Is God Good?

Question: How can a loving God allow sickness and suffering?

My Response: Be sure to read the comment page -- there are some great thoughts there.

This question has been around probably since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. And, that is where the answer to the question begins. Sin, sickness and suffering came into the world with the moral failure of mankind. Everything changed when Adam and Eve failed to walk in obedience to God. God is not the source of suffering and sickness. Mankind brought it into God's perfect creation.

We are taught to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That prayer paradigm expresses the reality that God's will is not being done on earth in its full manifestation. While living in a fallen world, our response should not be fatalistic but faith-filled. The struggles we face have the ability to teach us how to be overcomers.

While God is not the source of suffering, He can and does use suffering to benefit and build our lives. Paul calls us to know the "fellowship of His suffering." Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered.

God is always good. His ways are always good. We live in a fallen world. Satan is evil and works to steal, kill and destroy. We are living in the time between God's perfect creation and God's coming kingdom. In this present time, we war against the things that are contrary to God's will in expectation of the restoration of all things.

As long as mankind can choose to rebel against God, there will be suffering in this world. God is the One who uses what the devil means for evil and turns it about for good. Only a good God can do that!

The Temple in Jerusalem

QUESTION: What significance would the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem have in Biblical prophecy?

MY RESPONSE: The rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem is an interesting discussion topic in Bible prophecy. Scripture intentionally doesn't answer all of our question in regards to end time events, so we are "forced" to try to fill in the blanks. Or, at least that what many prophecy teachers seem to do.

The idea of the rebuilding of the temple grows out of a belief that the anti-christ will defile the temple according to Daniel chapter 9. Whether or not that is true depends upon your interpretation of Daniel 9. The common teaching is that the anti-christ will form a peace pact with Israel for the first 3 1/2 years of the 7 year tribulation. At the 3 1/2 year mark, he will break that peace pact by offering an abomination on the altar of the temple. For that to happen, the temple has to be rebuilt.

I honestly do not see that clearly taught in Scripture. I think there are other ways to interpret the eschatological texts that do not require a rebuilt temple. If it were that important, I believe it would be clearly stated.

The purpose of Bible prophecy is preparatory, not predictive. The primary prophetic exhortation is "Watch and be ready," not, "Watch and predict." We have enough biblical information to be ready for Jesus to come, but not enough to know when He will come.

A rebuilt temple? I don't really know. If one is rebuilt, I'll keep watching, so that I will be ready. Jesus really could come at any moment! There is nothing left on the prophetic calendar, that I can see, that needs to be fulfilled before Jesus returns!