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3. The Bad News and the Good News LONNIE: Welcome to Exploring the Word. Thanks for joining us as we dig deeper into the riches of the Bible. Jeannie, what’s our question for today? JEANNIE: It’s something a lot of people wonder about: “How do I believe in a God of love when there’s so much evil and tragedy in the world?” It’s something that everyone struggles with at some point in their lives. LONNIE: And I think sometimes God has to give us individual answers, individual answers about this or that misfortune. JEANNIE: You mean in the sense that God has things He can teach us individually through misfortunes. LONNIE: Exactly. The lesson I need to learn may not be the same as the lesson you need to learn. JEANNIE: But what about the big picture? What about life on this planet in general and what so many people have to go through? I think people like this student also would like to know how it all fits together with a God of love. LONNIE: OK Jeannie. I hope you did a little homework to get started on our topic. Did you read the assignment we gave you last week? Genesis chapter three. Interesting story, isn’t it. That’s where this Lucifer creature, this Satan, is first introduced. I believe there’s one very big fact we have to grasp if we’re ever going to reconcile a God of love with the problem of evil. In the drama of this world’s history, there’s a third player we have to see in the picture. It’s not just two: God and human beings on the stage of the universe. If that were true, it would be extremely difficult to make any sense out of tragedies. But that’s not the whole picture. To see the whole picture, a shadowy figure must become very clear. A spotlight has to be thrown on an enemy. You know, every story has a villain. “Star Wars” had to have the Dark Force. “Lord of the Rings” features a powerful evil adversary. Superman and Spiderman always have to fight a nemesis. Recent events have made the existence of evil all too real for us. That’s what our Exploring the Word Study Group focused on when we presented them with this topic. However, it’s not an easy one to get a handle on at first. Stay with us as we take a look at that original conflict---pictured in the book of Revelation. Let’s go to the last book of the Bible, Revelation, as we try to tackle the problem of evil. Revelation, written by the Apostle John, gives us a glimpse of the first great conflict, the first great tragedy. Revelation 12:7,8: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought . . .” War in heaven? If ever there was a contradiction in terms, that’s it. How could there possibly be a war in heaven? For that matter, how does a dragon get into heaven? Well the dragon is a code word in the book of Revelation. The dragon is Satan. Michael is also a code word. It’s a name for Christ. Satan began his career, amazingly enough, as a glorious angel in heaven. He occupied a privileged place near God’s throne, near Christ Himself. Lucifer, son of the morning, that’s what they called him. That’s why we say God did not create the devil. God created someone very different. But then why would an angel start a war? We get a hint from the book of Isaiah. Let’s read Isaiah 14:12-14. This passage helps us understand what was going on in the mind of Lucifer, what preceded this tragedy in heaven. “How you are fallen from heaven, To put it in the simplest terms. Lucifer had I trouble. I will exalt. I will ascend. He allowed the seeds of jealousy and envy to take root in his heart. This heavenly being wanted to raise his throne higher; he wanted to compete with God Himself. That’s a possibility if free choice is a possibility. If following God is going to be meaningful, then it’s going to be a choice. And if it’s a choice, then not following God must also be a choice. But why didn’t God stop Lucifer right away? This goes back to Larry’s question. Didn’t God know that Lucifer was going to turn into Satan? Why didn’t God just nip evil in the bud? Surely he could have just vaporized this ungrateful traitor. Well think about that for a moment. Think about a king ruling over what appears to be a peaceful, prosperous kingdom. And one day someone stands up and says, “I don’t think you’re running things right. I think I could do a much better job.” What happens if the king responds, “Off with his head!” People will think maybe the guy was right. His questions aren’t really answered; they’re just silenced. So God decided to answer everyone’s questions. He decided to let Lucifer, or Satan, make his pitch, try to sell his plan. He let him start promoting his alternative lifestyle. Well, pretty soon, the results started coming in. Lucifer’s alternative really revolved around attacking God. He didn’t have much of a plan. He just had a I’m-not-under-God’s-thumb plan. And Lucifer’s attacks became more and more heated, more and more mean-spirited. That’s why war broke out in heaven. It was Satan and his followers against Christ, Michael, and those loyal to God. Now I seriously doubt that anyone used rocket-propelled grenades or stealth bombers in this war. Remember that the book of Revelation is filled with symbolic language. This war was an intense, dramatic spiritual conflict. It marked the beginning of an open rebellion against God’s authority. WAR IN HEAVEN. That’s the bad news. The bad news is that we live in a universe where Satan’s alternative is working itself out. But there’s also good news. There’s also something positive we can hang on to. Today we’re going to see that understanding the problem of evil is really about understanding the bad news, and the good news. OK, so Revelation 12 gave us the bad news: there was a war in heaven. But the same passage gives us the good news. Read Revelation 12:8. The dragon and his followers fight against Christ: “. . .but they did not prevail…So the 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.” Lucifer didn’t win the war in heaven. He didn’t dislodge the Heavenly Father from His position. Lucifer lost. Lucifer was exiled to planet earth. So, the bad news: war in heaven. The good news: LUCIFER LOSES. What does that mean? There’s only one ultimate authority in the universe, and He is a God of love. And that’s something that can bring people great comfort in this world. Now let’s move on to our second important piece of bad news/good news. Let’s go to the book of Genesis, chapter three. That was your reading assignment this past week. This is an important passage because here is where Satan first makes an appearance on the planet. One day Eve wandered over to the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Well, tragically Eve, and her husband Adam, accepted that lie. Today we can see the results of that lie all around us in this world. Satan's alternative is not at all what he advertised in Eden. We live in a world largely in rebellion against God. That’s why there’s suffering. That’s why there’s tragedy. Things are out of whack. Things are upside down. That’s the bad news. PARADISE was DESTROYED. LONNIE: I think it especially helps to know who’s going to win in the end. JEANNIE: Yes there’s definitely comfort in that. But how about focusing on our day-to-day experience, the part about dealing with an enemy right now? Can we give people some help who are really struggling with temptation or oppression or who just need to know how to stay positive in a world where evil is very real. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The devil is loose in this world. That’s the bad news. He has not yet been destroyed. He tries to control and oppress weak human beings. He is the earth’s ultimate tyrant, always on the lookout for victims. In other words, SATAN OPPRESSES. We're not just neutral observers in this war between good and evil. We’re very much caught up in the tragedy of Satan’s kingdom. We struggle with habits and attitudes we know are wrong. We fail to live up to our own standards. We bear scars from the sins of others--and we cause scars ourselves. That’s the bad news: Satan tries to triumph over weak human beings. But there’s also good news, very good news. In Colossians chapter two, Paul describes the cross in terms of a weapon that defeats our enemies, that takes on the dark forces arrayed against us. Colossians 2:15. Listen to this in the New International Version: “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Triumphing over them by the cross. The devil may be a roaring lion; he may make a lot of noise. But he’s a defeated roaring lion. When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, He was waging a war against the tyranny of sin in individual human lives. He was taking a stand against the oppression of Satan. Again, there’s bad news and there’s good news. The bad news is: Satan tries to oppress human beings. The good news is, Satan has been defeated at the cross; JESUS TRIUMPHS. What does that mean? It means we have an ally who’s much stronger than the enemy. It means we have someone we can always count on. It means we don’t have to try to fend off that roaring lion by ourselves. Christ has bested him. Christ triumphed over the worst that the devil could dish out. And He offers to fight for us if we will only call on His name. This then is what the Bible tells us about evil in our world. It helps us see that a God of love is sovereign—even over a planet in rebellion. The bad news: there was a war in heaven. So I urge you today to think seriously about your choices. Where are you standing in the great battle between good and evil? No one remains a neutral observer. Frankly, we’re either taking steps toward God, or slipping away from Him. Will you take this one important step right now? Will you simply say this, “I need someone fighting on my behalf. I can’t do it all on my own. I need the cross of Christ.” That’s a good first step in coming to terms with the bad stuff in our lives. Acknowledge that you need help. We need to take a stand in this world. The forces of evil are very real. There’s a very real conflict going on. There are voices calling us away from God, many voices. And there is a voice calling us to our true home, our heavenly home. Who are you going to listen to? You have to choose a side. It doesn’t happen automatically. You have to make a choice. You have to decide how you will respond to temptation. You have to where you are going to invest your life. I invite you to do that right now as we pray. Dear Father, it’s true, we can’t do it all on our own. We can’t just grit our teeth and fend off evil. We need someone battling for us; we need the One who defeated the enemy so decisively on the cross. So we come to You acknowledging our need. We’re so weak at times; we’re sinful human beings. Thank You so much for taking up our cause and helping us overcome temptation every time! We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen. JEANNIE: We’ve got an assignment for next week, don’t we Lonnie, that will help give people confidence about who’s going to win. And we’re suggesting you can be prepared to explore that part of the Word by checking something on our website. JEANNIE: Go to www.propecyspeaks.com and click on the sermon tab, and then click on “One Life Changed the World.” Check that out sometime this coming week. It will help you appreciate one of the most incredibly specific prophecies in the Bible. LONNIE: It’s really one more encouraging example of what we’ve been talking about today: God is going to win in the end. So, until next week. God bless you and yours. And remember, never stop exploring the Word.
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