Quote of the Day

“God would never permit any evil if he could not bring good out of evil.”

– Thomas Watson

The Answer to Evil

From Stand to Reason:

What can we say about the horrific evil that occurred in Connecticut?

We weep with those who weep.  There is a time simply to comfort those who mourn.  God isn’t distant and uncaring about what happened.  He is there.  He hasn’t abandoned us.  He is present and involved.  He knows suffering firsthand – Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, suffered a violent death at the hands of evil men.  God knows and He cares.  He is here.

God’s answer to evil is Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate in this season.  He is God’s answer to evil.  God responded Himself to the evil we perpetrate in this world.  God came in the flesh, Emmanuel.  He lived a perfect life, yet took the punishment each of us deserves for our evil.  He got involved, He didn’t remain far off. He came to us.

The angels’ message to the shepherds is still the answer to evil and suffering: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  Jesus is the only one who holds the answer to evil. 

He identifies with us in the effects of evil in our lives because He lived a life in this evil world.  He defeated evil and is the only answer of hope because He overcame the power of sin and the devil on the cross and by rising.  He assures us that this evil world is not all there is and He has prepared a perfect world where all will be set right.  He gives us the Holy Spirit to comfort us and empower us to endure when it seems sorrow will crush us.  He will bring final and perfect justice when He returns.

Behold Him. He is the only source of true joy in an evil world.

Don’t try to find the strength in yourself.   It’s not there.  Don’t look for hope in others.  We are all frail sinners and disappoint.  Behold Jesus, God in the flesh.  He is the answer for the hope and fears of all mankind because He alone has dealt with evil. 

The atheists may challenge Christianity with evil – how can a good God allow evil?  But what does atheism have to answer evil?  Nothing.  No hope.  No ultimate justice.  No comfort.  No explanation.

We may not know why God has allowed this evil thing to happen.  But we do know that He has provided the answer for it:  His Son Jesus.  He came to us because of what happened in Connecticut.  He came because of every other evil act we commit in this world.  He comes today to comfort and offer hope and grace to live through something that is otherwise impossible to cope with.  And He will come again to deal with evil finally and eternally. 

That is the tiding of great joy that answers horrific evil.  The only hope that offers comfort to those who weep.

The Threefold Use of the Law

Scripture shows that God intends His law to function in three ways.

Its first function is to be a mirror reflecting to us both the perfect righteousness of God and our own sinfulness and shortcomings. As Augustine wrote, “the law bids us, as we try to fulfill its requirements, and become wearied in our weakness under it, to know how to ask the help of grace.” The law is meant to give knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 5:13; 7:7-11), and by showing us our need of pardon and our danger of damnation to lead us in repentance and faith to Christ (Gal. 3:19-24).

A second function, the “civil use,” is to restrain evil. Though the law cannot change the heart, it can to some extent inhibit lawlessness by its threats of judgement, especially when backed by a civil code that administers punishment for proven offenses (Deut. 13:6-11; 19:16-21; Rom. 13:3, 4). Thus it secures civil order, and serves to protect the righteous from the unjust.

Its third function is to guide the regenerate into the good works that God has planned for them (Eph. 2:10). The law tells God’s children what will please their heavenly Father. It could be called their family code. Christ was speaking of this third use of the law when He said that those who become His disciples must be taught to do all that He had commanded (Matt. 28:20), and that obedience to His commands will prove the reality of one’s love for Him (John 14:15). The Christian is free from the law as a system of salvation (Rom. 6:14; 7:4, 6; 1 Cor. 9:20; Gal. 2:15-19, 3:25), but is “under the law of Christ” as a rule of life (1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2).

How God Defines Evil

Isaiah 55:1—

Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!

John 7:37-38—

Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

John 4:13-14—

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jeremiah 2:13—

My people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.