Wildfires have incinerated large sections of Los Angeles, terrible hurricanes ravaged Florida and unprecedented floods have torn through several states. These events have impacted lives in so many ways. And those involved find their lives dramatically altered. In response to the fires in California, some Christians have declared that they are the result of God’s judgment on the mockery and blasphemy of the Hollywood/Los Angeles culture. It is unclear as to how they know this, but it does not rule out the fact that God could do this. And while we really cannot verify such a proclamation, it does cause us to think about verifiable truths in the Bible.
(1) Satan is the “god of this world.” The Apostle Paul, along with Jesus, declared that Satan is “the god/ruler of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4; John 12:31). John adds the point that the “whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). It is clear from these, and other scriptures, that Satan possesses great power on this earth which he seized at the time of man’s fall in Eden. In the Book of Job, Satan was able to bring immense loss to Job when he destroyed 7,000 sheep along with those who cared for the sheep when he brought down fire on them and consumed them. That fire was not simply an amazing lightning strike. And Satan brought great pain to Job when Satan caused a tornado to destroy a house where Job’s seven sons and three daughters were enjoying a feast (Job 1:2, 3, 16, 18, 19). He clearly has ability to use nature for his own ends.
Now while to some, tying Satan to wildfires is rather bizarre and out of touch with the world we live in, believers must never forget the consistent teaching of the Scriptures that behind events there is a constant spiritual war going on. This is not mystical nonsense, but something the Bible repeated declares. Satan is a liar and he is a murderer (John 8:44). He has hated mankind since the Garden of Eden when man was elevated to the ruler of the world (under God, of course). He and his forces are powerful and deceptive, and they are constantly seeking to destroy people (Eph. 6:12; 1 Pet. 5:8). He can and does “murder” people through warfare (think Hitler, Stalin and WW2) and a variety of other means. Satan is not only involved in trying to harm individuals, but he is active in the affairs of nations, as Daniel 10 and 11 show. Satan has assigned demonic beings to guide in the activities of nations, in order to thwart the work of God and to bring in his own agenda. And this reaches its climax when Antichrist rules all the nations of the world as Satan’s right-hand man (Rev. 13). The point being that we are foolish to remove from our thinking the deep involvement of Satan in the world of mankind as he works to do his will, thwart God’s plans, and to destroy mankind.
(2) Satan is limited but God is not. The Lord God is sovereign in all of creation and He knows everything actual and everything that is possible. Satan has no such knowledge. And while Satan is very powerful, he is not all powerful and cannot do anything that goes beyond what God allows. Even in the case of Job, God was allowing Satan to do certain things as is seen in Job 2:3-6.
(3) Not all of God’s judgments take place at the end of age. The end times do have several key judgments which will involve all of creation; when both angels and men are held accountable. But the sovereign God can, and has, brought judgment when it was immediately needed. Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain are not awaiting God’s judgment but were catastrophically judged in Genesis 18 and 19. Many nations, such as Babylon, Egypt and even Israel, were judged because of their sinful rebellion and mockery of the Lord God. King Belshazzar, who purposely mocked God by defiling the holy temple vessels, learned of God’s judgment when a hand appeared and wrote on the wall declaring his judgment (Dan. 5). He died that same night. God’s judgments, therefore, can take place in the present.
(4) God uses judgment for the purpose of waking people to His truth. Most students of the Scriptures understand that God can, and very often does, brings beauty out of ashes. God uses the worst of events to wake spiritually slumbering people. One of the greatest examples of this is in the future Tribulation period. During that time, which Jesus says is the worst of times (Matt. 24:21-22), millions upon millions of people come to Christ in faith and are saved (Rev. 7:9-15). The horrors of those days cause people to shed their empty philosophies and pseudo religions. Judgment will bring spiritual clarity to people and many of them from every nation on earth will accept God’s free gift of salvation.
(5) God’s desire is to save and the reality of common grace. Common grace is God’s unmerited favor toward all men, whether saved or unsaved. As Jesus said, the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. The Holy Spirit is restraining sin in the world so that (as bad as things might seem to be) the world is being shielded against run-away, rampant evil. God cares for His creation. Also, as God said through Ezekiel: “As I live, declares the Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and lives” (Ezek.33:11). God’s desire is to save, not to judge. And that truth must be seen in all His dealings with people.
An Evaluation. When we do not have direct, divine revelation on a matter, such as the wildfires (and other “natural’ disasters), we must glean truth from the Scriptures.
It is certainly true that for a long time the Hollywood entertainment industry has time and again mocked God, and sometime very openly. And it is biblically true that God will respond to those who mock Him, the sovereign creator of the universe and man. Because of the revealed truth of the present judgment of God, we would be unwise to dismiss this truth from current events. What has taken place may have involved inept leadership and bad decisions, but it appears that there is more involved. In my opinion (which one can take or leave), it seems that God (as with Job) allowed Satan to inflict harm on people. Satan meant it for evil, but God intends to use this tragic event for good, by waking people who are deep in spiritual slumber to the realities of life in Christ, or in the case of believers, a renewed focus and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. God can, and He will, bring amazing good out of something that is amazingly bad.
On the personal level, we as believers in Jesus, have what we need to resist Satan and his forces (James 4:7; Ephesians 6:10-20) and to experience spiritual victory. We can stand against this powerful enemy when we put on, and keep on, the armor that has been provided.