God Has Power Over Evil

God’s power is expressed in creation and in history. These facts are familiar to the believer. But equally true about God’s power at work could come as something of a surprise, for the Bible shows us that God’s power is seen over the forces of evil.

In thinking about this, we enter into some of the more perplexing and challenging teaching of the Scriptures. If we are committed to reading our Bibles, we will encounter incidents from time to time when God clearly exercised His power over the forces of evil and sometimes in situations that seem pretty perplexing on first reading.

Power Over Joseph’s Life

The most familiar incident along those lines is the encounter between Joseph and his brothers many years after they sold him into slavery in Egypt. Joseph had, through a series of God-ordained events, been exalted to a position from which he was able to save his people from famine. You may remember the famous words that Joseph spoke to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20). The brothers were working evil and acting with malice and cruelty, but God had a bigger plan—a good plan—and the brothers were unwittingly participating in it. The incident is famous and familiar to many, but to fully understand the depth of this truth, it is useful to consider a less familiar and, in some ways, much stranger example.

Power Over False Prophets

Later in Israel’s history, King Ahab wanted to go to war against Ramoth-Gilead. However, before he committed to battle he wanted the prophets to affirm him in his decision. He had a whole crowd of false prophets who did that, but one prophet of the Lord called Micaiah did not fall into line. King Ahab was frustrated, and so Micaiah delivered this message to him:

“Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’” (1 Kings 22:19–22)

I do not know what you make of this incident, but I think that is more or less the strangest Bible story I have ever read. We are given a view into the throne room of heaven, the hosts of heaven are gathered before God, and a consultation is taking place. The Lord sends a lying spirit to go and put lies into the mouths of the prophets to entice the king to his death. (It is important to see that he also sent His true prophet to speak the truth. This is a test for Ahab.)

We know that the Father had a glorious and righteous plan for the death of Jesus, a plan for the forgiveness of our sin and for our salvation.

It is all so strange to our eyes. You could not make this up; and it raises a lot of tricky questions for us, some of which we will not be able to answer. But, despite all the questions it raises, this incident demonstrates to us that God has power over the forces of evil, and is willing and able to use those forces to achieve His greater purpose. God had purposed to bring judgment against the ungodly King Ahab, and ultimately He used these lying spirits to reveal and confirm Ahab’s disdain for God’s work and send him into a battle where he was killed. God’s good and righteous purpose was achieved, but the agency was evil and not good. However odd and perplexing that is to our eyes, it is actually a great comfort. It means that no forces can operate beyond and outwit God or His decree. He is truly sovereign. He is truly almighty.

Power Over the Crucifixion

The greatest example of this principle, of course, is found at the cross of Christ. In the crucifixion of the Son of God we see the most wicked event in the history of the world. Here is the full ugliness of sin and human rebellion unmasked. Here is wickedness in all its fury let loose on the righteous One. Here, it would seem, is Satan unleashed. But listen to the way the apostle Peter spoke of the event afterward in the book of Acts. Speaking to the people of Judea he declared one of the most theologically loaded sentences in the whole of the Bible, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). What a statement. Just let that sink in for a moment. The most wicked event in the history of the world happened by the set purpose and foreknowledge of God.

We know that the Father had a glorious and righteous plan for the death of Jesus, a plan for the forgiveness of our sin and for our salvation. And yet the murder of Jesus itself was an evil act committed by evil people, “you crucified and killed [Him] by the hands of lawless men.” The wicked men are fully responsible. What they did was evil. But all of it happened under and within the sovereign power and plan of God.

Power Over Evil

Here we bump firmly against one of the great mysteries of Scripture: How can God be truly God Almighty, with power extending to the governance of all things—evil people and evil spirits included—and yet, at the same time, be entirely good and righteous? I cannot pretend to solve the conundrum. There is real mystery here. The Bible affirms both things to be true. God is in charge in this world. He is entirely good and never does evil. In thinking this through we need to recognize that God’s sovereignty over good and evil function differently. They are not symmetrical. That is, when it comes to achieving good and righteous things, God does them directly. He sends His Holy Spirit and He speaks His Word and He blesses His people. He does these things Himself. But when it comes to evil, God does not do these things, but gives limited freedom for evil spirits and evil people to do them. He is not doing them Himself but He allows them, and sometimes, as we have seen, even sends others who do them.

God is at work in all things to accomplish His good purposes for His people and His world.

By all accounts, that is a lot to process and is perhaps more than we can fully digest. To return to our commonplace world for just a moment, it is like going to a buffet restaurant and reaching a point that you realize you have got more on your plate than you can really manage to deal with in a dignified way. Similarly, I think we reach that point mentally and spiritually with this concept, but (and this is where the analogy with the buffet ends) it is good for us to give it a try and to think about it. This fulsome doctrine of the sovereignty of God is a wonderful doctrine for us to hold because it means that God has the power to set boundaries around evil. Even though we have chosen sin and welcomed the destruction of the fall into this world, and even though we are responsible for so much evil, God has graciously limited our experience of evil, so that we do not feel its full force.

Moreover, we see here that God is at work in all things to accomplish His good purposes for His people and His world. Many of us will be familiar with Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” It is a verse to cling to in times of difficulty. It is a wonderful verse, but we can only believe that God is at work in all things—evil, painful, and tragic things included— if we believe that His power extends to them and is sovereign over them. It is a challenging truth but a vitally important one. God’s power is seen over the forces of evil.