Why Did God Create Satan?

I think I need to begin with God's answer to Job. "Who is this that darkens council without knowledge." While I believe in logic, and that there is some value in struggling with this question, we do not have best evidence in this issue. We were not there. The Bible has revealed little about the origins of sin. The Bible treats sin as a crisis plaguing all creation. If I am faced by a shark in the pool, I want you to help me out before you explain where it came from.

This subject requires revelation. I am not going to come to complete understanding of our unfathomable Creator on my own. Speculating on motives He has not revealed makes as much sense as speculating on the color of sand on the beach of a planet orbiting a star in a galaxy a million parsecs away.

And it is foolish to set ourselves up as God's judges. From the book of Job in the 4th chapter a spirit appears to one of Job's friends. The spirit says man can not be more righteous than his Maker. The demon resents God for charging His angels with error. It is not reasonable for us to agree with that spirit. Do we have good reason to begin with the assumption that God is righteous? Yes.

Everything we know points to the existence of truth, righteousness and good. If evil exists, then righteousness must be the ultimate. If evil were ultimate then righteousness would have had to rise out of evil. Righteousness could never be produced by evil. But good can be corrupted. If God Himself is unjust He would not be ultimate and would therefore not be God, but another creature in the universe. If God were evil there would be no reason for this discussion. If God is evil then there is no good. And it is irrelevant to discuss whether God did right or wrong. That would mean there is no ultimate standard and therefore no right or wrong, no truth or logic. If an impersonal universe is ultimate rather than the personal God, personality, intelligence and reason are merely illusions. They are anomalies in an impersonal universe.
Our question, then, is why would an ultimate and therefore omniscient God create Satan knowing he would become evil?

The first answer that comes to my mind is that choice is necessary for Righteousness. Evil is always a choice. Isaiah 14:13 and 14 depict the willful boasts of Satan's sinful heart. "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." Even the pain that comes to us from the curse of the earth began with man's choice to sin in the garden. Righteousness, like evil, requires choice. I would not say my tennis shoes are righteous because they don't run away from home.

I agree that since God is the creator of all things, He is responsible for the ultimate outcome. In Psalm 51 the Psalmist speaks of God being justified when he speaks. The promise is that God will ultimately show Himself righteous. We can see short term examples of that. We can begin with Abraham waiting for the child God had promised him long after his wife had passed childbearing years. When God answered it was worth the wait. Later we see Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers. God blessed Joseph in Egypt, brought him out of slavery and prison to be the most powerful man in that part of the world. Joseph was then able to save his whole family. After their father's death the brothers feared Joseph would take revenge. Joseph assured them that he would not because what they intended for evil, God intended for good. We can look forward to God making all things right in such a way that He will be justified in all that He has done.

I have heard the question raised about the value of God's renewal of everything Job had lost. But if you have come through a painful time you can understand this. Restoration brings greater joy than the same blessing produced without cost. You can resent the loss of something after it has been restored, but that is not a reasonable choice. And that is not natural to the restored heart.

It is exceedingly difficult for us to understand God's relationship with time. The fact that He can stand outside of time does not negate the passage of time. While God could have created us so that the outcome was determined, He could also have allowed us the capability to fail or succeed. Challenge is also essential to righteousness.

In the 9th chapter of John Jesus' disciples ask about a man born blind. "Who sinned; this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" This is an interesting question that recognizes that God sees from beyond time and that He is responsible for judgment and justification. Jesus surprised them by saying "Neither, this was for the glory of God."

My first thought is that this man had to be exceedingly important in the plan of God. All the pain of this mans childhood was for the glory of God. Every time he ran into a building because he could not see, it was for the glory of God. All the years of blindness cried out for God to vindicate Himself through this man's life. All of that was fulfilled by the unusual miracle Jesus performed by healing the man in the pool called "sent."

When I think about it, I must also conclude that we who read that story must be important in the economy of God. Every thing the man suffered in 40 plus years of blindness was suffered so we might see the glory of God.

We must take a longer perspective when we look at the introduction of evil into our world. God will not be justified until the culmination of all things. The disciples, weeping and fearing for their own lives after the crucifixion, could not understand what was about to happen. And we cannot yet see how God will be proved right in His judgments. But the same promise has been made to us.

We do have reason enough to wait on God, even though we do not yet have all the answers. That wait is so difficult that we must cry out to God for faith. And we must depend on His Spirit working in us to remain faithful. Yet there is no other reasonable stance. Every other position turns us from what we instinctively and rationally know to be true and righteous.