Evil In The World – Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

Ecclesiastes means the “Speaker to the Assembly,” and we determine this speaker to be Solomon.
58 Times he speaks of life under the sun. He was always looking at the horizontal and never the vertical.
48 Times he talks about life being meaningless. Life is a vapor.

Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
Again, I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.
²And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living,
who are still alive.
³But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Talk about all the oppression and evil in the world!
Minnesota school shooting at a Mass
The Mormon Church in Michigan at the end of September
The girl on the transit system in North Carolina
Charlie Kirk

Guns, bombs, driving a car into a group of people, and box cutters on airplanes.

The matter of EVIL in the world has caused people to question God in 2 ways.
1. The EXISTENCE OF GOD
Charlie Kirk – If evil exists, then one must assume that good exists for us to know the difference. And if good exists, then one must assume that a moral law exists, allowing one to differentiate between good and evil. And if a moral law exists, there must be a supreme moral law giver to the moral law, which leads to God. Thus, the existence of God.
2. The GOODNESS OF GOD
Why would a good God allow evil to exist?
How can God just stand by allowing evil to exist?

The beginning of evil…
Genesis – God created the heavens and the earth, and each day he said, “It is good, it is very good.”

Job 38:7 – says that the angels were present at the creation and shouted for joy!

Among the angelic beings that were created, was one guardian cherub, Ezekiel 28 describes this angelic being as supremely beautiful and ranked among the highest of the angelic order.

Because of his beauty, pride overcame him. And he wanted to be God. He rebelled.

Revelation 12 tells us that Satan was not powerful enough and God expelled them from heaven and threw them to Earth.

Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Satan in Genesis 3, tempts Adam and Eve to sin.

1 John 5:19
and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. (A roaring lion who has…)

Ephesians 2:2 ²Satan is the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

Revelation 12:9 ⁹ the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

John 12:31 ³¹the prince of this world.

Review the 3 verses. Solomon lost sight of God. Have you?
“And they have no comforter. (The Lord is our comforter)

Psalm 86:7 and 17 (David)
⁷When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.
for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

Jude 14 and 15 (Who will judge)?
“See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones ¹⁵to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

** evil does exist, but apart from God; (it’s Satan)
** the perfect world God intended for us was spoiled a long time ago when Satan rebelled and mankind sinned against God;
As a result…
***every form of evil and injustice affects all of us to some degree,
BUT
God put in motion a plan to save us from our sins, to comfort us in our sorrows, and to rescue us from this wicked world through JESUS;
AND
He will judge the world with justice and punish every evil act (Acts 17:31, 2 Corinthians 10:6)

You may be asking, then what is the delay? What is he waiting for?
Maybe he is waiting for you.
It’s not God’s desire that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Who He is waiting for and how long He waits is His prerogative.
God’s delay is His mercy for those who will be saved.
John the Baptist said in Luke 3:5-6 (quoting the prophet Isaiah), Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth. ⁶And all people will see God’s salvation.’”