What can't God do?

I was reviewing an old Chuck Colson book, Answers to Your Kids Questions, for our ongoing library update, and was shocked to read the following question and answer:

"Why doesn't He simply wipe out evil as soon as it appears on the scene"? (pg. 22)

Answer:

"The only possible answer is that God can't wipe it out without violating His own nature." (pg. 23)

It goes on to further explain:

"God's character is the standard of goodness and justice, and once evil exists he must set it right again. God cannot ignore sin, overlook it, simply destroy the world and start over." (pg. 23)

Now I must agree where scripture agrees, God can't ignore sin; He told Adam and Eve that if they sinned, the punishment was death! (Gen. 2:15-17) This same principle applies to all people who sin against God and His law. (Psalm 5:4-6, John 3:18, Rom. 6:23)

Could God have killed Adam and Eve on the spot for their sin? Colson says no, I say absolutely yes, if that was His plan! God did in fact bring spiritual death, and allowed them to begin the process of physical death. But why did He not wipe out the world at that time? According to Colson it was because His nature would not allow Him to do so. According to the scriptures, it seems clear that it was becasue His eternal plan to glorify His Son, did not include destroying the world at that time!

We know God did in fact start over to a large degree when He killed all but a handful of people and animals during the flood of Gen. 6-8. Why was He able to destroy almost everything at that time? First, it is His creation to do with as He pleases, and for mankind specifically, we were sinners then as now, and deserved death for sin as Adam did. Even Noah is said to have found grace from God first (Gen. 6:8), before he was considered righteous by God and allowed to be spared along with his family.

So did God's nature prevent Him from destroying the earth?

No, in fact we read in Gen. 9:13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. (NKJV)

God destroyed the people on earth as a matter of His justice, and He was free to destroy the animals, because they are His to do with as He pleases, and even though He will not destroy the earth again by flood, He will most certainly bring a final judgment for sin upon all who are not covered by the blood of Jesus (2 Pet. 3:5-7, Rev. 19, 21-22).

So why did God not destroy the earth and start over right after sin entered the world? It was not because He was prevented by His nature. In fact His nature demanded sin be judged and He could have done so at that time if that suited His plans. In fact, we best not forget the Egyptian firstborn children, Sodom, and many judgments on Israel for their sins against God. Clearly God destroyed people for sin on the spot many times in the scriptures, and can assume He is still doing so now, without ever violating His character.

Here is my point to all this -

God's plan from the beginning included something more glorious than a world where sin never happened, or even a world where sin happened and God brought swift and final justice. God's plan was to create a world where He knew sin would happen, He also knew many sinners would experience His justice for their sins, and He knew He would redeem many by the blood of, and for the eternal glory of, Jesus Christ!

I had read several of Chuck Colson's books in the past and have always appreciated his passion to reach the lost and transform the culture. I do see a common underlying error in this one portion of this book and I think that once it is set right, it changes everything about how we view God!

There are really only two primary lenses through which to see the actions of God in creating the universes:

One choice, a man centered one - God created man with free will and since man sinned, God has to make the best of a less than perfect situation, as He tries His best to save as many as will have Him! I see this man centered view of creation leaving us with an interesting question: Why didn't God simply destroy the world after Adam and Eve sinned, since that would have prevented billions from experiencing hell, and those who were never born would not even have known they missed heaven or hell? I have already made a biblical case for the fact that He could have done so, but why didn’t He?

The scriptures will verify God's self glorifying motivation for creation and for all else He does!

Consider these passages that speak of God's sovereignty over all things in creation and how He is glorified as He brings about His will:

Exod. 11:4 Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵ and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. ⁶ Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. ⁷ But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ⁸ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹ But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Deut. 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. ⁷ The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; ⁸ but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;
He lays up the deep in storehouses.

⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
⁹ For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.

¹⁰ The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
¹¹ The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.

Psalm 106;7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.
⁸ Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
That He might make His mighty power known.

Isa. 45:2 ‘I will go before you
And make the crooked places straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.
³ I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the Lord,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.
⁴ For Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me.
⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
⁶ That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the Lord, do all these things.’

Now consider the question - is the current state of things, since man sinned, God making the best of a bad situation as He tries to save as many as He can, or is it all exactly as He intended when He created, so that His purpose in creating, the eternal glory of Jesus, would be perfectly fulfilled?

John 17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,² as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴ I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵ And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Rom. 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
³⁵ “Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
³⁶ For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

1 Cor. 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence. ³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— ³¹ that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Eph. 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Eph. 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Why did God create the world? So that His Son Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, would be forever glorified! This was not an afterthought, it was not plan B, it is not God making the best of a bad situation, it is not God being prevented from bringing an end to the earth at anytime if He chose to do so! No, it is God doing exactly as He planned from before time began!

Rev. 5:8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
¹⁰ And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”
¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

¹³ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

¹⁴ Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

I think we will find much comfort in the actions of God, even if we often can't understand them, if we believe what the scriptures teach, that God created for His glory, He allowed sin for His glory, He redeems all who believe upon Jesus for His glory, and that those who believe will forever enjoy that glory!

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.