Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. Saul's servants then said to him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. 1 Sam 16:14-15
John Calvin noted:
Moreover, that the ministry of Satan is employed to instigate the reprobate, whenever the Lord, in the course of his providence, has any purpose to accomplish in them, will sufficiently appear from a single passage. It is repeatedly said in the First Book of Samuel, that an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, and troubled him (1 Sam. 16:14; 18:10; 19:9). (Emphasis mine)Terry Johnson writes:
We have another striking example of God using or acting concurrently through Satan in 2 Samuel 24 and its parallel in 1 Chronicles 21. Note that 2 Samuel 24:1 says, 'The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go number Israel and Judah."' It was wrong for David to number the people, yet this passage says, 'the LORD...incited David against them.' However, 1 Chronicles 21:1 records the very same incident this way, 'Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel." ~ The Identity and Attributes of God (page 127)Johnson cites other instances. The above examples also challenge the notion that one can clearly separate God's purpose (anger/wrath) with Satan's activities (wrath etc) in an eschatological scenario. The future Antichrist and his ministry are governed by God for the purpose of judgment on unbelievers (2 Thess 2:11).
No comments:
Post a Comment