IF JESUS IS KING NOW, WHY IS EVIL STILL HERE?
Common Objections Answered — Chapter 39
1. A QUESTION THAT DESERVES AN ANSWER
Christians say Jesus is King.
We say He has conquered sin and death. We say He has defeated Satan. We say He has all authority in heaven and on earth.
But look at the world.
Wars continue. People suffer. Christians are persecuted. Evil people sometimes prosper while good people suffer.
If Jesus is already reigning, why hasn't He put an end to all this?
Some Christians answer that Jesus has not yet established His promised kingdom on earth. They believe His present heavenly authority will be followed by a future earthly reign.
Others believe His kingdom has already begun and will reach its complete fulfillment when He returns.
Both recognize that Christ possesses authority now and that His final victory is still future.
But what does Scripture actually teach?
Can Jesus truly be King while His enemies are still active?
We should allow Jesus and His apostles to answer that question.
2. DID JESUS SAY THE KINGDOM HAD ALREADY COME?
Read Matthew 12:22–29.
Jesus healed a man who was blind and unable to speak because of demonic oppression.
The Pharisees accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan.
Jesus answered that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
Then He said:
"But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Matthew 12:28)
Notice His words.
Jesus did not merely say that the kingdom would arrive someday.
He said it had come upon them.
His authority over demons demonstrated that God's kingdom was already at work.
Jesus then spoke about binding a strong man before plundering his house.
In context, the strong man represents Satan, whose power Jesus was overcoming.
This does not mean Satan had ceased all activity. The Gospels themselves describe continuing opposition to Jesus.
It means that someone stronger than Satan had arrived.
Jesus' authority over Satan was evidence that God's kingdom was already present.
But was that kingdom already complete?
No. Jesus continued to speak of a future judgment and the final separation of the righteous and the wicked.
The kingdom had arrived, but its work was not finished.
3. WHAT DID JESUS MEAN WHEN HE SAID THE KINGDOM WAS NEAR?
Read Mark 1:14–15 and Luke 17:20–21.
Jesus began His public preaching with this announcement:
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15)
The kingdom was not simply a distant possibility.
God's promised saving rule was drawing near through the arrival of His Son.
Later, when the Pharisees asked when the kingdom would come, Jesus said it was not coming in a way that could be observed by looking for visible signs.
He added that the kingdom was "in your midst," or "within you," depending on the translation (Luke 17:21).
The Greek expression can be translated in more than one way.
But Jesus was speaking to Pharisees who opposed Him. For that reason, "in your midst" fits the context particularly well.
The King was standing among them.
They were looking for something they could recognize according to their expectations, while failing to recognize the One through whom God's kingdom was arriving.
This does not mean the kingdom has no future visible fulfillment.
Jesus also spoke of His return in glory.
It means we must not assume that God's kingdom can exist only when every enemy has disappeared and every person acknowledges His rule.
4. WHY DID JESUS TEACH US TO PRAY, "YOUR KINGDOM COME"?
Read Matthew 6:9–10.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray:
"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Doesn't that prove the kingdom was still entirely future?
Not necessarily.
Remember Matthew 12:28.
Jesus had already declared that God's kingdom had come upon His hearers through His works.
Yet He also taught His disciples to pray for God's kingdom to come.
These statements are not contradictory.
God's reign was already being revealed through Jesus.
But God's will was not yet being obeyed throughout the earth as it is in heaven.
The disciples were praying for the fuller realization of God's rule.
Christians can still pray this prayer.
We recognize Christ's authority now, while longing for the day when evil, suffering, and death will be removed.
The kingdom can be truly present without being fully completed.
But we should not stop with that statement. We need to see whether the apostles teach the same thing.
5. DID JESUS EXPECT GOOD AND EVIL TO EXIST TOGETHER?
Read Matthew 13:24–30 and 36–43.
Jesus told a parable about a farmer who planted good seed.
An enemy planted weeds among the wheat.
When the plants began growing, the servants wanted to pull up the weeds.
The farmer told them to let both grow until the harvest.
Jesus later explained the parable.
The Son of Man sows the good seed.
The field is the world.
The good seed represents the sons of the kingdom.
The weeds represent the sons of the evil one.
The enemy is the devil.
And the harvest is the end of the age.
Notice what Jesus did not say.
He did not say that the presence of weeds meant the farmer had no authority over his field.
He did not say the kingdom could not exist until every weed had been removed.
Instead, He described a period during which the righteous and the wicked would exist together.
The final separation would come at the harvest.
And Jesus identified that harvest as the end of the age.
This is important because Jesus Himself explains why evil can continue while the kingdom is already at work.
There is also a warning here.
Jesus identifies the field as the world, not simply the church. We should not change His explanation.
Nor should we assume the parable answers every question about church discipline or the final judgment.
Its immediate lesson is that the final removal of evil has an appointed time.
Jesus taught that the people of His kingdom would live in a world where evil remained until the final judgment.
That is not evidence that His kingdom has failed.
It is what He said would happen.
6. WHY DID JESUS COMPARE THE KINGDOM TO A MUSTARD SEED?
Read Matthew 13:31–33.
Jesus compared the kingdom to a mustard seed.
It begins very small but grows into a much larger plant.
He also compared the kingdom to leaven working through dough.
These pictures teach that God's kingdom does not have to appear in its final fullness from the beginning.
Its work can be real even when people do not recognize its full significance.
Jesus' ministry began in a relatively small part of the Roman world.
Yet His message spread far beyond its original setting.
These parables help explain why the kingdom's beginning did not resemble the immediate worldwide transformation some people expected.
But we must be careful.
The parables do not promise that every society will become increasingly righteous.
They do not say that wars, persecution, and rebellion will steadily disappear before Christ returns.
They describe the kingdom's growth and influence.
Growth is not the same thing as the final removal of evil.
Jesus taught both the growth of His kingdom and the continuing presence of wickedness until judgment.
We must keep both teachings.
7. IS JESUS ACTUALLY REIGNING NOW?
Read Acts 2:29–36.
On Pentecost, Peter explained Jesus' resurrection and exaltation.
He reminded his listeners that God had promised David that one of his descendants would sit upon his throne.
Peter then connected that promise with Christ's resurrection.
He also quoted Psalm 110:
"The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'"
Peter concluded:
"God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." (Acts 2:36)
This is not merely a promise that Jesus will someday receive authority.
Peter declares that Jesus has already been exalted.
The risen Christ is Lord.
But notice something else.
Psalm 110 speaks of enemies who have not yet been made His footstool.
Therefore, Jesus' exaltation and the continued existence of His enemies are not contradictory.
Peter presents both truths together.
Some Christians distinguish Christ's present heavenly reign from a future earthly reign connected with David's throne.
Others understand His present exaltation as the inauguration of the promised Davidic reign.
That larger question requires examining all the relevant promises.
But one point is clear.
Jesus is already exalted as Lord, even while His enemies remain active.
The existence of those enemies does not cancel His present authority.
8. WHAT DOES PSALM 110 ACTUALLY SAY?
Read Psalm 110:1–2 and Hebrews 10:12–13.
Psalm 110 describes the Lord's Anointed sitting at God's right hand.
Then comes this command:
"Rule in the midst of your enemies!"
Think about that statement.
The Messiah is commanded to rule while His enemies are still present.
That is precisely the situation people sometimes find difficult to understand.
How can Jesus reign if the world still contains rebellion?
Psalm 110 does not treat that as a contradiction.
It describes it.
Hebrews 10:12–13 applies the same psalm to Jesus.
After offering one sacrifice for sins, Jesus sat down at God's right hand.
He is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool.
His sitting down also emphasizes the completed nature of His sacrifice.
He does not need to repeat it.
But His enemies have not yet been finally removed.
The New Testament presents Christ as already exalted, while the complete defeat of His enemies remains future.
That is not an attempt to explain away the present condition of the world.
It is the Bible's own description of Christ's position.
9. WHAT DOES PAUL SAY ABOUT CHRIST'S REIGN?
Read 1 Corinthians 15:20–28.
This is one of the most important passages in our study.
Paul is discussing the resurrection.
Some in Corinth were denying that the dead would be raised.
Paul answers by explaining the connection between Christ's resurrection and the future resurrection of those who belong to Him.
He gives this order:
First, Christ has been raised.
Then, at His coming, those who belong to Christ will be raised.
Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule, authority, and power.
Paul explains:
"For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet." (verse 25)
Then he adds:
"The last enemy to be destroyed is death." (verse 26)
Notice the reasoning.
Christ must reign until His enemies are defeated.
The reign is not described as beginning only after all enemies have disappeared.
Rather, the defeat of those enemies belongs to the purpose and outcome of His reign.
And the last enemy is death.
This fits Paul's discussion of the resurrection.
Believers still die.
Their bodies have not yet been raised.
Therefore, the final victory over death remains future.
But that does not mean Christ is not already reigning.
Paul's argument requires us to distinguish His present authority from the final defeat of death.
Does this settle the millennium question?
Not by itself.
Premillennial interpreters commonly understand Paul's sequence in light of a future earthly reign described in Revelation 20.
They may understand a period between Christ's coming and the final end.
Others understand Paul's sequence as moving from Christ's present reign to the resurrection and final judgment at His return.
The word "then" in verse 24 establishes an order, but by itself does not tell us how much time separates the events.
That question must be considered alongside other passages.
We should not force 1 Corinthians 15 to answer a question Paul is not directly discussing.
His central concern is the certainty of resurrection and Christ's complete victory.
What this passage clearly establishes is that Christ reigns while death still exists, and death will finally be defeated.
That directly answers our original objection.
10. ARE CHRISTIANS ALREADY MEMBERS OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM?
Read Colossians 1:12–14.
Paul thanks God the Father because He has delivered believers from the domain of darkness and transferred them into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
Notice the tense.
Paul describes something God has already done.
He does not say Christians will first enter Christ's kingdom at some distant future event.
They have already been transferred into it.
This is especially significant because Paul connects their transfer with redemption and forgiveness of sins.
Belonging to Christ's kingdom is not merely a matter of living under a future political government.
It involves deliverance from darkness and a new relationship with God's Son.
But this passage does not say believers already experience every promised blessing in its completed form.
Christians still suffer.
They still struggle against sin.
They still await resurrection.
Present membership in Christ's kingdom does not mean present freedom from every consequence of the fallen world.
Hebrews 12:28 makes a related statement.
Believers are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
The writer encourages them to respond with gratitude and acceptable worship.
The kingdom is already a present reality for believers.
Yet the final removal of everything opposed to God remains part of their future hope.
11. IF SATAN HAS BEEN DEFEATED, WHY IS HE STILL ACTIVE?
Read John 12:31–32; Hebrews 2:14–15; and 1 Peter 5:8–9.
This question deserves careful attention.
Jesus spoke of the ruler of this world being cast out.
Hebrews teaches that through death Jesus broke the devil's power over death and delivered those enslaved by fear.
Colossians 2:15 describes Christ's triumph over hostile powers.
Yet Peter warns Christians that the devil prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Paul tells believers to stand against the devil's schemes (Ephesians 6:11).
How can both be true?
Because a decisive victory does not necessarily mean every effect of the defeated enemy has already been removed.
Through His death and resurrection, Jesus accomplished a victory Satan could not prevent.
But the New Testament continues to warn believers about temptation, deception, and spiritual opposition.
We should not conclude that Satan is powerless in every sense.
Nor should we conclude that his continuing activity means Christ has not defeated him.
What about Satan's binding in Revelation 20?
Revelation 20:1–3 describes Satan being bound so that he might not deceive the nations in the specified way until the thousand years are ended.
That statement deserves careful attention.
The passage identifies a particular restriction connected with deceiving the nations.
It does not simply say that Satan ceases every kind of activity.
Amillennial interpreters commonly connect this restriction with Christ's first coming and the spread of the gospel among the nations.
Premillennial interpreters commonly place the binding after Christ's return and understand it as a future restriction during the millennium.
Both interpretations must explain the wording of Revelation 20 and its relationship to other passages.
We should not settle that entire question by assuming our preferred interpretation.
For this study, the important point is simpler.
The New Testament teaches both Christ's decisive victory over Satan and Satan's continuing opposition to believers.
Those truths must be understood together.
12. WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SUFFERING TO CONTINUE?
Read Romans 8:18–25.
Paul describes the present creation as subjected to frustration and decay.
He says creation is groaning.
Christians are groaning too.
Even those who have the firstfruits of the Spirit still await the redemption of their bodies.
This is remarkable.
Believers already possess the Spirit.
They already belong to Christ.
Yet their physical redemption remains incomplete.
Paul calls this hope.
Hope concerns something we do not yet see in its fullness.
The resurrection of Jesus has already occurred.
The resurrection of His people is still future.
The Spirit is already given.
The full renewal of creation is still future.
Paul does not describe this waiting as evidence that Christ's saving work has failed.
Instead, he places present suffering alongside future glory.
But we should also be careful about what Romans 8 does not explain.
It does not tell us why every particular tragedy occurs.
It does not promise that faithful Christians will avoid suffering.
It does not give us permission to dismiss another person's pain with a quick theological answer.
Paul acknowledges the suffering as real.
He then directs believers toward the glory God has promised.
The kingdom's present reality does not remove the need for patience, endurance, and hope.
13. DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT PROMISE THAT THE WORLD WILL BECOME PERFECT BEFORE JESUS RETURNS?
Read John 16:33; Acts 14:22; and 2 Timothy 3:12–13.
Jesus told His disciples that they would have trouble in the world.
Paul and Barnabas taught that believers must enter the kingdom through many tribulations.
Paul warned Timothy that those who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
These warnings do not sound like promises of a trouble-free world before Christ returns.
But neither do they mean the gospel will fail.
Jesus also commanded His followers to make disciples of all nations.
The gospel has spread far beyond the land where Jesus first preached.
The New Testament presents both realities.
The kingdom advances through the gospel.
Opposition continues.
People believe.
Others reject Christ.
Christians suffer.
And God continues His saving work.
We should not assume that the spread of the gospel means evil must steadily decrease in every nation.
Nor should we assume that increasing wickedness means Christ has lost control.
The success of Christ's kingdom cannot be measured simply by how peaceful or wicked the world appears at a particular moment.
The New Testament measures its hope by Christ's promises and His certain final victory.
14. WHEN WILL THE KINGDOM BE FULLY REVEALED?
Read 1 Corinthians 15:50–57; Philippians 3:20–21; and Revelation 21:1–5.
The New Testament looks forward to something far greater than the present experience of believers.
Paul teaches that the dead will be raised imperishable.
Those who belong to Christ will be changed.
Death will be swallowed up in victory.
Philippians 3 says Christ will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.
Revelation 21 describes a new heaven and a new earth.
God dwells with His people.
Death is no more.
Mourning, crying, and pain are removed.
These are not blessings Christians already experience in their complete form.
They remain future.
The kingdom's final glory includes the defeat of death and the renewal of creation.
Christians disagree about whether Revelation 20 describes an earthly millennium between Christ's return and the final new creation.
That question must be examined separately.
But the final hope itself is not in doubt.
Christ will complete what He has begun.
His people will be raised.
Death will be defeated.
God will dwell with His redeemed people.
And evil will not continue forever.
15. WHAT DOES THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF EVIL ACTUALLY PROVE?
Now we can return to our opening question.
If Jesus is already King, why does evil still exist?
The objection assumes that a king cannot truly reign while enemies continue to oppose him.
But Scripture does not make that assumption.
Psalm 110 describes the Messiah ruling in the midst of His enemies.
Jesus' parable of the wheat and weeds describes good and evil existing together until the harvest.
Peter declares that Jesus has already been exalted as Lord.
Paul says Christ must reign until His enemies are defeated.
And Romans 8 teaches that believers already possess the Spirit while awaiting the redemption of their bodies.
These passages fit together.
They teach that Christ's saving work has begun and that His final victory is certain, even though the world has not yet been completely renewed.
Does this prove every detail of amillennialism?
No.
It establishes the reality of Christ's present reign and the future completion of His victory.
The precise relationship between that reign and the thousand years of Revelation 20 requires further study.
But the continued existence of evil does not prove that Christ's kingdom has been postponed.
Nor does it prove that Jesus is waiting to become King.
The New Testament presents Jesus as reigning now, while the final defeat of His enemies remains future.
That is the answer Scripture gives to the objection.
CONCLUSION — THE KING IS REIGNING, BUT THE STORY IS NOT FINISHED
The world is not yet what God has promised it will become.
Sin remains.
Suffering continues.
Death still separates families.
Christians still face persecution.
But none of these things means Jesus has failed to establish His kingdom.
Jesus said the kingdom had come upon His hearers.
Peter proclaimed the risen Christ as Lord.
Paul taught that believers had already been transferred into Christ's kingdom.
And Scripture declares that Christ must reign until His enemies are defeated.
The final enemy is death.
That enemy has not yet been removed from human experience.
But Christ's resurrection guarantees that death will not have the final word.
We must not confuse the beginning of God's promised kingdom with the completion of everything that kingdom will accomplish.
And we must not use the world's continuing evil as proof that Jesus is not presently reigning.
The King has been exalted.
His kingdom is real.
His people belong to Him now.
And His final victory is still ahead.
The question is not whether the world already looks like heaven.
The question is whether Scripture says Jesus must wait until it does before He can truly be King.
The answer is no.
READ FIRST. CONCLUDE LATER.
TEXT B4 TRADITION — Common Objections Answered, Chapter 39
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