(Aired on June 24, 2025)

The question of whether God creates evil has troubled believers throughout the ages, yet Scripture provides clear answers when we allow the word of God to interpret itself. Understanding this truth requires us to embrace God’s higher thoughts and ways, for as Isaiah declares, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). When we approach this subject with human wisdom rather than spiritual understanding, we inevitably stumble into confusion and contradiction.

The foundation for understanding God’s relationship to what we call “evil” rests firmly upon the bedrock of His absolute sovereignty. Scripture declares unequivocally that God “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11), and this “all things” encompasses every aspect of creation without exception. The prophet Isaiah provides the most direct answer to our question when he records God’s own words: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). Here, the Almighty Himself declares His authorship of both light and darkness, peace and evil, establishing beyond doubt that nothing exists outside His sovereign will and creative power.

To properly understand this truth, we must recognize that God’s definition of “evil” differs vastly from man’s earthly comprehension as dust of the ground. The Hebrew word “ra” translated as “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 encompasses not merely moral wickedness but calamity, judgment, and adversity—the very instruments God employs to accomplish His perfect purposes through both vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. When Daniel proclaimed that God “doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35), he testified to this same truth that God’s sovereignty extends over all circumstances, including those we perceive as negative or harmful.

The spiritual significance becomes clearer when we understand that God’s creation of what appears as “evil” serves His ultimate purpose of conforming His people to the image of Christ. Paul reveals this divine strategy when he writes, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). The “all things” includes what is evil, calamity, and suffering, yet these serve as instruments in God’s hands to produce spiritual transformation and growth in His elect. “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)

Scripture consistently reveals that God uses evil to accomplish His righteous purposes. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery—an act that was thoroughly evil—Joseph later testified, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20). This passage illuminates the divine principle: what is evil in human eyes serves God’s greater purpose of salvation and blessing. The brothers’ intentions were wicked, yet God orchestrated even their evil actions to fulfill His predetermined plan.

The book of Job provides another profound example of this truth. When Satan afflicted Job with devastating losses and physical suffering, Scripture reveals that these trials came only with God’s command and were bound by His sovereignty. God said to Satan, “he is in thine hand; but save his life” (Job 2:6), demonstrating that Satan’s destructive work operates under divine constraint and serves God’s purposes. Through Job’s suffering, God revealed His character, tested Job’s faith, and ultimately blessed him with greater understanding and material restoration. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”  (1 Peter 1:7-9)

Understanding God’s creation of evil requires us to believe that He does create evil. While God creates light and establishes peace, His creation of “evil” often manifests through His using natural consequences to unfold according to His purpose. When Paul describes how God “gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts” (Romans 1:24), we see this principle in operation. God directly implants wicked desires. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

The cross of Christ stands as the ultimate demonstration of how God employs evil to accomplish perfect good. The crucifixion represented the culmination of human wickedness—religious leaders plotting murder, disciples betraying and abandoning their Master, civil authorities perverting justice, and soldiers carrying out brutal execution. Yet Peter declared that Christ was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23), revealing that even this greatest evil served God’s predetermined plan of redemption. What appeared as Satan’s victory became his ultimate defeat, and through God’s momentary abandonment of His Son came the means of salvation for all. “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.” (Isaiah 54:7)

This divine principle extends to the spiritual realm where God uses darkness to call light into human hearts. Paul explains that “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Just as God created physical light by separating it from darkness, He creates spiritual illumination by causing believers in this age to experience the contrast between their former darkness and present light in Christ. “Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” (Psalms 139:12)

The parabolic nature of Scripture reveals deeper truths about God’s creation of evil. When Jesus spoke “in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them” (Matthew 13:34), He demonstrated that spiritual realities require spiritual understanding. The natural man perceives only the surface appearance of events, seeing tragedy, injustice, and what appears to be meaningless suffering. However, those taught by Christ discern God’s hidden purposes working through evil to accomplish His Father’s eternal plan. “O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.” (Isaiah 63:17)

God’s creation of evil also serves to manifest His attributes that could not otherwise be displayed. Without creating the possibility of rebellion, how could God demonstrate His mercy and forgiveness? Without causing suffering, how could He reveal His compassion and comfort? Without causing injustice, how could He show His ultimate justice? Romans 9:22-23 explains that God endures “with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” in order “that he make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” Both categories of vessels serve God’s purpose of manifesting His character.

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty over evil provides tremendous comfort to believers who understand that nothing touches their lives outside their heavenly Father’s permission and purpose. When David faced Shimei’s cursing, he recognized God’s hand in this evil, saying, “let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him” (2 Samuel 16:11). This spiritual perception enables believers to rest confidently in God’s goodness even when circumstances are hostile or appear meaningless. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:” (1 Peter 4:12)

Furthermore, understanding God’s creation of evil prevents us from the dangerous error of dualism—the false teaching that suggests an eternal conflict between equally powerful forces of good and evil. Scripture knows no such division. Isaiah’s declaration that God creates both light and darkness, peace and evil, establishes that no power exists independent of or in opposition to God’s sovereignty. Satan himself operates only within divinely imposed boundaries and ultimately serves God’s purposes, though unwillingly.

The eternal perspective reveals the perfect justice and wisdom of God’s creation of evil. The injustices and cruelty from our limited temporal viewpoint will be vindicated when God’s eternal purposes are fully revealed. As Paul acknowledges, “we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). The believer’s faith rests not upon understanding every detail of God’s plan but upon trusting His character as revealed in Scripture.

In conclusion, Scripture clearly teaches that God creates evil as an instrument of His sovereign will, not as an end in itself but as a means to accomplish His perfect purposes. This truth challenges human understanding but aligns perfectly with biblical revelation of God’s absolute sovereignty, perfect wisdom, and His righteousness. Rather than diminishing God’s character, this doctrine magnifies His power and wisdom in using evil to accomplish His eternal plan of redemption and glory. As the apostle Paul concludes, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). And “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” (Romans 11:22)

Psa 119:65 TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.
Psa 119:66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.
Psa 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
Psa 119:68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
Psa 119:69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
Psa 119:70 Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.
Psa 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
Psa 119:72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

Psa 119:73 JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
Psa 119:74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.
Psa 119:75 I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
Psa 119:76 Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.
Psa 119:77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.
Psa 119:78 Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
Psa 119:79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.
Psa 119:80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

The last two letters we looked at were “zain” and “cheth” which, along with their accompanying verses, demonstrated how God causes His sanctuary where He abides (cheth – Joh 14:20) to be afflicted (Heb 12:6) and then quickened by His word which He sends to heal us (Act 14:22, Psa 107:20). The eighth is of the seven, and the new man cannot be formed without the complete experience of putting off our flesh, which is impossible without the word of God abiding richly within us.

Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 

Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. 

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 

The idea of breaking and mending the church so we can have a closer relationship with our Father and Christ is an ongoing theme in the bible reminding us that His strength is made perfect through our weak flesh which learns obedience by the things we suffer (2Co 12:9-10). The intention of these inspired words of Paul “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me ” have the same intent in Psalm 107:31 which reads “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”. This verse is centered around a great tempest described at sea where God makes a way where there seems to be none (Isa 43:16) by bringing us to our wits’ end, causing us to trust in Him (by faith and through faith Heb_11:1-40) Who is our desired haven and Who identifies with our suffering in the flesh (8) (Rom 10:17, Mat 13:16, Eph 1:12, Psa 107:30, Heb 5:7-8).

The physical communion that occurred during Christ’s ministry in these verses (Mat 14:19-21, Mat 15:32-38) is a living parable that represents the breaking of bread which must occur in our lives (Heb 10:25) in order to be nourished or quickened by grace through faith (1Co 10:16, Eph 2:8, Joh 6:35, Joh 6:63). God’s power abides in us because we have been granted to sit at the feet of our Lord and break bread, and that thought was only symbolically being fulfilled in these verses: (“about five thousand men” Mat 14:19-21; “four thousand men, beside women and children” Mat 15:32-38). 

In today’s study we will look at the ninth and tenth letters of the Hebrew alphabet “teth” and “jod” and see how they correlate with their verses which explain for us how God uses His judgments in our earth to learn righteousness (Isa 26:9). That righteousness God gives us through Christ (Rev 19:8) is manifested through the church who are being judged today and learning to trust God in our flesh which is being given dominion over sin in this age so we can be one with our Father and Christ. The “jod” in the positive sense of the number 10 represents a right relationship with Christ in the flesh that cannot be obtained unless we go through the symbolic pillars in the temple which are comprised of four and five pillars that lead us to our one high priest, Jesus Christ, who is in the holiest place where we “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (2Ch 3:1, Exo 26:30, Exo 26:34-37, Rev 3:12, Heb 4:16). Coming to God through Christ is an ongoing event in the life of God’s children (Joh 6:44, Eph 3:10, Eph 2:18) as we learn how to “behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1Ti 3:15), and it is through every joint God supplies that we can be one bread and one spirit that make up “the pillar and ground of truth” (Eph 4:16, 1Co 10:17, Rom 12:5). The four and five pillars spoken of that are in the temple of God parallel and correlate with the approximate four and five thousand people that Christ fed in these verses – Mat 14:19-21, Mat 15:32-38.

The masses in Christ’s day were not being judged, just like today, because there was no spiritual stay of bread or water being given (Isa 3:1). They were being physically fed and physically healed, demonstrating what God’s elect will do for the rest of humanity during the time we reign with Christ on earth, and then, when the greater works than these are accomplished through Christ’s body, we will bring life to all of humanity through the death of the old man in the lake of fire by spiritually feeding (Joh 14:12) all those who will then be dragged to Christ in us (Joh 6:44). Those greater works Christ talked about in John 14:12 are not just appointed for those to whom we will minister in the lake of fire by sending His word to heal them, but especially unto the household of faith today who are being saved by the breaking of bread, the communion we share together in Christ today (Gal 6:10, 1Co 10:16).

Knowing who we are (1Co 3:16) and understanding that a shared judgment (9) is upon the body of Christ today in the flesh (1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:12, 1Co 12:26), which is feeding us spiritual bread (Num 14:9) is only part of the story. We are also being given to lay up store for the ages to come and to witness the strength of Christ, the power of God, who makes it possible for us to be more than conquerors through Christ, symbolized by the clusters of grapes Joshua and Caleb brought back from the land they spied out and declared that “we are well able to overcome it“.

Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 

Num 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 

Psa 119:65 TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.

Everything is “according unto thy word” seeing “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (Joh 1:1-3), and God deals “well with thy servant” when we are given to believe that He has the words of eternal life. We become convinced that nothing can separate us from His love because of God’s spirit within us (Rom 8:38-39, Rom 8:9), and soon we realize there is nowhere else to go when God takes away our blinded eyes, where initially “the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (Joh 6:68, Joh 6:29, Joh 8:31, Psa 119:160, Joh 1:5). John the baptist typifies our flesh which bears witness of Christ when we know Him in the flesh. However, John was pointing to Christ and His Christ in the wilderness, those who have Christ abiding in them in the flesh (Col 1:27). “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe”. Like John we must ‘lose our first head’ in order to be a true witness, and the least of us who have Christ as our head is greater than John because of our new head, Jesus Christ, who is being witnessed to the world today as our hope of glory within (Col 1:27). We are pointing to Christ within and John was pointing to Christ without (Luk 7:28, Col 1:18, Rom 8:9).

When God deals with us (“Thou hast dealt well with thy servant“) it is another way of saying He sanctifies us with His word (Joh 17:17), and it is through the sanctification process that we come to know God and His Son Jesus Christ, which knowledge is eternal life (Joh 17:3).

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 

Psa 119:66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.

The context in these verses in James which talk about the symbolic twelve tribes of Israel, who represent God’s elect, gives us some foundational (12) ideas as to what must occur in our lives in order to be that solid foundation God is building, and of whom He says it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luk 12:32). We are brought to our wits’ end through much tribulation (Act 14:22) for the express purpose of learning “good judgment and knowledge” which is expounded upon in James 1:1-6. Without the “divers temptations”, without the “trying of your faith” that “worketh patience”, we would not be able to come to the point “that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing”. However, if we’re granted to believe and continue in that belief, which will be tried (1Pe 1:7), it will, in time, after you have suffered for a while “make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you“.

Jas 1:1  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. [Deu 4:27, Mat 26:31, Luk 12:32]
Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 
Jas 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 
Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 

1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain.[wanting nothing]

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. [Rev 3:11]

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 
1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.