Saturday, September 09, 2017

Dial Daily Bread: The "Ruler of This World" Who Wreaks Havoc Is Not Christ

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Many thoughtful Christians ask, "Why does God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the Bible says 'God is love' (1 John 4:8), permit these awful disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes?" To say nothing of wars that we humans create.

All such questions inevitably revert to the great one: Why did the loving Creator of the world permit the Flood of Noah? It upset the earth's equilibrium! In that history we see the portrayal of the government of Heaven in relation to fallen, sinful humanity.

God did not permit the Flood to come for 120 years, because through Noah He had proclaimed a message of "the righteousness which is according to faith" (1 Peter 3:18-20; Heb. 11:7). But unbelieving, rebellious humanity had become a curse to themselves.

Now only a small portion of the earth's surface is inhabitable, for again "the earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have ... broken the everlasting covenant" (Isa. 24:5). That's a guilt we all share.

God purposes that that same message of "righteousness by faith" again be proclaimed worldwide (Rev. 14:6-12). "The ruler of this world" who wreaks this havoc is not Christ--he is the Enemy of Christ, "the prince of the power of the air" (cf. John 14:30; Eph. 2:2).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 14, 2005.
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