This post will consist of the first part (of 3) of my theological response to the fourth point of John Slye of Grace Community Church in Arlington’s message called “Why Does God Allow Suffering?” I can’t believe these posts are getting so long. I really could write a book about this.

Once again, for reference, his point and references:

4. God is not on the throne.
-“…Satan, the ruler of this world…” –John 12:31(Msg)
-“Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. The devil said, ‘If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.’” –Matt. 4:8,9(NCV)
-“The devil who rules this world…” –2 Cor. 4:4(NCV)
-“…the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one.” –1 John 5:19(NLT)

I struggled for a while to know how to organize this, but I think I got it. This post will talk about God’s sovereignty and present authority in (1) Sin, (2) Satan, and (3) Salvation.

(1) God’s Sovereignty and Present Authority in Sin
For this I’ll focus on God’s role in (a) the first sin in the world, (b) the greatest sin in the world, and (c) a weird Old Testament passage

(a) The First Sin – Adam’s sin – was absolutely known, ordained, and planned by God. He did not do it or make Adam do it, but it was certainly part of the plan. Let’s go to Genesis 2. The first command God ever gave man, is found in verses 16 and 17: “And the Lord commanded the man, saying ‘You may surely eat eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it [alt. translation: ‘when you eat of it’] you shall surely die.” We all know the rest of the story. Adam did, and subsequently ushered in what we now call “The Fall of Man.” What part did God play in this? Notice that God did not say “you shall not eat, for if you eat of it, you shall surely die.” He said “when” you eat of it. In the Hebrew this is a statement of inevitability and foreknowledge. He pretty much says to Adam, “Hey Adam, tomorrow you’re going to eat of that fruit. Don’t do it.” God absolutely knew this was coming, and He ordained it so. Many will say, “yes He knew it was coming but because of His love for man, He let man freely decide to sin while He hoped and wished that man would not do it.” I think this is true – to an extent. Remember my last real post. God had been decreeing the Gospel from eternity past, before the world was created, and this Gospel is about saving sinners from themselves. People had to Fall according to the Will of God, that He might save them and receive Glory for it, all while God maintained His hatred for Sin.

(b) The Greatest Sin – So what was the greatest sin the world has ever known? Killing the Son of God. Surely murdering the Second Person of the Trinity – the Incarnation of all that is perfect, beautiful, and satisfying must be the most despicable act ever done. God brought it about. Isaiah 53:10 literally says of God’s role in the Messiah’s death: “it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he has put him to grief.” Even more explicit is Acts 4:24, 27-28, where the believers all sing to God saying, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, . . . truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” His “hand,” symbolizing His exerted influence, did the predestinating here. Do not get foreknowledge and predestination mixed up. God brings about what he predestines, and most surely ordained (“anointed”) Pilate, Herod, Romans, Greeks, and Jews to freely kill the Son of God upon their own free accord, all the while being the Main Actor in the background bringing it to pass. How this works is a profound mystery I will not even pretend I understand.

(c) On a final note, I’d like to bring attention to 1 Samuel 2:25. Eli is rebuking his sons and he tells them to stop sinning against God. But verse 25 says: “But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.” They sinned by disobeying the fifth commandment by not listening to their Father (Deut. 5:16), but the text says they sinned because God was willing to do something else. So, somehow, Hophni and Phineas freely sinned, but it was according to the will of God so that God could bring something about.

Next time (very shortly) we will discuss the relationship between the Sovereignty of God and Sata.