251 The Red Letter Answers - 4

The question we address in this episode is Why do we suffer if God is in control? We discover that if God was in control and always got His own way He would be abusive. He is a God of love and that is His way of functioning - as a result he does not get his own way and therefore is not in control. There is a supernatural being that is in control that results in so much pain and suffering. Jesus is clear the devil is the one behind all pain and suffering on this planet. The power that God has is given to him by his subjects because thy are convinced He is worthy to have power in their lives. This is what Jesus gained by dying on the cross and we become convinced of his love and that he can be trusted with our worship.

Click on the link below for the PDF Document for this episode.

SHOW NOTES

4. Why do we suffer if God is in control?

Those who champion the sovereignty of God or the absolute control of the planet by God refer to at least the following statements,

Amos 3:6: “Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?”

Lamentations 3:37: “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?”

Romans 9:17-21 NIV For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose,

that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the

earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resisthis will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

“It’s arrogant to think you’re in control. God is in control” says John Piper. What Piper misses is that there is another supernatural being who is in control.

Here is the problem with using the above verses to establish the sovereign control of God on earth.

1. As you listen to this podcast or read this document, children are being physically and sexually abused. Why does God not protect these children?

2. Children are being trafficked by evil people. Where are the righteous acts of God to save these children from these monsters?

3. Adults are being forced into slavery by the rich and powerful. Where is the compassionate God to deliver the victims from slavery?

4. God did nothing about the holocaust or Genghis Kahn or Stalin or Pol Pot or the many

genocides down through history. If God is in control of the earth, it seems he does not seriously oppose evil.

To claim that God is in control of the planet is to blacken the character of God. Love is

vulnerability (Simone Weil) and the cross demonstrated this for all who will understand. Jesus, who is God, who did not want to die but acquiesced to our wickedness displayed at the cross.

Love does not demand his own way and God is love (1 Corinthians 13:5). Any being who

demands their own way all the time is a lover but an abuser. If God is in total control he must also be an abuser.

Jesus repeatedly identified Satan or the devil as the ruler of this world.

Jesus states that he will die to destroy this evil ruler’s power over his children

.Matthew 12:28-29 NLT But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the

Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 29 For who is powerful enough to enter the

house of a strong man (Satan) and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—

someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.

Here is the witness that Jesus tied up the strong man and plundered his house.

Matthew 27:50-53 NLT Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. 51 At

that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to

bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, 52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many

godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. 53 They left the

cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to

many people.

The tradition which kept common people from the presence of God was repealed by supernaturally tearing the separating veil from top to bottom. Jesus also broke the chains of death and liberated a few people as first fruits of the Second Coming.

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.

This statement confirms the Matthew statement that Jesus broke the chains of death by entering into death and emerging in his resurrection as victor over the prison of the Satan.

Here are the direct or overt statements by Jesus on who the ruler or controller of this world is.

John 12:31 NLT The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this

world, will be cast out.

John 14:30 NLT“I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this

world approaches. He has no power over me,

John 16:11 NLT Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been

judged.

When the control of sin or the devil is finally removed by the jury of the universe there will be no more control in the universe. What will remain is the motivation of love. Hear the worship of the jury.

Revelation 5:9-14 NLT 9 And they sang a new song with these words:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and break its seals and open it.

For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation.

10 And you have caused them to become

a Kingdom of priests for our God.

And they will reign on the earth.”11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around

the throne and of the living beings and the elders. 12 And they sang in a mighty chorus:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—

to receive power and riches

and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory and blessing.”

13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the

sea. They sang:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power

belong to the one sitting on the throne

and to the Lamb forever and ever.”

14 And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and

worshiped the Lamb.

This record of the admiration given to Jesus by the jury of the universe is because of Jesus’ attitude towards his creation as evidence in the following statement he made.

John 13:34-35 NLT So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just

as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to

the world that you are my disciples.

The commandment is new because it had never been demonstrated before the cross.

For millennia well-meaning believers have presented the Ten Commandments as defining love but the commandments fall short of the love of God. They hint at God’s love but there is no commandment to lay down your life for underserving others. This moral idea was entirely new in the universe. It came from the heart of God and was revealed by the death of Jesus on the Cross.

This love is giving mercy, compassion and affection to all. It has no desire to control others but to give joy and happiness to them as illustrated by the teachings and actions of Jesus.