God and Execution
I'm reading from Acts 12 this morning. I was amazed at the dramatic story of Peter being sprung from jail by an angel! What a fantastic story of God's provision. But at the end of the story, I noticed that Herod did a thorough search for Peter and when he couldn't find him, he put the guards of the jail to death. Executed.
If God is all powerful, and God is all good, how can this happen? It was indirectly God's fault that those soldiers died. They died because God had given Peter the grace to live. Herod's blood thirst was rerouted to these two guards, whose only crime was that they held captive a man God wanted free.
Did God have control over the consequences of his own actions? When he sent the angel to free Peter from jail, was God aware of the lives he was forfeiting? I believe that God can see and know all things, past, present and future. God didn't directly send these supposedly innocent guards to death, it was the consequence of a corrupt leader's blood lust. God is still in the midst of warring against a very real and powerful Enemy. This enemy is Satan himself, who hides his actions behind the works of God and the godly.
Created over 2 years ago
