To try and start a conversation with strangers about Jesus I would ask how they are. To this, the normal response would be … “I’m good.” Then I would say something like … “That’s awesome. Now there are two of you.” They would query my response to which I would say something like … “The Bible says that only God is good and now you say you are good. That means there are two of you who are good.” Jesus said … and we need to get the context:
Mk 10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”
The self-righteous, rich man called Jesus “good teacher.” Naturally Jesus is good, yet He discredits the young man’s commendation to show him that he (the rich man), seeks a works entry … a good deeds ticket into heaven and the only way to get into heaven is through faith in God. Jesus does this by saying that the only One who is good is God! In other words, the goodness of God is His God-ness and His God-ness points to His goodness in morality as in holiness, righteousness and sinless-ness.
Remember, this young man as well as everyone on the planet, then and now are people who live under the curse caused by the fall. Human nature is depraved in every facet. Yet before the fall everything on the planet was without the curse. Beautiful, pure and gloriously good. So … sometimes starting a conversation as mentioned above opens the door to take it further … in an evangelistic manner. In Genesis chapter one we have the word “good” mentioned seven times. We must get the picture here … God who is holy and pure, righteous and godly looked, saw and pronounced that what He saw was good. He who is alone good pronounced what He saw as He created as good!
(1)
Ge 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Light was good.
(2)
Ge 1:9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Creating seas and dry land on the earth was good.
(3)
Ge 1:11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Creating vegetation, plants and trees on the dry land was good.
(4)
Ge 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Creating the stars (distant suns), the sun and moon with the earth orbiting the sun and the moon orbiting the earth causing day and night was good.
(5)
Ge 1:20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Creating sea creatures and flying creatures was good.
(6)
Ge 1:24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Creating the various animal kingdoms on the earth was good.
(7) After the final step of creation (the human being) we read:
Ge 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
The final act of God’s creation was man and then He surveyed all He made and declared it very good. You have to get the picture here. There were no weeds, no thorns, no death, no decay, no trees shedding leaves or leaves going brown, no harsh sunshine and heat or icy cold weather. Everything about creation was perfect. God created a perfect world. Man was perfect. Sinless and able to meet God in the Garden face to face, to fellowship and enjoy each other in perfect harmony. Perfect harmony is only possible in a sinless environment. Not only was God’s creation good in every way, God blessed three aspects of His creation.
(a)
Ge 1:22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”
(b)
Ge 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
(c)
Ge 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Not only was all of creation very good, God blessed all animal life as well as human life, including the rest day. David Atkinson says … “Blessing in the Bible is a word of vitality, creativity and fulfilment.” See in passages listed as (a) and (b) … be fruitful, increase and fill. God’s blessing was numerical growth to fill the sea, sky and earth. Once creation was completed, both mankind and animals were living in a beautiful place where all things were perfect and where they could reproduce and fill the earth with their kind, with man ruling the planet. The pinnacle of creation, this delightful place was the human race, who would be ruling and caring for the planet for God. Perhaps the cherry on the top of it all was … God visiting man in the garden. As proof of this … and although on the other side of the fall, we read:
Ge 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
God’s literal presence, in some form, perhaps as the pre-incarnate Christ, was the most glorious experience for man. The sinless God walking and talking and fellowshipping with the sinless man. Yes, this was lost … paradise was lost through the fall. Yet in Jesus Christ, man may be reconciled with God and enjoy intimate fellowship by faith as we look forward to being with God in heaven one day. Today we enjoy a rest day called the Lord’s Day where we fellowship with God and His people, loving, worshipping and enjoy Him and each other. Yet on the other side of death we shall enjoy and eternal rest … in God’s presence. This rest shall be worship, praise and adoration in holy intimacy.
O God, our Lord and King, how we through the eye of faith look forward to being in your heaven, worshipping You in the splendor of Your holiness. Amen.