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How To Know Can a Christian Lose His Salvation? What does John 1:1 say about the Trinity? The Development of the Name Jehovah Does Ephesians 2:8-9 Teach that Faith is a Gift? Rules of Biblical Interpretation
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Q Everyone tends to
believe that Satan is a actual supernatural being that is completely
evil. but in Isaiah 45:7 it say that God creates good and evil.
How do you explain this? Who is actually the creator of evil?
A God is not the author of evil. Satan was originally created good as an angel, but turned to sin. Note what is said of him in Ezekiel 28:15: “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.” This was the origin of evil. Then Adam and Eve followed suit and sinned in the garden of Eden (Genesis chapter 3). All that God created was good; but His creatures chose sin and rebellion. Isa. 45:7 is in a context of God using Cyrus as an instrument of punishment (45:1-7). The Hebrew word for ‘evil’, ra, can mean moral evil or it can mean ‘disaster’, ‘calamity’. See the following verses to see a clear use of it in this latter sense: Gen. 44:34; Judges 20:34; Isa. 47:11; Jer. 1:14; 2:3; Amos 6:3. Due to the context of Cyrus’ mission to punish Israel, this seems the best sense here in Isa. 45:7. An additional support is the opposite word Isaiah uses, ‘peace’. This word does not ever seem to be moral, but has to do with well-being, as in the common blessing, “Peace by unto you.” At the end of commissioning Cyrus in this passage, God wants all men to know who He is and what He does: that He is responsible for light and darkness, He is responsible for all the peace and all the disaster that comes upon them. As the New English Translation note puts it, “This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).”
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