God's Sovereignty Over Light and Darkness

Isaiah 45:7 presents a doctrine that arrests both intellect and conscience: "I form the light, and create darkness." The claim demands explanation, for it plunges our thoughts into impenetrable mysteries.

In Old Testament thought, moral and physical evil are not reduced to a single principle. Moral evil proceeds from the will of man; physical evil from the will of Elohim, who sends it as punishment for sin. The Hebrew word ra (evil) in God's mouth implies not that He commits evil acts, but that He permits evil's possibility, ordains its self-punishment, and governs guilt and consequences in the broadest sense.

Yet this doctrine satisfies what dualistic theories cannot: the universe demands unity. Our hearts cannot rest until we know that God rules the kingdom of darkness as well as light, that sorrows fall under His control no less than blessings. Wherever we wander through suffering, we remain in His hand.

Consider what evil actually surrounds us. Much springs from our own making—our choices and habits. Much inherits from our fathers' corrupt bias, from moral infections in the world's atmosphere, from imperfect education. We must distinguish between evil we create through our will and evil that tests us through God's providential governance.

This mystery becomes credible only through patient mental toil, as the mysteries of energy and life do. On these terms alone, Isaiah's announcement that darkness and light alike serve God's power and goodness becomes intelligible to faith.