Lesson 22 February 1, 2004
b. Since
God is infinitely holy, how do we account for the evil and the pain and
allowance of sin?
Within our limited
comprehension as human beings it is perhaps difficult to see how God would
pre-design a plan in which terrible acts of sin could take place.
Quote form L.S. Chafer
in systematic theology:
It is not sufficient to
assume that God was unable to prevent sin from eventuating or that He could not
cause it to cease at any moment if this were His will.
God, however, permitted
evil to appear, and the Bible provides the only basic solution to the problem
of evil in the universe which exists in all forms of human thought.
The essential nature of
sin is one area that needs to be explored. Though evil is a part of God’s
original plan, it is not attributed to God as an act of His will in the sense
that He determined that evil would be accomplished.
Scripture is clear that
the presence of sin in the world cost God the death of His Son as a sacrificial
Lamb on the altar when He
was crucified at
Under the circumstances
the question may be raised as to why sin is allowed in the universe. This is
best explained by pointing to the ultimate purpose of God to bring men into
likeness to Himself. To realize this end they must know to some degree what God
knows. They must recognize the evil character of sin …
In examining the fact of
sin consideration must be given to the fact of God’s grace toward the fallen
and the sinful.
No demonstration of
grace is possible unless there are objects that need grace, objects that know
the experience of sin. Sin must be brought into final judgment.
In conclusion, it must
be said that God’s primary divine purpose was not to avoid the presence of
sin. He could have prevented it if He
had willed to do so. To achieve His purposes, which were holy, just, and good,
God had to permit sin in order to demonstrate His glory—especially His
righteousness, love, and grace.
9. The Means God Uses to Accomplish His
All-Encompassing Plan
In the outworking of
God’s plan in human history, God’s decrees are often viewed in three aspects:
The efficacious or overruling will of God, the permissive will of God, and
directive will of God.
10. The Efficacious
or Overruling Will of God
The efficacious will of
God is carried out by various means (directly by physical causes, Gen. 1, and
by the individual's response to God's initiation with the Gospel and the Word,
Eph. 2:8, 10;
11. The
Permissive Will of God
There
are parts of God’s plan that He permits. The permissive will of God embraces
only the moral features that are contrary to His desired will.
Though God does not
actively promote this aspect of His sovereign will, He uses them to accomplish
His purposes.
Regardless, God always places the
responsibility for these acts and their results with men or angels, as in the
case of the fall of Satan and then of man
(Acts
A classic example of
this is perhaps the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the book of Exodus.
Ten times it is said
that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34; 13:15), and 10 times
that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4,
8, 17).
Point is God created the
circumstances faced and the Pharaoh responded with negative volition.
The fact that God
permits these things does not make them less certain, nor remove them from the
plan of God, but it does remove the responsibility for the sinful acts of men
and fallen angels from God.
Another illustration of
this is the way God sovereignly uses kings, who often commit evil acts and who,
though they operate by their own volition
and have no intention of serving God (see Isa.
45:4-6), are accomplishing God’s sovereign purposes.
The
Psalmist writes in Psalm 76:10, “For the wrath of man shall praise You;
With a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself."
“The
entrance of sin into the universe was made certain by God’s plan. God did not create sin, but in His infinite
wisdom He allowed its entrance into the universe.”
-
How is this possible? How is it made certain by God's plan? He created Angels and man with volition, the
ability to choose contrary to His plan.
Sin is always the
product of the creatures own negative volition to God.
God
did not create man to be a robot but a creature created in God’s image with the
moral responsibility to know God, love God, and choose God's will.
12. The
Directive Will of God and Human Responsibility
By the directive will of
God I mean the will of God as it may be discerned and defined by God’s specific
instructions or directions as they are found in the Word and by His specific
workings within a person’s individual life through the illumination of the Word
by the Holy Spirit.
God could act and
accomplish His plan without man, but He has chosen to use human beings as earthen
vessels to bring His plan to fulfillment. This means that there is a two-fold
operation and responsibility.
(1)
Man’s responsibility includes the various means of faith, prayer, learning and
applying the Word of God which results in giving, serving, and walking worthy,
etc.
(2)
God’s responsibility includes calling, convicting, regenerating, illuminating,
leading, and working in men to enable them and to motivate them to accomplish
His directive will.
Philippians 2:12-13
illustrates the balance between the 2.
13. The
Purpose of God’s Sovereign Plan
The ultimate purpose of
God’s plan is the praise and manifestation of the glory of God (Eph. 1:6, 11,
12, 14;
It is essential to the
very Being of God and by the very nature of God that His glory be manifested
and appreciated because of what God’s glory is and does within the universe.
So God’s plan is
designed to manifest the various facets of His glory or perfections. How? One
way is by allowing sin through the creature, God’s plan brought out all aspects
of God’s glory much like sparkling diamonds against the backdrop of black
velvet.
The presence of sin and
rebellion manifests God’s love, patience, holiness, mercy, and grace to a
magnificent degree.
14. Conclusion
Amidst all the confusion
and uncertainty of the world in which we live, how assuring to know that God
orders our steps! Our faith need not be in blind chance nor
in circumstances, but should be in an infinitely wise God who does all things
well, who knows the end from the beginning and whose every desire for us is for
ultimate good and His glory.
It is a marvelous
revelation of the Bible to learn (a) that God watches over all that happens,
indeed, He has known it from all eternity, and (b) that He is in complete
control over all situations, no matter how dark or hopeless it appears to us.
Amazingly, this knowledge, if rested in by faith,
can free us to serve the Lord and love others unconditionally, for ultimately,
nothing can stand in the way of God’s plan for our lives.