Q. Why did God put humans right in the middle of his conflict with Satan? One person said it was like a game between God and Satan with man caught right in the center, suffering the consequences. If God doesn't like sin, why didn't he just do away with the devil right away when he sinned?

(Submitted by: Kevin)

A. To a degree, why God allows Satan to operate is part of the general question of the problem of evil. That is, why does an all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing God allow evil to exist? You may find it worthwhile to read what C.S. Lewis wrote on this subject in his book, " The Problem of Pain." He became an atheist when younger largely over this issue, but later on changed his mind.

A description of Satan and his revolt against God appears in Isaiah 14:12-15 and Eze. 28:12-19. Although it can be disputed about where the description of the kings of Babylon and Tyre begin and end compared to that of Satan himself, these verses most sensibly can be applied to him.

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isaiah 14:12-15)

"Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone [was] thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never [shalt] thou [be] any more." (Eze. 28:12-19)

Satan (or Lucifer, as he was known then) at one time was the covering cherub, one of the angels sitting right over God's throne (Eze. 28:14), but later he rebelled. The question then is why does God put up with Satan's continuing evil influences on mankind ( Ephesians 2:2; II Cor. 4:4; Job 1-2)?

Although this can't be directly proven from Scripture, I believe reasonable deductions from the Biblical evidence can be made on this subject. By allowing evil to exist, God isn't merely trying to prove something to mankind, but also to all the created intelligences of the universe. Since people, or even the angels, won't necessarily take God's word for it on faith that some other way of life besides His works, He has allowed people to live and experience other ways of life. Here, this becomes a type of self-inflicted misery, but then people feel like blaming God for the evils their free choices brought upon them.

For example, God says not to have sex before or outside of marriage relationship. But if people insist on doing so, and suffer consequences such as unwanted pregnancies, abortions, diseases, emotional upset and torment, unpleasant memories, etc., from committing adultery, fornication, etc., then whose fault is it? If God denied us freedom to sin, people would complain about not having the freedom to find out if some other way besides God's way would work.

Presumably, a similar issue came up among the angels . Satan attacked God's character, and got one-third of the angels ( Rev. 12:9) to side with him against God. These angels, like many of us humans, didn't trust God or have faith in God's revealed will as being loving and unselfish. God is presently allowing these spirit beings (the demons) to learn along with humanity that disobeying God's law isn't a successful or happy way to live.

God may also be allowing Satan to operate in order to help us develop holy righteous character more quickly, since Christians have to learn to resist against Satan's influence. Here the analogy would be with weight-training and the concept of resistance, only there's a spiritual principle being applied here: We develop the habits of obeying by our own free choice more solidly and permanently if we have to resist more in order to develop them.

God could have done away with not only Satan, but Adam and Eve also after they sinned. But He decided in advance that if they (the humans) did sin, He would pay the price personally for their sin. Always remember, in Christianity, God in the Person of Jesus chose to suffer like humans from the consequences of sin and living in a world cut off from God. He didn't live an easy, sheltered life in the lap of luxury. Instead, He chose to die a horribly pain and humiliating death for people (in most cases) who didn't know what He did or who actively consented to His death. Therefore, we should have faith in God that He knows what He is doing when He allows sin temporarily to exist in the universe as a temporary, unwelcome visitor.

God is in the process of making beings like Himself that have 100% free will (like He does) yet will also obey His holy righteous law of love 100% of the time (like He does also) (compare Matt. 5:48). This would be the main reason God allows evil to exist by deduction from the Biblical evidence.

Fundamentally, we're always faced with the bottom-line of the principle as found in Isaiah 55:7-11 :

"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it. "

We aren't in a position to judge God and His actions, as Job did. (Someone perplexed by this issue should consider reading Job in a modern translation). We don't know enough nor do we have His power. So let's be humble, and faithfully and patiently await the day He'll abolish all sin and Satan himself.

Other Recommended Bible Study Materials:

• Can Satan read our thoughts?
• What are some of the Bible names for Satan?
• What is a talent of gold worth?

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