Did God Create Darkness

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and Evil?

There has been much confusion

through the years, especially in religious

circles, about whether God sends bad

things on good people to teach them

something. You have probably heard

someone say: “Well you know the Bible

says,” and they quoted something that

was foreign to the Bible. How many

times have you heard somebody say,

“God will not put more on you than you

can stand?” Many times no doubt, but

that statement is not in the Bible. It is

what they heard someone say they

thought someone heard that the Bible

said.

However, because they believe that

was what the Bible said they are

crippled in their prayer life and in their

ability to resist the things the devil

brings against them. They will usually

end up being offended at God because

of something the Bible didn’t say at all.

There are scriptural answers to

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

every wrong interpretation that will

bring balance to any controversy, but

we must be willing to spend the time to

search them out and rightly divide the

Word of Truth. The Scripture they

thought made that statement is found in

1 Corinthians 10:13 which reveals that

God has made a way for you to escape

every temptation the devil brings

against you. Your way of escape is

through the Word of God. Jesus proved

that on the mount of temptation. He

defeated the devil with God’s own

words (Luke 4:1-13).

When you find something in God’s

Word that doesn’t seem to agree with

other parts of the Bible, spend some

time searching other related Scriptures

until you find the true intent of that

Scripture. You will find that it will

always be in agreement with the whole

Word of God. There is usually some

information missing or something that is

not understood in the context that tends

to cause confusion.

The intent of what was said is as

important as what was said because

there are some Scriptures in the Bible

that are hard to understand and may

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

seem to convey a thought that’s not

really there at all unless you study the

intent of that Scripture. Isaiah 45:7 is a

classic example of a Scripture that is

most often misunderstood. “I form the

light, and create darkness: I make

peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all

these things.” This is an astounding

statement to be found in the Bible, but it

is there. We know that God formed the

light. In Genesis 1:3, He called light

when there was darkness all around, but

did God really create darkness, as

pertaining to evil?

We seem to have a conflict here

because we know God is good and just.

Yet, here it states He created darkness

and evil. How do we interpret that

statement? We cannot take this

statement literally. For, if we do, it

would violate a major part of God’s

Word, and it would be out of character

with God. The only sense in which God

has created darkness is that He made the

sun to rule the day and the moon to rule

the night, creating daytime and

nighttime. It seems clear, in this context,

that God caused the darkness at night

because of the rotation of the earth. But

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

evil darkness didn’t come from God.

Natural darkness is simply the absence

of light... evil darkness is the absence of

the spiritual light of God’s Word and

revelation of righteousness.

Since God is spiritual light and

righteousness, there is no spiritual

darkness in Him. If He were to create

evil darkness, He would have to put

Himself out. We find in the first chapter

of Genesis that God divided the light

from darkness. Light and darkness

cannot co-exist. Where spiritual light is

present in abundance, spiritual darkness

cannot exist. Light always has dominion

over darkness. God is true light. Satan is

total darkness. Have you noticed that

when you turn the light on in a dark

room that darkness disappears? You

can’t darken a spot in a room full of

light. But you can shine a flashlight into

a dark room and create a light spot in

the darkness. That concentrated beam of

light creates a hole in the darkness.

However, there is no such thing as a

“flash dark” that would create a dark

spot in a room filled with light. The

point is this: Since God is light, He

couldn’t create darkness unless He first

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

put Himself out. For He doesn’t just

contain light, He is light. Therefore,

darkness could not exist in His

presence.

Exodus 20:21 and Deuteronomy

4:11 speak of God being in thick

darkness which was a heavy cloud to

protect the people lest they be destroyed

by His brightness.

And the people stood afar off,

and Moses drew near unto the

thick darkness where God was.

(Exodus 20:21)

And ye came near and stood

under the mountain; and the

mountain burned with fire unto the

midst of heaven, with darkness,

clouds, and thick darkness.

(Deuteronomy 4:11)

In Deuteronomy 5:23, Moses heard

God’s voice out of the darkness which

refers to a cloud. It is obvious from

these Scriptures that these clouds were

for the purpose of protecting people

from the fire and light of God.

The question then arises, Who

created darkness? Did the devil do it?

No, darkness is simply the absence of

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

light. Lucifer forsook the light of God

and found himself in total darkness.

Jude 13 indicates that this blackness of

darkness is reserved for all evil spirits

and fallen angels forever.

Now let’s deal with the other half of

Isaiah 45:7, “... I make peace, and

create evil: I the LORD do all these

things.” This word “evil” means bad,

misery, hurtful, unkind, wicked,

distress, and calamity. Are we to believe

that God really creates all this evil? If

He did, we really have a problem. First

of all, this would be totally out of

character with God. So how do we

interpret this statement? We must

interpret it with other related Scriptures.

As we read verses 7 and 8 together, we

get a clue.

I form the light, and create

darkness: I make peace, and create

evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Drop down, ye heavens, from

above, and let the skies pour down

righteousness: let the earth open,

and let them bring forth salvation,

and let righteousness spring up

together; I the Lord have created

it. (Isaiah 45:7-8) (Read Amplified

version also. )

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

Immediately, God begins to talk

about pouring down righteousness upon

the earth. So what are we going to do

with the verse that says, “I, God, created

evil?” We must interpret it with God’s

own Word.

In Genesis 1:11-12, the Scripture

says that God created everything after

His kind; and God’s kind is good and

perfect. Verse 31 says God saw

everything that He had made, and

behold it was very good. Everything that

God created was good when He created

it. Even Lucifer was good at the

beginning until iniquity was found in

him (Isaiah 14:12-17).

II Peter 1:3 reveals that God has

given us all things that pertain to life

and Godliness. Evil certainly does not

pertain to life and Godliness. In John

10:10, Jesus said: “The thief cometh...

to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am

come that they might have life... more

abundantly.”

Then James 1:16-17 states, “Do not

err, my beloved brethren. Every good

gift and every perfect gift is from above,

and cometh down from the Father of

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

lights, with whom is no variableness,

neither shadow of turning.”

God is good all of the time. He has

given us every good and perfect gift. He

is not the author of evil. In the light of

these Scriptures, Isaiah 45:7 has to be

interpreted that God allowed evil,

because man allowed it. In Hebrew,

sometimes the active voice only gives

permission of something rather than

being the cause of it. But, the people

under the Old Covenant generally

believed that everything that happened

to them came from God. Their theory

was: If God allowed it, He was

considered to have done it. We find

from the New Testament that God is not

the author of confusion or evil. But, yet,

God had to allow evil, because man

chose evil, and it came to the earth

through man’s wrong choices.

God never makes even a gradual

turn from that which is good and

perfect. We know evil would certainly

not be considered a good gift.

Let’s study these two verses for

confirmation of the true scriptural

answer to the question: Did God create

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

evil? First, James admonishes us to not

get in error. Then he says that every

good and perfect gift comes from God

who is the Father of Lights. Notice that

he didn’t say the father of darkness, but

rather the Father of Lights. With God,

there is no variation or change, not even

a shadow of turning from that which is

good and perfect.

Now let’s look at James 1:13: “Let

no man say when he is tempted, I am

tempted of God: for God cannot be

tempted with evil, neither tempteth he

any man.” Every man is tempted when

he is drawn away by his own lust and

enticed. This verse plainly says to let no

man say that God tempted him with evil.

Consider this fact: If there was no

evil, man could not be tempted. The

Scriptures clearly state that God does

not tempt any man. But Adam chose the

knowledge of good and evil in the

garden. No, God did not create evil, so

don’t be sidetracked by Scriptures that

seem to say something that is contrary

to the character of God.

The bottom line of the whole matter

is: God is the Father of Jesus who

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Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

revealed His light to the world. He is the

giver of all good gifts.

John confirms this with this word of

revelation:

This then is the message which

we have heard of him, and declare

unto you, that God is light, and in

him is no darkness at all. If we say

that we have fellowship with him,

and walk in darkness, we lie, and

do not the truth: But if we walk in

the light, as he is in the light, we

have fellowship one with another,

and the blood of Jesus Christ his

Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I

John 1:5-7)

MARANATHA!

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Document Outline

- Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

- 1 Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

Table of Contents

Did God Create Darkness and Evil?

1 Did God Create Darkness and Evil?