"GOD IS GREAT: GOD IS GOOD!"

The Greatness of God was the principal consideration of people in ancient times. Many nations, in many ages demonstrated this fact by their erection of colossal statues and massive temples. His marvelous greatness was personified by Strength, but soon the disgusting carnal men’s reason caused them to admire His Strength under the names of Hercules, Atlas, Baal, Bramah, Thor, etc. This admiration of Strength resulted in Adoration, and soon, every strong man was regarded as peculiarly favored by the gods. Hence arose the legends of giants.

The Adoration of Strength was not long in becoming Sensuous, but Sensuality naturally produced Fear, and this, in turn, resulted in Worship. It is an unhealthy environment when brute force is idolized amidst the spirit of fear because it produces a "bully" complex and some seize upon the faintheartedness of others for exploitation. The result was the incorporation of temple prostitution, homosexuality, and beastiality, and culminating in human sacrifices. Hence, the ancient Egyptians sacrificed their children to crocodiles to appease Osiris, while the Canaanites roasted their children as sacrifices unto Moloch. The ancient Hawaiians threw the village strongman or the most beautiful woman into a volcano in order to appease the volcano god. The Chinese and Egyptians would bury alive as many as two hundred servants of a deceased master. The Aztecs and Mayas performed human sacrifices as part of their idolatrous worship, and while the Incas tore the hearts from their live sacrificial victims, many tribes of American Indians as well as some tribes among the ancient Europeans practiced cannibalism.

The deification of Strength cast such an unholy fear into men that they stooped to inflict themselves with pain believing the strength to endure tortures such as lying upon beds of nails, making long pilgrimages, or the enduring of lengthy fasts, even of suffering suicide appease the Great, Awesome God. The eyes of men had a natural veil which would not allow them to see that though God is Great; God is also Good! Perfect happiness is to be found in Him, and if searched for elsewhere will be searched for in vain. As Augustine prayed, "Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee!"

God is the Fountain of all that is Good. In fact, the German word "Gott" and "Godt" are derived from the Arabic word "goda" meaning "Good." Our English word "God" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word, "good." James reminds us "Every good gift and every perfect gift is

from above, and cometh down from the Father o£ Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (1:17) God is Good in the highest possible degree--Good beyond all comprehension, transcending even our imagination. He is absolutely free from any Moral imperfection.

The Goodness of God can be seen in His Merciful care of His creatures, for "He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills, They give drink to every beast of the field... He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man... The trees of the Lord are full of sap: the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted, where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies... Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God... These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them meat in due season. That Thou givest them, they gather; Thou openest Thine hand, they filled with Good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled; Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face o£ the earth." And, "He maketh His sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good, and sendest rain on the Just and on the Unjust." --(Psalm 104:10,11,14, 16-18,20,21,27-30;Matthew 5:45)

In His Goodness, God made man not after the image of the created angels, but in His own image and after His own likeness. God brought the gift of Salvation to men, and while withholding it from angels, woos the sons of men by His Irresistible Grace. He even sends men forth with the news of His Salvation, and calls upon them to Repent.

God is Good, for when man was polluted in his own corruption, He stooped to heal whom He would, and to carry away their diseases and their sorrows. In spite of long and continuing disobedience He daily postponed the justice which continually cried out to be satisfied, until He interposed His precious blood, thus making peace between man and God.

The Goodness of God is evidenced by what He has done for He looked upon all He had made and behold, it was Very Good. Only a Good God would do Good Things.

God is Good in what He does. Oh! What needless pain we bear! How much unnecessary Frustration, Complaining and Heartache we carry simply because we forget that "God is Good!" The Wicked prospers but for a moment and then suffer eternally: the Saints of God suffer but for a moment, then enjoy Prosperity eternally. But no man can realize the Goodness of God if He does not know himself to be Forgiven, Cleansed and Adopted by God. God is Good, for when men confess and forsake their sins they are crowned with Righteousness, Heart Integrity, and everlasting Life.

God is Good in what He wants. He does not desire us to give the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul. (Micah 6:7) He does not desire us to give our bodies to be burned. Neither does He ask us to torture ourselves, nor to be sorrowful, nor bowed down with shame. But as our earthly fathers have known how to give us good gifts, so it is our Heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give us His Kingdom. Though no chastening is pleasant for the moment, we are to rejoice, for it is designed for our good!

God is Great, and God is Good. He is Great in His Goodness, and He is Good in His Greatness.

JANUARY

1, 1855 --Scotland. On the first page of the New Testament he begins to use today, Brownlow North writes, "B. North, a man whose sins crucified the Son of God." He will become a fervent revivalist of the Free Church of Scotland and will be greatly used in the revival in Ireland in 1859 and in that in Scotland in 1860.

1, 1946 --Japan. The Emperor of Japan formally declares in an edict, "I am not a living deity" thereby dealing a mortal blow to Shintoism, the state religion of Japan. It taught the Emperor is the incarnation of the Sun Goddess.

3, 1705 --Ireland. In the county of Antrim, William Tennent II is born. As a young man while preparing for his examination prior to his being licensed to preach, he will become ill and lapse into a trance for three days. His friends, sure of his death, will be at the point of burying him, even though his physician protests, when suddenly he will revive. Though he will gain his health in a year, he will lose all knowledge of reading and writing as well as all previous learning. Soon after this time, his knowledge will rapidly increase. He will write, "For three years, the sense of Divine things continued so great and everything else so completely vain, when compared to Heaven, that could I have had the world for stooping down for it, I believe I should not have thought of doing it." He is a brother to Gilbert, John and Charles.

4, 1866 --Scotland. James Chalmers sails with his wife for New Guinea aboard the John Williams. He will soon write of natives wearing human jawbones on their arms. On one occasion, Mrs. Chalmers will be offered a gift of part of a man’s chest already cooked. She will remain only two years before going to Australia to rest. She will die there in 1879. Mr. Chalmers will be invited to preach in temples lined with human skulls --the remnants of feasts and human sacrifices. Here He will often preach all night.

8, 1664 --France. At Saumur, Moise Amyraut (Lat. Moses Amyraldus) dies. He has succeeded Jean Daille and has gained wide attention for what is known as "hypothetical universalism." Though opposing Arminianism, he has taught God wills all men to be saved on condition they believe; but that owing to Original Sin, they stubbornly reject. He has clung tenaciously to the atonement of Christ as being effectual only for the elect. Because Louis Cappel, a colleague, denies the verbal inspiration of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament; and La Place, another professor here, rejects the Immediate Imputation of Adam’s sin as arbitrary and unjust, the school is becoming distrusted.