233 Is God Always Good or is there More? Part 1

Is God Always Good or is There More? This question is motivated by so many situations in the Bible where God comes away looking very rigid and even vindictive. In this episode we lay a firm foundation on the life of Jesus that reveals that God is certainly good from Matthew's perspective. Then we begin to look at three of seven situations where scripture portray the opposite perspective. When looked at more closely we discover a very consistent picture of God and his goodness.

Open Link Below for the PDF document.

SHOW NOTES

The Goodness of God

This chapter will a.irm the Goodness of God against the background of the following 7

incidents: “hating your father,”

“Jacob I have loved, ” Sodom and Gomorrah, the ever-burning fire, the sexual abuse of David’s wives, fire from the sky and the venomous snakes.

God’s goodness

'Cause Your goodness is running after, it's running after me

Your goodness is running after, it's running after me

Your goodness is running after, it's running after me

With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now

I give You everything

'Cause Your goodness is running, it keeps running after me

Jason David Ingram / Brian Johnson / Edmond Martin Cash / Benjamin David

Fielding / Jenn Johnson

Is God good at the centre of His being? Or must we temper God's goodness with his justice as many Christians claim? Is it true that the goodness of God is an extravagant,

overflowing, Amazonian flood of love which deluges all people on the planet as Jesus

claimed (Matthew 5:38-48)? Does God’s goodness consist of essence of his being or is it

one component of his character? Does the best mother's love for her child only faintly

reflect God's love? To answer these questions, we must investigate the witness of the

Scriptures.

Matthew’s Witness

The New Testament presents a unique picture of the goodness of God as demonstrated in the life of Jesus. A brief look at The Gospel of Matthew will more than demonstrate the

goodness of God. . . . He will save His people from their sins (1:21).

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good

news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill

with various diseases, those su.ering severe pain, the demon-possessed, the

epileptics and the paralytics, and He healed them (4:23).

This is the first of ten instances of mass healings by Jesus. There are nine more recorded in Matthew 8:16-17; 9:35-38; 10:1, 8; 11:5; 14:14-15; 14:34-36; 15:30-31; 19:1-2; 21:12-14.

This is the flood of God’s goodness coming to the earth through his beloved Son.The unseen Centurion's servant is healed when the request is made of Jesus (8:5-13).

Peter's mother-in-law is instantly healed of a bad fever (8:14-15), and

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Him, and

He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick (8:16).

Two demon-possessed men of Gadara, probably Gentiles, are delivered (8:28-31).

The paralytic is forgiven of sin and healed (9:1-8).

The healing of the bleeding woman and the raising of the ruler's daughter demonstrates the goodness of Jesus to women too (9:18- 25).

Two blind men's sight is restored (9:27-31).

The dumb are healed, the demon-possessed are delivered (9:32).

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (11:28).

The world had never experienced anything like this before. Jesus brought a flood of

goodness and healing to the people. The newness of the prophetic voice of Jesus was the picture of God's goodness that He brought to this planet.

Forgiveness, in the Old Testament scheme of things, was the consequence of a life filled

with radical repentance, consuming contrition and rising righteousness (Psalms 15, 32,

51). People who were ill or poor were so because they were sinners—was the explanation

popular in Jesus’ day. Those who were healthy and rich were so because they were upright.

It was so simple for the successful and so hopeless for the hurting.

Jesus came and challenged and changed this understanding. He forgave and healed gross sinners without some of them asking for healing. He raised dead people who had never heard of Him, who were not consciously sorry for their sins and did not have faith in Him.

He healed ungrateful lepers. The God He “represented” was unheard of and unimagined.

The grace and mercy Jesus breathed and spoke and lived is the greatest evidence that the God of the Bible is not an invention of some brilliant man's creative mind. No one’s

imagination was large enough to encompass the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

John 3:16-17 NLT “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only

Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God

sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Romans 5:8 NLT But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us

while we were still sinners.2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

But! But! But!

What about the passages in Scripture which seem to portray the very opposite picture of

God. What about the God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? What about the God who sent the Israelites back into the desert for 40 years after the negative report ten spies delivered? What about God destroying everyone with Noah’s flood? What about the genocides commanded by God? Surely we must know how God can claim that he is infinite goodness and yet appear to be complicit in these horrendous acts of violence.

We do not have time and space to answer all the questions that arise but here are a few

case studies that establish the unbelievable love of God for sinners. We make one caveat

before we continue.

First a caveat to help understand the Old Testament. The devil is never mentioned in the

Old Testament. Satan is mentioned in three places, but he is not the devil but a shadowy

figure who served as a prosecutor to expose the truth. This meant all supernatural events, good or bad, were attributed to God by the authors of the Old Testament. One of the reasons the writers made this attribution of bad supernatural events was they we

monotheists surrounded by polytheists and they would have no supernatural being

competing with their powerful, creator God.

Case study 1: Hating your father

When Jesus suggests that it is necessary to “hate your father and mother” (Luke 14:26) to

be his disciple he is making a point about priorities. “Hate,” used in this sense means to

“like less than.” Jesus is saying, unless your love for Me is greater than your love for earthly family and friends you will end up deserting me. Some of the modern translations have captured this meaning and use more literal language.

Luke 14:26 NLT “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate

everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—

yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.

“Hate” has many nuances like hating broccoli. It is the comparison which Jesus is

emphasizing.

Case study 2: Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated (Malachi 1:3)

Paul also uses this statement in Romans 9:13. However, the same Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:4

writes that “it is God's will that all men should come to salvation.” We must have Paulconsistent with himself. In plain language Paul is stating that Jacob loved God and Esau hated God. The Malachi statement indicates foreknowledge or prediction of the choices the brothers would make. It does not indicate that God would cause this di.erence in affection. God did not cause Jacob's love for God and Esau's apathy for God but predicts the choices the sons made.

In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul appeals to his fellow Jews to wake up and accept God'sway of salvation rather than depending on their ancestry, and the supposed predestination of the Old Testament. All Paul is saying in this passage is that in the same godly family it is possible for the children to choose salvation or destruction. It depends on the individual’s choice, not on God's choice.

Case study 3: Sodom and Gomorrah

The explanation for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah given in Isaiah is interesting.

Isaiah 13:19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride,

will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. Babylon was destroyed by the Medes and Persians under the command of Cyrus in 539 B.C.. We would hardly attribute this destruction to God, but Isaiah does. Isaiah further claims that this was the way that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. This does not mean that the Medes and Persians destroyed these cities but rather that they were destroyed by “natural” means. Isaiah hints that we do not know the whole story.

The cause of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction is almost unique indicating that some

natural phenomenon was the cause. The destruction of Pompei is a similar even which was volcanic in origin. It is wiser to say at this point that this could have been a natural disaster that was predicted by the angels who came to visit Abraham.

Case study 4: The Ever-Burning Fire

One passage about the terrible burning fire at the end of the world is found in

Revelation 14:10b-11a: He will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence

of the holy angels and the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and

ever.

The literal meaning of this passage is that "the holy angels and the Lamb" must watch some sort of inquisitorial punishment by fire which lasts for eternity.

Here is the backstory of the metaphor used in this passage. Isaiah 34:9-15 describes how

Edom was to be destroyed in almost the same terms as used in Revelation 14.

Isaiah 34:9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulphur;

her land will become blazing pitch! 10 It will not be quenched night and day; its

smoke will rise for ever. From generation to generation, it will lie desolate; no-one

will ever pass through it again. 11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the

great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the

measuring line of chaos and the plumbline of desolation. 12 Her nobles will have

nothing there to be called a kingdom; all her princes will vanish away. 13 Thorns will

overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a

haunt for jackals, a home for owls. 14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and

wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also repose and find

for themselves places of rest. 15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch

them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons

will gather, each with its mate.

So, Edom’s smoke rises “for ever” but at the same time birds live there. Clearly "eternal

burning" in Hebrew thinking did not mean what it means in our thinking. In their way of

speaking and writing it meant an inescapable fate. The fire could not be put out. Even the

"holy angels and the Lamb," who are present, cannot save one from the consequences

of sin at the end of the world (Revelation 14:11).

While there is a fire at the end of the world it may not be literal since death and the grave

are thrown into it (vs 14). The fire may be symbolic of the destruction and purification of the earth by God's own promise. Who starts the fire? Most Christians assume that it is God. Is this true? For the first time in history, we know that humans can start a nuclear reaction which we might not be able to stop before everyone on the planet is destroyed.

One can, if one is so inclined, take any of the passages which seem to portray God as

harsh, arbitrary and vindictive and reinterpret them in the light of the knowledge that Jesus brought us of how God thinks, feels and acts towards His creation. We do this with a few more case studies.

Case study 5: The Sexual Abuse of David’s Wives

2 Samuel 12:11 This is what the Lord says: “Out of your (David’s) own household I

am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and

give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad

daylight.”

If we take this passage at face value we have a God who can think up this immoral act as a punishment for David's sin. This can hardly be true for a God who has . . . no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5).God is not in the revenge and punishment business. He did not plan to take revenge on David’s adultery by unfairly punishing David’s wives or concubines for David’s sin.

Here is Jesus’ insight into the matter of crime and punishment from God’s character.

Luke 13:1-5 NLT About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some

people from Galilee as they were o.ering sacrifices at the Temple. 2 “Do you think

those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus

asked. “Is that why they su.ered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you

repent of your sins and turn to God. 4 And what about the eighteen people who died

when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in

Jerusalem? 5 No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

When we sin, we open windows through God’s protection, and the inherent consequences of sin and Satan-planned penalties come. A drunken driver opens greater probabilities for disaster than a sober driver. The possible resulting death to a victim is not God’s punishment for some personal or family sin. It is the consequence of an alcohol befuddled brain. Clearly the above passage in 2 Samuel is the writer’s interpretation of why Absolom had intercourse with his father’s wives on the palace roof. It was to consolidate his rebellion, his attempted take-over of political power. This is such an unspeakable act that it is considered supernatural and attributed to God.

Case study 6: Fire from the Sky

Take the herder’s statement in the book of Job. The fire of God fell from the sky. (1:16)

We know from reading the rest of Job chapter one that this fire was engineered by the

Shattan to bring disaster after disaster on Job. In this story the Shattan is doing his best to

show that Job serves God for what he can get out of Him and not for any other reason.

Attributing the fire to God is misinformation and misrepresentation.

When James and John want to call down this same fire on the inhospitable Samaritans

Jesus rebukes them for the spirit in them which proposes such a solution (Luke 9:52-56).

Those who believe that the “fire of God” or “fire from heaven” destroys the wicked at the

end of the millennium (Revelation 20:9) seemed to have forgotten the history of this phrase in the rest of the scriptures. It is simply out of place to make this a literal statement of causation by God.

Case study 7: Did God send Venomous Snakes to Kill the Israelites?

We now consider the venomous snakes in Numbers 21. Parallel passages indicate these

venomous snakes were around the Israelites and when they rebelled they forced away

God’s benevolent protection.

Deuteronomy 8:15 Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its

fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water . . .

There is also a relevant comment in Isaiah 30:6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent.

There were serpents in the wilderness and God had protected them from these. When they rebelled against Moses and Aaron, God’s appointed leaders, they were blaming God for the deaths of their colleagues. This rebellion was respected by God as their choice and he was forced away since his universe is a free society. Then the devil was able to get at the Israelite’s through the serpents.

Here is an insightful comment by Paul on what is happening in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 10:1-11 NLT I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and

sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a

cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry

ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of

Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same

spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and

that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies

were scattered in the wilderness.

6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as

they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people

celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” 8 And we

must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them

to die in one day. 9 Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.

10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed

by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They

were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

The example in this verse, though, comes across more like a mutiny against Moses and

Aaron. The number of those who died in the resulting plague was 14,700.Numbers 16:41–49 But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”

How could the Israelites come to this conclusion when the earth swallowed the rebels?

Apparently, they believed this was a plague on Israel by Moses as he had brought plagues on Egypt.

42 As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned

toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious

presence of the Lord appeared.

43 Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle, 44 and the Lord said to

Moses, 45 “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!” But

Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground.

46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take an incense burner and place burning coals

on it from the altar. Lay incense on it, and carry it out among the people to purify

them and make them right with the Lord. The Lord’s anger is blazing against them—

the plague has already begun.”

47 Aaron did as Moses told him and ran out among the people. The plague had

already begun to strike down the people, but Aaron burned the incense and

purified the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague

stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died in that plague, in addition to those who had died

in the a.air involving Korah.

Here again the work of the destroyer or the angel of death in this plague is attributed to

God.

Conclusion

Since Jesus we know for certain that this was the work of the devil and not of God

John 10:10 NLT The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to

give them a rich and satisfying life.

What will we choose to believe about the goodness of God? That is our choice, and we

must take responsibility for the choice we make. The consequences are certain. If we

believe in a vengeful God we give ourselves licence to be vengeful. The truth about Jesus and His Father sets us free from our own wickedness, that is why the search for truth is so important. It is the best reason to search for truth. The result is beyond joy. It is the "abundant life" (John 10:10) that Jesus came to share.The kindness of God is reflected in many instances in the Old Testament such as Zephaniah 3:17 NLT

For the Lord your God is living among you.

He is a mighty savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

Thus, the goodness of God is revealed. He takes delight in us; he calms our fears and

rejoices over us with joyful songs.

Ian Hartley, November 2025

Luke 9:52-56 NASB1995 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went

and entered a village of the Samaritans to [a]make arrangements for Him. 53 But they

did not receive Him, because [b]He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His

disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire

to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked

them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man

did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another

village.

Ian Hartley, October 2025