Why Does God Allow Suffering? Part 2: Revealing God’s True Nature

by Russ Schmidt

The Fall of Lucifer

Let me just add this disclaimer, right up front. Some of the examples I am giving here are not necessarily biblical. There is a little bit of Russology involved. I’ll certainly point out where I insert some Russology.

Let’s start in Isaiah chapter 14:12-14 “12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most-High.’”

Nowhere in scripture do we get an explanation of why Lucifer turned on God. With what we read here in Isaiah we can definitely see an element of ego and pride. And based on what we read in Ezekiel 28; we get confirmation of that: 

“12 …You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.”

Clearly, Lucifer was a beautiful creation of God, maybe it was his beauty that led to a puffed-up ego, and the fact that he was on the mountain of God. He clearly was an important archangel and maybe even in charge of the Garden of Eden, at least for a time.

But here’s where I add a little Russology. In Job chapter one and verse six, we read, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” The sons of God that are being referenced here are the heavenly angels. We know that because the same reference is used in Genesis chapter six in speaking of fallen angels. These sons of God being mentioned here in Ezekiel are the good angels.

But we also see that Lucifer has already fallen at this point because he is now being referenced as Satan (meaning adversary) and no longer aligned with the sons of God. 

However, I am using the reference here in Job to point out that God calls meetings with His heavenly angels. Similar to a boss of a business who may call a meeting of all his employees to go over company business to be sure everyone is on the same page in executing the company’s agenda.

It’s quite possible that after creating the Garden of Eden and before He created Adam, God called a meeting of the angelic realm and explained to them His plan of creating mankind. 

Now, we know Lucifer was in the Garden (Ezekiel 28:13), and possibly even in charge of overseeing and caring for the Garden (Ezekiel 28:14). But after being told by God that he would have to serve God’s new creation of man (Psalm 91:11), and that one-day man would surpass the angels in authority (1 Peter 1:12), Lucifer became jealous (Ezekiel 28:15), and at this point, decided he was going to attempt to overthrown God and take over His throne (Isaiah 14:13).

There was no way Lucifer was going to serve this new creation of God when he believed he should be worship by this creation (Ezekiel 28:17). It gives us a good understanding why Satan is so determined to destroy God’s creation of man. Even those who are on earth doing his bidding, Satan could care less about and would ultimately terminate them as well, short of Jesus’ intervention.

We read in Revelation chapter 12 that wars breaks out in heaven at some point and the angels of heaven war with the dragon, which is a reference to Satan. Ultimately, the angels win this battle and cast the dragon down to earth. However, the verse goes on to say that the dragon’s tail swept one-third of the stars with him to the earth. 

In verse 7 we get clarity as to who the stars are referring to. It tells us that the stars are angels. We don’t get a definitive reason for these angels to be swept down to earth with Satan or the dragon, but there is no doubt that these angels were either convinced by Satan to side with him or they themselves also became jealous at the thought of serving this new creation of man.

Either way, both Satan, and the one-third of the angelic realm who now joined him on earth are destined for the Lake of Fire that is coming at the conclusion of God’s overall plan.

So, what does Satan’s fall have to do with our question of Why Does God Allow Suffering? The short answer is, it has everything to do with it. If Satan and the one-third of the angels who sided with him had stayed loyal to God, there would not have been any adversary in the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve, and then Adam into eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. 

If both Adam and Eve had not been tempted, and listened to God and stayed away from that tree, man would have never fallen, and the Garden of Eden would still be intact.

The question comes up, did God know this was going to happen? Again, the short answer is, yes, He did! We know that because scripture tells us that God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10).

This poses another question, why would God subject his creation of man to this mess, if He knew Satan would get mankind to sin, leading man into living in a fallen world with all the pain and suffering we experience?

That’s the $64 million question that I said is a complex, yet simple to answer. It’s complex because in order to truly understand it, you need to know the true heart of God, and the love He has for man.

You see, God first created the angelic realm, which included Lucifer. But with Lucifer, it is clear in reading Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28, that he was a special creation. We are told he was the “seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty…Every precious stone was his covering.” Scripture doesn’t specifically say this, but we get the impression that he was created to be a leader, a special angel or archangel.

And yes, God knew this would result in him being puffed up and susceptible to temptation. God did not create temptation, temptation is a natural byproduct of free will, which God gave mankind (Deuteronomy 30:19). With free will comes the possibility of making a choice outside the moral values that one is called to.

The reason God established free will is so we can choose to serve, worship, and love Him. If God would have programmed us like an Ai robot, that wouldn’t be conducive of true heartfelt love for Him. True love is one who chooses to love, not one who is programmed to love.

We are created in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). The first thing that comes to mind when we read this is that we look like God. That may be the case, but that is not what the scripture reference is talking about. God is a God of love and about family. His whole reasoning for creating mankind was to extend His family.

However, in doing so, His ultimate goal is to establish His Kingdom with us as His immediate family as His children. Just like it is the natural desire in life to want to get married and have a family. Yet, who wants to have a family that is constantly dealing with strife, and with family members becoming adversaries. Sound familiar?

We see it all the time in our fallen world today, most likely even within our own families. Some families fall apart because of this strife. Those families who don’t have strife, are far and few in-between.

And in our day today, where it seems families are more divided than ever, we can certainly see how devastating broken family values are to a society. This is why there has been such an attack on the family, and family values in these last days. Satan and his demonic cohorts, the one-third of the angelic realm that fell to earth with him, are hard at work in dismantling the family because Satan knows that family is at the heart of God.

So, this leads me back to why would God allow this, especially if He knew this would be the result? And here comes the simple answer. 

He had to allow it in order to assure that once God establishes His Kingdom on earth when bringing down His throne to reside in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21), that sin and temptation would not an ongoing problem. God cannot, nor will He allow the same result with this final, eternal Kingdom, that was the result of His heavenly Kingdom when Satan and one-third of the angelic realm sided together to attempt to overthrown God.

By us having to go through this life and experiencing all the pain and suffering that comes with it, yet we still serve God and thank Him for the blessings we do have, it ensures God that when we enter His eternal Kingdom there is no chance that a segment of the Kingdom will turn against Him. 

Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of Joy in this life, as well, but ultimately, all that joy in this life is fleeting. By the time we get to our old age, and look back, loss becomes what we hurt most from. Yes, we may have great memories, but those memories are in the past, but loss is always with us. 

I lost my wife to cancer in November of 2023, and the pain from that doesn’t go away. Anyone who lost a loved one can tell you that the great memories you had with that loved one, makes one smile for that moment, but it only makes the pain hurt more when you come back to the reality that they are no longer there and those memories are just that. And for the rest of our time in this life you are forced to live without them.

The Bible tells us, God knows our hearts (Psalm 44:21). He knows our hearts better than we do. This life is the proving ground for who’s heart will stay true to God. I often liken this to Jesus when He began His ministry, and that first time He walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee when choosing His first disciples. How many fishermen did He walk by and think to Himself, “No their heart will never accept me,” before He came upon Peter?

That’s what this whole Age of Man is about. God is sorting through the hearts of man to see who will be worthy to enter His Kingdom, and those who will not be worthy.

But here is the true heart of God; we are told in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Some wonder how long is God going to allow mankind to go through all this, but we are told here that God is longsuffering, meaning that he is patiently enduring and giving man every opportunity to recognize and come to Jesus and save themselves for eternity.

But I do believe, based on prophecy and the plan of God that we see from scripture that we are coming to Crescendo, and that the end time prophecy of Daniel’s 70th week (Daniel 9:20-27) is right at our doorstep.

Things that are described in prophecy that need to be in place, are quickly falling in to place. We are at the point of urgency that is described in Jesus’ parable of the Ten Virgins. Five who had their lamps well-oiled with oil in reserve in case the Lord Tarry’s. Then we have the five who did not tend to their lamps and let their lamp’s light go out. 

While all ten fell asleep, the ones who kept their lamps well-oiled will be ready at a moment’s notice, because Jesus said He would come as a thief in the night. But those who did not keep their lamps oiled would not be ready and would be left behind because they were too busy in the way of the world. Of course, I believe this parable is referring to the rapture before God’s wrath is poured out on those of mankind who rejected Him.

I believe the well-oiled lamps is symbolic of us believers who though we are of God, we still need to operate in this world with work and other worldly functions that are a necessity. But we often times lose our perspective and let the cares of this world cloud our relationship with God, but we keep our lamps well oiled, meaning we are being sure to spend time in Bible study and prayer, and just worshiping our Lord. In other words, we are keeping ourselves ready at all times.

Whereas those who do not stay close to God through Bible study, prayer, and worship, will not be ready the day He comes, and will be left behind to go through the greatest trial the world will ever have to go through.

So, who will you be? Are you keeping your lamp well oiled? Or, are you living for worldly lusts and pinning all your hope on those things that will one day turn to rust and be eaten by moths (Matthew 6:19)?

There is so much more I could say about all this, but this is an article, not a book, and I’ve gone on long enough. I just hope that I was able to shed some light on a very often ask question with very few who can answer it effectively.

If you’ve read this far, then my prayer is that you have seen the light and will tend to your lamp to keep that light lite!