God tested us humans right from the beginning to see if we’ll use the powers he’s given us to keep evil at bay. He tested Adam and Eve, he then tested Israel, and now he’s testing the church.
But why, if evil is such a problem, did God allow evil in the first place? Paul’s answer in 2 Corinthians 2:9 was: “to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.” And Jesus was put through that test too, because “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered” – the suffering coming from the staggering power of evil trying to outwit and kill him, Hebrews 5:7-8.
But what that did was turn Jesus in desperation to his Father “to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (7). Jesus stood the test and obeyed his Father in everything. But the key to that was using the power he’d been given to keep evil at bay – the power being his immediate and total access to heaven.
The constant test in his life, then, was: Would he use that access to heaven he had? Well, life as a human taught him how utterly dependent he was on heaven, because he discovered that evil was too powerful for him to keep it at bay on his own strength. But it was meant to be that way, because the test all through history for us humans, including the human Jesus, is recognizing our need for the power and authority that heaven has over the power of evil. So that for eternity evil will never be a problem for us. God wasn’t just thinking of this life – he was thinking what would keep evil at bay for all the members of his family – forever.
Would we get the point, therefore, that testing our obedience beyond our limit now, and having to tap into the power of heaven as the only way to deal with it, is, in fact, God’s brilliant plan to make sure evil is never a problem when we’re eternal beings instead?
And for centuries God illustrated this through the story of Israel in Canaan being up against evil they could not resist. God tested the Israelites again and again to see if they would obey him in everything. And they learnt through that process that they couldn’t. The lure of the Canaanite gods was too powerful for them. But when in their distress they turned to God, just as Jesus did in his distress, God always answered.
And that’s good to know, because “The lure of the gods” is just as strong and irresistible today as well….(next blog)
