Working All Things Together For Good

I read with interest an article in the Washington Post regarding Shuttle commander Mark Kelly’s view on why his wife Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was critically injured and six others were killed.

“When something like this happens it’s natural to think ‘How, why could this happen? Why were six people killed?” “We can’t ever know the answers to these questions. We won’t. But thankfully, miraculously, Gabby survives.”

“I was telling Gabby just the other night –two nights ago –that you know, maybe this event, this terrible event, maybe it was fate. I hadn’t been a big believer in fate until recently. I thought the world just spins and the clock just ticks and things happen for no particularity reason.”

“President Lincoln was a big believer in fate. He said ‘The almighty has his own purposes.’ He believed that there was a larger plan. I can only hope and I told Gabby the other night, that maybe it’s possible that this is just one small part of that same plan: that this event, horrible and tragic, was not merely random, that maybe something good can come from all this. Maybe it’s our responsibility, maybe it’s your responsibility, to see that something does.”

Mark Kelly is learning what many of us have learned who have been through tragic and difficult moments of our life with seemingly unanswerable questions as to why things like this happen to us.

The Bible has the answer as to why Gabrielle Gifford’s was injured and six other were killed:

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.“

This verse does not mean that God caused the injury and murder of the victims of the Tucson shooting by Jared Lee Loughner, it defines what God does when these things happen to us.

“God works all things together for good…”

We live in a fallen world that has as it’s leader, the “Prince of the power of the air.” Paul described the fact that the “god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe yet in Jesus…

2Corinthians 4:3-4 “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this world has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

satan is described as being the ruler, or god of this present world because the rulership of the earth was lost by Adam to satan back in the garden of Eden as described in Genesis.

When God created Adam He gave dominion of the earth to Adam to rule over it forever. In Adam’s rebellion of God’s commandment he lost dominion of the earth to satan, who became the ruler of the earth.

When Jesus came to earth and began His public ministry, the Bible records that at the beginning of His public ministry He went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for a period of 40 days.

One of the temptations that satan put before Jesus was to use His power as God to rescue Himself from his hunger and present desperate situation, instead of waiting on the Father to whom Jesus had submitted Himself as a servant on our behalf.

satan offered to Jesus a shortcut to the Cross. If Jesus would simply bow down to satan and worship him as God, then satan would bequeath all the power and rulership of the earth to Jesus. satan claimed that the rulership of the earth was his to give to whomever he chose.

Luke 4:5-8 “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

Notice that Jesus does not argue the point that the earth is satan’s and that he can give it to whomever he chooses. A point that if not true Jesus would most certainly have denied. Instead Jesus focuses on the fact that His rulership over the affairs of all mankind would not come by bowing to the temptation to worship satan, but by going the distance and completing the work on the Cross. By Jesus death and resurrection He forever defeated the power that satan has over man and the fear of death that all men have.

In the Book of Revelation chapter 5, we see Jesus standing before the Father in heaven and taking the title deed to the earth from the hand of the Father who sits on the throne. A cry goes out from those in heaven who see this event that “no one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth was worthy to open the scroll”. Then John is told that Jesus has prevailed by his resisiting of satans attempt here in Luke 4, and by His death on the Cross and Resurrection from the dead, to be able to open the scroll and fulfill the requirements of it to redeem the earth back to God from satan former rule.

Revelation 5:1-10 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb (Jesus) as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 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. 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, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

It was at the Cross that Jesus won the right to redeem the earth back to God so that from the point of Jesus return to earth to redeem it at the end of the seven year tribulation, that rulership of the earth would once again be Gods.

Do you know why bad things like the shooting in Tucson happen to good people? It is because satan is the god of this age.

This is what the world is like when satan runs things. Man lost dominion of the earth to satan in the Garden and ever since that time satan has been seeking to do everything that he can to destroy man. This is the world that we asked for when we told God in the garden that we did not want Him to rule over us. This is the world that we received.

It is not Gods fault that there is so much suffering and pain in the world today. It is our fault. We have each chosen ourselves to rebel against Gods authority and leadership of our life and the present world is the consequences of that choice.

To those who now have bowed their heart to Jesus and have made Him Lord over their life, when Jesus returns He will allow all of us who love Him, to rule alongside Him in His new 1,000 year kingdom on the earth. Notice the last part of the above verse from Revelation Chapter 5:

Revelation 5: 10 “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, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

Until Jesus returns, the earth will continue to be under the rulership of the god of this present age. The pain suffering and destruction of the earth is due to the rulership of satan and man’s unwillingness to submit himself to the authority of God.

It is not Gods fault that the world is in the mess that it is in. No one should blame God for their suffering or the suffering of others. We should take a look at our own life and ask “Have I submitted myself to Gods authority? Have I done what He requires of me to submit my life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of my life?’

Though satan is the god of this world. the God of the entire universe is still the Lord God, Jesus Christ. He still rules the universe from heaven and is over the limited rulership of satan on this planet. satan is limited to a short time of rulership and a limited scope of what he is permitted to do to man, until the day that Jesus returns.

This is why Paul could wrote in the eighth chapter of Romans that: “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.“

Even the shooting in Tucson, the unrest in Egypt, your own personal tragedies and suffering, these are all under the final rulership and authority of Jesus. To those who chose to trust in Him with all of their heart, He will make everything, even the bad things, turn out for good for you in the end. Why? Because you love Him and are trusting in Him.

Remember that He loves you and that no matter what the world, the devil or people do to you, that God is still in control of everything and He will work it all out for good to all those who love Him and trust Him with their lives.

Be encouraged, Jesus is coming soon and then all these moments of suffering will be at an end.

Rob Robinson.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 5th, 2011 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Egypt, Encouragement, For Christians, Is Jesus God?, Is The Bible the Word of God?, Jesus v. Everything, Rob Robinson, The Book of Revelation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.