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Why does Isaiah 45:7 say God creates evil?

I (Alex) remember one radio program when a caller had read Isaiah 45:7 where God says through the prophet, “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things” (NKJV). The caller was curious and wanted to know whether the verse said God created evil.

The question forced me to go back and look at the context of this prophecy. In it, the Lord predicted King Cyrus would subdue nations. God confirmed the accuracy of his prediction by referring to his great power, including the comments in verse 7 of making peace and creating calamity.

Dallas Seminary professor Dr. Thomas L. Constable’s words offered help in this verse. He shares:

The point is that Yahweh alone is ultimately responsible for everything in nature and history. Everything that is in the universe exists because of the creative will of God. God was not claiming that He creates moral “evil” (AV), but both well-being (Heb. shalom) and calamity (Heb. ra’). He causes (allows) bad things to happen to people for His own reasons (cf. Job 1—2), as well as good things, but He does not cause people to make morally evil decisions (cf. James 1:13).1

God affirmed his power for all things in this prophecy. This includes his responsibility for all that takes place under the sun, the good and the bad. However, permitting evil and causing evil are two different things. God has created humans with the ability to choose right and wrong but does not force us to do right or wrong.

Instead, Adam and Eve were given the choice to obey or disobey God in the garden of Eden. Their disobedience revealed the need for redemption that we experience today through Jesus (John 3:16). Likewise, as fallen humans, we often choose to do wrong. This is not God’s fault but rather part of our imperfect sinful nature.

The end of this prophecy notes in verse 13 that God would soon free his exiled Jewish people. This amazing promise was fulfilled as described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Despite seventy years as slaves in Babylon, one thousand miles away from Jerusalem, God provided a way for his people to return and worship him in their land as he had promised.

Still today, the Jewish people remain in the land of Israel. After the Jews lived for nineteen hundred years without a country, the Lord has fulfilled his prediction that they would live in the land in the last days. The Bible even predicts a future Jewish temple that will be desecrated by a global leader prior to the Lord’s ultimate return to redeem his people. Just as God fulfilled his promise then, we can live with confidence he will keep every promise until we dwell with him in a new heaven and new earth with all of God’s people.

The verse preceding Isaiah 45:7 offers the proper perspective. God says, “They may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other” (NKJV). God is unique and the creator of all things. He is perfect, without sin, revealing himself as the one who works through all that occurs in our world to bring forth his righteous plans.

1. Dr. Thomas L. Constable, “Notes on Isaiah,” Sonic Light (website), PlanoBible Chapel, accessed February 4, 2021, https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/ot/isaiah/isaiah.htm.