The Goodness and Severity of God

The fundament and foundational revelation in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is that God is, and that He is good; that it is His essential and unchangeable nature to be gracious and kind – compassionate and caring – generous and patient – merciful and just (Exodus 34:5-7). And thus, all of His actions, all of His laws and commandments, all of His exceeding great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:2-4), all of His communications and expressions of Himself in, to and through His creation are expressions of the glory of His goodness (Romans 11:33-36). This includes expressions of His wrath and judgment against sinful men and women who have rejected His good purpose for and rule over their lives, who in doing so have slandered His glory and brought disorder, corruption, misery and death into His good and perfect creation.

The Bible has much to say, much to commend to us the goodness of God, that we would trust and rejoice in Him alone as the source and substance of all that would bring lasting joy and delight, pleasure and prosperity to the human soul and experience.

In the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, we see that all God created, including and especially man, was created to reveal and magnify the glory of His goodness.  As Creator, He in Himself is the standard and measure, the definer, the source and substance of all that is good – of all that can and will satisfy the deepest needs and desires of our hearts and fulfill the most noble longings of our soul.

James 1:17 tells us that everything good, everything consistent with God’s holy and righteous nature that enlightens and entertains our minds, delights our bodies and satisfies our soul is from above, coming to us as a good and gracious gift from the “Father of lights”, who is always and, in every way, good to us.  Every meal, every prized possession, every job, every paycheck. every moment of health and safety, everything that brings us legitimate pleasure and delight, every sweet kiss between a husband and wife, every child born, every sinful word or action for which God does not immediately kill us and send us to Hell, everything that enriches and sustains our life in this world is a divine gift, given to point us to the giver of that gift, the author and source of all good, namely God (Mark 10:18).

King David, who God referred to as a man after His own heart, wrote extensively on the goodness of God (Psalm 34:8) (Psalm 84:11) (100:5) (Psalm 107:1).  In Psalm 119:68, King David proclaims to God the excellence of God’s being and the benevolence of His actions when he writes “you are good and do good”.

In 2 Chronicles 6:41, King David’s son Solomon, in his prayer dedicating the glorious temple built to represent God’s benevolent presence with the people of Israel prays, “Let your saints/people rejoice in your goodness”.

Psalm 145 expansively summarizes what is revealed throughout the whole of scripture regarding the goodness of God.  It was written by King David as a song of praise and adoration to God, emphasizing the various aspects of His goodness as they had been revealed to David’s heart and mind by the Spirit of God through the word of God, as well as in David’s innumerable personal experiences of God’s goodness, mercy and grace toward him throughout his life.

The Psalm emphasizes God’s common grace – His free and universal expression of His goodness to all mankind and to all of His creation in the daily providences of life which make Him alone worthy of the praise and adoration of all of His creation.

In Psalm 145:18-20, David speaks to God’s covenantal goodness – His everlasting goodness that is promised to those who love Him above all else; those who have entrusted their lives to His abundant goodness and amazing grace as it was offered and displayed to Israel under the Old Covenant, and as it is most clearly and comprehensively offered and displayed in the person and work of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, in the New Covenant.

However, in Psalm 145:21 we come to a verse where it appears that King David is extolling the goodness of God’s severity, of His judgement on the wicked.  And the question we should ask is who are these wicked that God will destroy, who will ultimately be excluded from His goodness, and subject to His wrath – forever?

In Romans 11 we have the Apostle Paul explaining why Israel, God’s so called chosen people, have been cut off from God’s covenantal goodness and made objects of His severity – His righteous judgement. It was essentially because of their unbelief, their lack of faith in His goodness as it was revealed to them in the covenant promises of a Messiah and in the fulfillment of that promise in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

However, this unbelief in the goodness of God is not just Israel’s sin, but the sin of all mankind, sin that has brought us all under the severity of God’s just judgement.  Beginning with Adam, we all have denied, despised and disdained to various degrees the goodness of God, either seeing ourselves as the ultimate source of our good (pride), or pursuing something or someone in the creation (idolatry) as such (Genesis 3:4-5) (Romans 1:18 – 24).

We escape the severity of this judgement and become heirs of eternal life, of God’s everlasting blessedness, when we repent of our unbelief and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:14-15), the good news of what God, in the ultimate expression of His goodness, has done in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ to save us from His wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10), and continue in our faith in His goodness (Romans 11:22).

Grace and Peace ×