This is a lengthy post (so I apologize). It is the text from a sermon I delivered on the subject of evil in the world. Just passing it along for edification or discussion.
Why Is There Evil: Sermon April 13, 2008
The Hardest Question Ever Asked
Timothy, my oldest of two children, once remarked to me rather matter-of-factly, “Daddy, I am angry at God." This, of course, took me back. Here at the church, and especially in our homes, we as parents and leaders of the church all work our hardest to instill in our children a reliance and love towards God, not hostility and anger.
Naturally I though of the trials and suffering of his mother, my wife, Sandra. Her nearly 2 year ordeal with the constant pain from her fall and the numerous surgeries and therapies and medicines she has endured in the heretofore vain search for some relief must be the origin of this childhood animosity towards God.
So I asked him, “Is it because of mommy’s accident that you are angry with God?" fully expecting the answer to be “Yes". I was taken further back when he said, “No."
“I’m angry with Him for letting Satan say those things," was his full answer.
“What things," I thought to myself. Then I remembered that he and I have talked about Isaiah 14:12-14, the so-called 5 “I Wills" of Lucifer. He remembered those words of Lucifer, and that episode from Isaiah left a big impression on Timothy’s perception of and attitude towards God. Let’s turn to Isaiah and see what Timothy and I had talked about and try to find out what made him angry at God rather than Satan.
(Narration)Isaiah 14:12-14 reads (King James Version):
However, many of the Early Church Fathers (Tertullian, Origen, John Cassian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerome, et. al.) held the opinion that this portion of Isaiah spoke of someone else other than the King of Babylon. Be that as it may, if this passage were to be examined in a vacuum one would be hard pressed to make either interpretation stick one way or another. The point of the textual harmonizers is well founded, that many a madman and power hungry sovereign has set himself up as a divine authority here on Earth. The claims in Isaiah 14 are not unknown to human pride.
Yet the traditional view of Isaiah 14 has considerable teeth when it comes to defending its own veracity. There is a strong allusion to this “fall from heaven" of Satan mentioned in the New Testament, from the very lips of Jesus Himself, in Luke 10:18. And in Ezekiel 28 we find an expansion of this vignette from Isaiah.
He was a special class of angel called a Cherub. Jewish and Christian theology rank the angelic host using differing categories and different levels of importance. But what is of real importance, regardless of how the categories of angels are divided, is the job description provided by God in the text of the Old Testament.
Lucifer was THE most beautiful, THE most wise, and THE most lovely angel created by God. He was the “cherub that covererth” and walked midst the stones of fire. To our modern ears that sounds a bit strange; cherub that covereth and walked amongst the stones of fire. What does that boil down to?
Angels have specific duties and tasks to perform. That is their reason for existence. They have dominion over specific regions, specific geographic locations, even specific people. Michael is specifically named as the angel tasked to stand up for the Nation of Israel. The so called “Angel of Death” from the last judgment on Egypt has a specific task to perform for the Lord. Gabriel, the harbinger of the news of the coming of John and of Jesus.
But what does all that tell us about Lucifer? Revelation 1:1 can give us a clue.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:”
Just as specific locations and people here on Earth can have an angel tasked to their responsibility, the passage above hints very strongly that even Jesus Himself had an angel specifically assigned to Him.
“…[A]nd he sent and signified it by HIS angel unto his servant John:”
I think that verse can be very persuasive in showing that Jesus not only commands all the angelic host but a specific angel was Jesus’ “right hand angel” so to speak. Now I don’t want to begin to try to flesh out what kind of relationship Jesus and His angel might have had, the Bible is completely silent. I don’t know if this angel was a “confidant, or an “advisor”, probably not. This angel was most likely a trusted servant to the Lord Jesus.
With Revelation 1:1 as the backdrop, can we extrapolate that Lucifer performed a similar duty to God the Father? Was Lucifer God’s “right hand angel”? We see in the Ezekiel text that Lucifer was created for beauty. His very presence reflected the Glory of God. The precious gems, the gold, all must have dazzled when Lucifer was close to God the Father.
The very act of Lucifer speaking must have sounded like a symphony, referring to his pipes and tabrets, musical instruments. If angels breathe, the simple act of breathing would have sung like a chorus from Lucifer.
And we are told that this very act of existing in the presence of God the Father, standing out as the most beautiful and wise of all creation, this was to lead to Lucifer’s fall. In a word, PRIDE. Somehow, some way, reflecting the Glory of God lead to the pride found in Lucifer’s heart.
Let’s let that soak in for a moment. If what we are talking about is true, then there was no created being closer to God the Father than Lucifer. Lucifer was God’s right hand man, confidant, if there was something that needed done Lucifer was the angel to take care of the situation.
So many of us yearn for that kind of closeness to God in our lives. So many of us would gladly give or do anything to get even a glimpse of God and His glory, just to know that He is there and that He cares. And here was Lucifer, created to be the most special being in the universe and yet all that power and responsibility and closeness to God was not enough. He wanted to elevate himself above God, to supplant God and assume the Throne of Heaven. Where could that possible have come from?
Surely the angels, being so close to God, living in Heaven, complete and total access to the mysteries of the universe, surely THEY would be able to live up to God’s standard. Surely they could serve without ceasing, obey without question, glorify without condition. If the position of angel was not without temptation, is it any wonder that we, serving an as yet unseen Lord, can wither under even the slightest provocation?
But none of this information answers the original question asked by a nine year old boy angry with God and angry at all the evil in the world, “Why did God allow Satan to say those things?" Up until now we have covered things that many of you may have already known. Some of you may have even been able to derive some solace from the text. But many more I would wager still have that aching question of “why would Lucifer do what he did?" We understand WHAT he did, that much is plain in the texts examined. Does the text offer a “WHY?"
For this answer we have a great resource available to us. Many great and God gifted thinkers and theologians have preceded us over the centuries, and we can glean some information from them that may shed some light on the Hardest Question Ever Asked.
In fact, we need to start our search far back in time, to visit the words of the greatest Christian thinker of the first millennium, Augustine of Hippo. It is from Augustine’s prayer, “You have created us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Very comforting words for the Christian, but very prideful words in the ears of the pagan world. But we need to spring forward 1300 years to another great Christian thinker, Blaise Pascal when he penned this:
Now we come forward to today and those thoughts have been boiled down even more, to something I am sure you will recognize,
I think that everyone here can attest to the truth of that statement, begun by Augustine and culminating in the pithy saying of today, “There is a God shaped hole inside all of us." And everyone here has a story of tragedy when they tried to fill that hole with something other than God. Whatever it was that we used to try to fill that void within us, be it money, working, recreation, alcohol, hobbies, pornography, whatever… the story always ended the same. A temporary satisfaction followed by the return of permanent emptiness. One need not be a theologian to realize the universality of the fruitlessness of trying to fill the God shaped hole with something other than God.
That void inside of each one of us usually isn’t manifested as a voracious monster devouring our consciousness every waking moment. The things we can put in that void in place of God can certainly become all those encompassing diversions, twisted and out of control. But God uses that void to gently guide us towards Him. At first.
Some of us need a real clonk on the head to get the picture about anything. But for the most part, it isn’t until we begin to try to fill the void with the things of this world, even our own pride, it isn’t until then our lives spiral into chaos and horror.
Given everything we have talked about up till now, a particular passage from scripture now seems to jump out of the page at me.
My curiosity whetted, I searched the Bible more. Are there more instances where the angelic gaze down upon this sea of humanity and wonder at the spectacle that is salvation.
Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (that is receives salvation).
1 Corinthians 4:9 “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men."
The angels are spirit beings who have a proximal closeness (physical closeness) with God, and a place in the heavenlies from the very beginning (Job 38:4-7). Why then do they so fixate on Mankind and the salvation brought to us by Jesus Christ? What drives them to want to continually peer into the affairs of men? Are they lacking something that we have? Aren’t we made a little lower than the angels?
But, what if we share much more in common with the angels than we realize? What if not only Mankind was created with a God Shaped Hole inside of his spirit, what if the angels also share this innate and utter dependency on God?
What if Lucifer also, despite being in the presence of God the Father, being the right hand angel, the Cherub that Covereth, being the most beautiful, wise, and important; what if Lucifer also had a God shaped hole right in the middle of him? When Lucifer was away from God, did that absence make him ache?
Here is the million dollar question: What if Lucifer tried to fill the God Shaped Hole in his existence with something other than God? I labored the point earlier that Lucifer was the zenith of created beings (at least of the angelic host), what if Lucifer’s own splendor caused him to look at himself with the same desire he would naturally look upon God? What if his beauty, knowledge, wisdom, power, and authority very neatly filled his God shaped hole, if only for a moment?
I am not trying to paint Lucifer as a helpless victim of happenstance or bad luck. On the contrary, I am painting him to be even more villainous and despicable. But in the process the question of “WHY did Lucifer rebel against God" comes into focus, maybe for the first time for many of us.
He was in the presence of God, something we as Christians look forward to with intense longing. He had power and authority, something we Christians again look forward to after the Last Day. He served God faithfully and dutifully, something we Christians can sometimes struggle with mightily.
Yet when the moment of testing came, even though he had every advantage and then some; when he was tested he failed. And we can now know why he failed. He shared our same desire for God, that God shaped hole. But with his great position came great responsibility, failure was not an option. For the angels there is no salvation from sin.
Why do the angels desire to see salvation in action? Why do they rejoice when one man receives Christ and repents and is saved? Because they can not share in that grace and mercy and love and forgiveness that we can enjoy with God the Father through Christ Jesus.
We get a second chance. And a third chance. And a forth, and fifth, and seventieth, and seventieth seventieth. Up until the very moment before death closes our eyes, we can receive forgiveness, grace, mercy.
ive forgiveness, grace, mercy.
Why Is There Evil: Sermon April 13, 2008
The Hardest Question Ever Asked
Timothy, my oldest of two children, once remarked to me rather matter-of-factly, “Daddy, I am angry at God." This, of course, took me back. Here at the church, and especially in our homes, we as parents and leaders of the church all work our hardest to instill in our children a reliance and love towards God, not hostility and anger.
Naturally I though of the trials and suffering of his mother, my wife, Sandra. Her nearly 2 year ordeal with the constant pain from her fall and the numerous surgeries and therapies and medicines she has endured in the heretofore vain search for some relief must be the origin of this childhood animosity towards God.
So I asked him, “Is it because of mommy’s accident that you are angry with God?" fully expecting the answer to be “Yes". I was taken further back when he said, “No."
“I’m angry with Him for letting Satan say those things," was his full answer.
“What things," I thought to myself. Then I remembered that he and I have talked about Isaiah 14:12-14, the so-called 5 “I Wills" of Lucifer. He remembered those words of Lucifer, and that episode from Isaiah left a big impression on Timothy’s perception of and attitude towards God. Let’s turn to Isaiah and see what Timothy and I had talked about and try to find out what made him angry at God rather than Satan.
(Narration)Isaiah 14:12-14 reads (King James Version):
Many commentators (even the esteemed reformer Martin Luther) contend that this small portion of Isaiah (itself a part of the larger section dealing with the Prophesy Against Babylon) is actually harmonious with the “Prophesy Against Babylon" and that no sudden switch of emphasis from the earthly King of Babylon to the angelic Lucifer actually exists. The mention of “Lucifer" is an accidental inclusion of 4th century Latin into the text that was later inadvertently transliterated into English in the early 17th century.
However, many of the Early Church Fathers (Tertullian, Origen, John Cassian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerome, et. al.) held the opinion that this portion of Isaiah spoke of someone else other than the King of Babylon. Be that as it may, if this passage were to be examined in a vacuum one would be hard pressed to make either interpretation stick one way or another. The point of the textual harmonizers is well founded, that many a madman and power hungry sovereign has set himself up as a divine authority here on Earth. The claims in Isaiah 14 are not unknown to human pride.
Yet the traditional view of Isaiah 14 has considerable teeth when it comes to defending its own veracity. There is a strong allusion to this “fall from heaven" of Satan mentioned in the New Testament, from the very lips of Jesus Himself, in Luke 10:18. And in Ezekiel 28 we find an expansion of this vignette from Isaiah.
Here is as full an account we will see of who Lucifer was, what his probable duties were, and what lead to his eventual downfall. We see clearly that Lucifer was not just important, beautiful, and wise, he was the most important, most beautiful, and most wise, of all the angels.
He was a special class of angel called a Cherub. Jewish and Christian theology rank the angelic host using differing categories and different levels of importance. But what is of real importance, regardless of how the categories of angels are divided, is the job description provided by God in the text of the Old Testament.
Lucifer was THE most beautiful, THE most wise, and THE most lovely angel created by God. He was the “cherub that covererth” and walked midst the stones of fire. To our modern ears that sounds a bit strange; cherub that covereth and walked amongst the stones of fire. What does that boil down to?
Angels have specific duties and tasks to perform. That is their reason for existence. They have dominion over specific regions, specific geographic locations, even specific people. Michael is specifically named as the angel tasked to stand up for the Nation of Israel. The so called “Angel of Death” from the last judgment on Egypt has a specific task to perform for the Lord. Gabriel, the harbinger of the news of the coming of John and of Jesus.
But what does all that tell us about Lucifer? Revelation 1:1 can give us a clue.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:”
Just as specific locations and people here on Earth can have an angel tasked to their responsibility, the passage above hints very strongly that even Jesus Himself had an angel specifically assigned to Him.
“…[A]nd he sent and signified it by HIS angel unto his servant John:”
I think that verse can be very persuasive in showing that Jesus not only commands all the angelic host but a specific angel was Jesus’ “right hand angel” so to speak. Now I don’t want to begin to try to flesh out what kind of relationship Jesus and His angel might have had, the Bible is completely silent. I don’t know if this angel was a “confidant, or an “advisor”, probably not. This angel was most likely a trusted servant to the Lord Jesus.
With Revelation 1:1 as the backdrop, can we extrapolate that Lucifer performed a similar duty to God the Father? Was Lucifer God’s “right hand angel”? We see in the Ezekiel text that Lucifer was created for beauty. His very presence reflected the Glory of God. The precious gems, the gold, all must have dazzled when Lucifer was close to God the Father.
The very act of Lucifer speaking must have sounded like a symphony, referring to his pipes and tabrets, musical instruments. If angels breathe, the simple act of breathing would have sung like a chorus from Lucifer.
And we are told that this very act of existing in the presence of God the Father, standing out as the most beautiful and wise of all creation, this was to lead to Lucifer’s fall. In a word, PRIDE. Somehow, some way, reflecting the Glory of God lead to the pride found in Lucifer’s heart.
Let’s let that soak in for a moment. If what we are talking about is true, then there was no created being closer to God the Father than Lucifer. Lucifer was God’s right hand man, confidant, if there was something that needed done Lucifer was the angel to take care of the situation.
So many of us yearn for that kind of closeness to God in our lives. So many of us would gladly give or do anything to get even a glimpse of God and His glory, just to know that He is there and that He cares. And here was Lucifer, created to be the most special being in the universe and yet all that power and responsibility and closeness to God was not enough. He wanted to elevate himself above God, to supplant God and assume the Throne of Heaven. Where could that possible have come from?
Surely the angels, being so close to God, living in Heaven, complete and total access to the mysteries of the universe, surely THEY would be able to live up to God’s standard. Surely they could serve without ceasing, obey without question, glorify without condition. If the position of angel was not without temptation, is it any wonder that we, serving an as yet unseen Lord, can wither under even the slightest provocation?
But none of this information answers the original question asked by a nine year old boy angry with God and angry at all the evil in the world, “Why did God allow Satan to say those things?" Up until now we have covered things that many of you may have already known. Some of you may have even been able to derive some solace from the text. But many more I would wager still have that aching question of “why would Lucifer do what he did?" We understand WHAT he did, that much is plain in the texts examined. Does the text offer a “WHY?"
For this answer we have a great resource available to us. Many great and God gifted thinkers and theologians have preceded us over the centuries, and we can glean some information from them that may shed some light on the Hardest Question Ever Asked.
In fact, we need to start our search far back in time, to visit the words of the greatest Christian thinker of the first millennium, Augustine of Hippo. It is from Augustine’s prayer, “You have created us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Very comforting words for the Christian, but very prideful words in the ears of the pagan world. But we need to spring forward 1300 years to another great Christian thinker, Blaise Pascal when he penned this:
Now we come forward to today and those thoughts have been boiled down even more, to something I am sure you will recognize,
The meaning of the God-shaped hole is the innate longing of the human heart for something outside itself, something transcendent, something “other." Ecclesiastes 3:11 refers to God’s placing “eternity in man’s heart.” God made men for His eternal purpose, and nothing in post-Fall time can bring us complete satisfaction. It is evident that God has placed “eternity" in our hearts, because men universally desire eternal life. All religion is based on that desire. All religions promise heaven or some variation of it. No one wants to die; all want to live eternally.
I think that everyone here can attest to the truth of that statement, begun by Augustine and culminating in the pithy saying of today, “There is a God shaped hole inside all of us." And everyone here has a story of tragedy when they tried to fill that hole with something other than God. Whatever it was that we used to try to fill that void within us, be it money, working, recreation, alcohol, hobbies, pornography, whatever… the story always ended the same. A temporary satisfaction followed by the return of permanent emptiness. One need not be a theologian to realize the universality of the fruitlessness of trying to fill the God shaped hole with something other than God.
That void inside of each one of us usually isn’t manifested as a voracious monster devouring our consciousness every waking moment. The things we can put in that void in place of God can certainly become all those encompassing diversions, twisted and out of control. But God uses that void to gently guide us towards Him. At first.
Some of us need a real clonk on the head to get the picture about anything. But for the most part, it isn’t until we begin to try to fill the void with the things of this world, even our own pride, it isn’t until then our lives spiral into chaos and horror.
Given everything we have talked about up till now, a particular passage from scripture now seems to jump out of the page at me.
Peter wrote that the things of the gospel (and salvation) are: things the angels desire to look into. The word Peter chose that is translated “desire" has the meaning “intense craving or yearning". The angels’ desiring is not casual or passing, but intense and continuing. Most certainly, the angels are not in the least bit indifferent when one of us comes to believe in the gospel and received salvation.
My curiosity whetted, I searched the Bible more. Are there more instances where the angelic gaze down upon this sea of humanity and wonder at the spectacle that is salvation.
Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (that is receives salvation).
1 Corinthians 4:9 “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men."
The angels are spirit beings who have a proximal closeness (physical closeness) with God, and a place in the heavenlies from the very beginning (Job 38:4-7). Why then do they so fixate on Mankind and the salvation brought to us by Jesus Christ? What drives them to want to continually peer into the affairs of men? Are they lacking something that we have? Aren’t we made a little lower than the angels?
But, what if we share much more in common with the angels than we realize? What if not only Mankind was created with a God Shaped Hole inside of his spirit, what if the angels also share this innate and utter dependency on God?
What if Lucifer also, despite being in the presence of God the Father, being the right hand angel, the Cherub that Covereth, being the most beautiful, wise, and important; what if Lucifer also had a God shaped hole right in the middle of him? When Lucifer was away from God, did that absence make him ache?
Here is the million dollar question: What if Lucifer tried to fill the God Shaped Hole in his existence with something other than God? I labored the point earlier that Lucifer was the zenith of created beings (at least of the angelic host), what if Lucifer’s own splendor caused him to look at himself with the same desire he would naturally look upon God? What if his beauty, knowledge, wisdom, power, and authority very neatly filled his God shaped hole, if only for a moment?
I am not trying to paint Lucifer as a helpless victim of happenstance or bad luck. On the contrary, I am painting him to be even more villainous and despicable. But in the process the question of “WHY did Lucifer rebel against God" comes into focus, maybe for the first time for many of us.
He was in the presence of God, something we as Christians look forward to with intense longing. He had power and authority, something we Christians again look forward to after the Last Day. He served God faithfully and dutifully, something we Christians can sometimes struggle with mightily.
Yet when the moment of testing came, even though he had every advantage and then some; when he was tested he failed. And we can now know why he failed. He shared our same desire for God, that God shaped hole. But with his great position came great responsibility, failure was not an option. For the angels there is no salvation from sin.
Why do the angels desire to see salvation in action? Why do they rejoice when one man receives Christ and repents and is saved? Because they can not share in that grace and mercy and love and forgiveness that we can enjoy with God the Father through Christ Jesus.
We get a second chance. And a third chance. And a forth, and fifth, and seventieth, and seventieth seventieth. Up until the very moment before death closes our eyes, we can receive forgiveness, grace, mercy.
ive forgiveness, grace, mercy.
