Author: Michele at ScriptureStudy.Guide
Posted: January 4, 2022. Updated January 22, 2023.
It is impossible to experience the depths of grace and mercy that God provides for us without experiencing pain and evil.
ALL on this earth, good and evil, is God’s will (Matthew 6:10).
Proverbs 16:4 says, “The LORD hath made all for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.”
Revelation 17:17 says “God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will” and what He has the wicked do here — give the world to Satan — is evil.
The Lord says, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” ~Isaiah 45:7.
“…shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” ~Amos 3:6b
“The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.” ~Isaiah 19:14
All for His Power and Glory
“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” (Colossians 1:16).
“Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13).
“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all” (1 Chronicles 29:11 ESV).
You’re Calling God Evil!
I’m hearing this a lot, so I steer people to all the verses above and they still come back and say that God DOES NOT create evil.
God created the tree of the knowledge of good AND EVIL. God is all-knowing. If He didn’t know evil, He wouldn’t be omniscient.
God does not sin, but He created and uses evil according to His purpose.
But God is Only Loving and Good
Yes, God is loving and good. God is also all-knowing and knows what we need to reach fullness in Him (Jeremiah 29:11).
Have you ever been around a child who was never disciplined? A child who received good things without earning them? Then grew up to be a bully and a tyrant? No one can tolerate being around behavior such as that.
What does a loving parent do? They discipline their child. Teach their child. Let them experience what it feels like to work toward something and then receive a reward.
God is your Creator Father. He loves us (John 3:16). We are His creation and He desires that we love Him back. Love cannot be forced. He is teaching us by allowing us to experience the good and the bad in people and in our environment. He is preventing us from being a soul that is intolerable to be around. He is preparing us to spend an eternity with Him and with each other.
“…but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24 ESV).
The holy Elohim uses evil to draw us to Him. “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” (Genesis 3:22 ESV).
God is teaching us to seek Him, lean on Him, trust Him and obey His word so He can give us His blessings.
Fire Refines
We will all go through the Refiner’s fire, if not in this world, then in the next. God uses fire to try, refine and prove His children’s faith:
Zechariah 13:9 — “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”
Psalm 66:10 — “For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.” “The Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3).
Job 23:10 — “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
1 Peter 1:7 — “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:”
God says He will even turn us over to Satan to save our eternal spirit:
1 Corinthians 5:5 — “Be delivered unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (GNV).
We must be born again which is dying to self and taking up our cross daily while on this earth (Luke 9:23; John 12:24), or we are going to experience the second death which is the lake of fire (Revelation 20:6 & 14). Living in righteousness and truth will ruin your physical life on this earth and will try you like nothing else will (Amos 5:10). If you are not carrying a cross 24/7/365, please reconsider your worldly lifestyle and your spiritual life. What is our cross? ….SPEAKING TRUTH of God’s word…. the world hates it, but fellow brethren will be blessed by it.
God’s Will Has Divine Purpose
In our bible, the wickedness ends at Judgment Day with the tares being thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). What happens next is speculation on our part, but after an exhaustive word study, I learned that “forever” is not “never ending” — it is a very long length of time or level of severity that will be different for each individual (the full study is here). This is further supported by these verses:
Colossians 1:20 — “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
The blood of Jesus has no limits.
1 John 2:2 — He is the propitiation for our sins [those saved by Jesus], and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world [“kosmos”/universe/entire orderly arrangement].”
PLEASE READ THE ABOVE VERSE AGAIN AND UNDERSTAND IT FULLY in the context of 1 John 2:1-3 in the Greek.
This is clear proof that Jesus’ blood conquers ALL sin for ALL creation.
Romans 14:11 — “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
When the Lord says “every,” then I believe it is EVERY one. This worship will be genuine and heartfelt; not forced.
Ephesians 3:9 — “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:“
God created ALL things by Jesus Christ, and the power of His shed blood has NO LIMITS.
Forever, Eternal, Everlasting
The words ever, forever, eternal, and everlasting are used interchangeably by the KJV translators.
When looking up the word “forever” in the Strong’s Concordance, I’m told to see the word “ever.” Ever in the new testament is primarily G165 — it is the word aion which is a masculine NOUN (an idea) and means “an age.” An age has a beginning and an end, and its length (or mode of dealing) is determined by God.
The other word used as eternal, ever, forever, and everlasting by the KJV translators is Strong’s G166 which is aionios — it is an ADJECTIVE that describes something pertaining to a duration. Strong’s uses the words “perpetual” and “terminus” to define this word. Terminus is “the final point; the end.” Perpetual means “ongoing” until that point is reached.
In other words, the aionios duration of things surrounding the judgments, promises and will of God are FOR A PURPOSE and will continue until the purpose of God’s will is reached (the final point).
When referring to hell/the lake of fire, we see the word “forever” or “forever and ever” used which means an age with a clearly defined ending (aion), or an ongoing period of purpose up to the point that God’s purpose has been reached (aionios). HELL IS NOT NEVER-ENDING for a human spirit. Everything done by God is with purpose.
For the full word study on this topic, please see the article Hell is not Eternal – God Works in Ages.
God Does Not Create Garbage
Human beings were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) which means we all have been given a spirit that never ceases to exist (details here). All of us will have sin while in these fallible bodies — the only thing that brings us to peace with God is being washed in the blood of His Son (Colossians 1:20).
But God calls many but not everyone, and of those He calls, He only chooses a few (Matthew 22:14). Does this mean that God created the majority of human souls to be tormented for eternity? My God does not derive pleasure by inflicting cruelty or pain onto His creation. “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” ~Ezekiel 18:23.
Those who teach or believe that God is a sadist and has made the majority of His human creation to be senselessly tormented for eternity are either 1) Acting from an unforgiving heart and forgetting that the Lord said “vengeance is mine” (Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19), or 2) They are blinded by God and believe He tortures wicked souls as a purposeless pastime, or 3) They are listening to the ridiculous false teachings of foolish men and failing to study the words in their bibles.
So Who Are Those That God Does Not Call?
I have often wondered why God would not at least call everyone. Then I considered this verse:
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” ~John 8:44
God created vessels of dishonor which He fitted for destruction (Romans 9:22). These were those whose spiritual father is the devil. Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 says they call themselves Jews (redeemed saints) but they are of the “synagogue of Satan.”
God has created the wicked and the evil for His purposes, and His purpose for mankind is to bring His human creation into fullness for His power and glory (John chapter 15).
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Genesis 9:6
Through God’s only begotten Son’s sacrifice, He has made peace with those in the earth and those in heaven.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:20
Note: The phrase “they be things” in the above verse also means “those” which would have been a better translation.
God will show mercy and compassion on whom He chooses (Romans 9:15). He tells us to forgive our enemies (which will heap coals of fire upon their heads) and He will forgive us (Proverbs 25:21-22; Matthew 6:14). His ways are perfect and just (Deuteronomy 32:4; Job 34:12).
The Call
Matthew Henry explains the call beautifully in his Romans 8:28 commentary:
“Whom he did predestinate those he also called, not only with the external call (so many are called that were not chosen, Mt. 20:16; 22:14), but with the internal and effectual call. The former comes to the ear only, but this to the heart. All that God did from eternity predestinate to grace and glory he does, in the fullness of time, effectually call. The call is then effectual when we come at the call; and we then come at the call when the Spirit draws us, convinces the conscience of guilt and wrath, enlightens the understanding, bows the will, persuades and enables us to embrace Christ in the promises, makes us willing in the day of his power. It is an effectual call from self and earth to God, and Christ, and heaven, as our end-from sin and vanity to grace, and holiness, and seriousness as our way. This is the gospel call. Them he called, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand: we are called to that to which we were chosen. So that the only way to make our election sure is to make sure our calling, 2 Pt. 1:10.”
The Seed of Men
There is a seed of man and a seed of Satan (Daniel 2:43). Man’s seed is physical for the physical flesh. ALL physical seed is of adam-man.
Satan’s seed is spiritual, as is God’s seed. God created all seeds, the physical, the spiritual evil, and the spiritual righteous.
Those who are of the seed of men have been sent their Messiah in the flesh to give them aionios life — their spiritual father is the heavenly Father. Theirs is a righteous seed who has aionios life which means they will escape the second death lake of fire. They go through the Refiner’s fire while on this earth (see Hell is not Eternal – God Works in Ages).
Those whose spiritual father is the devil are the seed of Satan (John 8:44) — these are the worldly who deny Jesus Christ. They do not have aionios life so will go through the second death lake of fire for an age while the righteous seed are experiencing aionios life.
The seed is referring to that which controls us — the spiritual principalities — devils or the Holy Spirit (details here). God’s is a spiritual kingdom!
These different seed lines have NOTHING to do with DNA. Esau’s father was the devil and Jacob’s father was God and both came from the same womb at the same time and had the same earthly father.
We see 2 examples of this in Scripture. Genesis 6:4 says “the sons of God bear children to the daughters of men.” The sons of God were the adam-man who were predestined to walk with the holy Elohim… they held powers that the evil adam-man did not have. They begat with evil female-adam which resulted in children who were violent tyrants with God’s powers. As a result of their grave mistake, the sons of God lost their earthly God-powers and had their physical life shortened from 900+ years to 120 years. Every single one of their evil children were killed in the flood.
“Seed of men” does not mean that the other option is the “seed of hybrid creatures” or “seed of fallen angels” or “seed of aliens from outer space.” lol The seed of men is the seed of physical flesh; the “other seed” is referring to the INVISIBLE spiritual principalities — God’s righteous seed or Satan’s seed (see Human-Nephilim Hybrids? Satan in Mankind).
Daniel 2:35 says the iron and clay are both chaff. In Daniel 2:43, we see the chaff of iron and clay mingling with the “seed of men,” the wheat, but not cleaving to them. Translation: The powerful wicked rulers are corrupting the righteous men and not adopting their righteous ways. This is referring to men controlled by the devil spirit mingling among those men controlled by God’s Holy Spirit, but they do not have close relationships with one another. This is happening now in this New Covenant Church Age where the tares and the wheat are growing together, and the wolves (false teachers) are lying with the lambs (details here).
Christ’s Blood Conquered ALL Sin
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
This verse clearly tells us that Christ did not die only for those whom God predestined to be His children, but for ALL SINS of the ENTIRE WORLD. To say otherwise is claiming that Jesus’ blood was not good enough or powerful enough to defeat all sin.
Christ’s blood truly is perfect and covers all, even eventually for those who were predestined for wrath while on earth. The wicked will be judged individually for their deeds while on this earth so they will not all receive the same length of time or the same level of severity while in the lake of fire. God does nothing without purpose.
When Jesus taught us to pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Mathew 6:14), my personal belief is that there was a much deeper meaning behind this. After who knows how many ages in the lake of fire, the wicked will turn and praise Christ. They will be with us again with a new spirit of perfect love and without sin. This is going to be an occasion of GREAT REJOICING for the elect — their kingdom will grow and all of our unsaved loved ones will have their eyes opened by God and be redeemed by Jesus’ blood, just like we have been already. No one seeks after God unless He draws them, including us/Christ’s bride (Romans 3:11, John 6:44).
Luke 16:26 reads that the wicked cannot come out of the lake of fire and we cannot go in to save them. But what that verse does NOT say is that God cannot take them out when their punishment is over and their hearts have been turned. God gave us His only begotten Son whose blood conquered all sin and death.
It is spiritually edifying to understand the fullness and completeness of the blood of Jesus and the fact that He conquered ALL SIN on the cross. Not all the sin for a small minority who walk the narrow road, but ALL SIN.
God Is Bringing Us Into Fullness
God sent Himself to earth in the form of man in the flesh in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to save humanity from a spiritual death. This is a gift we are given that God tells us we cannot do ANYTHING to receive, lest we boast (Ephesians 2:9).
Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1 NASB). “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Of this we can be sure: If you hate wickedness and love righteousness, then your father is not of the devil and God will call you to Him (Hebrews 1:9). We should use all the gifts and abilities that God has given us to respond to Him.
All who seek Him have a way to Him (John 3:16). The very fact that you seek Him is His gift to you. He who believes in Jesus Christ will not be ashamed (Romans 10:11).
“And 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
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