Some still have problems with this verse; for it is hard to grasp the fact that God creates darkness and evil. For instance, we generally equate darkness and evil with sin, and it is impossible for God to sin; but let us note. Sin in the Hebrew and Greek of the Bible simply means to miss the mark. Therefore, since God's darkness and evil are parts of His plan, He is not missing His mark. He is right on target of creating His elect and the rest of mankind in His image and likeness.

Another verse that speaks of this: "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?" Amos 3:6.

Do we think that this particular word that the prophet wrote almost 3,000 years ago might be obsolete? Absolutely not! The word of God is never outdated, unless, of course, it was meant for a specific time and purpose.

Even though His ways may not be our ways, God does not change, and unless we are tone deaf, we can hear many trumpets being blown in the cities and nations of the world today. And as it was in the days of old, the evil therein is still the LORD'S!

He is responsible for the evil and does not need to be defended. There was a time many years ago, however, that although without being solicited, I attempted to come to His defense. Without clear insight to this truth, I said that the evils He created were only natural disasters; such as, floods, wind, hail, earthquakes, and other calamities of nature. All these, of course, are by His hand as well; but as Brother Eby wrote in one of his recent articles about evil:

"The word here for 'evil' is the Hebrew word ra which is used throughout the Old Testament to denote wickedness, sin, and wrongdoing. In some five hundred passages it is so used!

"As soon as this truth dawns within your enlightened heart, the knowledge of whence came the serpent will speedily follow. The word of God is certain and unmistakable! The inspired record infallibly declares, 'Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which THE LORD GOD HAD MADE' (Gen. 3:1).

"Two things are here revealed: the nature of the serpent is a beastly (sensual and ferocious) nature — and GOD MADE HIM! Suppose that instead of trying to explain this passage in harmony with some man-made creed, we let all creeds go and wait upon the spirit of wisdom and revelation from the Lord to give understanding of what God is teaching us!

"These words shining down from the very dawn of history deserve pages of comment, but can you not see that they are filled with the spirit of revelation? In only a few words they teach us that God made the serpent, God made him with a beastly nature, God made him subtle and cunning, God made him the Devil and Satan, God made him a liar and a murderer from the beginning, and God placed him in the garden of Eden with Adam!" – End quote...

Some may struggle with this; but when the spirit of revelation comes, they will rejoice and be at perfect peace. They will see that not only good is essential in fulfilling God's purposes, but also evil. Of necessity, everything in the universe has its opposite which together serves to make all things well.

Surely we know that good cannot really be understood or called good without the experience and knowledge of its evil opposite. There has to be an opposite for which to be compared before it can be named or understood. If we had never been shrouded with darkness, could we have ever uttered or understood the word, darkness? By experiencing darkness, we can appreciated light, and understand both. In the same arena, could we have ever understood what day is if night had never swept over us? It's the same with life, we could never truly appreciate it if death was not a constant threat. This goes also for health and sickness, and wealth and poverty. The list is endless, but these few examples should be enough help to see the necessities of not only good but evil as well.

Let us make a side note that this evil is not the same as things like pride and lust: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John 2:16. This is another issue that we might delve into at another time.

Notwithstanding, if the purpose of good and evil had not been known before, hopefully, it is becoming clear today, and be able to praise God for the trials, for hardships, for persecutions, and for other calamities that often beset us. We can see the reason for suffering, for pain, and all other evils encountered on our journey through the valley of the shadow of death.

It will also be understood that God has a purpose for Satan and all that he does! When His people fail to grasp this, it can leave them with the assumption that throughout all the ages, God's works of salvation are mere hits and misses due to a war against a seditious enemy that He created and seems to be equal to Him in laying out plans of war and power, even more so at times. It becomes an affair that ends with the supposed 'omnipotent' God winning only a minuscule handful of His beloved creation, while the infamous Joker, the arch angel of evil, gleefully claims the lions share. Who can reconcile such nonsensical imaginations?

However, when people see that God is behind the works of Satan that brings forth the gold in them, understanding will break forth and their perception of Him will change dramatically. Job of old obviously understood this:

"He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Job 23:10.

And David said it this way:

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." Psalm 119:7.

When we see that refined good gold comes from the evil assaults of Satan, we are more able to appreciate all the greatness of our God and His divine wisdom! Once we see the purpose of evil, there will be no question that the easy street of life is not the best way to travel.

We all are keenly aware that when children are raised with over protection, sheltered in every way, pampered all their lives, will grow up as spoiled, weak adults. Actually, more like children with adult bodies. Strength of character comes by way of evil adversities, trials and tribulations which build mature spiritual lives that are not vulnerable to everything that comes down the pike!

The more we are exposed to adverse circumstances, the more we are exercised we gain the ability to overcome spiritual and natural enemies in our lives. Without challenges, we would remain weak as babies, and every sin could easily beset us. If we are to be the sons of God that creation is awaiting and groaning for, it is imperative for us to be strong, powerful, full of understanding and wisdom.

Our Father has called us to be strong in the power of His might, so when the time comes, we can successfully bind the strong man, and cast him into the bottomless pit; thus, the glorious victory fruit from God's Holy Garden of the interplay between good and evil!

What is God's Purpose for

Creating Man?

This is a good question. Truly, what is God's Purpose for creating man? There is no way, of course, to address each of His creations; but we will say that He looked upon all of what He had done, and said that it was all good, which included the serpent! And surely, He had a purpose for doing so, especially for His prized creation — MAN. His prophet Isaiah said: "Thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain; He formed it TO BE INHABITED; I am the Lord and there is none else." Isaiah 45:18.

Everything, down to the tiniest microbe, has a divine purpose. God does not create things just to pass time or have bragging rights over what He has accomplished. He does not have to prove anything to Himself or anyone else. Whether we can see what it is or not, He creates everything for a specific purpose. We may not see any connection between many things of His creation, but eventually, everything will fit together as integral parts to form an unveiled masterpiece.

Therefore, let us keep these thoughts in mind as we continue; for, until we can know what God's purpose is for mankind, we will be greatly lacking in our understanding. Unless His purpose is seen, it will be impossible to comprehend His motivation in all that He has created and continues to create. If we cannot see this, we then have nothing but a religious mixture of meaningless creations with no more purpose than logs drifting aimlessly down a river to the sea, or whittlings that fall to the ground from a country boy's pocket knife.

You see, all things created are not as chiseled chips, but as masterpieces according to His purpose.

Rather than noticing some of the lesser creations, even though each one is very much part of the whole, we will focus on God's greatest and most wonderful creation — MANKIND! Unquestionably, the earth is His prized jewel of the universe and was made to be our home along with all those in our charge. God's divine purpose for man, His most prized living creation, was to inhabit the earth.

Not to fault anyone; but I doubt that many of us can recall religious leaders, great or small, ever giving the purpose for man's existence. We can all remember sermons and read books about the great reward of the saved going to heaven, and of course, eternal damnation in hell for sinners. We heard about the tragedy of the man's fall that many believe assigns most to everlasting punishment for those who fail the final test to merit salvation. This varies, to be sure, depending on religious persuasions.

With such scenarios having been presented over the ages, some could conclude that God's purpose for creating mankind was to save a few to have them bask in eternal bliss while tormenting the rest in fire forever? But how seldom, if ever, can we remember any of those preachers explaining why an omniscient, omnipotent God could have let His creation slip through His fingers so easily? The best we can recall is that it was said to be the fault of man's freewill which God gave to him, while knowing 99.9 percent of them would choose eternal torment over eternal bliss. Such nonsensical absurdity!

Why is it that so many who claim to have been born by the Spirit of the God who is infinite love, believe and profess such horrid a thing? For instance, in one breath they say He is full of grace and love, and then believe that He will keep alive myriads in a burning hell for the sole purpose that they may suffer through out eternity.

Believing such, and many other equally preposterous and unscriptural ideas, it is a wonder that they have any love at all for a monster that their theology makes Him to be. Having faith in such a being seems impossible. Even so, there's an wonderful alternative to carnal men's religious dogma, which is God's original plan, His immutable purpose, and He has let us know what it is.

Very few can really trust one when there is no purpose, or when the purpose is so extremely futile? It is a miracle that any man or woman could trust a god of such recklessness, or sadistic genocide, or where the sinners never die to be released from their torment. Frankly, it is no wonder that these foolish dogmas have caused men to drift upon the seas of carnal lusts and spiritual infidelity.

With no foundation of God's holy purpose, infinite love, and unwavering responsibility, it is no mystery that they wander in the godless deserts of the world. Please know, brothers and sisters, God will not let His own meander forever without the knowledge of His purpose for them. When their time comes to know this, they will be shown it.

Of a truth, the moment He declared His intention to make man in His image and placed him on the earth, He also announced His first two reasons and purposes for so doing. Here is what He said:

"Let us make man in our IMAGE, after our LIKENESS, and let them have DOMINION..." Genesis 1:26.

 Yet, hidden away in that glorious plan is a meaning that is not perceived by the natural eye. The carnal mind has never understood it, and never will. When God said that man should be in His image and likeness, we generally visualize the one man, Adam, as the final and finished product of His image and likeness; but it has never entered uninspired minds that God was saying His intention would take ages and dispensations that would consume thousands of years before bringing MAN into THE IMAGE and LIKENESS of GOD — first the MAN JESUS, and then the WHOLE of MANKIND!

His purpose not only embraces vessels of honor but vessels of dishonor as well as every creed, color, and nationality. They all, each and everyone of them, will eventually be made in His image. That's God's purpose, and whatever He has purposed will come to pass! Neither you nor I, nor anyone else can prevent it nor hurry it along. It will be when it will be; but for sure, IT W-I-L-L BE! Some believe in a little God that can save only a few; but let us believe in a BIG GOD who W-I-L-L SAVE ALL!

Don't we know that whatever God wills, it will be so? "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:4. And we must not forget: "...being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh *ALL things after the counsel of HIS OWN WILL." Ephesians 1:11. *ALL, Greek pas: all, any, every, the whole.

Therefore, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the fiery testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4 NIV.

 The other part of God's purpose for creating man is that he would be given DOMINION over all the earth. We don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden, perhaps millenniums; but we do know that nothing that God had made escaped from underneath the covering of his and her dominion (God gave Adam dominion before Eve was removed from his side, so both were ordained to have dominion). Every animal, bird, sea creature, creeper, and all other living things bowed to their will and word. Yet, that glorious reign under a son, both male and female, in the image of God was only a type. It was but a shadow of what He intended for man and was to come.

They were merely shadows of what God had purposed. Those shadows pointed to a day when Christ and His body would be made in God's image and likeness. They would reign over the entire earth and everything, everywhere would be in submission to their godly directions, infinite wisdom, and loving will.

In another place, the question was raised concerning what God's purpose for mankind was: "When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, What is man that Thou art mindful of him and the son of man that Thou visitest him?...Thou madest him TO HAVE DOMINION over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things under his feet." Psalms 8:3-4, 6. "But now we see not yet all things put under him." Hebrews 2:8.

After ages are fulfilled, after the good and evil have worked God's purpose in our lives, when the day of inauguration comes, there will be a shout of the archangel from the heavens (not the sky) to awaken us to the day. It is then that we will be manifested and put in place for all creation to see and know the full bloom of Eden's glory! It is then that judgment will be upon Christ's shoulder of many members.

This man of God's finished purpose will order and establish all things in righteousness and holy justice. It is then that "...saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S." Obadiah 21. It is then that "...the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14.

Praise our WONDERFUL and WISE GOD of GOOD and EVIL! Who could have known except those called ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE? And to be reminded, one of those purposes are FOR HIS PLEASURE:

 "By Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and FOR HIM." Colossians 1:16.

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and FOR THY PLEASURE they are and were created." Revelation 4:11.

"And all were astonished beyond measure, saying, He hath done all things well." Mark 7:37.

What unfathomable truths! In reality, anyone that can read and claim to see them, and still be proud, has never truly seen them. They have merely heard and perceived by the carnal mind that caters to self, to pride.

Such purposes fill us with awe and humility; for we can see our natural selves as poor creatures laying in the dusty earth of delusion and desolation. Those who truly see God's purposes for creating man cannot help from falling in a renewed love with Him. Our hearts will surely exclaim, "Not my will, Father, but Thine be done!"

Self-gratification will vanish, and pride of will become foreign. Our hopes and plans will dissolve. Our desire will be His desire. And we will resound with the Psalmist:

"For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. Such things are too wonderful for me; they are high; I cannot attain unto it." Pslam 139:4, 5, 8, 6.

But IN and BY Him, we were predestined to attain it! Can it be otherwise — NO! And we shall know all the mysteries of it: "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." Matthew 13:11.

Isn't it great to know that we are in such good hands?