The Goodness of God

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Sep 6, 1883

The Goodness of God.

"GOD IS LOVE." He is the same from everlasting to everlasting. With him "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Jas. 1:17. It is a serious mistake, into which many have fallen, to suppose that God has changed with the changes of man's relation to his Government; that he is different either in purpose or disposition in the fall of man, or in the changes of dispensations, from what he was from the remotest ages of eternity. Many speak as if God were only a cool debliberator in the work of creation, having no deep and earnest feelings of sympathy and love for his creatures; that he was but a rigid lawgiver in the Levitical dispensation; and that he manifested himself as love only in the gospel dispensation. Nothing could present a greater misrepresentation of the character of God than such a view as that. He has uttered words of strong reproof to those who think that he is such an one as themselves. Ps. 50:21. And in nothing is this error committed more than in representing him as changeable in character, in purpose, and in feeling.

God is love; he always was love. All his works have been and are done in love. When man sinned, it was the same that prompted his creation that prompted the institution of means for his redemption. The promise was made that the seed of the woman—who had been beguiled to her ruin—should bruise the head of the serpent, her deceiver. And from that time the loving Father multiplied instruction to lead the race into the knowledge of the great plan which he had devised to destroy the enemy and his works, and to restore man to the position unto which the Lord had appointed him in the beginning. And thenceforth the hope was held out in signs and symbols, in types and figures, of the coming of the hope of the world, the Anointed One. The altar, the sacrifice, the prophet, the priest, and the king, all announced, and all likewise represented, the promised Messiah.

And when the nations were multiplied, and all had chosen their own way,—"did not like to retain God in their knowledge,"—his love still followed them. He separated Abraham and his seed from the nations, to make them the special depositaries of his truth, missionaries to the world, the people among whom his knowledge might be perpetuated, and among whom the Lord's Christ should be revealed. With much anxiety this "chosen people" looked forward to the time when the Deliverer should appear. All their service took character from this hope: "Christ shall come;" the Lord's Anointed shall be revealed. This was the watchword of Israel through the ages.

But with the passing of centuries they grew weary of waiting. Many times they turned to their own way, and God left them to the power of their foes. Many calamities befell them. And when the "nation of fierce countenance" (Deut. 28:50) overflowed the land, they, as the nations around them, made an alliance with the conquering power, in hope of finding that peace and security for which they had not faith and patience to wait in the fulfullment of God's all-wise plan. God had purposed that Israel should "not be reckoned among the nations;" Num. 23:9. And so it was that the tie unto which they had consented became irksome. That to which they looked for relief became a burden. In their sorrow they longed exceedingly for deliverance, and came at length to make freedom from the Roman yoke the chief end of Messiah's coming—the object of their hopes and the burden of their prayers. As their hope degenerated to a worldly object, they became worldly in their religion. They longed for the restoration of the kingdom, but it must be by methods of their choosing, or in a way to gratify their ambitious desires. The Roman yoke was heavy upon them; but the bondage of sin, the corruptions of a fallen nature, and the carnal heart, they did not feel.

But God did not leave himself without witnesses. He gave abundant evidence of the time, and the nature of the work to be accomplished by the coming of his Son. Born in obscurity, not as the kings of the earth, not in a manner to meet the minds of the ambitious and the worldly, Jesus had yet a heavenly host to herald his advent, and to sing, "Glory to God in the highest," over his despised birth-place. Holy, waiting ones were inspired to announce that the infant Jesus was the hope of Israel, and a great prophet. John the Baptist was specially commissioned to formally present him to the people, and to declare that in his day the axe was laid at the root of the tree, and that the fruit of righteousness was required in order to find acceptance with the Lord and his Anointed.

In due time he appeared before the people. Instead of seeking the display and pomp of power, he was meek and lowly, and announced that the kingdom of Heaven was for the poor in spirit; and that such righteousness as that possessed by the scribes and Pharisees (who were reverenced of all the people for their supposed sanctity), gave no title to it. He told them that exalted positions in the church, a desire to be counted scrupulously pious, already have their reward in the praise of men, which they are seeking, and that they could not believe in him while they received honor one of another, and sought not that honor which comes from God.

To us in this day it looks marvelous that, with the prophecies so plainly pointing to his coming; with inspired ones then living who declared he was the salvation of God, the hope of Israel; with the testimony of John (in whose light they for a time rejoiced) that Jesus was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world; with the witness of the Spirit, which rested visibly upon him at his baptism; with the testimony of the Father speaking from Heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son; with the evidence of his own miracles, which seemed to put all doubt out of question,—we say it looks marvelous that Israel, the church of God, his own chosen people, should shut their eyes against all these evidences, and reject him, and even demand his shameful death. It shows the great danger of perverting or neglecting the words of the prophets, and of lowering our religion to a worldly plane so that it shall embrace exalted position in this world.

By wicked hands he was crucified and slain. In the bitterness of their disappointment his disciples, despised of men and fearing for their own lives, forgot the words of the prophets, and the instruction they had received from their beloved Teacher. Their hope was gone. He whom they had trusted should redeem Israel, lie in the grave.

"But God raised him from the dead." Acts 13:30. With a revival of their joy in his presence, their hope was revived in the immediate restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Acts 1:6. But they were told that they must wait; that they must be his witnesses to all nations to gather out a people to the glory of his name. And he was parted from them, and returned to his Father in Heaven. Then was renewed by heavenly messengers the promise which he had made to them, that, after he has prepared mansions for them in his Father's house, he will come again and receive them unto himself. From that time his second advent was, to his longing people, "the blessed hope." Titus 2:13. It was their hope of salvation. Heb. 9:28. They looked forward to it as the time when they shall appear with him in glory. Col. 3:4. When they shall be like him, and see him as he is. 1 John 2:4. When they shall receive a crown of life. 1 Pet. 5:4. When they shall put on immortality and triumph over death and the grave. 1 Cor. 15:51-55. When they shall be restored to the sweet companionship of their loved ones who had fallen asleep. 1 Thess. 4:13-18. And to "love his appearing" was made an assurance of receiving "a crown of righteousness." 2 Tim. 4:8. All hope, all joy, all glory, clustered around the promise of his "second advent."

But strange things were revealed to them. They were told that there would be an apostasy, and the church would go into a wilderness state; that not only by the irreligious and the profane, but by those professing to be his own church should his true disciples be persecuted unto death. And though "for the elect's sake" he would hold the persecution within bounds, and cause the truth to greatly triumph in the earth, yet even "in the last days" there will be such a declension from the paths of genuine piety that the love of many will wax cold, Matt. 24:12, and the power of godliness will be very generally denied by those who have its form; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; that they would join with the world, even worse than did the scribes and Pharisees at the first advent, for they led only a cold and formal church, but here a cold and formal church will not only seek to be exalted in the present world, but will "eat and drink with the drunken," and join the profane in scoffing at the doctrine of the coming of the Lord. Matt. 24:48-51; 2 Pet. 3:3, 4. Oh, sad day of formality and sin! Oh, unhappy church of God! to put away "the blessed hope;" to smite those who watch and wait for the coming of their Lord and who faithfully proclaim it "near, even at the doors," Matt. 24:32, 33; who suffer that day to come upon them as a thief because they do not love his appearing.

But the mercies of God are unfailing. His word of truth is as firm as his eternal throne. Though all men should deny him he cannot deny himself. "God is love." He is long-suffering, not wishing that any should perish (Revised Version), but that all should come to repentance. 2 Pet. 3:9. He has never done any great work for or among his people "but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. He has never brought sore judgments upon the earth without sending a warning and giving the inhabitants a chance to escape. It was so in the time of the flood; so in the case of Egypt; so with Nneveh; so with the nation of Israel, whom he would gladly have saved from ruin; and so it will be in the last days. He has commanded that an alarm shall be sounded before the great day of the Lord shall come. Joel 2:1. Messiah gave signs which should precede his second coming, whereby we may know when it is near, even at the doors. Matt. 24. He has revealed to his people that although the wicked will not understand (Dan. 12:4), and that day shall come as a thief upon the world and a world-loving church, even as the flood came unawares to those who did not accept the warning, his watching ones shall not be in darkness that that day shall come upon them as a thief. 1 Thess. 5:1-4.

As in the case of the first advent, so in that of the second. The Lord institutes sufficient means to warn the world, and so to leave all without excuse, and to comfort his people—to fortify them against the prevailing deceptions of Satan, to purify them, and to prepare them for translation. He gives them a series of messages, the last one the most stirring, the most terrible in its terms that the children of men ever heard or will hear. To his own chosen ones he reveals a plain duty, a shield from the coming wrath. Rev. 14:6-12. And because there is a time of trouble coming, such as never was since there was a nation, Dan. 12:1, with the special duty he bestows a most gracious favor—such as he bestowed at the first advent—to prepare his people for his appearing, he grants them "the testimony of Jesus," which is "the Spirit of prophecy." Rev. 12:17; 19:10. This was greatly needed at the first advent; much more will it be needed before the second. At his first advent he came to offer himself a ransom for the world, and to enter upon his work of intercession for man. At his second advent he will have left the throne of his priesthood, finished his work of intercession, and will come to redeem only those who are fully prepared, and to take vengeance upon the ungodly. Before he ceases his work of intercession, his people will need a special work done for them, Rev. 7:1-3; they will need the Spirit's gifts and power, to unite their hearts and their faith, to shield them from the power of Satan, and to be a "covering" in the time when the wrath of God in the seven last plagues is manifested. Rev. 14:9-12; 15:1-5. The long-suffering of God has long waited; his loving-kindness has been long insulted. Justice cannot always stay; blasphemers cannot always provoke him with impunity. But his "little flock" will be kept in the time of trouble.

Ever since the last message of Rev. 14 has been going to the world—the message which brings to light the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and which immediately precedes the coming of the Son of man to reap the harvest of the earth, Rev. 14:9-14—this most needed gift (1 Cor. 14:1-4), "the Spirit of prophecy," has accompanied its proclamation. Thousands now living joyfully attest how precious it has been to them in their pilgrimage; and some have fallen asleep who passed away blessing God for the privilege given to the "remnant" of keeping the commandments of God, and having the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 12:17.

There could seem to be no question as to how we shall receive that which God in mercy bestows. But he has spoken directly on that point to those who are waiting for his Son from Heaven. 1 Thess. 4 and 5.