YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Would it surprise you to learn that your Bible says that God created evil? Consider this paradox. Isaiah 45:7 says, “I formed the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” How can we reconcile a Scripture that says God created evil with this one? “Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! (Psalm 71:19). How could a righteous God expects you to obey His commandments when He created “evil?” Would God deliberately set a booby trap for human beings by creating evil?

To understand this paradox, we must first understand that the Hebrew word for “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 means “adversity.” To the Hebrew, a bolt of lightening that killed a man was “evil.” In English “evil” includes intent, but in the Hebrew language the word translated “evil” does not carry intent. The New Adventure Bible says, “I bring prosperity and create disaster.” At creation God put into action the laws of nature that can bring about adversity. Adversity is not always bad. It gives us the opportunity to make right choices and build godly character.

Then what about Satan, he is evil. Did God create him? Well, yes and no. God created an arch angel named Lucifer who was the “model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty”and put him in the Garden of Eden. He was adorned with rubies, topaz, emeralds and many other precious and semiprecious stones. From the day he was created he was anointed as a guardian cherub and was blameless in his ways until wickedness was found in him (Ezekiel 28:12-15).

What happened to this “model of perfection”? Let’s pick up the story in verse 17. “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth.” Isaiah 14 sheds more light on this. “You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. . . I will make myself like the Most High” (verse 12, 14).

God created Lucifer beautiful, wealthy and a model of perfection. He created him with the ability to choose. He could be content with his beauty and perfection, or he could break God’s commandments and lust after power. His heart became proud and he set out to replace God as the King of this universe. So God cast this adversarial being down to the earth. God did not create him as an evil being. Lucifer chose to become evil. What followed then was Lucifer became Satan. Satan means adversary, the opponent, the accuser.

To continue our understanding of this, we must go back to the creation of man. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden which He had planted with all sorts of beautiful trees producing the choicest fruits. He told Adam and Eve they could eat fruit from any of the trees in this garden except the one in the middle. He went on to warn them that if they ate of this tree their eyes would be opened to see right and wrong, good and bad. Like Lucifer, Adam and Eve made the wrong choice and sin entered the world.

Many years ago there was a comedian named Flip Wilson. His favorite saying was, “The devil made me do it.” Is it Satan that always makes us sin? There was no Satan when Lucifer sinned. It was his jealousy and desire for power that made him sin. He had a choice, without Satan’s help, and he sinned. He then became Satan. There may be times when Satan tempts you to sin. But there may be many times when your own lusts lead you to sin. Satan is evil, but don’t be deceived. There is human evil as well.

Let’s consider another paradox of evil. Do you think of evil people as being those who are incarcerated and behind bars? Prisoners will tell you that they’ve been caught because they are the “honest criminals.” The truly evil people are not in jail, they will say.

You’ve seen horror movies where all the bad people have ugly, distorted faces. The villains are depicted as people you would never want to emulate – totally detestable characters. Movies and television picture evil as grotesque and being the epitome of ugliness. But is it that easy to recognize evil? Would you know evil if you saw it? Could evil possibly come in a beautiful, attractive package? Yes! “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” – he was beautiful! Keep in mind that evil doesn’t look anything like the villains in horror movies. This is another evil paradox.

Before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses gave instructions for six tribes to stand on Mount Gerizim and six to stand on Mount Ebal. The Levites were to stand between them and shout the blessings the Israelites would receive for obedience and the curses that would come upon them for disobedience. Then in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Moses pled with the Israelites to choose life. “Choose to love the Lord your God and to obey him and to cling to him, for he is your life and the length of your days.”

God created mankind as free moral agents. He didn’t program man or angels with predetermined choices. He gives us the freedom to choose right or wrong, good or bad. Then we receive the consequences or benefits based on our choices. The paradox is that evil often looks beautiful and tempting. Evil rarely comes in an ugly package. Just as Lucifer, the angels, Adam and Eve, and the Children of Israel all had life and death, blessings and curses set before them, so do you. Don’t be deceived by the beautiful great deceiver. And don’t allow your lusts to make you evil. Choose life and length of days!