Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Whose good? His good. What does He consider to be good? It is his Creation, including the creation of Adam and Eve. And He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, so they turned into multitudes of people, commissioned to the same command. God sees as good anything that would preserve His Creation.
Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” What to make of this passage in light of the fact that everything we see, including us, is His Creation?
It is that good and evil to man is different from good and evil to God. We cannot hold God to a good and evil standard, since by virtue of His Creation He is above good and evil. His one agenda of preserving His Creation is all that matters. It is man who is evaluated solely in terms of good and evil.
Whatever man does toward preserving God’s creation is good, and whatever he does to subtract from God’s Creation is evil. But in the scheme of things, the ends to God is justified by the means of man, whether those means are good or evil.
Case in point is Jacob’s son Joseph who was thrown into a pit and by his brothers, who sold him to passing traders. Clearly, what Joseph’s brothers did to him was evil, for reasons that include showing dishonor to their father Jacob, who favored him. And when they died, this would be taken into consideration by God in determining whether they deserve to be in His House. But what they did to Joseph ultimately worked to God’s purpose. If they didn’t sell Jacob, Jacob wouldn’t have ended up in Egypt. If Jacob didn’t end up in Egypt, his family wouldn’t have been saved by the famine that purged the countryside, and there would be no Twelve Tribes.
If there wasn’t the Twelve Tribes, what then? I guess God would have to make His Covenant with other people, in order that His creation of Adam and Eve be preserved.
We are evaluated in terms of good and evil. Does God compel anyone to commit evil? How far does our predestination go? Did He make the Romans crucify Jesus? If they didn’t crucify him, his purpose of enabling the people of the world to be saved may not come to pass. But as it were, his crucifixion heightened a movement that worked for good, God’s good, according to His purpose.
If there seems to be a disconnect between the actions of people who ultimately work together for God’s purpose, and whether God manipulates the actions of people, such is one of those things that cannot be explained among us. We can only look to Proverbs 3:5 which says to trust in God with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” What to make of this passage in light of the fact that everything we see, including us, is His Creation?
It is that good and evil to man is different from good and evil to God. We cannot hold God to a good and evil standard, since by virtue of His Creation He is above good and evil. His one agenda of preserving His Creation is all that matters. It is man who is evaluated solely in terms of good and evil.
Whatever man does toward preserving God’s creation is good, and whatever he does to subtract from God’s Creation is evil. But in the scheme of things, the ends to God is justified by the means of man, whether those means are good or evil.
Case in point is Jacob’s son Joseph who was thrown into a pit and by his brothers, who sold him to passing traders. Clearly, what Joseph’s brothers did to him was evil, for reasons that include showing dishonor to their father Jacob, who favored him. And when they died, this would be taken into consideration by God in determining whether they deserve to be in His House. But what they did to Joseph ultimately worked to God’s purpose. If they didn’t sell Jacob, Jacob wouldn’t have ended up in Egypt. If Jacob didn’t end up in Egypt, his family wouldn’t have been saved by the famine that purged the countryside, and there would be no Twelve Tribes.
If there wasn’t the Twelve Tribes, what then? I guess God would have to make His Covenant with other people, in order that His creation of Adam and Eve be preserved.
We are evaluated in terms of good and evil. Does God compel anyone to commit evil? How far does our predestination go? Did He make the Romans crucify Jesus? If they didn’t crucify him, his purpose of enabling the people of the world to be saved may not come to pass. But as it were, his crucifixion heightened a movement that worked for good, God’s good, according to His purpose.
If there seems to be a disconnect between the actions of people who ultimately work together for God’s purpose, and whether God manipulates the actions of people, such is one of those things that cannot be explained among us. We can only look to Proverbs 3:5 which says to trust in God with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.