Creation: From Groaning To Glory
We are in the second half of 2021. When the pandemic started early last year, I thought that it would be a small matter and that the situation would get better by 2021. How naïve I was! The pandemic has not resolved as I expected. Cases are soaring in our country and in other parts of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the examples of evil in the world. On other fronts, most of us have loved ones or friends who are terminally ill. Maybe some of us are experiencing severe illness. The list goes on and on. Countless examples can be given about natural disasters, hardships, diseases, and the atrocities of humankind. Many people have asked throughout the centuries and millennia: Where is God in the midst of evil?
The quote attributed to Epicurus sums up the sentiments of many people, especially atheists:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence comes evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
A quote by Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher.
The argument stated above is flawed. Many qualified people have ventured to give good Christian responses to the problem of evil. I am not a Christian philosopher or a professional theologian. Therefore, I will leave the comprehensive answers to the experts. But very briefly, on an atheistic worldview, what basis is there to complain about the presence of evil in this world? Think about it: if God does not exist, then there is no standard of right or wrong; there is no evil or good. Everything is arbitrary and there is no higher standard to appeal to. Why should someone bemoan the fact that there is evil in the world if that person thinks that there is no God? If I note and agree that evil exists, logically this means that there is a standard of ultimate good which I am appealing to, that is, God.
The Bible is not silent about evil. I would like to offer three responses from the Bible to the problem of evil.
We are asking the wrong question
We like to know the reason for evil. Why? Why? But Jesus directs us to the deeper issue: Have we repented of our sins?
Luke 13:1-5 records for us:
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
In other words, these people were asking Jesus about the atrocities perpetrated by humans, and natural disasters or accidents. Perhaps they were asking, “Why?”. In their minds, these Jews were pious people. They were offering sacrifices in the temple when they were slaughtered at the command of Pilate, the Roman governor. If these were pious Jews, why were they slaughtered? Similar questions were asked when the tower at Siloam collapsed, killing eighteen people. Jesus did not answer them in the way they expected. Instead, he told them that unless they repented, they will all likewise perish. Jesus highlighted that all people have sinned and needed to repent. The question comes back to me: Have I repented of my sins? Do I trust Jesus as my Saviour? What about you?
All creation was subjected to God’s curse
The apostle Paul writes that the creation was subjected to futility by God (Romans 8:18-25). Or as the NLT translates… “subjected to God’s curse.” There is comfort in knowing that the creation was subjected to futility by God. This means that all that is happening in the world is not occurring randomly but God reigns over all! God is sovereign. God is in control.
Because of sin, all of creation is corrupted. There is a hope that all of creation is waiting for. A time will come when all evil will be purged. Meanwhile all of creation groans. Not only the creation groans, “but we ourselves who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Are you groaning, my friend? Is there a holy dissatisfaction in your heart that tells you that you are not made for this world? This a pointer to God.
C.S. Lewis writes,
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
— C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952), C.S. Lewis
There is a hope of glory coming
Paul writes, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18) Friends, there is a glory that is going to be revealed to all of us who are in Christ. We are going to exchange our tents for buildings. This imagery is described in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5. Our mortal bodies are likened to tents. And in the tents of our mortal bodies, we groan! Tents are not permanent. We groan as we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothes. “..We await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20-21).
As we wait in hope, we are not left alone; God is with us in the midst of our sufferings and groanings. And we cry, “Our Lord, come!” (Maranatha!)
For those of you who are searching for an answer to your dissatisfactions and groanings, please contact us. We would like to point you to Jesus and welcome you into the family of God.