224 Who Did Jesus Identify as the True Agent of Evil? Part 2

The clear teaching of Jesus is that there is only one that is responsible for the evil in this world. Clearly Jesus indicts Satan for human suffering and moral evil. He is the one that comes only to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came to bring life, abundant life. Jesus exonerates God in every way of any complicity with evil. He is pure light, goodness and love.

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SHOW NOTES

2. Did Jesus indicate any complicity in God with Evil?

Jesus, the only eyewitness of God , corrects the Hebrew view of God as being

complicit in any way with the origin of evil.

To substantiate this claim we examine the teachings of Jesus Christ to find out if there is

any hint that evil originated or was facilitated by his father or himself. Jesus is God (John

1:1-3) and he claimed that his character was identical to his father’s (John 14:9). For this

reason, if for no other, we need to take the testimony or witness of Jesus seriously.

God’s love is unconditional and eternal

Matthew 5:43-45 Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbour,

and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that

curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully

use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which

is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and

sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

This passage must be the most neglected teaching of all time. It is so discordant with the

thinking of this world that it is incomprehensible and so glossed over. It is simply a bridge

too far for our moral sensibilities. What makes it even more unbelievable is that Jesus lived his teaching. This puts us in a quandary theoretically and practically. One of our responses has been to generate the theory that God had to have Jesus’ blood before he could forgive us. This idea then gives us licence to execute Jesus to fulfil God’s plan for our salvation. However, the passage is generally ignored except for a non-violent people like Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Juniour. And the Mennonites and the Quakers.

Suffering is never punishment from God

Luke 13:1-5 NLT About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some

people from Galilee as they were oPering sacrifices at the Temple. 2 “Do you think

those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus

asked. “Is that why they suPered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you

repent of your sins and turn to God. 4 And what about the eighteen people who died

when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? 5

No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

In this commentary Jesus covers moral evil (Pilate) and impersonal or natural evil (tower).

He is bold to state that neither of these are punishments from God. They are the result of

another agency in this world. We must identify the ruler of this world (John 12:31-33) whocauses such catastrophes as illustrated in the first two chapters of Job. Here Satan uses moral evil (Sabaeans and Chaldeans) and impersonal evil (lightening and tornado) to cause Job’s suffering.

Darkness is equated with evil by Jesus and is opposed to himself as the light of the

world

John 1:5 NLT The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish

it

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he

that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 10:10 NLT The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to

give them a rich and satisfying life.

Jesus is never associated with sin or death

John 11:25 NLT Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who

believes in me will live, even after dying.

Hebrews 2:14 NLT Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and

blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he

die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power

of death.

1 John 3:8 NLT But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the

devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy

the works of the devil.

The agency of evil has been concealed since the beginning by the evil one. How privileged we are to have received the testimony of Jesus.

God, rather than causing evil, protects people from evil

John 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou

shouldest keep them from the evil.

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast oP the

works of darkness (evil) and let us put on the armour of light (goodness).

James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God

cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto

you, that God is light (goodness), and in him is no darkness (evil) at all.

John is summarizing what he had heard Jesus teach about the agency of evil.

3. Did Jesus identify the true Agent of Evil?

In the New Testament the titles Satan, the Accuser, the Destroyer, the Dragon, the Serpent, the Devil all refer to the same being.

Revelation 12:9 NLT This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or

Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his

angels.

The Clearest Teaching by Jesus Christ on the agency of Evil

Here are some of the passages in which this evil being appears.

Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

Mark 4:15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As

soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

Luke 4:2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during

those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are

the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. 5 The devil led him up to a high place

. . . 9 the devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the

temple . . . 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting he left until an opportune

time.

Luke 10:18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven.”

This means the origin of this being was in heaven. Two repurposed passages from the Old Testament give more detail.

Isaiah 14:12-17 NLT “How you are fallen from heaven,

O shining star, son of the morning!

You have been thrown down to the earth,

you who destroyed the nations of the world.

13 For you said to yourself,

‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.

I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north.[e]

14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’

15 Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,down to its lowest depths.

16 Everyone there will stare at you and ask,

‘Can this be the one who shook the earth and made the kingdoms of the

world tremble?

17 Is this the one who destroyed the world and made it into a wasteland?

Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities

and had no mercy on his prisoners?’

Ezekiel 28:11-17 NLT Then this further message came to me from the Lord: 12 “Son of

man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the

Sovereign Lord:

“You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.

13 You were in Eden, the garden of God.

Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone[b]—

red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone,

blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper,

blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—

all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold.

They were given to you on the day you were created.

14 I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian.

You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire.

15 “You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created

until the day evil was found in you.

16 Your rich commerce led you to violence, and you sinned.

So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God.

I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire.

17 Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty.

Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor.

So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.

Luke 13:16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has

kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound

her?”

Luke 22:31 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.

John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's

desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no

truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father

of lies.

Contextually “the beginning” is the creation of this planet. This means the devil inspired or

possessed Cain to murder Abel.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they

may have life, and have it to the full.

This last passage is the clearest revelation by Jesus of the issues in the battle for the minds of the universe. He clearly identifies the destroyer and the life-giver? He identifies the One who works continuously for the good of the universe and the one who is bent on its destruction?

These could be empty words apart from the cross where Jesus is clearly giving life to all

those around him even as the evil one is bent on destroying him. In the most stressful

moments of his life Jesus does not neglect even his executioner’s wellbeing. This is

unmistakable evidence that the words of Jesus, “that they may have life” was the

consuming passion of his life.

Acts 26:18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the

power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place

among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

Paul is explaining to King Agrippa what he understood on the Damascus road. God’s

sovereign forgiveness is hidden from men by Satan, in order to prevent sinners from turning from the darkness to the light, from the power of Satan to the power of God.