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• The physical world is a cause and effect system that God sustains and one in which God's intervention is determined by divine purposes of redemption. • There is another realm that overlaps with the physical world that Jesus called the Kingdom of God. God's kingdom is where God rules. It extends from individual human hearts to global movements—wherever persons submit their individual kingdoms to God's rule. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is the most explicit picture given by Jesus of life in the kingdom of His Father. • God is good and able to solve this problem because of the greatness of God. • Suffering helps us understand that what we do or omit to do really matters. • Even if we reject God, suffering still exists and we have to deal with it. REDEMPTION IS GOD'S PURPOSE As I write this, today is, on the church calendar, the Feast of the Holy Innocents that recalls the tragic murder of the male infants of Bethlehem by Herod after the birth of Jesus (see Matt. 2:16-18). This incident shocks us out of our sentimental reading of the Christmas story's shepherds, manger, and angels appearing. The church recognized these babies as the first martyrs for Christ and therefore commemorated the day with a feast by the 6th century. Possibly they understood God's plan of redemption better than we do. As I read this section of scripture with God intervening by sending angels to direct Joseph and the wise men multiple times, I wonder why God did not just intervene with Herod to stop the evil massacre. Yet, God did not. It would have violated Herod's personhood. Is it possible that God's direct intervention occurs primarily around his eternal redemption purposes? The parents of those murdered infants did not have understanding or knowledge of the events they were a part of, but what they did have available to them, just as we do, is the presence, comfort, strength, and word of God in the midst of suffering caused by evil. REDEMPTION IS A PARADOX This past summer, I begged God to stop the cancerous growth in my friend's brain. The cancer was not stopped. It was relentless and his body gradually lost its function until the physical life was extinguished. Yet, in his last weeks, he seemed more aware of Jesus and more alive than he had ever been. While his body was decaying his inner man was being renewed day by day and on into glory—fully alive! Many were able to witness his deep faith, his unflagging hope, and his selfless love as he walked his last steps into the arms of Jesus. Cancer took his body, but suffering was defeated through his Spirit-empowered responses to it. Therein lies the paradox. The apparent victory of death led to its defeat. This is the pattern of the cross and the resurrection, as Chrysostom boldly declared, "Christ is risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!" REDEMPTION IS A REVERSAL Romans 8:28-30 is possibly the crux passage for expanding our image of God. It promises that God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called to His purpose of being conformed to the image of His Son— predestined, called, justified, and glorified. Is indeed God powerful enough to work all things, even horrendous evils, together for good for those who love Him and are called to His purpose? In a manufacturing plant, a worker may only see the raw material or one small part of the finished product. They may even think, "Can anything of value come from that?" Often our perspective is as limited as that of the factory worker and we only see the raw material of life—sorrows, sufferings, tragedies, evils, or injustice. But if we love God the suffering apostle promises that we can, in C.S. Lewis' words, see "patches of Godlight" amidst the shadows of evil. We can catch glimpses of redemption—God working all things (even evil things) together for good. Lewis supplies our conclusion, "That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory." The redemptive power of the gospel not only defeats evil, but, in the end, reverses it. Now that's power … and love! Howard Baker, ThM ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN FORMATION Blessed husband of Janis; grateful dad of Keely and Cody; joyful Papa of Charlie, Lucy, and Violet; mediocre skier; fatigued PhD candidate; less-selling author of Soul Keeping and The One True Thing. ENGAGE 9 MAKES YOU THINK Burlingham Productions/Photos.com