In reality, mankind himself introduced evil into his own world by associating himself in the Luciferic rebellion which began in the Heavens. Lucifer launched a cosmic conflict that has resounded throughout all of creation. Revelation 12:7 depicts the outbreak of open rebellion in Heaven itself, when Lucifer, the covering Cherub of God, who was present at the dawn of all creation, and witnessed the love that the Creator had for his creatures on earth, grew prideful and jealous.

      Undoubtedly, Lucifer was an observer of the plans God carefully orchestrated to establish a suitable and cosmologically functional habitat for mankind to live in. Astronomers look out into the vast heavens and survey the galaxies for compatible environments whereby life could be sustained. To their utter dismay and wonderment, no other corner of the cosmos offers even a glimmer of any life sustaining design. It is as if the very heavens speak back through their very own satellites and telescopes, proclaiming; it is only the earth which was designed for living on!

      It was this lowly estate of “God manifest in human Flesh”; that caused Lucifer to seek supremacy. Lucifer was unwilling to accommodate the mystery of God, so he fashioned the evil scheme to ascend above God! ( see Isaiah 14-12-15 )

      Thus, it has ever been that evil has stalked about our world, becoming our very nature. All the laws of men and government cannot eradicate it. The laws that were instituted by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai really reflect the fact that God has instituted a method of restraint to evil, through civil law. The demonstration of God's sacrifice of his own son on a wooden cross reflects the fact that God has laid a sure foundation for the defeat of evil on a permanent basis.

      Only a loving Creator would and could fashion a means for fallen mankind to be restored into perfect fellowship and harmony with himself. The eradication of evil must first be extracted from the heart of man. Someone has surmised that if there is a God, then he would not allow evil in the world. I would suggest to you that if there is a God, then he would respond in a just fashion, by infusing himself into that evil world and allowing that world to exact its wrath upon him, and then utilize that evil act to demonstrate to the world how much he loves them. And this is exactly what God has indeed done!

      What more could a loving God do? Daniel 9:24 indicates that God sent his son into the world via the national vehicle of Israel for the express purpose of eliminating sin, iniquity, and evil. Yet verse 26 indicates that God also knew that the world would reject his plan of eradicating evil in our world.

      Evil continues to abound in our world because men steadfastly hold to the humanistic self-godliness notion planted into our consciousness by the evil one. (Satan)

      Therefore, logic demands that the world ask itself one hypothetical question. If God loves us enough to demonstrate his love toward us by becoming one of us, and if we then we reject his offer; and kill him; "What would God then do to us"?

      Jesus enunciated that very dilemma to the religious leaders of Israel in Mark 12:1-10:

      Can you see the analogous connection to John 3:16? God has so loved his creation, that he sent his only son down into the world to extend to us eternal life. A life without any intrusion by evil. Yet, we not only have rejected his gracious mission; we have complicitly allied ourselves with the rebellion of Lucifer.

      Evil is synonymous with sin. Sin is the transgression of the law of the Creator. It is the outworking of a principle that is at war with God's great laws of Love. The principle of Love is the very foundation of the divine governance of God. All creatures can choose to love his creator, or he can choose the same path that was chosen by Lucifer.

      Psalms 97:10 says: Ye that love the Lord, hate evil! God is love! No wonder the 1st commandment says: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ( Deut. 6:5 )

      In dealing with sin and evil, God must utilize only righteousness and truth. Satan can distort, lie, deceive and utilize any means of underhandedness that might seem beneficial to him. As God is just, he must need to demonstrate before the inhabitants of all creation that his law and his governance is perfect.

      If God were to immediately blot out all evil, and Satan also, none of the creatures of God could ever freely choose to love God as the righteous, loving, and just God that he really is. We would all simply become subjects of a dictator.

      Hebrews 2:5 indicates that our world was placed in subjection under the angels of God. Lucifer's problem began when he realized the preeminent position that he held in God's governance of the universe. But, when he recognized that God's word was foreordained from the beginning to be made manifest in flesh as a creature lower than he himself; he didn't wish to be subjected to serve a lowly man named Christ! "This act was the essence of evil"!

      So then, God in his righteous justice is weighing a case between Lucifer and Christ. The angelic rebellion instigated in Heaven is an act of open warfare against God's own son. But God has inniated the ultimate act of love by allowing the death of his son to provide a testament of evidence that God is in fact Love!

      Probably nothing God could have done would have been so effective in gaining the affections of the vast Heavenly hosts (Angels) and indeed the whole loyalty and loving devotion of men and angel than the grand display of Jesus very own words in John 15:13:

      "Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends!"

      All of heaven has witnessed God's love and mercy. All of Heaven can testify to God's justice, but also it can testify to the righteous condemnation that every son and daughter of evil is under without redemption through the exonerating act of Jesus Christ!

      God is actively engaged in destroying evil, but first and foremost; God wishes to extract that mysterious malady from the hearts of as many of his creatures as can be possible. Witness the verse from II Peter 3:15 which states that the longsuffering of our Lord will hopefully lead to salvation.

      To the inquisitor who asks, "Why does God allow evil"; I suggest the following question; "Are you not a participant in evil"? Wouldn't God need to destroy all of us to allay the evil that lurks just beneath our own facade?

      However, a day is coming when God shall indeed exhaust his patience, and commence to destroy every stronghold of rebellion. That day is commonly called the Great Day of the Lord.

      In the December newsletter (volume 22) of Focus on Jerusalem, I expounded on the great Falling Away that would occur within churchdom in the days just prior to the Day of the Lord, when Jesus will return.

      The Day of the Lord is a day of Wrath, ( God's Wrath ) in which he will pour out his judgement upon an evil world.

      The Great Falling Away is a simultaneous occurring phenomenon in conjunction with the rebirth of God's covenant nation of Israel. Both point to the inevitable event called the "Abomination of Desolation".