Then the medicine man explained, “A long time ago, before my father died, he told us that one day a fair man would come to us out of the water and he would give golden leaves to the people. Those golden leaves would have written on them the words of God to eternal life. We have waited so long for you to arrive. Please read the words from the golden leaves to us." Laliso began preaching the Gospel and the dozens of people from the village believed in Christ.[1]  

Expect God to turn problems into pathways. Expect God to be working ahead in ways we cannot see or imagine yet. Trust that the future God has instore is bright and blessed, even when it seems like you’ve been left alone in the present. -DM



[1] Robert J. Morgan, The Jordan River Rules (2021), 76-78.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Tapping Out



My dad tells the story of going back to church after a wayward spell of living like a prodigal. He tried his best to keep a low profile and not be noticed by anyone, but it wasn’t long before the Holy Spirit sat down next to him in the pew. A titanic battle ensued as the red-faced preacher started bellowing his message. The Spirit of God wielding the hammer of the Word of God pounded away on the anvil of his heart. He recalled, “I got really mad at the preacher. I thought he’d been snooping around in my life. There he was preaching about every sin I was doing.” When the invitation was given, he white-knuckled the pew. “When I left church that day, I vowed I would never return,” dad said. But next week, there he was wrestling with God like Jacob on the banks of the Jabbok. Round three came the following week. Eventually, the “Hound of Heaven” conquered. My dad recalled bitter tears of confession and repentance. Even though he’d been bested by the Lord, my daddy got up from the altar strangely victorious.    

Growing up a wrestling fan I know all about submission holds. Ric Flair’s signature move was the “Figure Four.” Sting tapped many a man out with the “Scorpion Death Lock.” Don’t forget Lex Luger’s “Torture Rack.” Those moves are tough, but there’s nothing more agonizing than when the Holy Spirit puts you under the vice grip of conviction. That’s what my daddy fought against in the pews of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, and perhaps you have too.

Conviction is when the Holy Spirit initiates a painful prick upon the conscience which inflames feelings of guilt, shame and sorrow over sin. Like a submission lock, it can be excruciating and difficult to escape. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in John 16:8, “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”

But conviction is more that just emotionalism OR as Adrian Rogers used to say, “a quiver in the liver.” Conviction is not merely a metal assent to the idea of divine punishment or momentary fear of the flames of hell, although these may accompany it. Conviction is to loathe sin and to utterly abhor oneself in the presence of God’s searing holiness.

Isaiah felt it when he cried, “Woe to me! . . . I am undone! For I am a man of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). Peter was confronted with it, “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). The risen Christ exposed Paul’s resistance to it, “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” (Acts 26:14).

As exhausting as it is fight to against it, we must praise the Lord for conviction. It is a grievous gift, for without it, there could be no salvation. No one is saved apart from the Spirit’s convicting and regenerating work in the heart. As C.S. Lewis explained in Surprised by Joy, “The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.”[1]

When conviction coils and constricts around our hearts like an anaconda, we can either fight it or surrender to it. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,” Hebrews 3:7-8 says. Let us learn to run to Jesus and not from Him when conviction comes. For if we do, the Spirit of God will lead us to the Son of God, where we can experience the freedom of forgiveness and the calm of cleansing (Ps. 51:7-12).

 -DM             

 


[1] C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life  (London: Geoffrey Bless, 1955), 215.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Transgender Transformation

 


History is strewn with the wreckage of many great nations that have risen to power, prosperity and prominence, only to decline and implode due to truth decay and moral corruption. In recent decades we have witnessed a slow but steady decline of America. In Romans 1 the Apostle Paul explains this phenomenon – when a nation abandons God, God abandons that nation.  

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Rom. 1:21-27)

Notice the steps leading down to the cesspool of sin: ingratitude leads to idolatry, idolatry then descends into immorality, and when immorality has run its course, you are left with insanity.   

Theologians have called this the passive wrath of God, as opposed to the active wrath of God which is God’s direct and cataclysmic judgment (Think of fire reigning down on Sodom in Genesis or the ten plagues which brought mighty Egypt to its knees in Exodus). God’s passive wrath is when He removes His hand of blessing and protection and allows a people to be devoured by the consequences of their own sins. Like a termite infestation in the basement of a house, sin works to erode a nation’s moral foundation gradually and even imperceptibly.

If we were inspecting America (and most Western nations) we would have to say that we are on the last rung of that ladder into lunacy. When your government is sending out free crack pipes to addicts, then you’ve read a new low. It’s the age of anything goes. Part of that insanity is not knowing right from wrong anymore, even to the point where a person’s gender is fluid.

As Paul points out, a major force pushing the slide into moral chaos is when God’s guardrails protecting human sexuality are removed. In the 1960s and 70s America went through the sexual revolution. “Make love, not war,” was the mantra of the Woodstock generation. From the 1980s through the 2000s we saw the homosexual revolution, where “coming out of the closet” as gay was normalized and accepted. AIDS became a worldwide issue. Since the early 2000s up to the present we have observed the transgender revolution. The current generation now enjoys pride month, picking their pronouns, drag queen story hour and trans-men getting “pregnant.”

According to a nationwide Gallup poll taken in 2020, Roughly 5.6% of US adults, or 18 million people, identify as part of the LGBT community. That number is up from 4.5% in 2017.[i] The transgender population has also increased concurrently, although there are not yet any hard figures. However, research has shown that Millennials and Gen Z are the “gayest generation” in US history. A 2021 Washington Post article reported that 7% of Millennials identify as LBGT, while 1 in 6 (or 16%) of Gen Zers identify as LGBT.[ii]  

What this means for Bible believing Christians and churches who wish to stay true to the Gospel, is that holding to God’s definition of sexuality and family is going to be tested like never before in the West. Many believers have already caved to the culture and many more will adopt the spirit of the age. Society is slouching towards Sodom every day. The sooner we realize that “doing church” and preaching the Gospel is going to be much more difficult than before, the better prepared for the challenge we will be. Parents must talk to their kids about gender and sexuality early. Pastors must preach on basic issues such as the Creation order of male and female. And Christians must be ready to practice radical love the lost who seem far, far from God.

In this new struggle, we must not lose hope in the power of the Gospel. The narrative on transgenderism is currently riding a wave of media popularity. But there is a deep spiritual need. Transgenders have the highest suicide rate of any US group, 41% attempt suicide.[iii] Despite what the culture says, these folks are deeply confused and live as tortured souls. They desperately need the healing touch of the Great Physician to save them and make them whole.  

There is also another side of the story not usually talked about: “de-transitioning,” that is when trans people become dissatisfied with their gender choice and revert back to their original biological sex. We could call it “transgender regret.” According to Human Life International “those who have lived life as a transgender male or female and who have de-transitioned claim that the numbers are much higher and that people are afraid to speak out.” Regardless of the numbers, the pain is real—and the numbers don’t really matter to those affected by a decision that they now regret and who feel misled by either doctors or families. As followers of Jesus, it is our job to treat the transgender with compassion, helping them understand their inherit dignity as we point them to Christ and the Gospel.

When the bankruptcy of sin is seen for what it is, we can witness conversion miracles like Laura Perry. The Baptist Press carried Laura’s story. She lived for 10 years as a transgender man, named “Jake.” Laura or “Jake” pursued hormone therapy and even sex reassignment surgery. Laura said, “I bought into the lies of Satan, believing that my rebellious sinful choices against the way God made me would make me happy. But, inside, I was miserable and searching for lasting peace.”


                                                        Laura Perry and mother Francine 

Eventually Laura’s confusion and depression brought her to an all-time low. However, her mother was the pianist at a Baptist church, and never stopped praying for her or inviting her to come back home. Totally disillusioned, Laura finally gave in to her mother’s pleading and went to her mother’s church, but dressed up as Jake. The sermon that day was on the Prodigal Son. Laura fell under deep conviction for her prodigal ways and turned her life over to Christ who gave her the peace she desired. Through the love of that church, Laura experienced a cathartic de-transition. Today, Laura travels across the country sharing her testimony and she said, “I am living proof that God’s love is greater than the devil’s lies.”[iv]      -DM


[i] Alexandra Kelley, “New Poll Finds Record Number of Americans Identify as LBGT,” The Hill, 25 February 2020
<https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/540487-new-poll-finds-record-number-of-americans>

[ii] Samantha Schmidt, “1 in 6 Gen Z adults Are LGBT. And this Number Could Continue to Grow,” Washington Post, 24 February 2021 <https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/02/24/gen-z-lgbt/>

[iii] Jaime Grant et al, Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, Washington: National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2011.

[iv] Brian Hobbs, “From Transgender to Transformed,” Baptist Press, 17 August 2018 <https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/from-transgender-to-transformed/>