The Goodness of God

One cannot even begin to fathom the goodness of God. In eternity past, even before a single angel was given existence, God in His triune perfection was ultimately happy and contented. The fellowship that flowed in between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was such that they needed nothing else to complete their utter state of ecstasy. Nothing could be more true as God, being God, cannot improve upon Himself in any way, shape or form.

But why create anything or anyone else? Why fashion the angels, the universe in all its splendor, or man in his feebleness? Why decree the Fall and the consequent disarray that befell the cosmos? Things are so because God is good. We've all heard it before. The concept is trumpeted every where the name of God is named, and yet is it commonly held that "being" is loud evidence of His goodness? Being is better than nothing and the elemental way that God has showcased His goodness is in the act of creation.

But God's goodness does not end in the swirling stars, the majesty of mountains, or the intelligence of man. He is so good that He, wanting a fuller expression of His goodness, hatched the plan of redemption. The second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, through whom the prior manifestation of goodness was made in the created order, was to become man. Man, made in the image of God, was to see, firsthand, how good God can be. In wisdom, God subjected the universe to futility, but this was to be the theater through which the drama of His goodness would be unanimously played out. The eternally-happy, self-sufficient and self-existent God, through Christ, disrobed Himself of His glory and right to "divine comforts" to announce that He is good.

Is this not love? Truly, love has never been so perfectly defined as in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Sit down, get quiet, and ponder upon this truth for a moment. He made all that exists, He made you, and He became like you so that you may know that He is good and that you may share in this goodness in His presence forever. Finite analogies cannot adequately express this wonderful truth, but think of a man becoming the smallest bacetrium, saving the world of bacteria, and choosing to exist as a bacterium forever. Boggles the mind. And yet integrity demands belief for this is what actually happened and history is one's ally in this regard. History screams the goodness of God—and this is true just as much in His salvation as it is in His condemnation.