Why Didn't God Get Rid of the Devil?
Posted by: biblenotes <biblenotes@...>
From: Martin M Overfield
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000
Why Didn't God Get Rid of the Devil?
Here are just a few Scriptural insights, though not a complete answer.
This will be answered more fully in Heaven.
First of all, He IS going to do so. "One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (II Peter 3:8) In
Revelation 12:12, when the Devil was cast out of Heaven, we read, "He
knoweth that he hath but a short time." The amount of time allotted Satan
is a drop of a bucket compared to eternity.
Finally, "The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone...and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
(Revelation 20:10)
God had to give us a choice in order to truly prove that we would serve
Him from a motive of love. The Devil became the means by which God gave us
a choice. (A philosophical answer in the light of Scripture).
God is proving His great love in a way that never would have been
possible had there not been a devil to tempt man. His love in redeeming
sinful men is seen as far greater and more apparent than it could have been
if man had never fallen. This truth is mentioned in Ephesians 2:4-7:
"God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace
ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus."
He had to have the Devil and sinful men to crucify Jesus. If they had
known it (the secret, all-wise plan of God to redeem us from sin),"they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (I Corinthians 2:7,8).
If everyone were forced to be righteous, the Lamb never would have been
slain.
We are hereby enabled to become more intimately a part of God's family
like never before. By the Son of God becoming a man, man can now become a
son of God in a different way than just by creation. See Galatians4:4-7 and
Romans 8:15-18. We are adopted into God's family, and the eternal Son is
our Brother -- He calls us "brethren" (Hebrews 2:12).
By this great mysterious plan, God is exalting man to a higher position
than Adam ever could have dreamed possible: "heirs of God" and "joint-heirs
with Christ". We become the heirs with Him "of all things", for it all
belongs to Him, Who has made all things. A finite being never could have
done enough to earn such, but through the infinite price paid to redeem man
from the tragic Fall, the Second Adam (the God-man) can carry us higher than
the first Adam ever could have gone.
Remember when Jesus prayed in John 17:22, "The glory which thou gavest
me I have given them"? "We shall be like him for we shall see him as he
is." (I John 3:2; see also Philippians 3:21)
Yours In Christ,
Martin Overfield
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