Where Was God
The skeptic says, “If
God is in control of all things, He’s not doing a very good job. Look at the
mess the world is in.” That statement seems to imply that they want a tyrant as
god, and people should be robots “controlled” by him. That’s why unbelievers
choose statism and make laws to control everyone! They think God is doing a
terrible job so let the state take over. But God’s law is the law we need.
The
world is a mess precisely because God permits freedom. God is faithful to keep the
promise of His covenant to unleash His wrath on covenant breakers. The “mess”
of the world is proof that the Bible is true and that God is in control. To break
the covenant by sitting in judgment on God simply brings unleashes evil
consequences. To bow before Him brings blessing. We reap only what we sow.
Because
of all the evil in the world, some people think Satan must be the ruler. He is
called the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4), the god of “worldings” (earth
dwellers). For them, he is their ruler. But they seem to think Satan can do
whatever he pleases. How do we square this with all the Scriptures that say
Christ is the ruler? Please examine the following Scriptures to see if these
things are so. Let’s be like the Bereans who “were
more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word
with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). Scripture
interprets Scripture by means of cross-references.
The
Bible teaches Satan can do nothing unless the Lord lets him. The buck stops
with God Almighty. Satan had to get permission to torment Job. He had to get
permission to sift Peter. God uses Satan as His tool of wrath just as He used
Assyria to punish covenant-breaking Israel. “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My
indignation” (Isaiah 10:5). For believers God’s rod is redemptive, but for
unbelievers His wrath is destructive. It depends where your heart dwells… in
heavenly places or on earth.
Just before Jesus went to the cross He said, “Now is the judgment
of this world; now the ruler of this
world will be cast out” (John 12:31). “I will no longer talk much with you, for
the ruler of this world is coming, and he has
nothing in Me” (John 14:30). Satan then came with his rulers and arrested
Jesus. But the plan backfired. He arose from the dead and while the disciples “watched,
He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9).
Daniel foresaw this ascension of Christ when the heavenly court
was set and the Ancient of Days was seated and “behold, with the clouds of
heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and
was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a
kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
one that shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14 ESV). And “a judgment was given
for the saints” when, as the Greater Solomon, He sat down at the right hand of
the Father “on the throne of the LORD as king in place of David his father” (1
Chronicles 29:23).
Daniel said, “As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and
prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came [to the court], and
judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the
saints possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:21-22 ESV). That time came when Christ
ascended to the Father. “And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign
forever and ever!’” (Rev 11:15)
Through the sacrifice of Christ Satan was cast out of his place of
rule in heaven and came down to arrest Jesus. This is also the pattern of history. “For the devil has come
down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time”
(Rev 12:12).
“So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the
Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,
“Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His
Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our
God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives
to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to
the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you,
having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Rev 12:9-12).
Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords (including over Satan).
But as long as God’s people do what Israel did, Satan will be unleashed by God
on “earth dwellers” (See Rev 12:12). The wrath of God is looming over America
right now because America has been becoming more and more carnal “earth
dwellers” instead of being seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6).
But… “If My people…” (2 Chron 7:14).
God says to those who love Him (His elect), “Nothing can happen to
you unless I allow it. And if I do, it is for your good… even unto death” (See Romans 8:28). “For I am sure that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
8:38-39 ESV).
Where was God during the theater slaughter in Aurora, Colorado?
“If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:8). God gave Satan
permission. Why??? God has his reasons. Instead of questioning God we need to
question ourselves. We might not know the specific reasons, but Scripture
clearly reveals that if we break God’s covenant He swears to unleash His wrath.
It’s time to “Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred
assembly; Gather the elders And all
the inhabitants of the land Into the
house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD” (Joel 1:14). That is the
answer to, “Why?”
Even
though the Lord is already King over all the earth, there is another sense in
which He is not. The prophet Zechariah said some 500 years before Christ came, “the
LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—‘The LORD is one,’ And His name one” (Zechariah
14:9). In one sense this prophecy was fulfilled when Christ ascended to the
Father and sat on the throne of the Lord in the place of David His Father. But
in another sense the whole earth will acknowledge Christ as the ruler of
nations. “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and
all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs
to the LORD, and he rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:27-28 ESV).
It’s
reported that Tocqueville
said, “I sought for the greatness and genius of America
in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . in
her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich
mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there . . . in her
democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it vas not there. Not
until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with
righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is
great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease
to be great.”
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