The question "If God is omnipotent then why can't He smite the Devil" or some variation of it has been asked by probably everyone around the world. Another variation of this question is "If God loves the world then why does He allow terrible things happen to so many people." These may seem like totally different questions, but they are really the same because they both refer back to the same principles, and therefore have the same answer.
God is Omnipotent(Rev. 19:6), and also His creation is the greatest evidence of it. Why does it seem that the Devil is ruling the world? Why do terrible things happen to so many people if God is omnipotent and loves everyone(John 3:16)? When the terrorist attacks ocurred on Sept. 11, 2001, many people asked these questions, and rightfully so.
Here is the answer. God is simply in control of everything. From a leaf falling from a tree to the ground to the world's tallest buldings falling resulting in thousands of people dying. God did not cause the terrorists to learn to fly and then buy the plane tickets and get on board and take over the planes and then fly the planes full of jet fuel into the World Trade Center. But God did allow it to happen. God has two ways of controlling things, causing or allowing. What do I mean by allowing? I mean by letting a person's sinful nature take over and letting it go unchecked. God brings people into the world to bring jugdement to the world. Rom. 9:17 states, " For the scripture says to the Pharough, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.'" But this sound like God didn't love Pharough? Rom. 9:10 - 15 states, And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man , even by our father Isaac(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls) It was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jocob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." But this is in direct contradiction to John 3:16! God could not actually mean that He hated Esua! I have heard some say that Rom 9:13 doesn't mean that God really hated Esau, but that he hated what the descendants of Esau would become. And I respond by saying Really? Then why in the very next verse did Paul ask the question "What shall we say then?(as if us Christians were in some sort of conundrum) Is there unrighteousness with God?" If God really didn't hate Esau then Paul wouldn't feel the need to ask the question "Is there unrighteousness with God?"
So what then does John 3:16 mean? First of all let me quote it - "For God so love the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life." This verse means that God loves people of every race, nationality, shape, size, ugly or cute all over the world. God clearly does not love every single person whoever lived on this earth as I showed in Rom 9. The word "world" in John 3:16 is a collective noun. For example when I say, "I like the Chicago Bears," it doesn't mean that I like every single player on the team. There are several players on the team that I wish were playing for someone else. God is entitled to nobody. Nobody deserves His love, grace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness, including me. If God who is omnipotent did love everybody then everybody would receive His compassion and be forgiven. But according to Matt. 7:13-14 God states, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Clearly, not everybody receives God's forgivness. So if a man dies without forgiveness then God didn't have compassion for him which all results from God not extending His love to that man. What good is love without compassion? Compassion, mercy, grace are benefits of love. I truly believe in the phrase 'actions speak louder than words.' Why would you say that God loved a person when He allowed them to go to Hell. You can't say that it is the person's decision to not accept salvation because Rom 9:16 states, "So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." So God loves some and forgives some, and, of course, some don't receive His love, and some don't receive His forgiveness. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand.
The whole chapter of Rom. 9 is one of the most important passages in the Bible because it declares God's sovriegnty by showing that God gets what He wants and He does what He wants. In the end, whatever God does is Just, plain and simple.
