Transcript CreationDAVID CHADWICK: Hi, everyone. Welcome to Inspiration Ministries, I’m David Chadwick. We’re dealing with the very difficult question of “Why is there suffering in the world? If God is good, how could He allow suffering to exist?” And it’s a very difficult question to ask, but there are some Biblical answers. And I want to try to begin to address them in this series again entitled “Why is There Suffering?”
In order to understand the whole idea of suffering, you need to understand, first of all, one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A mystery for sure, but nevertheless what the Bible clearly teaches. One God in three persons Who perfectly loved one another. So, at some point in the expanses of eternity, the One Triune God decided to create the heavens and the earth and you and me. Why? For the purpose of sharing in that eternal love that existed in the Godhead. You know for love to exist, there needs to be an object of that love. And the Father loved the Son, the Son loved the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit loved the Father and all of them loved one another perfectly. So God created you and me to share in that love. Out of love, He created you and me.
So, this world was created and it was created for you and me to live in it perfectly. There was what was called “original intent in creation.” In original intent, God made the world exist in perfect harmony. There was harmony between God and us; there was harmony between all of us…one another; there was harmony within ourselves and there was harmony with creation. All of those four harmonies existed for you and me to live in this world in a perfect love relationship with God. The Bible teaches that Adam and Eve, the first man and woman created, walked in the Garden of Eden and the word “Eden” means paradise because it was indeed a paradise. Everything worked in harmony. Everything worked closely together. And in that Eden, Adam and Eve walked with God. They communed with God. That’s what prayer basically is, it’s communion with God. They talked with God. God spoke with them and they existed in a place where there was no disharmony whatsoever.
So, in order to understand the problem of evil, you’ve got to understand God’s original intent. Everything in this world operated as God wanted it to operate. And then something happened that caused that harmony to become disharmony. There was a malevolent rebellion in the heavens among the angels led by one angel called Lucifer the angel of light who, in his pride, wanted Jesus’ position in the second person of the Godhead; couldn’t get it because he was a creature not creation and led that rebellion. He had, as his fervent desire, the ability to destroy God’s world. In John 10:10 Jesus said, Who is the second person of the Godhead, “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy.” The enemy wants to kill, steal, and destroy God’s harmony that He made on this earth, and he did so in that rebellion coming to earth and tempting Adam and Eve and bringing that rebellion to this world. We’ll look later at the whole idea of disharmony and what has happened, and the reason there is suffering in God’s once perfect world.
If God is good, how can he allow suffering to exist? In this 15-part teaching series, Pastor David Chadwick points out that in the original creation there was harmony - a harmonious relationship between God and mankind; between people on earth; emotional wellbeing within ourselves; and tranquility in the natural world of God's creation. Then when sin and rebellion entered the world, that harmony was broken. Rebellion on the earth began when Adam and Eve believed the lies of Lucifer and disobeyed God in their pride. This sin and rebellion brought with it the consequence of suffering in the world.
In these lessons you will learn about God's perfect creation; the fall of man, that brought with it disharmony with God, people, self, and creation; God's promise to restore all things; Jesus on the question of suffering; what is heaven; and more!
