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Now,
everybody can see that this world is full of wickedness. When and how did wickedness
come into being on the earth? It came into being thousands of years ago in
the Garden of Eden (which was located in the East near the Euphrates
river), and it came into being in this way. After God, the Creator of all
things, created man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take
care of it, He said to him: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis
2:16-17). Afterward, He formed a woman (Eve) to be a helper suitable for the
man and gave her to him. However, the old serpent deceived Eve into eating
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and she gave some to
her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Here is the biblical account of
the fall of man: “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field
which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the
serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit
of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto
the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:1-7). Therefore, the first man disobeyed to God,
he did not keep His commandment, and as a result of his disobedience all
Adam’s descendants have been born sinners, that is to say, are inclined by
nature to do evil things and addicted to evil things. This is confirmed by
what God said in His heart after He punished (through the flood) the world of
the ungodly in the days of Noah: “I will not again curse the ground any more
for man's sake; for the imagination [every inclination] of man's heart is
evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living,
as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:21-22).
Therefore, in the light of the Bible, God allowed sin to enter into the
world, or rather, sin entered into the world by God’s will. Obviously we know
that this was the will of God because God decreed to send His Son into the
world to redeem man from sin before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). For had
He not decided to allow sin to enter into the world, how could He have predestined
His Son to be offered for our sins, that is, to make atonement for our sins?
However, the Good News is that God in the fullness of the time sent His Son
to redeem man from sin so that he might be reconciled to God. Nevertheless,
the fact is that even though the Son of God came into the world to put away
sin, sin continues to exist in the world and we all can see everywhere its
bitter fruits. However, the existence of sin will come to an end, for sin
will no longer exist when God causes sin to vanish from the face of the
earth. Only in that day will wickedness cease to exist. When will this
happen? According to the Scripture, this will happen after the Millennial
reign (during which the saints will reign with Christ on the earth); it will
not happen during the Millennial Reign because even though during that period
of time (the thousand years reign) the devil will be into the bottomless pit
(in that immediately before the beginning of the thousand years an angel of
the Lord will bound the devil for a thousand years and cast him into the
bottomless pit and will lock and seal it over him) and thus he will not be
able to deceive the nations (which will be living peacefully upon the earth).
When the thousand years are expired, Satan will be allowed to deceive the
nations, as it is written: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan
shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them
together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they
went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints
about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and
devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:7-10). Therefore,
if at the time the devil will deceive the nations which will try to destroy
the saints who are upon the earth, that means that wickedness will continue
to exist till that time. However, those nations will be destroyed and the
devil will be cast into the everlasting fire, and afterward the day of
judgement will come and all sinners will rise again and will be judged
according to their works (Revelation 20:11-15).
Then God will create a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness will
dwell (2 Peter 3:13).
The New Jerusalem will descend upon the new earth (where there will be no
more sea), God will dwell with men, “and they shall be his people, and God
himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are
passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4), and “there shall be no more curse: but the
throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve
him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of
the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever
and ever” (Revelation 22:3-5).
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