Why did God create Satan?

Question:

If God knows everything, why did God create Satan (and why Adam and Eve using the same logic) when He knew that he would sin?

Response:

“Why” questions are often more difficult than others to satisfactorily answer, especially when we find that the Bible doesn’t provide a comprehensive answer. It’s certainly tempting to make the assumption that the world would be better if God had simply scrubbed the idea of creating Lucifer. But we must be careful when considering such an assumption for if we dare to do so, we are effectively saying that we know better than God and thus would do a better job than He at running the universe. Such a notion is pretty much that which Lucifer had when he decided to declare himself greater than the Most High God (refer Isaiah 14:1314).

It is important to draw a line of distinction between what God KNEW and what He DID. Even though God KNEW that Lucifer would rebel, rebellion was never God’s DESIRE or INTENT. God did not create Lucifer as an evil being, nor did He create him just so that he WOULD rebel. The reality is that the angel Lucifer, like all of the angels, had some form of limited free will and that free will was exercised against God. So God did not create Lucifer as “the devil”; He created him good (Genesis 1:31); prior to his fall, Lucifer had a good and perfect purpose. Lucifer’s rebellion does not make God’s original intent something bad (i.e. God did NOT create evil as such).

The reason for Lucifer’s decision to rise in pride and rebel against God, is unknowable. Paul describes sin / iniquity as a “mystery” (1Thes 2:7). He was seen to be full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty among the angels, which is probably why he was able to draw about one third of the angelic host to rebel against God with him.

So, as long as free will existed, the possibility of sin and rebellion co-existed. So the question of why God created Lucifer is actually a question that goes deeper and asks why God created free will?

At heart, as a fundamental feature of His nature, God is love and He wants to be loved. So we must ask if it is possible to love without free choice / free will? I suggest that the answer to that question MUST be “no” surely love can only truly exist and be demonstrated only if the choice NOT to love is also available. Love only finds true meaning because it cannot be forced - it is has meaning because it is a choice rather than an involuntary action. People don’t HAVE to love us, but they do. And that is why love is so absolutely satisfying! My wife loves me, my children love me! They don’t HAVE to, they exercise choice to do so and that’s why love gives us the “warm and fuzzies”.

Likewise, no one compels me, but I CHOOSE to love my wife, my children etc.

I may well be disappointed at times by the behaviour of my wife and children. They may hurt us, mistreat us, say unkind things to us. But they were simply “robots” programmed to only say kind things, to be unfailingly loyal and have no choice but to “love” me, that love would be hollow and unsatisfying. I may well know my children will act badly at times, but that form of foreknowledge did not prevent me from wanting to be married and to have kids. Part of the risk of freedom is that rebellion will also be a possibility. Likewise God, who in His perfect foreknowledge, knew that some form of rebellion was inevitable still created angels and still created a creature in His own image humanity.

We see throughout the Bible that, sometimes, God allows evil in order to bring about a greater blessing. Joseph’s response to his brothers in Gen. 50:20 tells the story (“You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”). God accomplished a vital outcome through the evil intent and actions of Joseph’s brothers. A similar story is told of Job God allowed Satan to test Job so that both Job and everyone who hears his story, could gain wisdom and be blessed. The cross is another picture of good coming from evil; Jesus crucifixion was surely the greatest evil ever perpetrated. Satan schemed to put Jesus to death and thought that he was achieving victory, yet it was this very act that God foreordained to defeat Satan and bring about the glorious truth of the Gospel and salvation to all who trust in Him!