Everything we read in the Word about the nature of our heavenly Father is consistent; there’s no evil or darkness in Him at all. You might then want to ask, “How about the words of the prophet Isaiah about God? It says, “…I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6-7). Could this be a contradiction? Did God really create evil?

 

First, you need to understand the style and manner of communication of the prophets in the Old Testament, and the extent of the revelations granted to them. The prophets knew nothing about Satan except in figurative speech, because there was no revelation of him. To them, everything that happened, whether good or evil, came from God.

 

Jesus made an enlightening statement to the Pharisees in Matthew 19:8. He said, “…Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.” In other words, that commandment came from Moses, not God. If you really want to know God, His character, nature, and ways of doing things, then go to the very beginning and observe His principles. Genesis 1:31 tells us, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good….” He didn’t create evil at all. More so, in Christ Jesus, He manifested Himself as a gracious loving Father.

 

The real evil being and maker of evil is Satan. Satan wasn’t always a devil, because God only created good things. Satan was an angel called Lucifer, which means “son of the morning”; he was God’s vice-regent over the earth. Everything about him was perfect, but through pride, he lost his position, was overthrown, and became the devil. That was how evil came into the world. God is the author of good, and not of evil: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33).