BeachCast.TV: Bible Exploration, Apologetics and Church History with Dr. Chase A. Thompson:

Great listener submitted question! Why did Jesus spit on a blind man to heal him, and why did it take Jesus two touches to fully heal the blind man?

A shout out to my old friend Cortney Johnson of Alabama who has asked an excellent question about healing based on yesterday's Mark 8 passage. Lord willing, I plan on grappling with that question during tomorrow's episode #38. Unfortunately, it's a pretty hard question, so I might have to phone a friend. I hope Dr. Wayne Grudem is not still sore at me for rolling his yard a few years ago. ;)

Today's passages are, with one exception, thick and meaty in the sense that they are absolutely loaded with important doctrines, edifying biblical truths, and fantastic passages. Unfortunately, Eliphaz' advice in Job 5 is an absolute clunker, and we have to read it again tomorrow. The value of Job 3-5 is not in the fact that it is proclaiming truth to us (according to God at the end of Job, Eliphaz was wrong, wrong, wrong!) but the value is that it is a clear demonstration of how NOT to 'help' somebody when they are suffering. Pro tip #1 - Don't tell people they are suffering because of their sinfulness - that is not your business, and it was most especially not Eliphaz' business in these three chapters.

Genesis 39 sees Joseph put into an incredibly awkward place through no fault of his own, and demonstrates how God's sovereign hand invisibly guides our lives into the precise place that He wants us to be. Romans 9 is beautiful and difficult at the same time. This section of Romans is dealing with a very biblical and very controversial doctrine called 'predestination,' or the "P" word, as I and other ministry colleagues have sometimes referred to it as. A church that I was pastoring at many years ago lost three families after one Wednesday night Bible study in which I, who was the pastor and leading the Bible study that night, read the 'P word' as I read through Ephesians 1. Two lovely gentlemen that were present at the Bible study spoke up eloquently and appropriately during the discussion time and made a pretty convincing case theologically for predestination. I stayed quite neutral, as it was my first year pastoring this particular church. Maybe that was cowardly, and yet three families, who were offended that the word was even mentioned in a positive light, left the church after that. This is a true story, but I am happy to say that I have seen this sort of behavior very rarely in churches over 25 years of ministry. But - it raises an interesting question that I have not fully decided yet. Should this podcast tackle deep and thorny theological issues? I don't mind the controversy, because we are going to hit controversy in almost every Bible passage out there. The real question is how deep are we going to go into biblical theology? I don't have an answer yet, but I'm sure one will come soon. Stay tuned!

As powerful, deep, and amazing as Romans 9 is, our focus passage for today is in Mark chapter 9, and our specific question concerns exorcism. How is it that Jesus was able to cast the demon out of the young man in Mark 9 and His disciples couldn't? This is no mere academic question! Jesus is quite clearly disappointed and dismayed at His disciples' inability to cast this demon out and bring relief to this boy. We don't see Jesus display this level of frustration with His followers very much, so I think it is significant, and that we need to learn from it, so let's read the passage and dig in.

So - why could the disciples not drive this demon out? The answer that Jesus gives is that this demon can only come out by prayer. (I note here that some textual variants read, "prayer and fasting.") This answer gives us two problems. Problem #1 is that Jesus does not obviously pray during this episode, so if the demon can only come out by prayer, and Jesus doesn't obviously pray, then how was the demon cast out? Problem #2 is that Matthew also tells us this exact story, and in that passage, Jesus says something different. Or, does He?!

When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him. 15 "Lord," he said, "have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him."17 Jesus replied, "You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me." 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.19 Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"20 "Because of your little faith," he told them. "For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:14-20

On the surface, we seem to have a contradiction here. Matthew and Mark are both telling us about the same exact situation, and yet Jesus gives one key in the Matthew passage and a different key in the Mark passage. What gives? And the answer is that Jesus is essentially saying the same thing in both episodes! (And it is likely that Jesus said both things in this episode, and Mark recorded one facet of what Jesus was saying, and Matthew another, and that is precisely how eyewitness testimony works.)

So, how could Jesus be saying the same thing in both passages? In Mark, He tells us that the key to casting these kinds of demons out is prayer, and in Matthew He says it is faith. I believe the answer to this little riddle is found in Luke 18:

Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up. 2 "There was a judge in a certain town who didn't fear God or respect people. 3 And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' 4 "For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or respect people,5 yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming.'" 6 Then the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? 8 I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Luke 18:1-8

This parable is about the importance of persistence in prayer, a message that Jesus repeats multiple times in several different ways. Look how Jesus ends this parable, however: It is a parable about praying persistently, but His final question is about FAITH! Specifically His question is like this: When I return, will I find faith on the earth? He is basically saying that the key to praying effectively is to pray with persistence and not give up - will He see this kind of FAITH (that is faith that is manifested in a life of persistent and prevailing prayer) when He returns to earth? Now, apply that lesson back to our two problems with Mark 9, and we will see that it answers both of them quite well. There is no contradiction between Jesus' answer to the disciples in Mark 9 or Matthew 17 - the ONLY thing that casts the demon out is the kind of faith that manifests itself in a lifestyle of persistent prayer. Jesus is not telling His disciples that they should have stopped and prayed for the boy in the moment. This is not the source of His disappointment. His disappointment lies in the fact that they themselves had not been cultivating a lifestyle of persistent and prevailing prayer that would build up the kind of faith and authority that would have been able to cast the demon out. They were followers of Jesus with impotent prayer lives, and therefore they were "little-faiths," a state that Jesus was constantly frustrated with them about.

He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Matthew 8:26

Aware of this, Jesus said, "You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread?

Matthew 16:8

If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you—you of little faith?

Luke 12:28

What about us? When Jesus returns, will He find us living a life of prevailing faith because of our persistent prayer lives, or will He also be sighing at us for our lack of power and lack of faith, which is directly traced to our lack of a persevering prayer life?

In the 1800s, pastor Charles Spurgeon uttered this lament over his city of London, knowing that they would see revival if they would only take hold of Jesus' promise in Luke 18. May it awaken us, quicken us and spur us on to a lifestyle of prevailing and powerful prayer. May we not be of those of little faith, but of those who overcame.

"A CITY of three million, not wholly given to idolatry, but still very much given to sin, and we ourselves are so weak in the midst of it! if we could but realize this invitation, and then take hold upon the omnipotent arm of God, and by an overcoming faith, such as only God could give to any one of us, believe it possible for the Lord Jesus to save this city, and then go forward boldly expecting him to do it, we might see more than we have ever seen. And now, what if I prophesy that we shall see it! what if I say, that if God will but stir up his people everywhere for prayer, he will do a work in our day that shall make the ears of him that hears it to tingle, not with horror, but with joy! He will yet let the world know that there is a God in Israel. Truly that which hinders us is our lack of faith, for if the Son of man should return to us, would he find faith on the earth? O unbelieving church, O thankless generation, you are not restricted in God, ye are restricted in your own self; and if you could but believe him, and so prove him by your faith, he would again open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, such that you would not have room enough to receive it!"

C. H. Spurgeon, Flashes of Thought (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1874), 365–366. Slightly modernized

Coming off of the Transfiguration, Jesus and the disciples meet up with a man who's son is possessed by a demon. The disciples completely fail in casting the demon out, much to the disappointment of Jesus. Jesus is able to cast the demon out, and then teaches the disciples about prayer and faith and how miraculous things for the Kingdom are done. With an assist from Charles Spurgeon.

Today we are continuing in our discussion of suffering and are concluding our brief and barely more than shallow answer of the question: Why do bad things happen to comparatively good people. We will be reading Job 4, and enduring the dumb and wrong-headed advice of one of Job's well-meaning (but misguided!) friends. We will also read Mark 8, where Jesus miraculously feeds the 4,000 AND teaches His disciples to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees (which is hypocrisy!) And conclude with Romans 8, which will begin to shine light on one of the most important (and controversial) theological concepts of the Bible, predestination and will give us one of the most powerful and comforting single passages in all of Scripture - a passage which is incredibly fitting for our discussion today:

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

As we read the tragic story of Judah and Tamar, we need to be reminded that not all of what Old Testament saints do is correct and God-pleasing. Judah is an extreme hypocrite in this passage, and wonderfully illustrates Jesus' warning in Mark 8 to avoid hypocrisy. Tamar's way of holding her father in law to his promise is also less than ideal. The subject of Onan and his death probably deserves its own separate episode, but my kids listen to this podcast, including my 8 year old, and I am not keen to explain this situation to her in depth just yet. I am, however, planning on compiling these episodes into a series of Bible questions books which will be released on Amazon over the year of this podcast. I'll very likely cover the Onan situation in there, and will let you know when that book is available. (Hopefully early Spring.) I am quite sure you will be waiting with bated breath. ;) So - let's go read our Genesis and Job passages, then discuss suffering, and finally conclude with Mark 8 and Romans 8.

Why Does Suffering Happen?

I don't understand suffering. I don't understand the periods in my life where the suffering level is high...but it is illogical and ignorant to lose faith because of suffering. Think of it this way. If I promise to give you $20 every Sunday for a year...and I DO, wouldn't that make me reliable?? The Bible promises suffering and a lot of it. The Bible promises that good people will suffer. The Bible promises that people - lovely people...even children... will die unexpectedly. The Bible is honest. God is honest. We LIVE IN A FALLEN WORLD ruled by death and the Devil. The Bible promises resurrection and redemption and eternal life. It does not promise an EASY life characterized by no suffering. Philosophers call Epicurus' question that we called yesterday 'THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.' I see no problem whatsoever. What we see in the world - all the tragedy and heartache - is what we should expect given what the Bible tells us. If, 200 years from now we've solved all of the world's sickness and inequalities and are living in a utopia, then we will have a problem - THE PROBLEM OF COMFORT. Because that will actually contradict the nature of life that the Bible promises. The existing and impact of evil and suffering do not contradict the Bible but actually REINFORCE it. If you have wondered about suffering. Join the club. EVERYtime I suffer, I shake my head and wonder WHY? (even though the Bible says...don't be surprised, I always am.) I am not saying that suffering is not a problem - it is a problem, absolutely. I am saying that nobody should use suffering and evil in the World in a way that somehow invalidates the Bible as a reliable book - the amount of evil and suffering in the world is exactly what we would expect given the teaching of the Bible.

For the last two episodes, we've laid some biblical groundwork to develop a pretty good overview of suffering according to the Bible. Therefore with a basic Biblical theology of suffering under our belts...let's move on to the specific major question. Why do bad things happen to seemingly good people?? Here are some answers:

1. Bad things sometimes happen to good people for God's ultimate glory. John 9: 1 As He was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples questioned Him: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," Jesus answered. "This came about so that God's works might be displayed in him.
2. Sometimes bad things happen to comparatively good people for the purpose of discipline: Hebrews 12 "7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons." That discipline is not meant to destroy, but to shape you and build character. It can be a sign that you are God's child.
3. Sometimes bad things happen to good people for growth/perseverance/hope Romans 5"3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope."
4. Sometimes bad things happen to good people for the spread of the Gospel and maturity of the church. "My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you." Galatians 4:19
5. Often bad things happen to good people for inexplicable and unexplained in this lifetime reasons. (See: Job/Jeremiah) READ Acts 14: "19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they had won over the crowds and stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. 20 After the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. 21 After they had evangelized that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, "It is necessary to pass through many troubles on our way into the kingdom of God." SAYS THE JUST STONED GUY.

We won't always know WHY…..BUT the Bible gives a resounding ANSWER for suffering - The Resurrection.

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God's dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them.They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer,because the previous things have passed away.5 Then the One seated on the throne said, "Look! I am making everything new." He also said, "Write, because these words are faithful and true." 6 And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water as a gift to the thirsty from the spring of life. 7 The victor will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8 But the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

Revelation 21:3-8

In closing, you CANNOT read the Bible and not expect suffering. ALL HUMANS SUFFER. JESUS - the most righteous Suffered MOST of all. That's the bad news. The good news is that, in Christ - our sufferings will literally pale in comparison to the glories to come. That is the blessed hope. Yes, Jesus came for us to have abundant life, but that life WILL include suffering. Suffering is necessary, says Paul, literally a few days after he was nearly stoned to death. It is unavoidable. The real question is - are you in Christ? Because if you are, then you have the HOPE that one day your sufferings will be tiny compared to the glory that will come to you as one who has been saved and redeemed by Jesus.

One final word, since this is our last episode (for now) on the problem of evil and the question of why good people suffer. These past few episodes have met the problem of evil on a philosophical level - seeking to address skeptics and those who might doubt God or the truth of the Bible because of their suffering, or the suffering in the World. The philosophical level is not where you should meet people when they are suffering. They don't FIRST need an explanation, or an apologetic, they first need care, compassion, and your own tears weeping with them. This is what Job's friends got right, at least for a little while, during the first week where they just sat quietly with Job. You don't have to explain suffering or spout off philosophical reasons to believe while somebody is going through catastrophe. Just be there. Hold their hand. Pray for them. Weep with them. Be near. Serve them. Let your words be few and your presence be obvious.

The Bible guarantees that good people will suffer - but why? What does suffering accomplish? How can we help those who are going through suffering? Do they need a philosophical explanation, or something more?

Our reading passages for today are Genesis 36 and 37, Job 3, Mark 7 and Romans 7. In Genesis we get to read a very long list of Esau's relatives, which isn't the most inspiring chapter in the Bible, but we also meet Joseph in Genesis 37, a man of God who will become one of the more inspiring characters in the Bible. Job 3 sees Job finally talking after a week of silence (and the scraping of his boils with broken pottery shards.), and he is as depressed and undone as we would expect him to be after Satan put him through the ringer. In Mark 7, Jesus is going to blister the scribes and pharisees for overvaluing and overemphasizing their silly (and legalistic!) human traditions, and undervaluing the actual commands and instructions of God. Romans 7, our final read of the day, Paul uses death in marriage to illustrate how those who have died with Christ are free from the Old Testament law. We don't have a focus passage today, but we will read Job 3 first, because we are continuing our discussion from yesterday's big question: Why do bad things happen to comparatively good people? And, FYI, its such a big discussion that it looks like it will spill over into tomorrow as well.

Let me say this from the beginning, before we read Job. For literally thousands of years, people have sought to disprove the possibility of an all-mighty and all-loving God by pointing to the presence and reality of suffering, especially the kind of suffering that we would deem 'unfair.' A thorough reading of the Bible - even a surface reading, really - is enough to disabuse one of the notion that good people will not suffer. Today we meet Joseph - possessing the finest character among all his brothers, and yet he will probably suffer the most out of all of them and the vast majority of his suffering is extremely unfair. (Spurgeon said of Joseph, "Joseph was Jacob's best loved and most tried son. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.")

John the Baptist and Job also illustrate this issue, but there is an even more obvious illustration that the best in the Bible sometimes suffer the most. The central character and focus of the Bible is Jesus Christ, the son of God. The most unfair thing that ever happened in history was His torture, crucifixion, and death on the cross bearing our sins. The central message of the Bible demonstrates beyond question that bad things will happen to the best of people, and therefore nobody should be surprised when it happens to us. Good people suffering does not disprove biblical truth, it demonstrates and confirms biblical truth. If good people almost never suffered, then we might have reason to doubt the reliability of the Bible in some way or, at least, its relatability, because good people suffer all throughout the Bible. And, as we will see when we read Job 3, that suffering is not minimal or surface suffering, but deep and relatable agony.

After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born. 2 He said: 3 May the day I was born perish, and the night that said, "A boy is conceived." 4 If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it. 5 May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May what darkens the day terrify it. 6 If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar. 7 Yes, may that night be barren; may no joyful shout be heard in it. 8 Let those who curse days condemn it, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan. 9 May its morning stars grow dark. May it wait for daylight but have none; may it not see the breaking of dawn. 10 For that night did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, and hide sorrow from my eyes. 11 Why was I not stillborn; why didn't I die as I came from the womb? 12 Why did the knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse? 13 Now I would certainly be lying down in peace; I would be asleep. Then I would be at rest

Job 3:1-13

Just listening to that is hard, and even though Job lived thousands of years ago, I imagine that many of us can relate to what Job is going through. He sounds absolutely and utterly depressed and crushed and even suicidal. And why wouldn't he be? He's lost everything but his wife, and she keeps telling him to curse God and die.

5 Biblical Teachings on Suffering:

1. Suffering is universal and unavoidable. Jesus promises it in John 16:33. Peter says don't be surprised when it comes, as if something odd was happening.

   1 Peter 4:12-13 "12 Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you.13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory."

2. Suffering, in many ways, is a good thing in the long run.

   . " 10 My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death," Phil 3:10

   "24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for His body, that is, the church." Col 1:24

Along those lines, consider this wisdom from Spurgeon:

WE should never have such fellowship with Jesus as we do if we had not such troubles as we have. You cannot see the stars in the daytime, but they tell us that if you go down into a well you can. Sometimes God sinks wells of trouble and puts his servants into them, and then they see his starry promises. You might hunt in vain for glowworms by day, but they shall all be seen at night, and so shall the comfortable words and thoughts of Holy Scripture. The fire-flies shall flash best at night when the sunlight is gone, and so oftentimes the light of the promises is better seen in the night of trouble than in the day of outward prosperity. The black foils of trouble shall bring out the brighter jewel of divine grace. You cannot know Christ except by following in his footsteps. Poverty will reveal him who for our sakes became poor; sickness will show him whose visage was more marred than any man's; shame will teach you his shame, and suffering will reveal to you his suffering; and even death itself, which shall remove the foundations, shall give you conformity to his death that you may have part in his resurrection.

3. Suffering in a Christian can happen because of discipline..

"For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives. 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons."Hebrews 12:6-8

4. Suffering in a Christian can also happen because of God's favor!

"4 Therefore, we ourselves boast about you among God's churches—about your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you endure. 5 It is a clear evidence of God's righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God's kingdom, for which you also are suffering, Thessalonians 1:4-5

5. Our suffering will pale in comparison to the glory that is to come.

A. " For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us." Romans 8:18

C. H. Spurgeon, Flashes of Thought (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1874), 472.

We are going deeper tomorrow into this question tomorrow, but let me expound briefly on that last Romans passage. The Bible teaches that humans are eternal creatures, and that means that our 80 or so years of living on the Earth are a short, short time in light of eternity. That also means that the amount of time we are suffering in our existence will also be short compared to eternity. When viewed through the lens of eternity, the idea of a good God allowing suffering to happen is not so shocking, especially when that suffering can have good effects.

I'm a football fan, specifically a University of Alabama fan. (And have been for 40+ years, suffering through the Dubose, Shula and Francione years, as well as the Price day) Paul 'Bear' Bryant was a legendary coach at Alabama, but before he was at Alabama, he was at Texas A&M university, a mediocre football team prior to Bryant's arrival. He purposed to toughen the men up, so in 1954, he took a big group of players to Junction, Texas and sought to forge them into men. Most who went to the camp quit before it was over, but the survivors became known as the 'Junction Boys,' and they would go on to eventually lead Texas A&M back into football relevance. The suffering in Junction did not lead to immediate success, but it did lead to long-term success, and most anybody that understands football understands that Coach Bryant wasn't being cruel to his players, but he was shaping their character and building them into a stronger football team.

I am not at all here comparing God to a football coach, but am pointing out that most astute football people can understand the concept of difficult periods of practice leading to a stronger, better football team with greater character and perseverance. If we can understand that, then perhaps we can understand how God might use the suffering of our life for a similar, but much, much loftier goal.

3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

Why do I go through painful suffering? Why does bad things happen to the best of us? Why do the 'good' die young? Does the Bible help us to understand all of the suffering we must endure. Yes!

Today and tomorrow, for the first time in the long and storied 34 day history of this podcast, we are going to do a two-part episode. The reason for this is that we are going to grapple together with a big question that has vexed the hearts of humans for thousands of years: Why does suffering happen? This question is quite apropos for today's Bible readings (and for tomorrow's reading also), so it should fit in well. Today we read Genesis 35, Job 2, Mark 6 and Romans 6. In the Genesis passage, Jacob decides to follow Yahweh, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly, and to put away the other idols and gods from among his entourage. Romans 6 features a beautiful theological passage from Paul about becoming slaves to God and leaving behind our slavery to sin. In our two focus passages for today, Job 2 and Mark 6, we see two incredibly righteous and GOOD people (Job and John the Baptist) suffer horribly. What's worse, although both men exemplary lives that stand out even among the other saints of the Bible, neither man knows why they are going through the extreme suffering they are going through. John the Baptist is beheaded and dies alone in prison, not really understanding his situation at all, and Job is afflicted with the loss of his family, his wealth, his possessions and his health, and is at a complete loss to explain why. Both of these situations raise our big question of the day: Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Let's read Mark and Job together, and then discuss the situation.

In order to get at an answer to this big question, we should consider how we do Bible theology, or more specifically, how do go to the Word of God to answer life's biggest questions? Here are three things to remember in seeking answers to our questions from the Bible:

1. Rather than just focusing on one single verse, we must consider the whole counsel of God. Put another way, to answer the question of what happens when we die, we must attempt to survey all that the Bible has to say about this question, and not just one verse. The reason for this is that while every passage in the Bible is true - not every passage in the Bible is the COMPLETE truth. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul describes love, and we learn that it is patient, kind, and not at all jealous. All of these are true statements about love, but they aren't the ONLY true statements about love in the Bible. In order to find out the complete teaching of the Bible about love, we have to go to other passages. In doing so, we find out in the Song of Solomon 8 that not only is love patient, kind and longsuffering...but it is also POWERFUL - as powerful as death. (Song of Solomon 8:6) Therefore, in order to have a complete understanding of love from the Bible's perspective, we need the truths in 1 Corinthians 13 AND Song of Solomon 8, among many other passages also. Similarly, to gain a biblical understanding of suffering, and why it happens, we have to survey the whole Word. That is the process of developing a biblical theology - it involves finding out all of what the Bible teaches and reveals about a particular topic.
2. Our second task is to account for the difference between Old Covenant passages and New Covenant passages. The New Testament must take precedence over the Old Testament, and it must interpret it. Consider Hebrews 7 and 8, and note how the New Testament/New Covenant has surpassed the Old.

   Hebrews 7:18-19, "So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable 19 (for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God."

   Hebrews 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one...13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.

   This does not mean that the Old Testament is not the Word of God, or that we don't need it, but we are no longer living in Old Testament/Old Covenant times, now we are living in the age of the New Testament.

3. Finally, With humility, prayer, and the leadership of the Spirit, we must keep returning to the Word of God so that our theology and understanding does not drift from truth. We should hold our theology with a degree of humility and repeatedly keep returning to the Scriptures to test and confirm that we are walking in the truth. Like an unmoored ship, we humans have a tendency to drift away from truth, and we must discipline ourselves to return - over and over again - to the authority of the Word of God.

So, with that understanding in mind, back to our question: Why do BAD things happen to GOOD people? This question has been asked in various forms for literally thousands of years. Epicurus was a Greek philosopher that lived 300 years before Jesus, and for him, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by peace, freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of pain. Supposedly Epicurus helped to formulate what has been called the Epicurean Paradox/Riddle of Epicurus "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

In answering this question, I want to point out a fundamental disagreement between Epicurean theology and biblical theology: Epicurus sought to avoid all forms of suffering and fear while The Bible PROMISES the experience of suffering, John 16:33 "You will have suffering in this world." and The Bible COMMANDS it. 2 Timothy 2:3 "3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."

Some read Epicurus for the first time and marvel at how modern he sounds...and his philosophy is very similar in some ways to modern atheism, though less sophisticated. However, I find it lacking and pollyannaish. Living a life that seeks to avoid suffering is like living a life that seeks to avoid air, or death or things that smell bad. Unrealistic and impossible. While many Christians and preachers have a pollyanna-type theology that is quite shallow and doesn't reckon well with suffering, The Bible itself does NOT approach death and suffering in an unrealistic, pie in the sky way - but in a gritty and realistic way...with hope. Further, the Bible speaks of suffering FREQUENTLY.

SO - here's our question, but before we get too deep into an answer, we need to make some adjustments. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is a bit of a flawed question from a biblical sense. Yes, John the Baptist was a great human being - the greatest human being born in history, according to Jesus. Yes! Job was a great guy also - the Bible says he was the greatest man in his area of the world. The better and more accurate question is: Why do bad things happen to SEEMINGLY good people - or COMPARATIVELY good people. ( Remembering that Romans 3:10 notes that there isn't even ONE fully righteous person.)

Part 1 of this question is: Why do bad things happen? Why is there suffering in the world? The Bible gives a clear answer to that question and the answer is THE FALL.

16 He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. 17 And He said to Adam, "Because you listened to your wife's voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'Do not eat from it': The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust."

Genesis 3:16-19

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned."

Romans 5:12

SO - ALL suffering has its root in the Fall in the Garden of Eden. SIN causes suffering. But why do comparatively good people suffer? Why is there so much tragedy in the world? Time to dig deep into the teachings of the Bible on suffering - and why suffering happens. As we do, note these three characteristics of the Bible's teaching on suffering:

1. The Bible does NOT shy away from talking directly about suffering. You simply cannot spend much time studying suffering in the Bible and walk away thinking you will be immune to it.
2. The Bible does NOT promise freedom from suffering for the most devout followers of Jesus. Instead, it promises JUST THE OPPOSITE.
3. The Bible gives a myriad of reasons for suffering, and doesn't always seek to offer explanations for why seemingly good people are going through bad things. Jeremiah - the longest book in the Bible - is about a faithful prophet that never has one conversion or moment of seeming fruitfulness in his ministry. Why? It is never fully explained, and yet Jeremiah is obviously quite faithful to the end. Job is a whole book devoted to suffering, and it is about a good man that suffers horrific suffering. Job NEVER knows why. The call of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 1-4 (4th longest book in the Bible) indicates his ministry will be a ministry of repeated suffering.

And that is enough for a beginning answer about suffering. Tomorrow we will continue grappling with the question of why bad things happen to seemingly good people, but I want to close with a testimony/story below from pastor David Platt. Platt wrote the best-selling book Radical, pastored the church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, and was the head of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board for a time. Below he tells the story (during a sermon on Job!) of how he came to be pastor of one of the largest churches in Birmingham while still in his twenties:

I was thinking this morning, even as I was preparing and looking over this text again, of the purpose of God in suffering, even in my speaking in front of you about the purpose of God in suffering. It was almost three years ago to the day when Heather and I were living in New Orleans and hurricane Katrina came and sent our house under water, about ten feet of water in our one-story house there and our world turned upside down. I remember us sitting at a shelter in Central Louisiana, and we had set up a video projector where we were showing the news on the side of a wall.And it was one of those times, after Katrina had happened, when they were doing helicopter flyovers in the city of New Orleans. And I had been telling Heather, "Heather, I'm sure our house is fine, everything's okay." You know, giving her all the assurance that I had no authority to give whatsoever, just what you say during those times. And we see this helicopter flyover our neighborhood and we see this gas station, and we think, well, that gas station looks familiar, and it's about two or three blocks up from where our house was and it was up to the top of the building with water. And it was one of those times when Heather and I lock eyes and we realize our life has just turned upside down.And so we are not going be able to go back home for a while, forever really as it came to be, because a few months later I start filling in preaching with this church in Birmingham, Alabama, and they invite me to come back a few more times, and long story short, here I am. That's the picture of the purpose of God. Three years ago I never could have imagined as I was sitting and looking at our house under water that tonight I'd be talking to you about the purpose of God in suffering as the pastor of this church in Birmingham, Alabama. He's got a purpose, it's sometimes different, but it is always good, never oppressive, always good.

David Platt, "The Gospel, God's Purpose, and Suffering," in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2008), 1566.

Why does an all-powerful and all-loving God allow seemingly good people to suffer horrible things? Does suffering disprove the possibility of a good God existing? Includes a discussion of the Epicurean Paradox.

Today's episode is rated pg-13, and that is a first for us. Of course, I am being a little tongue in cheek by using such a rating, but what I am trying to communicate is that the subject matter isn't necessarily for children - not my discussion, but the passage that we are reading. For our readings today, we are in Genesis 34, a very upsetting passage in which Dinah, daughter of Jacob is raped. Though it doesn't make it better, the revenge on those who raped her is every bit as satisfying as any revenge-themed movie you've ever seen. We continue in Mark, which sees the fascinating incident with Jesus and the legion of demons that he drives into a herd of pigs, an episode which we will no doubt cover later on in the podcast run. Romans 5 will then continue our beautiful view of the good news of Jesus, proclaiming the powerful truth of death in the first Adam, and life everlasting available in the second Adam, Jesus.

Also today we begin a new book - Job (pronounced JOBE, not JOHB) which is one of the literary masterpieces of the Bible, and a book which will flex many of your theological convictions. The primary theme of Job is suffering, sovereignty and the character of God. A fascinating thing happens in Job 1 and 2 - we are given a peak into the throne room of God, where we will get a glimpse at what is probably God's Divine Council as well as a conversation between God and The Satan. That will be our focus passage today, as we consider who the 'Sons of God' were, and why the Devil came with them (twice) to a meeting in God's throne room. Let's read it - prepare to be surprised if you've never read Job before!

6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord asked Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Job 1:6-7

Job doesn't give us a lot of subtext or explanation here - all of the sudden, we are taken to a scene in the throne room of God, and these beings called 'Sons of God' are presenting themselves before THE King of Kings - God Most High, and Satan is strolling in there with them. So many questions! Who in the world were the 'Sons of God?' Isn't Jesus the ONLY Son of God? Was the Satan somehow a 'son of God?' To at least try to answer these questions, lets first look at the text of the Bible:

Genesis 6:1, "The sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves."

Genesis 6:4, "The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men."

Job 1:6, " One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them."

Job 2:1, "One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord."

Job 38:7, "Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? "

This is every exact occurrence of the Hebrew phrase " בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים " (Bene-Elohim/sons of God) in the Old Testament. From this very limited sampling, we can conclude with a fairly high degree of grammatical certainty that, in at least some instances, the 'sons of God' in the Hebrew Old Testament were NOT human. (How could they be since God Himself says in Job 38 that they were present at the creation of the world and were shouting for joy then?) Some confidently postulate that the 'sons of God' are the human offspring of Seth, but that simply does not fit the context of the Job passages or really the Genesis passage either.

As mentioned in our episode on the Nephilim, episode 6, I further believe that the grammatical and contextual uses of the Hebrew phrase here indicate that the 'sons of God' in Genesis 6 and Job were NOT human, but were some sort of Heavenly being. Most assume that they are angels, but that doesn't appear to be the case either, as angels tend to serve as messengers (that is what the Hebrew for their name means) and these beings do not appear to be messengers. So - what are they? Sadly, the Bible never tells us exactly, but I believe it is likely that what we are seeing in Job 1 and Job 2 is what is described in a bit fuller detail in Psalm 82: The Divine Council of Yahweh, referred to earlier this week:

God stands in the divine assembly; he pronounces judgment among the gods:

Psalm 82:1-4

Here is another picture of what might well be the divine council:

Then Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and the whole heavenly army was standing by him at his right hand and at his left hand. 20 And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' So one was saying this and another was saying that. 21 "Then a spirit came forward, stood in the Lord's presence, and said, 'I will entice him.' 22 "The Lord asked him, 'How?' "He said, 'I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' "Then he said, 'You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.'

1 Kings 22:19-22

From these Scriptures, we see that God 'holds court' from time to time and meets with various heavenly beings and considers their council. Why would an omniscient being do this? I think the answer lies in relationship rather than the need of council. God did not need humans. He was not lonely, and thus created humanity in the same way one adopts a puppy for companionship. God Himself, as Trinity, is in the ultimate relationship and is completely fulfilled in Himself, but His actions seem to indicate that He is a God who delights in relationships with others. But why was The Satan in God's throne room? (Satan isn't a name, it is a role - it means, "The accuser.) That is a big, big question, and the surprising truth is that, up until a certain time, Satan had access to Heaven:

7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, 8 but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down.

Revelation 12:7-10

At some point, apparently during the time of humans being on earth, Satan was cast out of Heaven. A plain-sense reading of Revelation 12 indicates that - even well after The Fall of Genesis 3, Satan had access to Heaven. How do we know? Because vs. 10 notes that Satan had been accusing the brothers and sisters in front of GOD (day and night!) BEFORE he was cast out of Heaven. If this happened pre-creation, or even pre-Fall in the Garden, there were no brothers and sisters to be accused! Therefore I believe that Job is giving us a picture of what things were like in Heaven pre-the War in Heaven of Revelation 12 - prior to Satan being cast out of Heaven.

Allow me to close with this powerful encouragement from Charles Spurgeon:

How few Christians there seem to be who really understand the covenant of grace! "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." We fell, not by our own fault, but by Adam's fault; and we rise, not by our own virtue, but by virtue of our union with Christ. If you are in Christ, believer, you are safe while Christ stands. You cannot drown the body until you drown the Head. My foot may be deep in the stream, but until the waves roll over my brow, my foot is not drowned; and until Christ shall perish, no soul that is one with Christ can be destroyed; for he said to his disciples, "Because I live, you shall live also." ... May the Spirit of God glorify Christ by taking these things of Christ, and revealing them unto you, and making them personally yours!

C. H. Spurgeon, "The Spirit's Office Towards Disciples," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 53 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1907), 512. Slightly modernized.