Alright, we’re going to get a bit controversial for a while and deal with some things in the Bible that most people just ignore, especially Laodiceans, since it goes against their soft grain like sandpaper against a gummy bear. I choose to NOT ignore this subject matter because (1) we’re supposed to be living by “every” word of God (Mat. 4:4), not just the ones we like, (2) I always enjoy clearing up confusion, and (3) I believe that our understanding of God is flawed, if we fail to get a good grip on what I hope to show you from the scriptures. We’ll start by looking at a couple supposed “contradictions” and then go from there . . .
“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” (I Chron. 21:1) As you can see, the verse says that SATAN provoked David to number Israel. But look at II Samuel 24:1 and notice some very different words: “And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.” Here, it is THE LORD that moves David to number Israel, and, as if that’s not enough, it is THE LORD himself who chooses to deal with David about his sin of numbering Israel (II Sam. 24:10-15)! If you’re looking for “contradictions” in the Bible, you can sure do better than Jehoiachin’s age or Solomon’s horse stalls! Look no further than II Samuel 24:1 and I Chronicles 21:1.
Let’s get another one. Here’s Titus 1:2: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” That’s clear enough: God cannot lie. I would imagine that we can all agree on that. But can we all agree on Ezekiel 14:9? Ezekiel 14:9 says, “And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.” According to the scriptures, God, who doesn’t lie, is in the business of deceiving prophets.
Now, any attempted exegesis of these texts that doesn’t allow them to stand as worded is not a God-honoring exegesis. God knows exactly what He’s doing, exactly what He meant to say, exactly why He said it, and He doesn’t need anyone apologizing or doing any damage control for Him. These are NOT contradictions. These are CHALLENGES for the believer to stop being a careless and casual Bible reader and to start being a serious student of the word.
All true Christians know God spiritually, but very few know Him theologically. That is, you might know Him as a result of having been born into His kingdom and family through Christ, but how well do you know what He says ABOUT HIMSELF in over 700,000 words? For instance, you might know that James Melton is a Tennessee preacher who pastors a church, stands on the King James Bible, and does a lot of writing, but do you know how many children I have, what their names are, what my wife looks like, where I live, what my hobbies are, what I like to eat, where I grew up, how I learned the Bible, what kind of music I like, how many guns I have, who my parents are, the names of my pets, whether I live in town or in the country, and what is my favorite sport? You see, you can know someone generally without knowing them CLOSELY, and that’s how most Christians know God . . . generally. This message will help you to step in and get a closer look at your Creator and Heavenly Father, and you won’t have to get a new translation or anyone’s lexicon to do it. Sticking with only the King’s English, we’re going to get better acquainted with God by slowing down and taking a serious look at some passages that most people conveniently ignore.
Alright, let’s deal with the title. Why in the world would a Bible-believing preacher title a message “When God Creates Evil”? Well, either I’ve completely lost my mind or I’ve found something else of interest in the Book. Thankfully, it’s the latter. Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Okay, so I haven’t lost my mind. The Book says that God creates evil. While the critically-spirited skeptic throws his transmission in reverse with “But . . but . . . but . . . but . . .”, the humble and inquiring student of scripture will say, “Okay, you have my attention. What else you got? I’m all ears.”
I find it very instructive that God would put things like that in the Bible, knowing full well that thousands of people, perhaps millions, will stumble all over it, completely miss the truth presented, and often go out worse than they came in! Knowing that to be the case, He just goes right ahead and does it anyway. It seems that His attitude is that a man who isn’t willing to humble himself and be taught isn’t worthy of the truth anyway.
All of this will make more sense if you’ll please allow me to establish a setting, at least for sake of illustration. Imagine, if you will, that heaven has a grand courtroom with a very large and majestic bench. Behind that bench sits God Himself, and throughout the courtroom sits and stands both good and evil spirit beings, including Satan. Everything that happens in the universe must come before God’s bench and be signed by God Himself, including everything in the earth. Sometimes Satan has a plan, but he can’t execute it without God’s signature. Sometimes God Himself has a plan, and He asks those in the courtroom to make suggestions on the best way to execute His plan. It isn’t that He doesn’t already know the best plan. It’s just that, for His own reasons, He wants others to have input. In both cases, God remains firmly positioned behind the bench and there’s never any question about who is in charge. God is the Boss, He’s the “judge of all the earth” (Gen. 18:25), and He has the final word in everything. In that sense, He’s RESPONSIBLE for everything. Yes, including evil.
Having established our setting, let’s go to I Kings chapter 22. The Israeli kingdom has been divided for many years with the ten northern tribes being in gross apostasy under the wicked rule of king Ahab. The southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin haven’t yet gone into apostasy, and they are ruled by the king Jehoshaphat. Due to his many national sins, Ahab and the northern tribes were not possessing all of the land that God had given them, so Ahab decided that it was time to go and TAKE the land, with or without God’s blessings (22:1-3). So, to make the whole thing appear good, he invites the better king Jehoshaphat to come along and help in the battle, and Jehoshaphat fell for the scheme in the name of brotherhood, equality and unity (22:4). But, being more of a Bible believer than Ahab, Jehoshaphat thought it best to seek GOD’S will: “And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.” (22:5)
Now it gets crazy. Being an apostate idolater, Ahab wasn’t about to REALLY inquire of the Lord. Instead, he would act all religious and devout for a while just to appease Jehoshaphat. So he called out the ecumenical crowd with their vestments, white collars, crosses and prayer beads, and they all told him just what he wanted to hear: “Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.” (22:6) With Ahab sitting there grinning in his self-pride, Jehoshaphat felt led to throw a monkey wrench in the machinery: “And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?” (22:7) You see, Jehoshaphat was from the Bible belt down south, and that ecumenical stuff just wasn’t his cup of tea. He wanted some REAL preaching. Now, watch what happens . . .
“And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.” (22:8) LOL! That dirty devil knew full well that his own “prophets” were a bunch of liars and crooks, and that’s the way he wanted it. When Jehoshaphat requested a true prophet of the LORD, Ahab didn’t say, “Why, what do you mean? ALL of these prophets are of the LORD! You just heard the will of the LORD, brother! Let’s roll!” No, he said nothing like that. Knowing that his religious circus wasn’t worth a dime, Ahab knew EXACTLY what Jehoshaphat meant when he requested to hear “a prophet of the LORD.” In fact, he knew exactly WHO that prophet of the LORD was, WHERE to find him, and that he hated his guts due to his negative preaching!
Ahab then conceded to Jehoshaphat’s request and sent for the real prophet, a man named Micaiah. A messenger briefed Micaiah about all that had transpired and then tried to get him to go along with the smooth words of all the other false prophets who were still engaged in their ecumenical circus (22:9-13). Naturally, being a true man of God, Micaiah wasn’t about to go along with anything: “And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.” (22:14) Uh, oh! Party’s over. Actually, it’s NOT over. The warm-up band is about to leave the stage and the “main attraction” is ready for his grandest “performance” ever.
So Micaiah is brought in before the two kings, and wicked Ahab says, “Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear?” (22:15) Micaiah knows what he’s “supposed” to say, thanks to the sissy messenger who tried to intimidate him, so since the whole thing is a circus anyway, he decides to have a bit of fun. Giving most of his energy to avoid cracking a smile, the sarcastic Micaiah took a deep breath and stretched forth his arm and said, “Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.” (22:15) LOL! Disgust is written on Ahab’s face and on the faces of most of the false prophets for they know without a doubt that ole’ Mike is mocking and poking fun at their ridiculous “preaching,” just as Elijah had mocked the Baal worshipers at Mt. Carmel (I Kgs. 18).
Then Ahab, realizing that he had “been had” again, placed Micaiah under an oath so that he would have to stop clowning around and speak the truth: “And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?” (22:16) The “how many times” seems to be a clear indication that ole’ Mike had jabbed Ahab a few times before with his jesting sarcasm, and the dull-minded king had fallen for yet another one. No doubt, “Ha, ha! Gotcha again, Ahab!” was Micaiah’s inner joy as he prepared to DROP THE BOMBS. Now that he’s been “adjured” (placed under oath), there’s only one thing left to do: “And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.” (22:17) The biggest one is yet to come, but that’s the first bomb. Ahab is going to die. He has to because of the prophecy of Elijah in the previous chapter.
Ahab utters to Jehoshaphat some “I told you so” words, and then Micaiah heads into the unexpected and unwelcomed point number two: “And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.” (22:19-23) BOOM!
We won’t deal with the rest of Micaiah’s message, since the above words well reinforce the main point of what I’m trying to get across, but rest assured that his words did come to pass. Ahab is dead before dark (22:34-40), the false prophets end up looking like fools, and God’s true prophets hit the bulls eye as usual.
Now, about Micaiah’s peculiar vision. He said that he saw the LORD on His throne and the host of heaven gathered around on His right and left. Then he heard the LORD put forth an order of business to be carried out: THE DEATH OF AHAB. God wanted to know who had the best execution plan for wicked Ahab. After several plans were presented, one spirit stepped up with the winning plan: “I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.” (22:22) God basically said, “I like it! Where do I sign?” The plan was carried out, Ahab believed the lying prophets that God sent, and he was dead before dark. To double down on the unpopular truth, Micaiah rubbed it in further by saying, “Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.” (22:23) Did the LORD actually TELL the lie? Of course not, but He did AUTHORIZE the lie. In that sense, it can said that “the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets.” He’s the Judge behind the bench that signed the paper.
For more of the same, please consider Ezekiel 14:9: “And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.” There it is, plain as the nose on your face: GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DECEPTION. No, He doesn’t personally deceive anyone or lie, but He does authorize it when someone is unworthy of further truth. The context here in Ezekiel is people loving their idols more than God and His truth (14:1-8), so He sends them LIES.
Get II Thessalonians 2:11-12: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” The context here is the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist and his blind followers. God sends a “strong delusion” for the distinct purpose of deceiving and damning those who REJECTED truth. He doesn’t personally engage in the deceit, but He does authorize it from His heavenly bench after assessing the whole situation and considering all the facts. It is in that sense that all “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1), not just the “good” powers, and it’s in that sense that the heathen Nebuchadnezzar was God’s “servant” (Jer. 25:9). God is the supreme Judge and Commander. NOTHING happens off of His watch, not even a falling sparrow or a hair falling from your head (Mat. 10:29-30). That makes God the BOSS, the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, the CEO, the JUDGE and KING. Everything is under His command, His control and His authorization, including “the deceived and the deceiver” (Job 12:16), and both “good” and “evil” (Job 2:10; Lam. 3:38).
So! Who was it that moved David to number Israel? God or Satan? God signed the order, and Satan did the dirty work. Who is it that lies and deceives people? God signs the order, and Satan does the dirty work. If you still doubt this, just read Job chapters one and two where God AUTHORIZES Satan to attack Job and his family, and read Revelation 12:10 where “the accuser of our brethren” is finally cast down. God is the Supreme Judge. He only is omniscient and omnipotent, so He only can sit qualified to measure out court orders from His heavenly bench. He knows exactly what He’s doing, when to do it, how much of it to do, who to do it to and who can get it done. Why did so many Jews perish in the holocaust? Because God knows what He’s doing. Why have sixty million babies been aborted in America? Because God knows what He’s doing. Why do so many people suffer and face hardships and tragic deaths? Because God knows what He’s doing. Why did the sinless Son of God have to hang on the cross and suffer and die for OUR sins? Because God knows what He’s doing, even if the devil doesn't (I Cor. 2:8)! Relax, my friend, God has EVERYTHING under control. You might want to join His ranks while you still can.
“Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?” (Ecc. 8:4)
- James L. Melton
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