Q. Wichita, Kansas. "How do you explain Isa. 45:7? The concept of created evil concerns me. If there had been no devil in the begin ning, all sin could have been avoided." A. Cod, in His loving grace and sovereign mercy, has not been nor would He ever be, responsible in any sense for sin coming into the world. Man was created with a hu man will so that he might choose between good and evil. When Lu cifer was created, he was perfect, as were Adam and Eve in the Gar den of Eden, before their tempta tion and degradation. With the verse you have mentioned we might translate our Lord's saying, "\ form the light and create dark ness; I make peace and I create trouble or adversity as a judgment upon sin." You see the purpose here of wretchedness and dark ness. We do not know for a fact that if there had been no devil in the beginning, all evil could have been avoided. No doubt evil must have existed as a possibility along with goodness. Cod created all things good. No, Cod did not cre ate evil. He would not work at cross-purposes with Himself. Then, why did the Lord allow such things to happen? Someday when you are the most despondent, thinking this world is an unutterable mess, remember one thing — it will pre serve your sanity and balance. In spite of all the imperfections in the world, an infinitely wise, and loving and compassionate God saw this plan of His was the best and only means of bringing glory to His name (Rom. 11:36). Many times there are questions that with our human mind and limited view we cannot begin to fathom. This
should bring us even closer to our most valuable possession in life, namely faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Q. Fresno, Ca lif. "Wou ld you please explain the passage in John 6:54-57? Does it have to do with communion?" A. In its broad context this chapter deals with our Lord Jesus feeding the 5,000. Having pacified their physical hunger He tells them of a more important need which He can fulfill. The positive assertion comes, "I am the bread of life." Here He contrasts Himself to the manna that the Jewish fathers ate in the wilderness. When they par took of it they still eventually died. He points out that He is "the living bread." He promises that if any man would "eat of this bread he shall live forever". The reference here is not to some physical nour ishment. He refers to the fact that He would give His perfect, peer less body as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The people there could see only the physical inter pretation. They could not under stand how they could eat flesh and blood and live forever. Jesus testifies, "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in Me and I in him." That is the se cret. It is a spiritual, mystical rela tionship. It does not refer to our communion. The Scripture cannot be twisted to mean His physical body. As a matter of fact, there is nothing in John's gospel at all that deals with the institution of the Lord's supper. In John 13:2 we have a celebration of the last pass- over but this is not the institution of the last supper. This is found in Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22. Page 23
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