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| The Tip Of The Iceberg |
Adam and Eve lived in the age of innocence and knew nothing of evil until Adam ate the forbidden fruit and both their eyes were opened.
At the beginning of Job’s trials, Satan came before the Lord and the Lord asked him. “Where have you come from?” Satan replied, “From going back and forth on the earth, and walking up and down in it.” In the same way that he deceived Eve in the garden, he does this around the world. The apostle Peter warned us to be careful of our adversary the devil who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
But God had made a hedge around Job, and his household, and all he owned so that Satan was not able to touch him. Job was surrounded by God’s protection until He lifted the hedge and permitted Satan to attack Job, with the restriction that Satan could not take Job’s life.
The accuser of the brethren said that if God permitted this attack on Job, that he would curse God to His face. But Job did not, proving that his love for God was genuine. At the end of Job’s trials, God restored the hedge and Job’s losses, giving him twice as much as he had before, and a long life to enjoy them.
God has given all of mankind freedom to choose good or to choose evil. We all have a conscience and the ability to choose which path we are going to take. God is not interested in robots and prisoners. He wants genuine love in His relationship with mankind, therefore, we're given the ability to make choices.
We humans are free moral agents with our own choice to be in a relationship with God, or not. Even the angels had a choice. This is why a third of heaven’s angels were cast out because they chose rebellion.
We experience wickedness in this world because of the choices people make. The deceiver beguiles, and people fall into temptation to commit sexual immorality, murder, selfish ambition, idolatry, drunkenness, lying, stealing, oppression, and all kinds of other human atrocities, indignities, and tragedies.
In the movie, The Shack, Heavenly Father (whom they called PaPa) is having a conversation with Mack Phillips who lost his little girl to sexual molestation and a cruel murder. Mack is angry with God because He permitted this horrible thing. God said to Mack that He does not plan these tragedies but He does use them to bring good out of them, if and when they occur.
Mack asked PaPa where He was while his little girl endured this murderous tragedy. PaPa replied, “Mack when all you can see is your pain then you lose sight of Me.”
Mack reminded PaPa that even Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” PaPa replied, “Mack, you misunderstand the mystery.” PaPa showed Mack His hands that also bore the nail prints from the cross, and said, “Don’t ever think that what My Son chose to do, didn’t cost us both dearly. We were there together. I never left Him. I never left you, and I never left your little girl.”
So, this brings me full circle back to my original question of why God permitted that old serpent to come into the Garden of Eden and deceive Eve in the first place. Why was he given autonomy to screw this thing up? Or why will God permit him to be released from the bottomless pit after the thousand-year millennial reign of Christ? Satan will be permitted to go north, south, east, and west to deceive the nations once again. The Lord’s response to me was…
“What you know of the evil world you inhabit is only the tip of the iceberg. Submerged 90% beneath the surface of the visible world, are mysteries too vast for you to comprehend. If you could only see how close I am to you and how constantly I work on your behalf, you would never again doubt that I am wonderfully caring for you. This is why you must live by faith, not merely by sight, touch, taste, hear, and smell… trusting in My mysterious, majestic presence, trusting in My goodness, trusting in My mercy, grace, and lovingkindness.”
God cannot completely restrain evil without violating our free will to choose, and eliminating the possibility of a real relationship with Him anchored in genuine love, not robotic obedience. Therefore, evil remains in our world, for now. However, He does give His angels charge over us to safely keep us from hurt, harm, and danger.
To prove the love of those that survive the millennial reign, God will permit Satan to be released back into the world to test the hearts of mankind, like gold is tested. As Job declared, “When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” Also, in the same way that Abraham was tested when he was told to sacrifice his son Isaac, as a burnt offering. Before Abraham could slay Isaac, God said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Abraham’s love for God was proven to be genuine, even to himself.
Evil runs rampant in this world because the heart of mankind is inherently evil. In the days of Noah, the Bible says that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. It got so bad that it grieved the Lord that He had made man so He destroyed everything and everyone, except Noah and his family and started over.
The psalmist David said that we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity. The apostle Paul in the sixth chapter of Romans labeled us as slaves of sin, until we come to Christ and are freed from this captivity. He cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” That was the whole reason for the cross of Calvary… to turn our captivity to sin around and free us from its grip. Therefore, if the Son of God makes you free, you are free indeed.
The bottom line is, our knowledge right now is partial and incomplete, and even gifts of prophecy reveal only part of the whole picture (not the complete submerged iceberg). But when the time of perfection comes at the end of this age, these partial things will be completely known. Right now, we see only the tip of the iceberg, but on that day, we will see everything with perfect clarity.
Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes (Jesus' return), these partial things will become useless. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. (1 Corinthians 13:9-10, 12 NLT)
Whatever tragedies you have faced or may be facing at this time, please know that God loves you and He is with you even in your darkest hour. In that movie, The Shack, God said to Mack, “I want to heal that wound that’s growing in your heart and creating a gulf between you and Me.” Sometimes our misunderstanding can create a separation in our relationship with the Lord, but He is here to heal the wounds in our souls and restore us completely. Go in peace.
