Why God Allows Suffering? (21)

When Will Suffering Cease?

God has a great purpose and plan that extends beyond this life.

The world will finally see an end to suffering, but it won't come through human effort. Bible prophecy reveals how that wonderful future will finally come about!

In the preceding chapter we saw that God has a purpose that extends beyond this life. His grand purpose takes into consideration the suffering of each person who responds to His call. However, most members of the human race either are not responding to or are unaware of this fantastic purpose. Therefore in this "present evil age" (Galatians:1:4) God is allowing human beings to learn important lessons.

He wants mankind to know that sin produces horrible consequences and that, ever since the Garden of Eden, we have brought much grief on ourselves by rejecting His instructions. Although swayed by the corrupt and evil influence of Satan, human beings must take full responsibility for the consequences of their actions. The world could have been a place of peace, security and happiness if only man had chosen to follow God's ways rather than Satan's.

God is determined that we learn that lesson, painful though it may be. The Bible records that on many occasions He attempted to dissuade people from continuing in their evil ways. But the overwhelming majority have repeatedly rejected His commands, just as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Man's reaction to God's messengers

For example, after God delivered ancient Israel from Egyptian slavery, the Israelites made a covenant with Him to keep His commandments. But they reneged on their agreement.

Then God sent many prophets, whose messages are preserved for us in the Bible, to warn them and urge them to repent. "But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy" (2 Chronicles:36:16).

Instead of listening, they persecuted and often killed God's messengers. Through Isaiah God spoke of how they repeatedly spurned His offer of help. "I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people" (Isaiah:65:2).

Because they refused to respond, God sentenced them to national punishment. The Assyrian Empire conquered Israel and removed its people into captivity in the eighth century B.C. (2 Kings:17:5-8


). The kingdom of Judah was subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon and removed into exile a little more than a century later (2 Chronicles:36:15-20




).

Part of the nation of Judah returned to the Jewish homeland in the fifth century B.C. so that Jewish descendants lived in the land at the time of Christ. When they heard Jesus' message commanding repentance and obedience, what was their reaction? The majority rejected Him as they had the earlier prophets. Then they killed Him!

On occasion God sent prophets to warn gentile nations. In all history we read of only one example of a non-Israelite people temporarily repenting of its sins en masse after God's warning. The prophet Jonah preached to the ancient city of Nineveh, warning its residents, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah:3:4). The king and the rest of the people responded by repenting of their sins, and God spared them (verses 5-10). Later, however, they returned to their wickedness. As a result, invading armies conquered them in 612 B.C.

The historical record shows that, even when God freely offered His help and guidance to nations, they customarily rejected them—just as Adam and Eve had done.

The same old attitudes

We're no different today. Mankind still rejects God's instruction. His Word—the Bible—is readily available throughout most of the world. Yet relatively few read it regularly, and even fewer obey it. Not only do they disobey its instruction, but increasingly, particularly among those who presume themselves to be intellectual, people hold the Bible in disdain. Even some religious leaders pay mere lip service to the Bible while disputing major portions of it. They pick and choose which parts they will adhere to and which they feel free to ignore.

Israel's king Solomon aptly summed up the human condition when he wrote, "What is crooked cannot be made straight" (Ecclesiastes:1:15). Mankind has historically rejected God's instruction and continues to do so. Having rejected God's revelation, we have cut ourselves off from the only lasting solutions to our problems.

The result is a continuation of pain and sorrow among the nations. As a result, God's practice from the first century until now has been to call only a few individuals here and there out of this evil age to become His faithful servants.

The rest of humanity gropes in the dark. They search for understanding and meaning in life but remain largely ignorant of the reasons we are plagued with so much suffering. "Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" is how Paul expresses it (2 Timothy:3:7). Duped by the devil and captive to sin, mankind as a whole is cut off from godly understanding and is the unknowing target of Satan's hatred and wrath (Ephesians:2:3).

Humanity consistently blames God for evil and suffering in the world. But it is not God who is to blame. The responsibility rests squarely on us for our decision to reject His guidance and choose a life of disobedient rebellion—and on Satan for his deception of humanity and incitement to sin.

To be cont'd. 

God Bless You.