Hot Topics 5: Evil and Suffering

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Opening

Final week in our “Hot Topics” series of sermons. I can say that this series has been a roller coaster for me as far as studying and preparation, and I pray that it’s been effective for you in addressing questions or doubts, and perhaps has been used by God to strengthen your faith and perspective on these particular topics. All of the messages are available on our website, our Facebook page, and our YouTube channel if you’d like to go review them.

Let’s dive in with our focal passage this morning, which comes from the book of Job.

Job 42:1–5 CSB

1 Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?” Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know. 4 You said, “Listen now, and I will speak. When I question you, you will inform me.” 5 I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.

PRAYER (Albuquerque Chinese Baptist Church, Pastor Voon Min Liew)

In the book of Job, we find a righteous man who went through tremendous suffering. He experienced tremendous relational and economic loss, a terribly painful infirmity, and if that wasn’t enough, conflict with his friends and even his wife over the the fact that he was suffering these things. They thought that what Job suffered was his fault: that, “God gives bad things to bad people, and good things to good people, so Job… you must be a bad person—look at all the bad stuff that’s happened to you.” (this is called retributive theology) Throughout Job’s responses to his friends’ arguments (and they kind of get meaner and meaner about it as they go), he confesses that he doesn’t understand, and wants God to answer for the suffering he has experienced. “Why, God?” is basically his question. Then God shows up and speaks of His character: His power, His goodness, His wisdom, His knowledge; reminding these guys that He knows things and can do things that they can’t. And this passage from Job 42 is Job’s response. “I thought I understood, but I realize now that I didn’t have a clue.” Job’s response was a humble expression of trust in God’s goodness, His greatness, His plan, His power, and His character.

This morning, we are going to address what is for many the single greatest theological issue: why do evil and suffering exist in the world? And before we dive in, I want to make a couple of things clear:

First, nothing that I say this morning is meant to in any way suggest that suffering and evil are not a big deal. Everyone hearing me has experienced the pain that comes from suffering and evil. Some of us are dealing with excruciating grief that comes from the suffering that we have gone through, and continue to go through. I never want to make light of what you are experiencing, so please know that this message is meant to be a biblical and philosophical response to the problem of evil and suffering in the world, not a message about dealing with pain that has come as a result of suffering and evil. God absolutely cares about the pain that you are going through, and He loves you and wants to walk with you through the pain that you are experiencing. And we must confess that your pain is certainly real, but our goal today is to consider the extremely difficult topic of the problem of evil and suffering, not how to get through it, even though I’ll speak a little to that for the believer. Someday I’m certain that I’ll preach on God’s comfort in our suffering, but that day is not today. I do not mean to dismiss or downplay your very real pain. I pray that what I do bring on the topic of dealing with pain is helpful for you.

Second, while I believe that the answers that the Scriptures give us to the problem of evil are good answers, I’ll also confess that for some, the answers aren’t completely satisfying, because at some point, we have to respond the way Job did: in humble trust that God is who He says He is based on the biblical witness and evidence in creation, that He is in control, and that He will ultimately make everything right. But we also have to remember that God will make everything right from HIS perspective, not from ours. We simply CANNOT think the way that God thinks. However, for people who want easy, complete, super-clean answers to what is really the most difficult theological question of the ages, I’m afraid that I’m going to let you down today. I’m not that smart. I’ll give you the answers that make sense to me and conform to the biblical witness, but there are still aspects that we have to take on faith, trusting in God’s goodness, because of our lack of complete understanding.

So with the table set as much as I can set it, let’s start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start.

1) Evil was not God’s plan.

When we summarize the creation narrative of Genesis 1 and 2, which we considered a little bit in week 3 of our series, we find that there was only God, then God made the universe and all that it contains, and entered into a special relationship with humanity: we bear not only His breath—the breath of life—but we bear His image as well. Mankind was made to steward the perfect Garden of Eden, which was designed for man’s flourishing. And everything was good. There was just one rule: Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We will look more at the doctrine of mankind next week, when we start part 2 of our We Believe series. So this review of the Fall is a bit of a primer for that. Now somewhere between creation and Genesis 3, the devil is cast out of his place among the heavenly host, and taking the form of a serpent, tempts Eve (and through Eve, Adam) to violate the only rule that God had given to humanity:

Genesis 3:1–7 CSB

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Their fellowship with each other and with God was broken. They had tasted the fruit that was forbidden. They believed that God had been holding out on them, and so they ate. Some might argue that they learned BOTH good and evil that day. No, they didn’t. They had already completely experienced good: over and over in the creation narrative it’s said that it was GOOD. The only thing they actually learned when they ate the fruit was evil: they discovered what it meant to no longer be what they were designed to be: good. They had always only known good. Now they knew the difference, like God does. The ones who were to bear God’s image were broken.

And because mankind had been given the task of being the “understeward” of creation, when mankind was broken, everything was broken. Sin had entered God’s good creation. Evil was born in our hearts, and continues to live in each of us, because we all carry the brokenness of Adam in our very natures as humans.

And so the first thing that we need to acknowledge is that if we are broken, and creation is broken, then broken things are going to happen, because broken people plus a broken place brings broken results.

And I’ll be honest: that answer to the question of evil works for me personally. It fits the biblical narrative, it’s true as far as reality is concerned, and it allows me to confess that I don’t and can’t know everything, so how can I evaluate everything rightly enough to sit in judgment against God?

But philosophically, while it does show humble acceptance of the reality of life, it doesn’t really address the “why” of evil and suffering’s existence in the first place. For many, this is the issue: why, if God exists as the Bible says He does, does evil to exist at all? This is known as the classical Problem of Evil:

The classical Problem of Evil goes like this:

1. God as the Bible reveals Him has these three characteristics (among many others):

God is omnipotent (all-powerful): He can do anything that He decides to do. (Psalms 33:9)

God is omniscient (all-knowing): There is nothing outside of the scope of His knowledge. (Isa. 46:9-10)

God is omnibenevolent (all good): He is absolutely good, and nothing about Him—no action or thought or motive—is evil at all. (Psalm 106:1)

2. Thus, if this particular God exists, then evil cannot exist.

3. Evil exists.

So, as the argument goes: If every part of statement 1 is true, then statement 2 must also be true, and statement 3 must be false. Why? Because the assumption is that a God who has all power and all knowledge who is also all good CAN stop all evil, KNOWS how to stop all evil, and would WANT to stop all evil, so evil should not exist. However, since evil exists, He must not be at least one of these three things. He might be all-knowing and all-good, but must not be all-powerful and so CAN’T stop all evil. He might be all-powerful and all-good, but must not be all-knowing because hasn’t figured out HOW to stop all evil. He might be all-powerful and all-knowing, but must not be all good because He has decided NOT to stop all evil.

And thus, the Problem of Evil would say that God as the Bible reveals Him does not exist.

This is a classic conundrum of biblical theology, because the Bible clearly shows God as having all three of these qualities, but as we have seen in Job, it also clearly reflects the reality of the existence of evil and suffering. So, since we KNOW from experience that statement 3 is in fact true, how can we reconcile this fact with God’s existence as the Bible reveals Him? Many feel that this is the slam-dunk argument against God’s existence.

But it’s not. The second premise of the argument: that evil cannot exist if God exists isn’t necessarily true. It would be reasonable and logical for a completely powerful, completely knowledgeable, and completely good God to allow evil to exist if He had a very good reason for doing so. The Bible tells us that God in the beginning didn’t just make Adam and Eve, He related to them. And that relationship was (and is) a relationship of love, because in addition to those other qualities, God is love (1 John 4:8). So a love relationship is a very great good, but for love to be love, it demands that there be choice, and choice demands freedom to choose. But for there to be genuine freedom, then the possibility for evil must also exist, because then every choice becomes possible. If God’s purpose is to be in a loving relationship with His specially created, image-bearing beings, then we have to be able to choose NOT to love Him, not to worship Him, not to serve Him, to do evil.

So the possibility of evil is something that was necessary in order to bring about the reality of free beings who bear the divine image being in a loving relationship with the Almighty. God did not create evil. Evil and sin came about when humanity violated their purpose, and chose to rebel against the God who loves us. Evil was neither God’s plan nor His creation. It was, and is, ours. God didn’t want robots. He wanted beings who are like Him in a spiritual and moral sense, able to make decisions—even the decision to resist Him.

Now a quick note on suffering. Since evil wasn’t in God’s good plan and intention for the universe, neither was suffering. Why?

Suffering exists because evil exists. There was no suffering before there was evil, and so suffering is the result of evil, not the cause of it. Nor is suffering on its own evil, per se. It is a consequence of the brokenness of the universe, the brokenness of humanity, and the brokenness of sin. We may feel like suffering is an evil in itself, but it is not.

Think of it this way: if the creation was never broken, there never would have been suffering. Adam and Eve had no idea what suffering was. Even Adam, before the Fall, doesn’t show that he comprehends that he is alone, or that he is in some way suffering from it if he does comprehend it. It’s God who says that Adam’s aloneness is not good, not Adam. And then God provided a person for him to complement Him in every way. Suffering didn’t exist before the Fall. So suffering flows out of the fact that evil can be.

So we’ve addressed the argument about evil and suffering’s existence. The next question is this: why doesn’t God DO something about it?

2) For the moment, God is patient in allowing evil.

The first thing I want to say is that God is going to do something about it. Something definitive. That’s going to be our last point, so sit tight for that. But for now, God is allowing evil to continue to exist. And some would argue that since that’s the case, God as the Bible reveals Him can’t exist.

But before addressing this question, I want to first say to the believers who are hearing this: the Bible tells us that we should expect suffering precisely because we believe in Jesus. Jesus even said that in this world we will have suffering in John 16, but that we can take heart because He has overcome the world. Consider the faithful from the Old Testament, discussed in the “hall of faith” chapter of Hebrews:

Hebrews 11:36–40 CSB

36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

These people suffered for the sake of their faith, but were looking forward to the arrival of Christ and the provision for our salvation that He would bring. Suffering is a part of the brokenness of the world, and believers should not be shocked when we suffer.

1 Peter 4:12–13 CSB

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. 13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed.

So we can rejoice that we share in the sufferings of Christ because He is working His glory in us and through us. Consider Romans 8:18:

Romans 8:18 CSB

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

We can persevere in suffering because of the glory of Christ. In fact, the two aren’t even worth comparing, because the glory we see will be so much greater than the sufferings we currently experience! But not only that: we can also persevere in suffering because sometimes suffering is God’s way of correcting us and training us as a good Father should.

Hebrews 12:7 CSB

7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

And finally for the believer’s perspective on suffering: sometimes we might be allowed to through a trial or suffering as a means of God preparing us for an opportunity to comfort people who undergo the same kind of suffering. I like to say this as “God doesn’t waste our hurts.” Look at what Paul said about this in 2 Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 1:5–7 CSB

5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort.

So for the believer our suffering can have purposes and meaning that we may not even realize in the midst of them. So Christian, take courage in the things you suffer: God can use them for His purposes. I think this part of the message is for me as much as for anyone else. I can’t tell you how blessed I was as I studied this part out this week.

But on to the question of why God allows evil to continue in creation:

The problem that those who don’t believe in God would have with the fact that God allows evil to continue basically goes back to the argument against His goodness. If God allows evil to continue to exist, KNOWING that it is evil, then He can’t possibly be good. I had to read a lot of atheists’ writings when I was in seminary, and this was the biggest argument that they generally gave. They said that they refuse to believe in a God who claims to be good, but refuses to completely eradicate evil.

Now, let’s consider the question of why God might allow evil to continue for the time being while still being good. I think that there are at least two good responses to this before we look at our last point:

The first is to go back to the discussion about suffering: that the world is broken by humanity’s evil, and so suffering is the result. If suffering is a logical consequence of our evil, is it fair to say that God is now somehow obligated to prevent it, just because He is good? He is also completely just and right in allowing us to live out the consequences of our evil. Imagine that you are the judge in a murder case and you must give a sentence to the guilty: should you be obligated to reduce the offender’s sentence because they will suffer as a result? Certainly not. Why should God have to mitigate our suffering that we bring upon ourselves because of our sin?

The second is that we actually can’t know the meaning of every event. We don’t have God’s point-of-view, and we cannot see how a particular act might be ultimately used by God for a very great good, and so the evil or subsequent suffering might be justified for the time being. Consider Joseph. Sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, God used that evil, that suffering, for very great purposes—to deliver entire nations from starvation during the future famine. Joseph even put it this way:

Genesis 50:20 CSB

20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.

Consider this question: What is the most evil thing that has ever been done? It is the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Entirely and completely innocent of any and all wrong, put to death for claiming to be exactly who He is. The God of all creation in the flesh killed by the ones who were made in His image in order to worship Him and be in a loving relationship with Him.

But at the same time, we see this as the single greatest act of grace ever done as well: Jesus took our punishment in order to rescue us from the wrath that we deserve because of our evil. He died in our place so we wouldn’t have to be separated from God because of our sinfulness. So we see that God can take the most evil event in history and use it for great good. Good for the entire world, and eternal life and salvation for any who would surrender to Christ as Savior and Lord. You don’t get any greater than that.

Tucked away in the 13th chapter of Matthew, after the parable of the soils, is the parable of the wheat and the weeds. This is a “kingdom” parable, so it speaks to giving us a picture of God’s righteous rule and reign in the world, especially in the lives of His children, those who follow Christ. This parable gives us a window into perhaps some of the reasoning that God has for allowing suffering to continue for the moment, and also what He plans to do about it later.

Matthew 13:24–30 CSB

24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ 28 “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up?’ the servants asked him. 29 “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’ ”

As I said, this parable points to the end, but for just a moment, let’s address the accusation that God is not good because He doesn’t eradicate all evil. My question is this: “How much evil would God have to eradicate before we would call Him good?” 75%, 80%, 90%? No. He’d have to eradicate ALL evil, or we would always have something to point to and say, “Wow, God… why didn’t You take care of THAT?”

But then this objection to God’s goodness collapses in on itself. For God to rid the creation as it stands right now of 100% of evil, He would have to rid the world of 100% of people. And then (assuming we could somehow judge that choice), we would shake our fists at Him and declare that He is some kind of cosmic tyrant because He took away our freedom. We certainly wouldn’t then declare Him to be good. There’s no winning for God from our perspective: He’s terrible if He allows evil, and He’s terrible if He does what He has to do to get rid of it.

He very nearly did eradicate humanity in Noah’s age, but preserved just 8 people to start over, and evil still didn’t go away. So God determined that because of mankind’s bent toward evil, He would never destroy the earth again:

Genesis 8:21–22 CSB

21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done. 22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”

He is fully aware that humanity is broken, so He makes a promise not to destroy them all. So what does this have to do with the parable of the wheat and the weeds? Fortunately, Jesus Himself gave us the explanation of this parable just a little bit further in Matthew 13...

Matthew 13:36–43 CSB

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 He replied, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Let anyone who has ears listen.

What we see in the parable of the wheat and the weeds is that God allows evil to continue until it is time for the harvest. He is in the process of taking history to its necessary end, and that’s when He will deal with evil.

This brings us to our last point very quickly:

3) God will eradicate all evil at the judgment.

Rather than having to “uproot” both the evil and the righteous, when we arrive at the judgment and God makes the new heavens and the new earth, that is when He’ll separate the righteous and the evil. Those who belong to Christ, the children of the kingdom, will be made completely new along with the heavens and the earth because of what Jesus has done to ransom them from sin and death, and their surrender to Him by faith.

Revelation 21:1–5 CSB

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

What a great message of hope that those who belong to Christ have to cling to!

But we see in the parable of the wheat and the weeds that there is also an eternal destiny for those who reject the Gospel as well. The children of the evil one, the lost, will spend eternity separated from God—and thus from all that is truly good—in hell, a choice that they have made every bit as much as Adam and Eve chose to eat from the forbidden fruit. That separation will be permanent, irrevocable, and eternal.

Which type of child are you this morning?

Closing

The problem of evil and suffering are certainly difficult, and I’m sure that I haven’t completely addressed the questions that arise from this final “hot topic.” After all, theologians and philosophers have been debating this topic for millennia. But for the believers: we have hope to cling to in the midst of suffering, and we know that in the end, God will overcome all evil and set His creation right again.

For those who haven’t trusted Christ, the Bible tells us what will happen at the end of time to those who do not belong to Jesus. But this morning, the church and the Spirit of God cry out to you, “Come!”:

Revelation 22:17 CSB

17 Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.

Surrender your life to Christ this morning, trusting in what He has done to save you. Stop being in rebellion against Him and give up trying to make your own salvation. Jesus died to save you and defeated death so those who belong to Him can have eternal life. Trust Christ today. Let us know about that.

Church membership.

Offering during invitation.

PRAYER

Closing Remarks

Sharing about Israel on 4/3 and 4/24 during Pastor’s Bible Study time.

Shanna party 4/10 at 5:30 pm

Bible reading: Psalm 82 today. Once we finish through Psalm 90, we will read Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. When we finish reading Micah, we will have read half of the chapters of the Bible since we started this with Psalm 119 in August 2020. I’ll have a new calendar posted for the month of April by April 1.

Instructions for guests

Benediction

1 Peter 3:14–17 CSB

14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 16 Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

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