Will Evil Perish?

Many individuals have their own idea and opinions about what good and evil are. Some individuals even have varying degrees of good and evil. For some, adultery is not that evil if it were done in revenge and physical assault is justified if one were being slandered. To state that evil is “the opposite of good” is insufficient and just silly; it’s not enough. I’ve even heard individuals use that definition right before they went off an a spiel about how “good” is defined by each other differently.  We cannot take this issue lightly. If the discussion of good and evil isn’t serious, if it does not affect history, and if it says nothing about how we should live life, then the entirety of human history has been a battle over that which means nothing.

Scripture speaks to this issue. Yes, the Bible is deeper than you may have thought, you probably just don’t know how to read it (when your parents should have taught you). This is just one of many issues in our American, pseudo-democratic society. For some reason it now makes sense and is labeled as “reasonable” and “tolerable” to live by your own moral code (aside from what the civil government says, since it is their god) and encourage others to live by their’s. The obvious contradiction is smudged out in the midst of all the sexual immorality, greed, and self-fulfillment that so consumes many, and any discussion about a consistent worldview, along with the shallowness of thought put into it, is responded with shouting and savagery. People no longer know how to think critically about philosophy, religion, God, ethics, etc. Everything has become so infested with trying to please everyone, while what is right and wrong has been put on the back burner. When a society abandons the journey towards living their life in truth, then they have chosen to live a life of lies, which at that point one can expect to see utter destruction, in the form of murder, rape, homosexuality, war, divorce, social collapse, pedophilia, witchcraft, all sorts of idolatry, violence, and sexual immorality.

Thankfully, the majority of the world no longer lives in the darkness of savagery, like cannibalism, worshiping statues and believing in many different gods, but for some reason societies repeatedly continue to fall back into it. In the past, those who we call “natives” were grossly immoral people. Cannibalism, witchcraft & sorcery, polytheism, incest, rape, slavery (the un-biblical kind), sacrificing babies, acts and beliefs that the majority of the world would regard extinct and primal, yet continually arise when individuals in a society abandon truth. Although this culture still exists in places largely unsettled, the majority of readers would agree that these things are evil and/or lies, and if they don’t should.

Lying is evil. No matter how small of a matter or how great the good can come out of it, lying is wicked. It is taking the easy way out, using others as scapegoats, and is destructive. God hates liars, and I say that to make a strong point. The only exception would be in war. Deception and lies in war are the only justified circumstances. Douglas Wilson used a great analogy by asking his congregation, (paraphrasing) “What about when a woman runs by you screaming and bloody, and later an axe wielding man passes by but stops to ask where she went?” and another being that of the Nazi’s knocking on your door, asking where the Jews are. Some institutions and individuals have lost their right to the truth because they seek to do evil.

We are all, at least in name, professing to search for truth. No one is trotting around in academic circles searching for lies to live their life by. Individuals do not argue over facts in order to come to the lie for the sake of wanting to know what the lie is so that they can live their life based on the lie. People want to know what the truth is. And though I do not resort to a form of apologetics (defending the faith) that appeals to reason or nature as the basis of truth, Scripture does however make the claim that God, and His divine nature and attributes, are indeed clearly seen and sufficiently declared in His creation.

God is truth, and if the creation is to follow God’s design and if it reflects God’s nature, then truth is of it’s essence. Therefore, a lie is antithetical to God and the structure of His creation. In fact, if you read Genesis, the Serpent deceived the woman, causing her to disobey God. Lies can safely be labeled as the first shot fired against God.

God is truth, and because man is made in the image of God (although it is skewed) his search for truth and clarity is simply part of his design. It is a part of God in man. This is really important, because if man is made in the image of God, then the moral standard is definitely something to be taken seriously, being that our actions are not just performed towards meat and bones, but towards a being that possesses divine attributes. Morality &ethics suddenly become theological, not just practical or economical. This is why learning what good & evil are is so important. This has to do with God, not just man. It is an all encompassing reality, not a telescopic theory.

Unfortunately, a lot of people hardly understand Christianity in this way. Many see Christianity as just living a life by rules to get into heaven, but know nothing of it’s deep historical realities. Most know nothing of what the Christian is even doing here on earth. To most, Christians are just in the way. They go around telling others how they should live, complain about having fun, they don’t start businesses, they’re greedy and are snobby. In reality we Christians are trying to help the world, because help will not come from anywhere except our God, Yahweh.

First, Christians are here because God put us here. We’re not sitting on the bench and we’re not here without a mission. God put us here as heirs of the world, a throwback to Adam and Eve, that we should take dominion of the earth, and this includes working. Yes, work. The life after life will not be a place where we sit on our butts and eat dangling grapes all day. No, it will be a return to the Garden of Eden. Our mission is wrapped up in the Great Commission that Christ gave to His church before His death. It was an affirmation of all of God’s promises made in the past, that “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” (Daniel 2:44) and that by His church, His people, God would accomplish this, which is why He has commanded us to go out in all of the world. And He has not just told us to go out into the world to discover land, resources, etc, rather He has told us to go out to spread His kingdom, and His kingdom is built one person at a time. Making disciples of all the nations, teaching them to obey the Lord, is the Christian commission. This commission is not a private function that only Christians will see, but it will be a spectacle to all of the world to see. “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.” (1 Corinthians 4:9) The word “spectacle” is the Greek word us for “theatre”. The persecution, presence, and works of the Christians during the time 1 Corinthians was written were all seen and known by the public. Christians were thrown to lions and wild beasts as entertainment for the public, for their crime of believing in the Son of God, Christ, as their God and Savior.

Christianity does not change an individual’s heart and mind without also changing his surroundings. Christian morals and values do not exists in a vacuum, instead they seep out from the Christian into school, business, family life, recreation, politics, art, music, technological advances, medical advances, and anything else you can think of. There is not one single area of life that is not affected by the Christian faith, and this is because of that Great Commission. The Great Commission is not just about building more church buildings and accumulating souls for heaven, but is about the power and work of the Holy Spirit changing the world, a concept and theological truth completely forgotten, even by Christians. The Great Commission is good news for Christians because it is the means of fulfilling the promises that God has made, and God is faithful to fulfill them. Sadly, Christians have let the current state of affairs affect their perspective of God’s plan, and thus have defaulted to a pessimistic attitude about involving themselves in society.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

    “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said,

“Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:1-8

This is the ultimate end that all things are now heading towards. Christ is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God, awaiting all of His enemies to be made His footstool, making all things news, combining heaven and earth more and more everyday, while all of His enemies are being destroyed daily. This is the Christian hope in God’s promise. The faith that we are given to have in His Son, is hardly understood by shallow, whimsical Christians, much less unbelievers are those who have left the faith. Our faith in Christ is that He truly is the promised Messiah, and that God is fulfilling all of His promises through Him. He has died and rose again, showing that death has no power over Him, proving that death has been defeated through Christ, while also rightfully reigning from the throne, sending out His Spirit to be the Helper for His people and recreating them through death, raising them again to new life, thus being born again, fulfilling that which Christ said was necessary for an inheritance in the kingdom of God.

So, will evil perish? Yes, but when? After Christ has reigned. Revelations uses a word that has been used elsewhere in Scripture, describing His reign as “a thousand years”. This phrase is not used as an exact number of years, but is always used to describe a long period of time, sometimes even completely engulfing (Psalm 50:10). Until then, the power of evil and it’s presence in this world is dwindling daily, while righteousness, the kingdom of God, is growing daily, no matter how much we doubt this promise in our short lifetime. A look at the past speaks mounds of the power and growth of God’s kingdom, and the diminishing of the enemy’s. We live in a time where societies that are or were in the recent past Christian and following God, do not worry about what they will eat tomorrow. This is due to the nature of the kingdom. If one does not work, then he does not eat because he doesn’t grow anything or make money to buy what others have grown, the only option he would have would be to get a payday loan at https://local.checkintocash.com/la/new-orleans/4021-behrman-highway–suite-a-16042.html. That is the nature of the enemy’s kingdom. It is destructive. If one works, uses his time and resources wisely, stays obedient to God, trusts in the Christ, cares for His family, worships the Lord, and gives back to God, then he will prosper. This is the nature of the kingdom of God. Any unbeliever that lives in that way is simply borrowing from God’s standard to fulfill his own desires, not because he loves God but because he sees that it is profitable.

In conclusion, the wealth of the wicked will be laid up for the righteous (Proverbs 13:22) because the wicked have no legacy. They have no life, and are headed to destruction, in this world and the next. This is the perishing of evil. No matter how rich and powerful the enemy may seem, they will still perish, and their wealth is reserved for God’s people. Just as Christ gave the parable of the strong man being bound and his kingdom plundered, the Church (Christians) are now plundering the Enemy’s kingdom; the Enemy’s reaction is violence, because they see that glory to be had and fear their imminent destruction (Matthew 11:12). Evil will perish, but not in the way many would like.

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:19-26