1914.—What Did God Create?
Did not God create all things that were created? And if He did, would that determine His perfection? R. E. B. We read in Gen. 1:31, “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” That certainly is clear and positive. But the question would of course immediately arise, What does it mean in Isa. 41:7, “I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I am Jehovah that doeth all these things”? “Evil” is not used here in the sense of sin or unrighteousness, but in the sense of judgment upon sin. God’s holy, living law is such that if men will do it they will live by it—“in the way of righteousness is life.” But He has also placed within that living law the penalty of transgression—“transgressors shall fall thereby.” The perverted law brings death. “The strength of sin is the law,” but it dooms to death the sinner. Only in this sense is it that God creates evil, by bringing upon sin its own judgment; and that also shows the perfection of God’s system. He must do this or sin would completely overwhelm His kingdom. The same thought is expressed in Amos 3:6, 7.