I was looking at Genesis today, and noticed something I had taken for granted. Ever notice what was there before God starts to create? The first thing God created was light, the energy that is radiated from a light source, God created light before the sun and the stars, He of course is the original light source. For light to exist, it had to be created. If you go back, you see before there was light, it was dark. This is sort of a “duh” sort of thing, if there is no light, it’s dark. Darkness, however, exists before creation, it’s not a created thing. It is, in fact, the absence of a thing. It’s not stated, but cold probably existed before creation because God created the sources of heat. Darkness is the absence of light, cold is the absence of heat, when there is no light, there is total darkness, no heat is absolute zero.
So, did God create evil? We are a society who believes more and more in duality, but are good and evil really opposing forces? Light and dark seem to be, yet there is no power in dark, just it’s existence without light. We don’t let cold in, we simply let heat out, the absence is then cold. It is not the cold floor we feel, it’s the heat leaving our feet, flowing from areas of high concentration to low concentration. Evil then is not a dual force, but the absence of the good.
In the garden, God created good in the form of obedience. Adam and Eve had no knowledge of good and evil, yet they did good and were able to walk with God. They were simply good, and by being obedient they were good. In the moment of sin, they chose to forsake good, leaving the void where good once was. God did not create evil, just as He didn’t create darkness, it is the void left in the absence of good. Simply put, evil exists where there is no good. This was an ah ha moment, when I realized something. Energy is required to create both heat and light. Without an energy source, there is no heat, there is no light and cold and darkness reign.
Evil too has the presence of cold and shadow. Even with the brightest flashlight, it is dark everywhere the beam doesn’t shine. You lose heat the farther you get from the source. The energy must be present, or the emptiness will fill the void. God has given His energy to His elect, just as Romans 8:33 says “Who will bring charges against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” His power is poured into our lives, as long as we use the power that flows in. There is an outlet, there is a blast heater. There is a powerful light source, ready to be switched on. The lost world doesn’t have it, they walk in darkness with cold hearts. Will the children of God let the heat go out and shut off the light?