Evolutionary theory teaches us that we are the product of chance, and that we live and die by chance and strength. Our experience of survival often undermines this brutal worldview. We cannot find in ourselves the superior strength that warrants our survival. Chance does satisfy our innate desire for reason. We look for reason on instinct. We expect it to be there, and evolution cannot explain that expectation. The best explanation is that a personal, reasonable force at work throughout all of history. We look for a reason because in our heart of hearts we know there is one. Genesis 1:1 and following affirm our sensibility in this regard. God created, and God maintains. He is there, and He is not silent. So, there is most assuredly a reason that we are here while others are gone. The trouble is we do not get those reasons. God has rarely arrived with a full incident report to explain exactly why this or that happened as it did. While we greatly desire just such an explanation, God is under no obligation to provide it.
Why God Allows People to Die
The writer does not explain themselves to the characters in their novel. The artist does not seek approval from the painting, nor is a sculptor judged by the clay. Even when we are dealing with our beloved children, we often withhold our full reasoning; either because they are not prepared to appreciate it, or because time does not allow us to. God as Creator has all rights over the creation as human artists hold over their creations. As Father God has every right we assume with our own children.
In both instances, God’s position is far above our own, because He is set apart and pure. God is perfect. God defines the term. That is why in Isaiah 6:3 the circling seraphim pronounced God not just holy, or even holy, holy, but “holy, holy, holy.” See verse: “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
R. C. Sproul notes in “The Holiness of God,” that in Hebrew, repetition of a word raises its intensity. So, to say that God is “holy, holy, holy” means he is the holiest one, the single most holy being ever. That is a difficult truth to hold onto when we are struggling to come to terms with loss, or questioning our continued existence. At such times it is tempting to pronounce God imperfect, to find some fault with Him. That is foolish; it is the same foolishness that led our first parents astray in the Garden.
This next truth is particularly difficult to hear, especially if the people left behind were close to us, or, as in my own story, apparently innocent. I am asking you to stay with me; at the end, there will be greater comfort, I assure you. Romans 3:23 says: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” God is holiest of all, and we are unholy. The unholy cannot exist in the presence of the holy; such a thing violates nature.
For us to enter into relationship with God, we must become holy. But a dirty rag does not clean anything; it only spreads its dirt. See Isaiah 64:6: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
The picture here of a rag that has been soiled by excrement. No one would think to clean anything with such a polluted rag, and yet that is the only sort of rag we have. Rightly is it asked and answered in the Book of Job in verse 14:4: “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.”
This is why Ephesians 2:8-9 insists, along with Romans 6:23 and many other passages, that salvation (consisting of imparted holiness from Christ in justification, being made holy in likeness of Christ sanctification, and arriving at holiness with Christ, glorification) is given us as a gift by God. Grace is unmerited favor; it is not earned, unlocked, or merited in any way.
God has not loved us because we are lovely or lovable; certainly not because we first loved Him. See 1 John 4:10: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” O, beloved, how unsearchable is the mystery of God’s love; it is never understood, only accepted and appreciated by faith. How could the finite ever understand the infinite? Yes, even the fact that we can know of this amazing love is itself a sign of that love.
God owes us nothing but wrath; His love is freely given to those who do not deserve it. That is the Gospel in a nutshell, and it informs our worldview even and especially when tragedy strikes.
Jesus dealt directly in Luke 13:1-5: “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Jesus did not express sympathy or outrage, or even assurance that these people deserved it more than others. The Lord implies that the wonder of the thing is not that a few suffered this way, but that not everyone had. The victims had it coming, but so does everyone else!
Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? See Luke 13:5-6: “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.”
Even in the seemingly random tragedy of a tower collapsing, Jesus turns our thinking on its head. He says in effect, “You should be trying to figure out why the tower fell on these people; you should be trying to figure out why towers haven’t fallen on all of you.” The tower might have fallen on anyone, and the answer would be the same. All have sinned; all have earned a payout of death. The ones who were crushed under that tower were no better and no worse than the ones who walked away.
Here we protest: this one did some good deeds, or that one did some evil deeds; this one was an upstanding citizen, and that one was a criminal. We need to take in the lesson of Matthew 5, where Jesus equates unrighteous anger with murder, and lust with adultery. The standard of righteousness is much higher than we believe.
So, what we want is for Jesus to spend the rest of Luke 13 explaining why God had the tower fall on those particular people, and not others. Instead, Jesus launches into a parable about a fig tree that does not bear fruit and is therefore removed. God judges; He gives each of us an allotted time to live, and He does not explain Himself. Well, He does not explain Himself the way we often demand.
Here is the trick: God Himself is the explanation. God is the ultimate solution that balances our equation. Now, for that to make any sense at all, we have to know God not as an abstract concept, but as a personal being. When we know that God is holy, that He is wisdom and knowledge, and that He is justice, and that He is love altogether, inseparably, and at all times, then and only then do the numbers add up. They add up because they are in good hands, God’s Hands.
I said at the beginning that the answer could be given in three words. Here they are, “God is there.” God is right there in the midst of that moment you are reliving. He is there, and so there is a reason, a good reason. Because God is there, you no longer have to be. You do not need to know the reason; you can know the one who establishes it.
Imagine you are locked in a room with a whiteboard containing the most difficult math problem you have ever seen. You cannot leave this room until that problem is solved. You throw yourself at the numbers for all you are worth, but nothing you try gives the solution. As you rack your brain for something else to try, the single greatest mathematician you know appears beside you. Putting a comforting hand on your shoulder, the mathematician says, “I’ll take care of this for you; you go on with your life now.”
The door to the room is unlocked and opened. Are you going to stay there and watch over this genius’s shoulder? Would you even be able to tell if he was getting things right? Well, if you didn’t know anything about the mathematician, maybe you would, but God is not a stranger. You know God’s love, His wisdom, His ability, His holiness, and His faithfulness; you know He can solve the problem because He displayed all His character while solving the ultimate problem of sin and death upon the cross. The empty tomb is the assurance you want that He can do all He says.
Easy enough to say, easy enough to hear. Easy enough to believe? Perhaps. To the well-adjusted who have known unconditional love, it may come easily, but many of us have had mixed experiences of love. The message of God’s love reaches the ears, but has a rough time making its way straight to the heart. We have questions, doubts, and delusions that get in the way of receiving the solution of God’s love. We need to get to the root of these hangups if we are truly going to solve the problem at hand.
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