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QUESTION 22:
Please explain Isaiah 45:7 where God says, "I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things?" How can a holy God create evil?

ANSWER:
The Word of God declares, "As for God His ways are perfect." Psalms 18:30. He never makes a mistake. When God created the universe He made it perfect. (Deuteronomy 32:4). Sin or evil never originated from God.

The word "create" means to bring into being or produce. It is generally used of making something out of nothing, but not always. "IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1. This means He made it out of nothing. In Isaiah 65:17, He creates a new heaven and earth; this is the same act as Revelation 21:1 where John sees the new heaven and earth. The word "new" here literally means "renewed." Here He recreates out of something. In the above verse, "evil" does not mean "sin," but trouble, afflictions, trials, etc. God has in the past, and will in the future bring about certain hardships for His purposes and our good. Joseph fell into much evil and trouble in Genesis 37. His brothers hated him. They sold him as a slave. A wicked woman lied about him. He got put in prison, but later he told his brethren that they didn't cause all these problems but God sent me to Egypt to preserve life. (Genesis 45:5-7).

Jeremiah lamented over the destruction of Jerusalem. "...but evil came down from the LORD unto the gates of Jerusalem." Micah 1:12. Amos said, "Shall there be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it?" God allowed, even arranged the crucifying of His own Son, so that good may come out of it. There would be no Saviour of sinners, if God had not laid on Him the iniquities of us all. (Isaiah 53:6).

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen