Toronto awoke to evil. Last night, a lone gunman strolled the Danforth and opened fire on men, women and children eating their dinners, crossing the street, and walking with loved ones. The image of that 29-year-old walking alone, dressed in all black, then turning of a sudden to open fire through a restaurant window – was evil.
All death is a picture of evil. As a Christian pastor, I believe there would be no death without sin. But I also know where that death and evil came from.
It is not popular to talk about Satan in my culture. The father of lies seems to have convinced Canadians that he is “all-pretend” and the fantasy of children and simpletons. Yet, I have no problem stating my opinion that he is real. If you watch the video floating around the web, I doubt you will either.
Of course, there is something evil about lying to a spouse or cheating on a friend. But it is a unique kind of evil to walk down a street and start killing people for no reason. Mental illness? Maybe. Or perhaps we sometimes attribute to mental illness some of what the Bible attributed to other causes? Satan, the demonic — these things are real according to the Bible. And I think last night’s shooting gives you a glimpse into that unseen world.
If you have watched Ghostbusters or Poltergeist you might be thinking I am suggesting one kind of solution. But films like these and a thousand others miss the point.
The only solution is Jesus Christ.
When Christ prepared Himself to go to the cross to die for our sins, He knew what was going on in that evil spiritual realm. For instance, He knew that the real spiritual entity of Satan had overcome the evil-hearted Judas.
Luke writes, “Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve” (Luke 22:3). And while He looked Judas in the eye, He knew what sending him away would mean. John records, “So, after receiving the morsel of bread, [Judas] immediately went out. And it was night” (John 13:30).
The report that “it was night” was much more than a scheduling announcement. It was a declaration that spiritual night had begun and true darkness was about to overtake the earth. So much so that when Judas returned with a mob to betray Jesus to His death, the Lord could say to them, “When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53).
The greatest evil of all time was about to occur (the death of the sinless Jesus) and even then God made it clear, this night was under His ultimate authority and would only last for so long. “This is your hour.” Not, “You win.”
Here is the Christian’s great comfort in random shootings or van attacks. These Satanic acts never win in the end. As seen in the death of Christ, when Peter preached to his Jewish countrymen:
Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Acts 2:22–24
Or as Joseph consoled his double-dealing brothers:
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:20 )
As Christians, we can call these events acts of evil. I am certain the mind of Satan is ecstatic with the needless death and carnage on the Danforth. Yet in the same breath, we know that evil does not win in the end. Satan will be bound and punished. All of his demons will be vanquished. Sin itself will be finally beaten and all those who love His appearing will be with Christ forever in a new creation where sin, failure, mental illness, carnage and Satan are gone forever. And only because our Saviour endured the greatest evil of all on our behalf.
Pray for Toronto.
