The Bible reveals that “In the beginning” everything that God created of nature, from the stars in the heavens to the fish in the sea “was good”. Upon His subsequent creation of the first man and woman in His image and likeness with His righteous nature and character, to rule over and enjoy all that He had made, He proclaimed all of His creation to be very good (Genesis 1:31), meaning that all that He made was perfectly fit to fulfill the purpose for which He created it, namely His Glory (Psalm 19:1-6) (Isaiah 43:7). When the Bible speaks of God’s Glory it is speaking to the infinite perfections of His majestic being, which includes, but is not limited to the beauty of His holiness, the excellence of His infinite wisdom, the awesomeness of His majestic power, the splendor of His abundant goodness and amazing grace that was to be displayed to, and imaged, praised and enjoyed by mankind in loving intimate relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and one another, such that God would enjoy us enjoying Him under His loving authority, forever (Zephaniah 3:17) (Isaiah 16:11).
However, the Bible as well as human history reveal that the world we live in and the people who inhabit this world, display and enjoy little of the glory inherent in the original creation, which God had blessed and proclaimed to be very good. The Bible reveals the reason for this is sin, mankind’s rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our lives (Romans 3:23). Sin, as God promised, would result in death (Romans 5:12), in our being cut off, separated from the glorious life and relationship with God for which we were created (Isaiah 59:2). In righteous judgement, God would give us over to the wicked and evil impulses and deceitful lusts of our sin corrupted hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) (Romans 1:24-25), destined for an eternity of shame and torment in the presence of God and the holy angels (Daniel 12:2) (Revelation 14:9-11).
All of our grievous social, physical, mental/emotional and moral ills – all of the sorrows and bitter tragedies that mark this world and our lives, all of the hostility in nature toward man unleashed by mankind’s hostility toward God (Genesis 3:17-19), has resulted in untold misery and death throughout the ages. And despite man’s prideful efforts to control and overcome what we believe to be the sources of these miseries, we continue in them with the only end in sight for each of us being death and God’s final judgment on our life (Hebrews 9:27), and God’s final fiery judgement on this sin cursed planet and universe (2 Peter 3:7-11).
The Bible makes it very clear that despite the desperate and dire condition of both our souls and our planet, and our horrific future destiny, there is little we individually or as a race can do about it, except to make ourselves comfortable while we are here (Ecclesiastes 8:14-15), enjoying what, because of our sin, is destined to be our best life now.
Man’s inability to do anything to save ourselves (and our planet) from this desperate and dire condition is confirmed throughout the Bible (Isaiah 64:5-7). It is attested to by the following truths:
- That our heart, the very core of our being is deceitful and desperately wicked, such that the thoughts and imaginations that proceed from our heart are only evil continually, leading to our destructive, sinful behaviors that bring eternal ruin to our soul (Jeremiah 17:9) (Genesis 6:5) (Mark 7:17-23).
- That our sinful, depraved, helpless condition is universal and all inclusive; that there are none righteous, no not one, there are none that seek after (the One true) God, there are none who does good, no not even one (Romans 3:9-11).
- That we are slaves to our sin, slaves to the foolish and destructive lusts that lead to our sin and govern our lives in this world, as we have assumed the nature and character of the one who the Bible reveals as the god of this world, the devil, whose will we want to do as opposed to God’s (John 8:34) (John 8:42-44) (1 John 2:16-17).
- That we willingly suppress the truth of the knowledge of the glory of God, as we are enthralled by our worldly idols, loving the spiritual darkness that keeps us from seeing the glory of God as it is revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and through faith in Him, be saved (Romans 1:18-25) (John 3:19-20) (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).
- That in our fallen, sinful condition we are both unwilling and unable to understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14), and thus we see the message of the cross, the revelation of what God has done to save and redeem us from our dire and desperate condition, as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18).
The bad news of our desperate and dire condition is summarized in Ephesians 2:1-4, where we learn that we are dead (spiritually) in our trespasses and sins, under the influence of the one referred to as the prince of the power of the air (the devil), who enflames our lusts and promotes our disobedience to God, which results in our coming under the eternal judgement and wrath of God. Thankfully, however, this is followed by the most glorious, most important, most precious phrase in the Bible, But God!!!
This transitional phrase begins the good news, the Gospel, the revelation of God’s great love revealed in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ, by whom He rescues sinful men and women from the Hell we deserve and qualifies and makes us fit for Heaven, which in ourselves we could never deserve ((John 3:16).
And it begins with the eternal truth of God being “rich in mercy”, such that He can and will abundantly pardon men of their rebellion, their cosmic treason against the Creator and sovereign ruler of the universe and restore them to the glorious relationship with Him for which man was created. In Micah 7:18 we are told that He delights in doing so.
God’s merciful nature is most clearly expressed in the Apostle Paul’s letter to his apprentice Titus, where Paul instructs him as follows: “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 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 (Titus 3:1-7).
I will continue, God willing, in my next post to examine the richness of God’s saving mercy as described in this passage and how we receive and then display it in our lives for the purpose He grants it – His glory.
Grace and Peace ×
Outstanding article. What a great reminder that we can’t work our own plan. But Jesus paid it all. . We by faith reach out to the great Saviour