By Buddy Dawson
In the beginning
Week 15 in a multi-part series
Have you ever heard these questions from unbelievers: “If there is a God, why is there so much evil in the world? If God is in control of everything why is there so much suffering? If God is a loving God why did He create diseases like ebola, cancer and AIDS?” Perhaps you have had some of these same questions yourself.
I believe it is almost impossible to have a trusting and loving relationship with our creator when these questions go unanswered. To get answers to these and several other similar questions, we have to go back to the Book of Genesis.
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day (Genesis 1:31 NKJV). Notice when God finished creating everything on the earth it was “very good.” There was obviously no sickness, disease, grinding poverty, killer viruses or rebellious cancer cells.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26 NKJV). The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men (Psalms 115:16 NKJV).
As we can see in these scriptures, when God created mankind He gave them dominion and authority over all the earth.
When Satan came into the garden to seduce Adam and Eve into sin, he had one primary goal — to steal that power and authority for himself. After Satan accomplished this goal, everything on earth was no longer “very good” because evil began to reign.
This transfer of authority, although very obvious throughout the old testament, is confirmed in scripture thousands of years later in Luke 4:5,6, as Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness. Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish (NKJV).
At creation, God gave complete authority to mankind to rule Earth. When Adam bowed to Satan’s will, he gave away this dominion, plunging not only mankind, but all of creation into corruption and spiritual darkness. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (Romans 8:22 NKJV).
When Adam’s rebellion was loosed on the earth and Satan gained dominion, it tainted everything; germs, bacteria, viruses, and fungi that were once good became corrupted and are now fighting against our human bodies.
However, there is good news. Jesus will soon return to the earth to establish His Kingdom. At that point all of creation will be free from the dominion of corruption and evil. Only then will all of God’s creation return to being “very good.”
Buddy and Maude Dawson are the founders and directors of the River of Life Worship Center, 3504 Carolina Beach Rd., Wilmington, NC. therolwc.org/[email protected]
