07.05. The Origin of Evil

The Origin of Evil Genesis 2:17 ; Genesis 3:1-21

    Imagine a world that when a small child lies down at night there is no way they will be disturbed in sleep. Imagine a world where the alleys of cities are safe in the night. Imagine a world where there is not one single murder, on any day. Imagine a world where no child is abused or no old person is ever taken advantage of or robbed. If you can you are imagining a world without Evil.

There can be no doubt even to the most blinded and biased onlooker that evil exists. A great dilemma of evolution is to explain where evil came from. Why is it here and how did it evolve. You might ask why is it important. Today not only has men tried to degod the universe but they have attempted to dedevil it as well. Are men responsible for their own actions? Flip Wilson used to say, "the devil made me do it." Can we blame evil in our lives on others or outside influences? Many lawyers make good living coming up with reasons that men are not responsible for their own actions.

We might define evil in many ways. It is kind of like the one of the men who sit on the pornography task force under President Reagan when he was ask what pornography was he replied, "I might not be able to define it but I know it when I see it." One defined it as "That which is bad, morally wrong, causing harm, pain and misery.

Today in our world we have been influenced by the New Age thinking in many ways. The New Age in many of its beliefs is nothing more than eastern religions (i.e. Hindus) redressed. Most New Ages would hold to a teaching of Hindus that there is no such being as Satan and that evil is not an conscious dark force. Evil is only situational and defined by situations. Hindus teach that evil springs from ignorance and immaturity. Remember it is a dedeviled universe.

I- Did God Create Evil:

    The Bible teaches that evil is personified in a being we know as Satan or the Devil. It is evident that Satan was a fallen being prior to the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Notice the following scriptures.

Isaiah 14:12-14 "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! ¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."

Ezekiel 28:14-18 "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁵ Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. …¹⁷ Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness."

We asked the question did God create evil. May I say this is a very deep question that we will not be able to satisfy completely in this lifetime. It is plain that God created the angels and they had a choice to make. God created them with a free will to choose and their choice to do wrong lead to sin coming into the creation. If we say that God was the cause of evil being here then we will no longer be responsible for it after all it was God fault because He created evil. In the early church there we men know as the Gnostics who believed that all material things of creation were evil and that Christ could not therefore have really lived in this sin filled earth. They even went as far as to say that another God created the evil world. They claimed that there was a god of the Old Testament and another good God of the New Testament.

II- Sin Comes to the Human Race:

    Adam the first human created was created without sin. He and Eve were placed in a perfect environment and told only one thing was forbidden. Genesis 2:17 says, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

    We go to what is certainly the worst day in human history recorded in Genesis 3:1-7 . We have here the fall of man. Adam, who was the man from whom all humans descended acting as the head of the human race fell and within him all of humanity fell.

    Romans 5:12-14 says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."

    Just in case that you do not think that you are a sinner listen to the word of God again. Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

III- The Implications of Sin:

    Sin touches all of creation. Notice Romans 8:19-23 "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, ²¹ Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. ²³ And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (My underline for emphasis)

Touches every aspect of life. Babies throw fits. Terrorist attack. People kill others. It was not long after the fall that the first murder took place when Cain killed his brother Abel. Men and women have been killing each other ever since. Every relationship that we have is affected by sin. Our marriages, our parental relationships, our business relationships, our neighbor relations and all others.

Still the greatest implication is that it separates us from God. Genesis 3:8 Psalms 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."

Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

God’s remedy for evil was to sacrifice His Son for our sin. To see the horror of sin we need look no farther than the cross.