The devil and hell

Did God create the devil and hell?

In a cemetery in my hometown, there is a monument with two statements and a question. The question is: “Why did a good God create a bad devil?”

It is a bad question because God did not create a “bad devil.” God created all things, including the angels, during the six days of creation. The Bible does not tell us on which day God created the angels. At the end of God’s creating work, he pronounced everything he had made, including the angels, as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). At some point after that—and prior to the temptation in the Garden of Eden—Satan and other angels rebelled against God and were cast into hell (2 Peter 2:4).

The Bible describes hell as being “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). That same Bible verse speaks of hell as the place to which unbelievers will be sentenced forever.

Your question underscores the urgency of spreading the life-saving gospel of Jesus Christ so that, instead of experiencing hell, people may enjoy eternal life with God in heaven (Matthew 25:34).