The Goodness of God
God’s Goodness is absolutely
unique
The God whom we worship
is absolutely unique. There is no one
like Him throughout eternity.
“Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there
is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,” (Isa.
46:9)
The goodness of God refers to His
superb and excellent character which is absolutely unique in every way.
The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt; they have done abominable
works, there is none who does good. The LORD looks
down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who
understand, who seek God. They have
together become corrupt; there is none who does good,
No, not one.” (Psm.
14:1-3)
The Lord Jesus Christ
declared the exclusive goodness of God
“Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what
good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is
good but One, that is God. But if you
want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ (Mt. 19:16-17)
The Lord Jesus Christ does not mean that He
Himself is not good. He wants to
emphasize the exclusive goodness of God.
Jesus has two natures - divine and human. As God the Lord Jesus Christ is perfectly
good in every aspect, and as a man He has to deal with the sin of mankind.
“For what
the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned
sin in the flesh,” (Rom. 8:3)
“For He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)
God’s goodness in His
Works of Creation
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void; and
darkness was on the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and
there was light. And God saw the light, that it was
good; and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Gen. 1:1-4)
Creation began from the goodness of
God. Out of nothing He gave shape and
form to the earth. Only the Almighty God
who is good can create something out of nothing and bring forth light out of
total darkness.
God’s
Goodness in the Creation of Man and Woman
At the end of every Day of Creation
God “saw that it
was good.” (Gen. 1:10,
12, 18, 21, 25). After He had created the first man and woman,
“Then God
saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth
day.” (Gen. 1:31)
The goodness of God is the cause of
the very act of His Creation. He
declared "everything
that He had made” to be “very good," It is through God’s goodness that everything
in heaven and on earth was created in order and harmony.
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them.” (Gen. 1:27).
There are three
characteristics, or attributes of God’s image that are found in man.
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground (body), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit), and man became a living being (soul).” (Gen. 2:7)
1. Man is
given a body so that he can live for God and serve Him.
2. Man was
given a spirit so that he has the mind to seek and know the One True God.
3. Man is
given a soul so that he can live with God eternally.
“Now may the God of peace
Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be
preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes.
5:23)
God’s
Goodness in
establishment of Families
“Then God blessed them,
and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over
every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 2:28)
God's original purpose of
establishing families is to reproduce and multiply godly offspring so that they
can “fill the earth and subdue it;” (Mal.
God’s goodness in the
Seventh Day Sabbath
“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them
were finished. And on the seventh day
God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all
His work which He had done. Then God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His
work which God had created and made.” (Gen. 2:1-3)
The One True God not
only created the heavens and the earth for Himself but also for His creatures
as well. This is the essence of His
goodness. The creation of man and woman
is not the end of His work. The Bible
clearly states: “And on the seventh day
God ended His work which He had done.” The Seventh Day Sabbath is the climax of God’s
Creation. There are three things that
God did on the Seventh Day.
1 He rested
on that day
2 He
blessed that day
3 He
sanctified that day
God did not rest because
He was tired. He rested to set an
example for His creatures so that they can have a day of rest on the seventh
day of the week. God blessed the Seventh
Day so that mankind can receive blessings when they observe the Sabbath. God sanctified the Seventh Day and made it
holy so that mankind can worship Him on that day. God expressed His goodness by giving the
Sabbath to man.
“And He said to them,
‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the
Sabbath.” (Mk. 2:27-28)
God’s Goodness in the
Freedom of Choice
In creating man and
woman in His own image God originally made them upright like Himself (Ecc.
“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of
Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD
God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the
day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:15-17)
Adam and Eve were given
the freedom to choose whether or not to follow God’s commandments. They made the wrong choice. They disobeyed God and followed the devil’s
advice. Their sin due to disobedience
resulted in death.
God’s Goodness in His
Plan of Redemption
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of
its fruit and ate. She also gave to her
husband with her, and he ate. Then the
eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they
sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” (Gen. 3:6-7)
After sinning against
God Adam and Eve realized they needed to cover their naked bodies. Fig leaves represents man’s inadequate
covering for sin. God’s goodness is
shown by His provision of a permanent covering for nakedness and sin.
“Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made them tunics of
skin, and clothed them.” (Gen. 3:21)
“Tunics of
skin” can only be acquired from the slaying of an innocent animal
through the shedding of blood. This
sacrifice points to the atonement for sin by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to
him, ‘Where are you?’ “ (Gen. 3:8-9)
Here is an indication of
God’s goodness by His concern for those who have fallen. God came to the garden to seek His
disobedient children who were hiding from Him.
God came to this earth to seek for lost souls, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which
was lost." (Lk. 19:10) “But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)
God’s Goodness in
the Person of
Jesus Christ
God said to the serpent
that had caused Adam and Eve to commit the original sin: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His
heel.” (Gen. 3:15) Here is the first prophecy of the Messiah and
Savior of mankind who would destroy the devil.
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and
blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might
destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil,” (Heb. 2:14)
Statements of Goodness
by our Lord
Jesus Christ
“The
thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that
they may have it more abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10)
“For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might
be saved.” (Jn.
3:16-17)
“Jesus
said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jn. 14:6)
“The
Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed
Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He
has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD.” (Lk. 4:18-19)
God’s Goodness by
Grace through Faith
“For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)
“But when the kindness
and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His
grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Tit. 3:5-7)
Goodness of God
leads to Repentance
“Or do you despise the
riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the
goodness of God leads you to repentance?
But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are
treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God.” (
God in His goodness brings many to
repentance. Whenever someone is brought to repentance, we can be sure that
God’s goodness and kindness is the unseen cause behind it. Sinners do not come to Christ by their own
power, but by the good and effectual call of God.
Goodness of God through Baptism
for the
Remission of sins and
receiving the Holy
Spirit
“Then Peter said to them,
‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For this promise is to you and to your children,
and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)
Accept the Goodness
of God with
Thanksgiving
“Oh, that men
would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to
the children of men!” (Psm. 107:8)
May God bless you
A sermon based on this article was preached by Paul Wong
to a
Congregation in
For comments please write first to: arkpw@sbcglobal.net
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Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International. |
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