WHY SUFFERINGS

Many myths about why God did not destroy Satan forthwith when he fell and was relieved of his place are circulated among Christians. Among them are two very popular ones:

Myth #1: God Left Satan in Order to Tempt Man. It stands to reason that if God ever had any need and/or use for Satan, He would have created one right from the beginning and would not have left it to chance. Neither did man need any Satan in order to be tempted to sin. Then what was the Forbidden Fruit for? O the allure of the forbidden! In Galveston, Texas, a hotel on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico put this Notice in every room: NO FISHING FROM THE BALCONY. Yet every day, hotel guests threw their lines into the water below. Then the management decided to take down the signs – and the fishing stopped! A young man visited a hotel in which premises was a pond with the warning sign, “NO HOOKING”. The next time the young man went with a hook. When he was questioned he explained that he was curious to know why hooking was prohibited in the pond. “There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable” says Mark Twain. In point of fact, the Forbidden Fruit constituted all the temptation and allure that was necessary for the purpose of testing freewill.

What is more, if God allowed Satan in order to have him tempted man, why did God have to judge and curse the serpent? For faithfully carrying out the assignment and fulfilling the purpose for which he was left to live! That would be injustice of God, yes, injustice against Satan. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Clearly, it was “because thou (Satan) hast done this (deceive man to eat the fruit)” that the serpent was cursed (Gen. 3:14). Then Satan must have been an unwelcome visitor in the garden; his “help” was unsolicited and undesired. God never did need Satan’s lies to test man, the Forbidden Fruit was enough allure to test man. This is what James says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted He any man” (James 1:13).

Myth #2: Satan is a Spirit Being and Therefore, Indestructible. It brings into question that God created something that He cannot destroy though He would destroy it. Then He must not be omnipotent as such, as there is real and positive inability with Him. On the contrary, Jeremiah 32:17 affirms, “Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee.” Then whoever thinks that it would be impossible with God to destroy spirit beings like Satan should have to rethink. It stands to reason that whatever God created, He can as well eliminate it. Yes God is that omnipotent!

At this point, it must be clear to any person who thinks about it that if God did nothing more to Satan when he rebelled than to cast him out of heaven, it was not because Satan could not be eliminated, or confined, or at least stopped from going to and fro in the earth seeking whom to deceive. Then God must have left Satan on purpose. What then are the reasons why God allowed Satan rather than destroyed him when he rebelled and was cast out of heaven?

REASONS GOD LEFT SATAN AFTER HIS FALL

Reason #1: Because God Knows that Man Could Remain in Obedience and Thus Retain Paradise Forever Despite Satan. To Cain God said, “If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him” (Gen. 4:7). It made no difference whether or not Cain actually ruled over him (sin). It is sufficient that he had the power to rule over him if he had chosen to. So to rule over it or not to but rather be ruled by it was a matter of choice.

In the same way, it does not matter whether man remained obedient to God in the face of Satan or not; it is evident and sufficient that man was not coerced. As a matter of fact, Satan could have been resisted, and man completed his probation successfully, hence retained paradise forever. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Then it is left to man to resist the devil. And if man would not resist him it is his own fault. The second Adam did exactly that – He resisted the Satan and we read, “Then the devil leaveth him” (Matt. 4:11). Thus the second Adam proves God right, but He also proves man responsible for his failure. Allowing Satan for the meantime by God shows us what high opinion God held about man and confidence He reposed in him in the beginning. Yes, God knew that man could continue in obedience and retain paradise despite Satan; therefore He must not have destroyed Satan as soon.

Reason #2: Because God had a Controversy with Satan to be Determined over Time. This is the crucial reason God allowed Satan for a while longer in existence; neither did He stop him from going to and fro in the earth. You see, justifying why he rebelled, Satan has made widespread accusations against God. What the Lord Jesus charged against the Pharisees, “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their finger” (Matt. 23:4), Satan had leveled against God. Among the inhabitants of heaven did Satan not slander the character of God a little. Then God had no option than to justify Himself and His law before all heaven and earth to expose the devil’s lies and the real nature of the thoughts of his heart. Then He would have to give Satan the time to put the matter to test and prove his point.

To have simply crushed Satan out of existence immediately, as God definitely has the power to do, without allowing him time to prove his claims for all intelligent creatures of God to see would have created suspicion, fear and distrust of God forever in the hearts of moral and intelligent beings. “Could Lucifer have been right and the allegations true therefore God eliminated him to forever keep them covered? Can there be skeletons in the cupboard of the Most High?” are questions that would have forever perplexed and agitated the minds of moral intelligentsias. Yes, if God had instantly disposed of Satan, the spirit of rebellion would have kept persisting and roaming among holy and free moral agents in heaven. The angels could not have quite understood and seen the justice of God in that. The consequence would have been that God would ever stand to be distrusted and would be combating with His freewill creatures from time to time. Superior intelligence knows that the answer to rebellion for all time is to allow Satan to continue and exhibit his works in the glare of time. “For every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1Cor. 3:13).

The test of time is all that was necessary to prove Satan wrong to the world and justify God’s character and His law which Satan has put in question. Therefore did not God destroy Satan forthwith when he rebelled and was cast down to the earth.