Matthew 19:3-9. Some teach that God never allows sin. But the Bible reveals in several places that under certain circumstances God does allow sin. In answer to the Pharisees question about divorce in Matthew 19:3-6, Jesus affirmed God's original commandment in Genesis 2:24 that the only true marriage was between one man and one woman. In verse seven, the Pharisees then asked Jesus why Moses had allowed divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Jesus' answer in verses 8-9 is very significant. Jesus said specifically that Moses gave that commandment because of the hardness of men's hearts. Moses wrote Genesis so he knew God's original commandment. God simply allowed Moses to contravene His original commandment because His people wanted it that way. One cannot escape the logical conclusion. God allowed Moses to allow his people to commit the sin of divorce in this circumstance. The answer to the question of why God sometimes allows sin is simple. Sometimes, God allows sin that proceeds from man's weakness in order to teach men that the regular practice of sin never results in fulfillment or satisfaction in life. Sin never provides peace for the heart. Sin can only cause trouble and destruction.
Sometimes, God allows sin for the same reason that a mother may allow her sons to smoke cigars that she knows they stole from their father because she knows they will get sick on their stomachs and be in misery. That misery will be her punishment of them and her lesson to them. The main reason God allowed Babylon to conquer Judah was because most Jews practiced idolatry. But in Babylon, the Jews soon became sick of idols because Babylon was full of idols that they had to worship day and night. God punished them by giving them too much of what they wanted. Jeremiah 16:13.
In Deuteronomy 17:17, God prohibited riches and wives to the future kings of Israel. But in II Samuel 12:8 and I Kings 3:13, God allowed them to have both. God did this because He wanted Solomon to write Ecclesiastes where Solomon confessed that all of the riches and women that he had enjoyed had only resulted in a life of jaded boredom and emptiness. God meant the book of Ecclesiastes to be a warning to all who would seek a life of the pleasures of sin that they will find no peace in the end but only misery. Peace and joy can only be found by serving God as Solomon concluded at the end of his book. Ecclesiastes 12:13.
Many suppose that sin causes great distress to God. But in a general sense, this is not true. Sin did cause God great distress for about the 15 hours that Jesus suffered, from the garden of Gethsemane to His death on the cross. But Jesus left all that sin behind in hell when He rose from the dead. Such scriptures as Psalm 2:4 and Acts 17:30 show that God holds complete confidence in Himself that He can handle the problem of sin. Jesus displayed complete confidence in Himself in John 17:4 that He could defeat sin and death when He declared His work to be finished before He ever started it. Jesus did the same in John 16:19-22 where he assured His disciples that even though they would sorrow over His death, they would surely see Him again. Jesus displayed no weakness or fear by the first part of His prayer in Luke 22:42. Jesus merely demonstrated by His first statement, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me..." that He was under the temptation to fall into fear and doubt. But in His second statement, "...nevertheless not my will, but thine be done," He revealed that He had immediately overcome this temptation by His complete faith in His Father. Jesus had to overcome every possible temptation faced by man in order to be that perfect sacrifice for man's sins that hell could not hold. Hebrews 4:15. Jesus actually endured the cross for the joy of defeating Satan and rescuing man from sin and death. Hebrews 12:2.
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