1. It is extremely important that we grasp this truth: Christ did not correct all wrongs in the present world. In the spiritual realm, sin and death are conquered, but we are not yet experiencing that victory to the fullest.
John 16:33: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Hebrews 2:5-9: It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
a son of man that you care for him?
7
You made them a little lower than the angels;
you crowned them with glory and honor
8
and put everything under their feet.”
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. John 16:33: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
2. We suffer consequences for sin in our present life, but perfect justice and perfect redemption will not be completed until the judgement:
Revelation 20:11-15: Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
copyright 2016, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com
Hi Gail, in a world full of faithless it's comforting to find ones who are seeking the truth from God's word the bible. I would love to respond to the point no.4 you made that "God uses evil" the scripture at Job 34:10-12 says in part "God does not act wickedly, he does not do wrong" The bible is clear God is never wicked or unjust. This scripture ties in well with James 1:13 that you quoted. Let's illustrate this: God would never cause an airplane disaster, Killing hundreds of people, because he wants to punish someone on board! In harmony with God's righteousness, Abraham, a faithful servant of God, said that he would never sweep away the righteous with the wicked,"that would be unthinkable" he said. (Genesis 18:23,25).Rather God allows suffering but could never be the cause of it. As the Almighty he would never use evil to accomplish his purpose. Imagine a young man who lives at home with his parents. His father loves him very much and has taught him to make good decisions. Then, the young man rebels against his father and leaves home. He does bad things and gets into trouble. Would you blame the father for not stopping his son from leaving home? Of course not! (Luke 15:11-13) Like that father, God did not stop humans when they chose to rebel and do what is bad. So when something bad happens, we should remember that God didn't make it happen. It would be unfair to blame God.That raises the question, who is to blame for all the bad in the world? Feel free to visit our website www.jw.org for more bible based gems. Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. Warm regards, Carole.
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