Read Job 19:23-27.
Introduction: On Thursday, April 3rd, just three days ago, at Garissa University College in Kenya, 148 people were murdered and another 78 were wounded at gunpoint. One witness explained that terrorists went from room to room asking if the students inside were Christian or Muslim. The witness said, “If you were a Christian, you were shot on the spot.” Good, young people, followers of Christ, murdered by horrible evil. Where is God?
March 24th, 2015, sixteen schoolchildren from Haltern, Germany, boarded a plane in Barcelona after a student exchange program. Shortly after takeoff, the suicidal copilot of the plane locked the pilot out of the cockpit and began a slow descent that ended with the plane crashing into a mountain. All 150 people on board, including these 16 students, died on impact. Where is God?
On March 9th, 2015, only 5 weeks after his 60th birthday, my uncle was diagnosed with 6 inoperable brain tumors. A man of God who has taught me so much about faith in Christ. Where is God?
A young girl at Mohawk, recently orphaned by the death of her father. Where is God?
Think back on the prayer requests of just the last three months at Bethel. So much pain and suffering. We are surrounded by evil. Where is God?
I can confidently say that every single person in this room has been or will be in a situation where they experience pain and suffering to the point that it begs the question: Where is God?
Need: What we are really asking is not for a physical location of God, but rather for an explanation of evil in a world with a God. The coexistence of these three truths come into question: 1) The existence of evil, 2) The goodness of God, and 3) The power of God.
Question: To put it plainly, why is there evil in a world with a good and all-powerful God? You may also hear the question phrased, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"
This question has been so common throughout history that it has been given a name: theodicy. It is the attempt to “justify God.” That is where we get the word “theodicy.” It is an attempt to figure out how a good and powerful God can justify the existence of evil in the world He created and sustains. In this sermon on this Easter Sunday, we journey through this question. Hence, my homonymic sermon title: The Odyssey through Theodicy.
When I told someone earlier this week that I would be preaching on theodicy on Easter morning, they laughed and said, “Only a seminarian would do that…” But this question is very important. Left unanswered, it is dangerous to Christianity. It has the ability to implode even the most venerated faiths. In fact, it is so commonly a reason for converting from Christianity to atheism that statistically, someone in this room will one day give up their faith in God because they can’t seem to reconcile the existence of evil with a good God.
If you find yourself with that possibility, I hope God’s Word proclaims the truth to your doubting heart this morning.
For many of you, you will face the issue of theodicy from a family member, a friend or a coworker. When they see or experience pain, they think they have to abandon a notion of a good and powerful God. What will be your response?
If you think that you are outside the possibility of abandoning your faith because of the problem of evil, I hope this message grounds you firmly in a biblical response to theodicy before it becomes a possibility. The issue of theodicy is always simpler when you’re dealing with someone else’s pain and suffering. But there are days ahead of you when the pain will become your own and the evil will be all too real. On that day, I hope you are prepared to respond to your own challenges of theodicy because of this message.
First, we must clear away incorrect or insufficient theodicies. These are theodicies we’ve created that just don’t hold up to Scripture.
Like we said, theodicy is an attempt to reconcile these three statements: 1) God is good, 2) God is powerful, 3) Evil exists. So what some have done is tried to get rid of one of those statements.
Protest Theodicy:
Some simply say we have misunderstood God; He is actually not good at all. This is called Protest Theodicy. This means we are left with an all powerful God ruling over an evil world. He becomes a God who gets pleasure from evil. He is like a small boy torturing ants, entertaining Himself with our suffering.
But this is not our God. We know that for a fact. We see evidence of God’s goodness all throughout Scripture. If God were not good, would He be God at all? It’s not possible. Protest theodicy does not work.
Process Theodicy:
Others accept the goodness of God and try to reconcile it with the existence of evil by rejecting the power of God. This is what you can call Process Theodicy. It’s also known as Augustinian theodicy, named after Augustine of Hippo. This means God has handcuffed himself where he can no longer act in the world. He has set up rules against himself that have made it so he is powerless in this world. Indeed God always intends the good to happen, however he can not stop it from happening without breaking the laws of physics, or breaking free-will. This claims that God didn’t want puppets. He wanted free willed creatures. And as a result, this is what he has gotten himself into!
Again I think this view does not hold true to the God we see in the Bible. The God who formed creation out of chaos… the God who rose Lazarus from the dead… the God who spoke and calmed a storming sea… is not a God without power in this world. In the light of scripture, we must declare: God is powerful!
So where does that leave us? We have a God who IS good; we have a God who IS powerful; why then is there still evil, still pain, still suffering?
Person Making Theodicy:
There are some who maintain a good and all-powerful God, but try to get rid of the existence of evil. They would say that this world is the best possible world to develop human beings. Therefore, even the evil of this world is good because it is for your own good. You can call this Person Making Theodicy. It’s also called Irenaean Theodicy, named after Irenaeus. This is a fan favorite. Chances are, you’ve probably heard it before. It’s common in the language of comforters, but not a favorite of the comforted. It sounds something like this: “Somehow God will work this out for your good. God is just using this suffering to make you stronger.”
I can see where it comes from. I think trials often make us better people and better Christians. But it still falls short. You can’t take this one to the bedside of someone dying a painful death and say “This will make you stronger. Something good will still come out of this.” This theodicy, as well, is insufficient.
So I’ve gotten myself into a mess. We’ve held up three statements: God is good, God is powerful, evil exists; and we’ve tried to remove each one so it can all fit together, but that does not work. The answer must be able to reconcile all three. What we expect in such a messy conundrum is a complicated, almost incomprehensible answer. But I don’t think that’s what I see in Scripture. I will not claim that a Biblical theodicy is easy, but it is simple.
Thesis: The existence of evil in a world ruled by a good and all-powerful God is to glorify Christ. (repeat)
Text: I began by relaying stories of pain and suffering from our world. Let me share with you another story of a man who experienced some real pain and suffering:
This man could be described as a blameless and upright man. He feared the LORD and turned away from evil. He was what you might call, “a good guy.” He had a wife, 7 sons, and 3 daughters, whom he loved dearly. He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, 500 donkeys, and many, many servants. His name was Job.
Well one day, he’s at home and a servant comes running in. The servant informs Job that all his children were at the oldest son’s house and Sabeans came and killed many of the servants. While he was still explaining this, another servant comes running in and explains that fire fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and more servants. While he was speaking, another servant tells Job that Chaldeans attacked and took the camels and killed more servants. While he was speaking, there came another servant who told Job that a strong wind came upon his oldest son’s house and it fell, killing all of his sons and daughters.
Not too long after this, Job developed horrible sores all over his body, from head to toe. As if this wasn’t enough suffering, sitting in agony and pain, his wife counsels him to curse God and die. When he doesn’t do that, he has three friends come alongside him and give him terrible advice. They continually accuse him of sin which would make his punishment so great. In fact, one friend even has the audacity to tell Job that he deserves worse because of his arrogance and sin. But Job holds on to his hope in God, even when he fully recognizes that God is the one who has brought this suffering upon him. In Job 13:15, Job cries out, “Though He (God) slay me, I will hope in Him.” If anybody has ever suffered on this earth, it was Job. He knows the piercing afflictions of evil.
And then we get to our passage. It is, in my opinion, the point of the entire book.
Look at Job 19:25-26.
It reminds me of the pivotal scene in the movie Gladiator. If you haven’t seen the movie, Maximus goes from being a general in the Roman army to a slave forced to fight in the Colosseum. He is betrayed by his own empire and his family is murdered by the emperor’s corrupt son. After one of his gladiatorial battles, he confronts the emperor’s son with a powerful soliloquy.
He says, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
This is how I picture Job standing up to his friends. “My name is Job, a great man of the East, suffering and in pain, but a loyal servant of the true God, Father to murdered sons and daughters and husband to a miserable wife. And I will see my redeemer, in this life or the next.”
What Job is proclaiming here, what he wants engraved in stone, is that he has suffered greatly and barely survives. He doesn’t think he will get any better and he fully expects to die in his pain. But he knows God is powerful and He knows God is good and He knows evil exists for a purpose. Job knows that his suffering is pointing to a Savior, a Redeemer, one who will vindicate his suffering and reconcile him fully to God’s goodness. In these few verses, Job provides us with a clear and Biblical theodicy.
We can call this “Christological Theodicy.” Christological theodicy states that the existence of evil in a world ruled by a good and all-powerful God is to glorify Christ. Job's words clearly point us to Christ. He may not have known how pregnant his words were, but the Holy Spirit, who inspired those words certainly did.
Here’s how Job’s Christological theodicy reconciles the three statements that God is good, God is all powerful, and evil exists:
First, Job proclaims that it is a Redeemer who stands upon the earth on the last day. This means that God is working through evil to glorify someone in the end. But that someone is not God as tyrant, God as dictator, God as torturous boy. That someone is God as Savior. In his painful situation, with sores from head to toe, he knows there is one who will make him new so that in his flesh, with his eyes, he will see God. Job affirms God’s goodness by exclaiming that his Redeemer lives!
Second, Job proclaims that God is intentionally and purposefully moving this world towards a specific end. God is not waiting to find out what humans do with their free will. God is not at the mercy of human actions. He is not just trying to make the best of the battle between good and evil on earth. Job makes it clear that in all of the pain and suffering, in the evil that surrounds him, God is working sovereignly and powerfully to glorify a Redeemer, who at the last day stands on the earth, vindicating the sufferer. Job affirms God’s power by exclaiming that his Redeemer lives!
Third, Job does not minimize pain and suffering. It is clear from these verses and the surrounding passage that Job fully expects to die in agony. He never claims that God is just making him a better person or a stronger individual through this evil. Job didn’t think God was going to restore his health and his possessions and give him more children. He knew that what he was enduring was in fact evil. But in that evil, Job is still able to believe that God is working according to a plan that glorifies a redeemer. Job affirms the existence of evil by exclaiming that his Redeemer lives!
By proclaiming that his Redeemer lives, Job is able to affirm that God is good, God is powerful, and evil exists.
Job was not the only one to experience suffering and point to Christ. If you look at II Corinthians 11:24-12:10, the apostle Paul recounts his suffering: “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” But then he gets to the conclusion and states the reason for it all: “But God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
What Christological theodicy means is that God is working everything in this world towards the glory of Christ. Romans says that even creation groans under the curse of sin. We can look at the evil all around us and trace it back to the fall of mankind in Genesis 3. God did not create plan B when Adam and Eve ate the fruit. The Father did not call Jesus into action after seeing Adam’s sin: “Sorry, Son, I wasn’t sure if we would have to do this, but you’re gonna have to go down and save those people.” God’s plan from before time was to purpose everything for the glory of Christ. Ephesians 1 says, “God made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
Try to imagine if the fall of man never occurred. Adam and Eve would still be in the Garden, perfect, but without a need for Christ. If Adam doesn’t sin, Christ is not Savior. If Christ is not Savior, then He is not King.
This is the whole truth of Christological theodicy. Listen closely. For Christ to be most glorified on in creation as Savior and King, the fall and the existence of evil are necessary. (repeat)
So why does a world ruled by a good and powerful God have evil? To glorify Christ.
Conclusion: It’s Easter, it’s spring, it’s a happy day and good times. But I do not apologize if I have ruined your Easter morning with such a heavy topic. What we have found in Scripture is that a man who suffered unimaginably horrific evil, pointed to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and shouted, that is why!
What we celebrate this morning is a living Redeemer, one to whom we can point on the greatest of days and on the most painful of days and exclaim, “I know that my Redeemer lives!” The resurrection assures us of our salvation and unites us to Christ.
Theodicy means to justify God. What we see in Job, in a Christological theodicy, is that man’s justification of God is fully explained by God’s justification of man. Does evil exist? Look at the cross, where the Son of God was murdered by evil men. Is God all-powerful? Look at the cross, where God saved men to the glory of Christ through the worst evil of history. Is God good? Look at the cross, where God reached down to you and to me with the offer of salvation by the glorified Redeemer, His Son, Jesus Christ.
Just three days ago, evil men murdered 148 people and wounded 78 others because they admitted to being a Christian. Does evil exist? Absolutely. But is God good and all powerful? Absolutely. This story means that 226 Christians looked down the barrel of a terrorist’s gun, still hot from the previous bullet that created the latest martyr and answered with courage, “I am a Christian.” May Christ be glorified.
Samuel Medley, an 18th century hymn writer, nearing the end of his life, suffered terrible pain and illness. A friend asked him, “Sir, is Christ your center?” He replied, “Yes, yes, he is, he is.” And then adding later, “I am now a shattered bark, just about to gain the blissful harbor, and oh how sweet will be the port after the storm. Dying is sweet work, sweet work! My heavenly Father! I am looking up to my dear Jesus, My God, my portion, my all in all.” Samuel Medley knew what it meant to look to Christ through the pain of this world. He understood the power of the resurrection as a response to theodicy. And in his dying days, he wrote:
“I know that my Redeemer lives
What joy this blest assurance gives
He lives, he lives, who once was dead
He lives, my ever-living Head”
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