Does God ordain sin to occur? Or Does He just allow it?
“I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:1-3)
"Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the LORD said, `Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, `I will entice him.' And the LORD said to him, `By what means?' And he said, `I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, `You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go forth and do so.' Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has spoken evil concerning you." (1 Kings 22:19-23)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
The Word of God is not for the faint of heart. So often it shatters the opinions and beliefs of mere men. Some rebels refuse to admit the perfection of God’s Word, so they reject its difficult sayings altogether. But there are also many devout Christians who love the Lord deeply, yet still have great difficulty coming to terms with some of the thorny passages of Scripture. We all love to meditate upon God’s great love, mercy, and forgiveness. But concerning the seemingly darker portions of the Bible, many Christians are either unaware of them, or just embarrassed by them. Everybody knows John 3:16. But very few are familiar with 1 Kings 22.
Make no mistake: Our God is a Holy God! He is wholly pure, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts” . . . Isaiah 6:3 is clear. And there is no difficulty inherent in the Bible. However, man is fallen, and has become naturally self-centered and self-exalting. And it is man’s high view of himself that causes our difficulty in understanding passages in the Bible like 1 Kings 22. When people think about God’s holiness, it often seems easy for them to put love & mercy in that category. It is “ok” to attribute love & mercy to God’s holy will. But there seems to be a widespread feeling among Christians that we need to “get God off the hook” for the existence of sin. Surely, a holy God would never cause a sin to occur, would He? The normal Christian shudders at the very thought. So Bible passages like 1 Kings 22 make us blush.
But the Scriptures clearly state that God is totally Sovereign, and totally Holy. God does whatever He wishes. And everything He does is righteous. There is no reason for us to rush past these passages to get to the “good parts”. A balanced Biblical view of God’s holiness can shatter our chagrin, and bring us into a fuller view of the brilliance of God’s bright holiness. Please join me as we pursue this goal together.
Maybe 1 Kings 22 has unsettled us a bit, but that’s only one of many Bible passages, right? Surely it stands alone in the sea of God’s goodness, and can easily be “explained” in another way, right? Surely God wouldn’t really command an angel to go be a “lying spirit” in the mouths of false prophets, would He?
Actually, 1 Kings 22 is only one of many Bible passages which unashamedly declare God’s Sovereign right and God’s holy desire to cause certain sinful actions to occur. So let all of our preconceptions shatter. God ordains sin to occur, yet He still remains pure and holy. But before we try to reconcile these two ideas, let’s first take a look at some of these more “embarrassing” parts of the Bible. Before we can hope to come to terms with the “dark side” of God’s holiness, we must first bow before His Word and admit that these “dark” Scriptures actually exist. Starting with 1 Kings 22, let’s look at a number of these Bible passages. Then, once it has been made clear that these dark suggestions are Biblically true, and are not slander, then we will take a Biblical look at why God’s perfect holiness and goodness is not diminished in the least. Our God is a good and holy God!
If God is really all-powerful, then why does sin exist at all? Many people try to “get God off the hook” for the occurrence of sin by just saying that He “allows” it to occur. This idea seems to make people feel better about God’s goodness . . . they figure that “causing” sin is evil, but that “allowing” sin is ok, for some reason. This really isn’t logical though, because if you are all-powerful, then “permission” is nothing more than tacit approval. After all, the only reason we excuse people for allowing evil to occur, is because we figure they couldn’t stop it. But this excuse cannot really apply to God, because He always has the power to stop sin. If He wants to stop it, all He has to do is move His little finger and stop it. In other words, sin cannot occur unless God wants it to occur. But even if a person disagrees with this statement, 1 Kings 22 still offers no escape. There is no “easy out” here. Let’s take a look. . . .
1 Kings 22: [19] And Micai'ah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; [20] and the LORD said, `Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said one thing, and another said another. [21] Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, `I will entice him.' [22] And the LORD said to him, `By what means?' And he said, `I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, `You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go forth and do so.' [23] Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.
Many passages of the Bible are vague enough that we might at least consider the possibility that God only “allows” a sin, and does not cause it. But this is not one of those passages. Take a look at verses 19-20. The Bible says that “all the host of heaven” were standing in the presence of the Lord. And in verse 20, God is the one who initiates the conversation. He does not wait for some demon to attempt some sin, and then merely “allow” it to occur. On the contrary, God initiates the conversation by asking, “Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?” Only after God makes this statement do the various members of the heavenly host begin talking. Various spirits propose different ideas. But then one particular spirit, in response to God’s request, suggests the idea of being a “lying spirit” in the mouths of Ahab’s false prophets. Then the Lord explicitly approves the idea! God says, “you shall succeed; go forth and do so.” And as if all the above were not clear enough, verse 23 takes all doubt away concerning God’s Sovereign plans for King Ahab: “Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.”
In verse 23, it is very important to notice that Scripture does not permit us to say that God merely “allowed” this sin to occur. No honest reading of this passage will let us claim that God only “permitted” the false prophets to speak lies planted in their mouths by a lying spirit. On the contrary, verse 23 explicitly says that “the Lord has put a lying spirit” in the mouths of the false prophets. Scripture ascribes the action to God alone. It was His Sovereign choice. God commanded this lying to occur, and He fully approved it.
1 Samuel 2: [22] Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. [23] So he said to them, "Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. [24] No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the LORD's people transgress. [25] If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them.
We should be rightly angered at the blatant sin of Eli’s sons, described in verse 22. It is plain that they deserve judgment. Nevertheless, our God is a merciful God. And as long as these men are alive, we might assume that God will tenderly plead with them to repent and abandon their sins. After all, in Ezekiel 33:11, God says that he has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked”. So if someone would just talk to these guys, and encourage them to repent, then God would be thrilled, right? Alas, this is not the case here. Eli did talk to his sons, and he urged them to repent, but “they did not heed the voice of their father”. But why didn’t they listen? Was it merely because of their own stubbornness? Not in this case. In verse 25, it clearly says that they refused to listen “because the LORD desired to kill them”. Carefully consider that word: “because”. They didn’t listen because God wanted to kill them. God closed their ears and hardened their hearts so that they would not listen to their father Eli. And God’s plan was successful. Two chapters later, we learn that “the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phin'ehas, were slain” (1 Samuel 4:11).
The twelve tribes of Israel had just enjoyed many years of peace under the rule of King Solomon. Israel was a single, unified country. Solomon died, and the time came to crown his son Rehoboam king.
Although the nation had enjoyed peace, Solomon had been a hard taskmaster. So the people intreated the new king with a very reasonable request:
"Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you." (1 Kings 12:4)
Surely God would support this request, wouldn’t He? God would never want a king to be a tyrant, would He? Read on:
“Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” (1 Kings 12:15)
Carefully consider the reason that Rehoboam made such a wicked decision. This passage specifically says that “the cause was from the LORD”. God had spoken His will concerning Jeroboam, and so the Lord caused king Rehoboam to deal harshly with the people, so that God could perform His Sovereign will. Rehoboam made a wicked choice, because that is what God wanted him to do. As this passage says, “the cause was from the LORD”.
But maybe we can still “get God off the hook” somehow. After all, in the passages we have looked at so far, God has decreed for evil people to sin. Maybe this makes it all “ok”. But surely God would never cause one of His own people to sin, would He?
According to the command of King David, a census was taken of all Israel:
2 Samuel 24 [2] So the king said to Jo'ab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people." [3] But Jo'ab said to the king, "May the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"
Notice in the verse above that even Joab disapproves of David’s actions. He knows that David is committing sin.
[4] But the king's word prevailed against Jo'ab and the commanders of the army. So Jo'ab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. [5] They crossed the Jordan, and began from Aro'er, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. [6] Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, [7] and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beer-sheba. [8] So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. [9] And Jo'ab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand. [10] But David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly."
Instead of trusting the Lord for Israel’s protection, David took a census so that he could glory in the strength of great numbers. But then David realized that he had “sinned greatly”. David repented and prayed that God would forgive him. Then the story continues:
[11] And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, [12] "Go and say to David, `Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you." [13] So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, "Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me." [14] Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man." [15] So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.
Notice this! As a direct result of David’s sin, God killed 70,000 people in Israel.
[16] And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented of the evil, and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Arau'nah the Jeb'usite. [17] Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was smiting the people, and said, "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house." [18] And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, "Go up, rear an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Arau'nah the Jeb'usite." [19] So David went up at Gad's word, as the LORD commanded. [20] And when Arau'nah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him; and Arau'nah went forth, and did obeisance to the king with his face to the ground. [21] And Arau'nah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy the threshing floor of you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people." [22] Then Arau'nah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. [23] All this, O king, Arau'nah gives to the king." And Arau'nah said to the king, "The LORD your God accept you." [24] But the king said to Arau'nah, "No, but I will buy it of you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. [25] And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD heeded supplications for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
Finally, after 70,000 had died because of David’s sin, the Lord finally relented after David built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to Him.
So far, nothing seems too out of the ordinary, except for the very harsh judgment. But this judgment just goes to show that God considered David’s sin to be very serious. So what is the surprise in this passage? The surprise is in the very beginning of the chapter. Notice that I quoted verses 2-25 above, but I left out the introduction:
2 Samuel 24 [1] Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah."
Who “incited” David to take the census? Who prompted David to sin? The Bible says that God did.
Jacob had 12 sons, who became the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. One of the sons was named Joseph. His brothers treated him wickedly, and sold him as a slave to get rid of him. Joseph ended up in Egypt, and by God’s grace, Joseph was exalted to the one of the most powerful positions in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. With this new position of power, Joseph could have taken vengeance on his brothers for their evil deed. But instead, he used his power to save his family from starving in the famine that covered the land.
None of this would have happened if Joseph’s brothers had not sold him into slavery. However, it is still very clear that what Joseph’s brothers did was wicked. They did not know that their action would eventually lead to a good end. They sold Joseph into slavery because of purely wicked motives.
Quite often, people use this example to show God’s great ability to bring good results out of a bad situation. People don’t want to “accuse God” of causing the sin itself to occur. So they just say that God merely “allowed” the sin, but then acted in wisdom to redeem the situation. However, once again, a careful reading of the Biblical text will not permit such an interpretation. God did not just “allow” the sin to occur:
Speaking to his brothers, Joseph said, “As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20).
The “evil” Joseph speaks of is the wicked act of selling him into slavery. And as we would expect, Joseph says that his brothers “meant evil” against him. However, Joseph surprises us by saying that God Himself orchestrated the whole thing. Joseph explicitly says that “God meant it” to happen. Of course, an important note is that God meant it for good, not evil.
God meant it to happen, and Joseph’s brothers meant it to happen. God meant it for good. Joseph’s brothers meant it for evil.
Here we begin to see a definite beam of light at the end of the tunnel in our discussion. We have looked at so many Scriptures that reveal God causing sin, and yet quite often, no explanation is given. But in this case, God explicitly tells us that he meant Joseph to be sold into slavery “for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” So we learn a powerful key to understanding why God causes sin. God is not wicked. Far from it! On the contrary, God causes sin to occur, when He knows that a greater good will eventually come about because of it. In this example in Genesis 50:20, God reveals that His purpose was redemptive. God caused Joseph to be sold into slavery (a wicked thing) so that ultimately many lives would be saved (a very good thing).
Of course, some people may still be very uncomfortable at this point, because we are so leery of the idea that “the ends justify the means”. And if God were a mere man, then of course our concern would be valid. But God is not a mere man. He is Lord of the Universe, and His wisdom, love, and perfect knowledge are unsurpassed. So He knows that everything He orchestrates will certainly come to pass. But when a person causes an evil act to occur, that person does not have the infinite knowledge necessary to guarantee that ultimate good will truly result from that action. Furthermore, people are commanded to obey God’s laws. We do not have the authority to bypass them for any reason whatsoever. But God is the author of all power and authority. He cannot steal, because everything already belongs to Him. He cannot murder, because all life is his already, and those who live merely have life “on loan” from God anyway. So if God causes someone’s life to end, He has done nothing immoral, because the life is His anyway. People are commanded to obey God’s will. But God naturally follows His own will already. And when God causes a sin to occur, He does it from totally pure motives, knowing that He is setting in action a chain of events that will ultimately bring about good in some way. God knows that His glory will actually be magnified in the long run.
In short, it would be impossible for a man to cause an evil act to occur without he himself being guilty of evil. But according to Scripture, God can cause evil to occur, and yet still remain perfectly holy, righteous, and good. God does not cause evil to occur because of wicked motives, but because of good motives. As Joseph said, “God meant it for good”. This concept is difficult for humans to understand. But then again, we should expect the ways of God to surprise us!
Finally, let’s take a close look at the most cruel, heinous, wicked sin that has ever been committed in the history of the human race: the murder of Jesus. All murders that have ever occurred have been horrible acts of sin. But in every case but this one, the victim actually deserved to die. According to Scripture, all are guilty of sin, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). God’s righteous wrath belongs to every person who has ever lived, because of sin. So even though murder is sin, the victims have no right to complain, because when they are killed, they merely receive the judgment they deserve. But when Jesus was murdered, the sin was infinitely greater, because Jesus was actually innocent. Countless murders (and other sins) had been committed prior to the crucifixion. But this was the first time in history that an innocent person was killed. Compared to this great act of supreme wickedness, all other sins in history count very little. Sinful man had the insolence to nail the innocent one to a cross.
You probably can tell where I am going with this line of thought. Yes, even this sin above all sins was orchestrated by God Himself. Of course, to “get God off the hook”, some people have suggested that God just “allowed” these evil men to crucify Christ. But that is not what the Bible says. The text explicitly states that God predestined these men to commit this very sin:
“for truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place.” (Acts 4:27-28)
Now this passage in Acts should calm any dismay we may have about God causing sin to occur. Just think: The Bible plainly tells us about the most wicked sin that has ever been committed in human history. (Murder and rape are just a drop in the bucket by comparison.) And the Bible explicitly says that God Himself caused men to commit this sin. And yet think about God’s motive . . . think about what wonderful things God has accomplished because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross! Billions will be in paradise with God because of God’s great love, mercy, and wisdom. And none of this would have ever happened unless God had been so gracious as to plan and cause the murder of Jesus. Like the story with Joseph and his brothers, the wicked men meant it for evil, but “God meant it for good”. Our God is a good and holy God!
--- article by Joseph M. Gleason - March, 2005
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