Isaiah 45; 7 “I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things.”

On occasion, unbelievers appeal to this verse in an attempt to involve the Bible in a moral difficulty, since the text seems to suggest that God “created” evil. How should a Christian respond to such a charge?  First of all, the verse can have no reference to moral evil (wickedness) for such is opposed to the infinitely holy nature of God. ReadIsaiah 6: verse 3 “And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is theLord Almighty;the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Jehovah is a “God of faithfulness and without iniquity.” ReadDeuteronomy 32: verse 4 “He is the Rock, his works are perfect,and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

Also, He is “not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness.” ReadPsalm 5: verse 4 “For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;with you, evil people are not welcome.”

Nor can it be supposed that this verse has to do with Jehovah’s original creation, for at the termination of the creation week, the Lord saw “everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Let us read Genesis 1: verse 31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

There is always a great answer to every question you may be asked or have asked. God will provide the right answer. Now the questions are; did God create everything that exists around us?  Does evil exist?  Did God create evil? What about darkness and cold?

Since we read the Bible verses above let us discuss it in a simple way. If God created everything around us, did He create evil? And since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume that God is evil." How can you answer this question being asked by unbelievers? It seems that the Christian faith was a myth and we as a believer, our belief and faith is in jeopardy or being threatened by someone who is an anti-Christ.

Well, we have to ask ourselves does cold exist." Have you never been cold?"

"In fact, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Everybody, or object, is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body, or matter, have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature.  Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.

Now another question, does darkness exist?"  "Of course it does because we can see it." "But once again we are wrong, darkness does not exist either.  Darkness is in reality the absence of light.  Light we can study, but not darkness.  In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color.  You cannot measure darkness.  A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it.  How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present.  Isn't this correct?  Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present." 

Finally, the last question to ask ourselves is, does evil exist?" "Yes of course, as we see it every day.  It is in the daily examples of man's inhumanity to man.  It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

Notice how the word “evil” is used in obvious contrast to “peace.” Prophet Isaiah simply stated in the Old Testament that Jehovah has the power to cause peaceful conditions to exist, or to bring about evil, for example destruction. Consider reading another Bible verse, let us read Isaiah 31:1-2 “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen,but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against that wicked nation, against those who help evildoers.”

God warned the Israelites that if they made an alliance with Egypt during that time, He would bring evil upon them. Again, in describing the coming judgment upon ancient Babylon, the prophet declared in Isaiah 47 verse 11 “Disaster will come upon you,and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom a catastrophe you cannot foreseewill suddenly come upon you.” Thus, the evil that God sent was a desolation—a desolation due on account of their wickedness!

Scholars have observed that “evil” can be used with a purely secular meaning to denote physical injury (Jeremiah 39:12), or times of distress (Amos 6:3)—which is its significance in Isaiah 45:7 which is our title Bible verse.

"However, evil does not exist, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God.  It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God.  God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

Let us remember whatPsalm 5 verse 4 says “For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;with you, evil people are not welcome.”

God is good and great all the time. God bless us.

If you have any prayer request, please let me know. Thank you and have a great and a safe weekend. Thank you.  Manny Quilatan