Confession is good for the soul. I do not have answers to many questions including the following: What is the origin of life? What is the relationship between divine sovereignty and quantum indeterminism? Why does God allow evil? Why are there so many different Christian interpretations? Why is loving others often so difficult? Do we have any dating advice for hermaphrodites? What is the cosmos expanding into?, etc.

In this article, I would like to answer just one question: “What does Matthew 18:20 mean?”

The Bible is a gift to us from God. Understanding the cultural, historical, and grammatical issues that go into biblical interpretation can be challenging at times. “Ignoring the Context” is perhaps the most common mistake when it comes to misused or misinterpreted Bible passages.

Matthew 18: 15-20 perscribes confrontational process for dealing with conflict within the church. Most of us do not want to deal with any church conflicts. Matthew 18:19-20 seem to say that God will do anything that two or more believers agree should be done. But that is not true. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus said: “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20 seems to tell us that Jesus will be wherever two or three believers gather in his name.

I wish we could understand Matthew 18:20 at face value—that Jesus will be there when two or more believers get together. Many people have used this Bible verse out of context. For a long time, I myself have taken Matthew 18:20 out of context by saying that, “Jesus will be spiritually present wherever two or three believers gather in his name.” We often hear Matthew 18:20 used in churches in this way: “God, we thank you that when two or more are gathered in your name you are with us. Our congregation is small, but we can thank you for your presence”.

It sounds very nice. But consider this: If God is only with us when two or more believers are gathered, what about when I pray alone? We know that whenever the church worships God, Jesus is there. We also know that anytime a believer prays privately Jesus is there too. So that brings the question: is this Bible verse even about prayer?

In order to understand exactly what Jesus means in Matthew 18:20 we have to look at the context. The surrounding verses are about sin and discipline in the church (Matthew 18:15-17). Matthew 18:18 gives assurance that, when the process of church discipline is followed, God is working in it.  And then, Matthew 18:19-20 gives a final assurance.

The context of “where two or three come together in my name” has to do with church discipline and the confrontation of the sinning Christian brother. According to Matthew 18:16, we need “two or three witnesses” to make an accusation. It seems that the mention of “two or three” in Matthew 18:20 echoes that principle; the “two or three” are confronting sin in the church. In other words, the two or three who gather in Jesus’ name are not coming together in a prayer meeting or a worship service but in a matter of church discipline. Jesus is with us in the whole process of church discipline.

In conclusion, we must not use Matthew 18:20 to comfort ourselves when our church attendance is low. Also, we must not forget that Jesus is present with us always. 

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First, look to creation. Life does not appear out of nothing from non-life. The universe exists. Who created the universe? The universe had a beginning. God is revealed in nature. Nature is not God, but God is the Creator of nature and reveals himself through nature.

Psalm 19: 1 tells us: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Nature shows the greatness of God. The more we learn about the universe, the more we can see the work of God.

Romans 1: 20 also tells us that a basic understanding of God can be gained from the natural world. We call this general revelation. This points us to God as Creator. Have you considered the following: twenty-nine percent of earth’s surface is covered by land while seventy-one percent by water? If the percentages were reversed, we would burn up and die. The planet earth rotates at about 1,038 miles per hour. If we rotated at 100 miles per hour, our days and nights would be ten times longer. It would be impossible for humans to live like that.

Second, look into our own conscience. Humans have “moral awareness” or “moral consciousness.” The conscience reacts when one’s actions, thoughts, and words conform to, or are contrary to, a standard of right and wrong. Romans 2: 15 tells us: “since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.” In other words, our own hearts tell us there is a God whose law is written on our conscience, and we have broken that law and we know it.

Third, look to the Bible. God exists because the Bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1: 1). We can know God through the revelation he has given us in the Bible. God has told us many things about himself, about humans, and about the universe that he has made.

Jesus tells his disciples in the upper room that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth (John 16: 13a). Because of the Spirit’s work through the disciples, we have his record: the New Testament. We should study the New Testament to know Jesus better. Jesus reveals who God is (Hebrews 1: 3a).

Jesus and his followers pointed us to the Jewish Scriptures as a reliable revelation of who God is. Modern followers of Jesus believe that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament (Matthew 5:17). The Bible (Old and New Testament) is about Jesus and he is its fulfillment in all ways.

Fourth, look to Jesus. In John 8: 19b Jesus said: “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” You would know who God is. Why? Because Jesus said in John 10: 30, “I and the Father are one.” It was a bold statement. The Father and Jesus are united in will and purpose.

Was Jesus telling the truth? We can know that Jesus was telling the truth by getting to know him. We can read the four accounts of his life and teachings called the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus was with God in the beginning (John 1: 1). In Jesus we see what God is like.

How can we know God? Creation, conscience, the Bible, and Jesus all point us to God. God is a Spirit. He is in a different dimension. He is in a different realm of reality. It is not enough to know only the Creator. We must know God as our Lord and Saviour. Knowing God is only the beginning of the Christian life. It is a lifelong pursuit.

God is God; we are not God. We will never become God. Because God is infinite and we are finite, we can never arrive at a complete understanding of God. We will never know all things about God. The Christian life is a journey. It is one in which we continually seek to know God in deeper ways. We walk through life with God. We talk to God. We worship God. We listen to God speaking through the Bible. We should be growing in our knowledge of God through our entire lives. God lives among us and within us. Let us thank God for our special relationship with him!

For those who would like to know more about God, please read Professor Millard J. Erickson’s book called God the Father Almighty, Baker Books, 1998.

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Due to a severe famine, Abraham’s grandson Jacob moved his entire family from Canaan to Egypt. They remained there for the next 400 years. God raised up a prophet named Moses to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt and back to Canaan. After wandering for 40 years in the wilderness, Moses’ successor, Joshua, led the people into the Promised Land. 

Parts of the Promised Land were never conquered, and the Israelites mingled with the Canaanites, often absorbing their heathen ways. By the time of the Judges, Israel had turned far from God. Only a faithful few, like Deborah and Barak, were strong enough in their faith to lead the nation (Judges 4-5). The time of the Judges was a dark period (about 400 years). But a few bright spots shone out of this period, such as the story of a loyal girl named Ruth (The Book of Ruth).

After the first king Saul died in battle (I Samuel 31), David became king of Judah (1010-970 B.C.), and Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth became king of Israel (II Samuel 2:1-11). But two years later Ish-Bosheth was murdered and the people of Israel joined in making David king of all the nation. After that, David captured Jerusalem and made it his capital (II Samuel 5:1-16; I Chronicles 11:1-9).

David had been a great warrior and had brought peace to the land by military might. Solomon’s way to keep peace was to marry the princesses of surrounding nations. Foreign princesses brought their foreign gods with them. Solomon allowed his people to worship foreign gods. Eventually, Solomon turned far from God himself (I Kings 11; II Chronicles 9:29-30). After he died, the land split into two kingdoms in 931 B.C. Both kingdoms had a succession of many kings, mostly evil.

Finally, God brought the Assyrian nation upon Israel in judgment. By 722 B.C. the Assyrians had swept down into Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and had conquered it. They destroyed Samaria, Israel’s capital city, and took its important people back to Assyria as captive (II Kings 18). Later, God brought the nation of Babylon against Judah in judgment. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, fell in 586 B.C. at the hands of the Babylonians.

Assyria was the great world power until 612 B.C. Then Babylon ruled as the world power until 539 B.C. when Cyrus the Great, king of the Persian Empire, conquered it. Cyrus ruled the Persian Empire for nine more years until he died in 530 B.C., with Darius the Mede ruling the first two years for him. During those nine years he permitted about 50,000 Jews to return to their homeland and lay the foundation of the Temple.

During the reign of Cyrus’ son, Cambyses II (530-522 B.C.), work on the Temple was stopped. But when Darius I became king in 522 B.C. he permitted the work on the Temple to continue. During his reign Haggai and Zechariah ministered to the Jews. By 515 B.C. the Temple was completed by Zerubbabel.

When Darius I died in 486 B.C. his son Xerxes became king of the Persian Empire and ruled until 465 B.C. He married Esther in 481 B.C. (The Book of Esther). Then Artaxerxes I ruled the Persian Empire from 464-424 B.C. Ezra went to Jerusalem in 458 B.C. The Temple had been rebuilt. Now Ezra taught the Law of God and ended the people’s pagan marriages. Nehemiah went to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls. He worked on the walls about 445 B.C. (Nehemiah 1).

God spoke to the people of Israel through the prophets, and Malachi, the last one, spoke about 400 years before the arrival of John the Baptist. In other words, God was silent for 400 years.

The Old Testament tells us that there would be a coming Messiah. But when the Messiah came, his own people rejected him (John 1:10-11). Apart from faith in the Messiah, no one truly knows God.

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Karl Barth (1886-1968) was a Swiss Reformed theologian. The evening before his death on December 10, 1968, he had encouraged his lifelong friend Eduard Thurneysen that he should not be downhearted, “For things are ruled, not just in Moscow or in Washington or in Peking, but things are ruled—even here on earth—entirely from above, from heaven above.” (“Biography/Centre for Barth Studies, April 23, 2016). Dr. Barth told us that God is in charge.

God created everything (Genesis 1:1). He is in control of all things, including our successes and failures. The universe is not governed by chance or fate. Nothing in the universe occurs without God’s permission directly or indirectly. Let me explain this by telling the life story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50). Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob. His dreams of greatness offended his brothers. His own brothers sold him into slavery to a caravan headed for Egypt. God allowed the brothers the freedom to sin.

In Egypt, Joseph was falsely accused and sent to prison. In prison, Joseph interpreted the dreams of two prisoners accurately. This led Pharaoh to ask Joseph to interpret his two dreams about cows and ears of grain. Joseph was able to tell Pharaoh that the two dreams were foretelling seven fat years, followed by seven lean years. He advised Pharaoh to appoint a wise person to accumulate food during the fat years for rainy days. Pharaoh appointed Joseph to that position. Please note that Joseph gave God the glory for his ability to interpret dreams.

When the famine hit, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain. Later, Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers. Then, he invited his brothers to bring Jacob and the entire family to Egypt, settling in Goshen, a fertile land in the Nile delta. They were able to live according to their cultural heritage. Then, Jacob died.

Joseph suffered a lot in his lifetime in a foreign country. He remained faithful to God. He trusted God completely. He lived in active dependence on God. Through the 23 years in a pagan country before his brothers came, he kept the faith and trusted God. He was able to forgive his brothers for their evil deed. He said to them: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

Genesis 50:20 documents the conclusion of Joseph’s life. God takes that which is meant for harm and uses it for our good and his glory. God allowed Joseph suffering because in the bigger picture, his calling was to save many people from starvation. After all his ordeals, Joseph was able to see God’s hand at work. Joseph came to realize that what his brothers had meant for evil, but God meant for good.

The brothers’ purpose was evil, but God brought something good out of their evil act.  God changes evil to good. The cross on Good Friday is the most obvious example.  Please note that we must not suggest that evil people will not be held accountable if God reverses the effects of their evil plans.

God is faithful. We are not alone! God is always there, encouraging and equipping us for service. We need to seek God’s direction for our lives every day.

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First, let us consider Abraham’s firstborn son. When Abraham was 86, he had a son named Ishmael by his wife Sarah’s Egyptian handmaid Hagar (Genesis 16:16). That was Sarah’s idea (Genesis 16:2). Any children born would be counted as the children of the wife. Then, Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:1-5). When Isaac was weaned, Ishmael mocked the child at the celebration, Sarah demanded that her husband to send Hagar and Ishmael away (Genesis 21:10).  Later, God promised to make Ishmael into a great nation (Genesis 21:18).

Upon Abraham’s death, he left everything to Isaac, but Ishmael did help his half-brother bury their father (Genesis 25:9). Ishmael had twelve sons (Genesis 25:13-16), and these became the rulers of twelve peoples who settled in northern Arabia along the main caravan route between Egypt and Assyria (Genesis 25:18). Later, others settled in the Arabian Peninsula as well, including the descendants of Keturah’s sons (I Chronicles 1:32-33) and some of Esau’s descendants, among them the Amalekites (Genesis 36:12). Thus, it is unlikely that all of those in Arabia are descendants of Ishmael. However, many Arabs living in many parts of today’s world are descended from Ishmael.

Second, let us consider Isaac’s Esau. Esau was Abraham’s grandson, the older twin born to Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 25:25). Esau gave up his birthright when his twin brother Jacob asked for it (Genesis 25:29-34). When Isaac neared the end of his life and was blind, Jacob pretended to be Esau to get Esau’s blessing from Isaac (Genesis 27:29). When Isaac realized Jacob had deceived him, he could not do anything, except saying that Esau would eventually “throw (Jacob’s) yoke from off your neck” (Genesis 27:40). This prophecy was fulfilled when Esau’s descendants revolted against Jacob’s descendants (II Kings 8:20).

Esau wanted to kill his brother, but Jacob escaped (Genesis 28:5). Ironically, Esau married Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath, in addition to the wives he already had (Genesis 28:9). Twenty years later, Esau and Jacob made peace (Genesis 33:4). But Esau’s descendants, the Edomites (also called Idumeans), never got along with Jacob’s descendants, the Israelites.

Third, let us consider Lot’s Moab. Lot was the nephew of Abraham and he went to Canaan with his uncle. When they came to Bethel, they parted company. Lot settled his family near the sinful city of Sodom (Genesis 13:12). Fast forward to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot had lost everything when Sodom was destroyed. He lived in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters (Genesis 19:30). It was here that the daughters devised a plan to continue the family line: they got Lot so drunk to have sex with him (Genesis 19:31-32). Both women became pregnant. The older daughter gave birth to Moab. Moab would become the father of the Moabites (Genesis 19:37).

Fourth, let us consider Lot’s Ben-Ammi. When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness, Lot and his two daughters fled to the hill country on the southern end of the Dead Sea. Then, the daughters had sex with the drunken father. The younger daughter gave birth to Ben-Ammi. Ben-Ammi would become the father of the Ammonites (Genesis 19:38). Under King Saul’s leadership, Israel made the Ammonites vassals. After the split of Israel and Judah, the Ammonites began to ally themselves with the enemies of Israel. Sometime during the Roman period, the Ammonites seem to have been absorbed into Arab society.

The God, who sees the past, the present, and the future at a single moment, chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, but not Ishmael, Esau, Moab and Ben-Ammi. It was of grace and not of works that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were chosen. Salvation is due entirely to God’s grace, so that it depends on nothing in humans. Please note that we are still responsible to God for what we do. We are responsible for a proper use of the life and gifts God gives us.

God can bless all peoples through Abraham. But all people including the descendants of Abraham, Ishmael, Esau, Moab and Ben-Ammi need to hear the message of hope and salvation through Jesus.

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In Genesis 12:1-3, we see the call of Abram by God. God calls Abram out from his home in Haran and tells him to go to a land that he will show to him. God also makes three promises to Abram: (a) The promise of a land of his own; (b) the promise to be made into a great nation; and (c) the promise of blessing. What makes Abram special is that he obeyed God (Genesis 12:4). He left behind everything and migrated to Canaan (Palestine) when he was 75 years old.

In other words, God has spoken (Genesis 12:1-3), and Abram responds by believing God (Genesis 12:4). This is faith. God made a promise, and Abram showed a saving faith in God’s promise by turning his back on his past and setting out for Canaan.

God called Abram out of a pagan culture. Abram was a Gentile who was chosen by God to be the ancestor of the Jewish people. He lived in Canaan as a stranger, and God promised that his descendants would own it (Genesis 17:8). His descendants (12 sons of his grandson Jacob and their descendants) would become God’s chosen people. By the time of Exodus 1, the descendants of Jacob were recognized as a distinct nation in Egypt. No one was called a “Jew” before the exile (II Kings 25:25). The Jews came from Abram/Abraham because he was chosen by God from among the nations to be the origin of a new nation.

Why did God choose Abraham? God wanted to make him a blessing, first to the nation that would come from him—the Israelites—and ultimately to all the people of the earth. Also, God chose Abraham to prepare the way for the Messiah. God used him to play an important role in the story of redemption, culminating in the birth of Jesus.

But Abraham was far from perfect; he was a sinner like us. Before God changed his name from Abram to Abraham in Genesis 17:5, he had sex with Hagar (Genesis 16:4) and Hagar conceived. Later, Isaac was born to Abraham in his old age (Genesis 21:2).

The Arabs are mainly descendants of Abraham’s son with Hagar, Ishmael. The Jewish people are descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac. Arabs and Jewish people are Semitic by race. Today, generally speaking, some Arabs have a dislike of and distrust for some Jews, and vice-versa. However, we must be careful to avoid stereotyping people. Please note that life of Abraham is taken as an example of outstanding faith in God (Hebrews 11:8-12) by both Arabs, Jewish people, and Christians.

Indeed, from the very beginning, God had in view that Jesus would be the descendant of Abraham and that everyone who trusts in Jesus would become an heir of Abraham’s promises. God blesses people from all nations through Abraham. After we become the disciples of Jesus, we must learn to live by faith. We must continue to trust God in all situations.

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The great flood (Genesis 7:17-24) finally came after Noah’s preaching God’s righteousness and human sin for 120 years. The flood story is probably an interpretation of an actual historical event retold in the theology of ancient Israel. The purpose of the story is to tell the original hearers a message about God and humanity. God did not give the ancient people scientific data. On Good Friday, God took the judgment for sin upon himself rather than humanity. Thus, through the lens of Jesus, the flood story tells us the news of God’s grace and love for his people.

After the great flood, God made a promise that he will never destroy the earth by flood (Genesis 8:20-22) until the final judgment. God commanded humanity to “increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). Noah had three sons born to him: Japheth, Shem, and Ham. There are seventy nations from the three sons of Noah (Genesis 10:32). Genesis 10 is a remarkable historical document. But some names are left out. Perhaps, the Bible writer has included no more than he actually knew to be the case.

Genesis 10:2-5 tells us about the sons of Japheth. Japheth is the father of what are called the Indo-European peoples. Genesis 10:21-24 tells us about the sons of Shem. Shem produced the Semites from which Israel came. Genesis 10:6-20 tells us about the sons of Ham. From the city of Babylon in the valley of the Euphrates, the Ham’s family was divided into two parts, one migrating southward into Africa, and the other going east.

There is one omission: the people of Asia.  Where do they fit in? It is possible that we cannot know, since the lists of Genesis 10 are not complete.

Humanity began to spread throughout the entire world (Genesis 11:7-9).  Humans continue to be on the move. Every group of humans has immigrated at some point. We all are immigrants, refugees or their descendants.

Today’s Canada is unique in the world. The Canadian people include descendants of the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis; descendants of French settlers (Acadians, Quebecers, other French-speaking communities); descendants of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish people; and all newcomers after the Second World War. Until the 1970s, most immigrants came from European countries. Since then, the majority have come from Asian countries.

Today’s anthropologists would like to divide humanity into five races: Caucasoid, Negroid, Capoid, Mongoloid, and Australoid. According to the Bible, there is only one race—the human race, not five different human races. Humans are all the same race. Race should not be defined according to skin tone or eye shape (as stated in Joseph L. Graves’ “The Race Myth and A Voice in the Wilderness,” 2004).  We are all created by the same God. We are all created for the same purpose—to glorify God.

In the beginning, God created Adam (Genesis 2:7) and Eve (Genesis 2:22) and all other humans came from those first parents. We are genetically related through Adam and Eve. Let us fast forward to the future! In heaven, we will see a vast number of people “from every nation, tribe, people and language” praising God at his throne.” (Revelation 7:9)

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Prophecy accounts for about one fourth of the Bible. About half of all Bible prophecies have already been fulfilled. In the first messianic prophecy, God said He would defeat Satan through the offspring of the woman (Genesis 3:15). God gave a promise of a deliverer to come to save humankind. Genesis 3:15 is often called the protoevangelium (literally, “first Gospel”), because it is the Bible’s first prediction of a Saviour. 

The first messianic prophecy was announced soon after the fall of humans (Genesis 3:1-6). Adam’s wife sinned against God as a result of Satan’s clever arguments. She was convinced that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would make one wise. She wanted both herself and Adam to enjoy that blessing. So that is why she gave the fruit to her husband. Adam also sinned against God because he disobeyed God’s command not to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree (Genesis 2:16-17).

Genesis 3:15a speaks of “enmity”, which means “hatred.” Satan succeeded in seducing Adam and his wife away from God. But he failed to win their allegiance for himself, for God announces here that he is putting enmity between Satan and the woman (Genesis 3:15a). Mutual hatred will exist between Satan and the woman.

God also establishes an enmity between Satan’s offspring and the woman’s (Genesis 3:15b). Since Satan does not have offspring, Genesis 3:15b probably refers to an enmity between the ungodly descendants of the woman, and the godly descendants of the woman. The conflict that began between Satan and the woman continues up to the time of Jesus and beyond.

Satan will strike Jesus’ heel (Genesis 3:15d). This part of the first messianic prophecy was fulfilled. On the cross, Satan bruised Jesus’ heel, causing his death. Though bruised, the damage done to Jesus was not final, for Jesus came back from the dead on the third day, breaking the power of death. 

Jesus will crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15c). This part of the first messianic prophecy was fulfilled. Jesus defeated Satan on the cross. Satan’s power over humans was broken by Jesus. Satan has been defeated. Although Satan continues to fight on, his fate has been sealed (Revelation 20:10). Until that time, there remains enmity between Satan and all followers of Jesus. The Church has been empowered by Jesus to continue to battle until Satan is fully defeated.

From the first messianic prophecy (Genesis 3:15) we know that God always had the plan of salvation in mind and informed us of his plan as soon as sin entered the world. God’s mercy endures from generation to generation. Jesus took our curse (Galatians 3:13). He became a curse so that we might be set free to live to God through Him. That is Good News for all believers.

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God is the creator and sustainer of all life, from the first life form to each of us. How life came from non-life is still largely a scientific mystery. Genesis 2:7 tells us that, “God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” This language is figurative because we know from other Bible passages that God is Spirit with neither hands nor lungs.

God used pre-existing materials when he created Adam. God used all the cells, DNA, atoms, molecules, hydrogen, protons, neutrons, or electrons to create Adam. Adam is described as being formed from the dust of the ground—an image of lowness.

God is the source of life. He gives life to all things (Genesis 1:11-28). The life that God gave to humans was different from that which he gave to animals. Adam also has been breathed into by God—an image of glory. As a living being, he has a special relationship to God by virtue of the divine spirit. In other words, he is a combination of natural material and life-giving power from God.

Some Christian leaders saw good reasons to believe that humanity’s physical form was descended from other animals. According to John Stott, “Adam’s body may well have evolved from hominids.” (Essentials, 1988, p. 97)  It is hard to say just when hominids became biblical humans. Does it really matter how God created Adam?

In I Corinthians 15:22-23 and 45-49, the Apostle Paul is dealing with physical death. In I Corinthians 15:45-49, Paul associates human mortality with the creation of Adam, not with his fall. In other words, Adam was not born immortal. For more information, please read Gordon Fee’s comments on I Corinthians 15:45 (The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1987, p. 789). Then, Adam sinned against God. His spiritual death (alienation from God) was a penalty of his disobedience. His mortality will be reversed only with the bodily resurrection.

All humans share in Adam’s natural mortality. People born before the giving of the law in Exodus, were evildoers but did not break the law. They died spiritually as a consequence of their evil doings. Others, born after the given of the law, die spiritually as a penalty of their sins.

Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead during his earthly ministry. Yet, he never blamed human mortality on Adam. He explained that God could work through illness, natural disaster, and death and also used them to call people to repentance (Luke 13:1-5; John 9:1-3, 11:3-4).  Please note that Jesus, though sinless, had a mortal body that could be killed. He did not die as a consequence of personal sin. He died physically on the cross as a penalty of human sins.  Jesus took our place to die on Good Friday.  He brought life through death (Colossians 1:15-20).

God created humans to have a personal relationship with them. Humans depend on God for both physical and spiritual life. After the fall of humans, God provided the way of redemption and salvation through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-8). What was lost at the fall is reclaimed on the cross. Romans 5:12-21 tells us that spiritual death is reversed by Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and our justification through faith. For more information, please read Q & A #652 “Death and Punishment” (Reasonable Faith with William Lane Craig, October 13, 2019).

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The Bible does not tell us everything. It does not even tell me that I exist. Scientists tell us that the cosmos probably came into being about 13.77 billion years ago in a gigantic fireball explosion (the Big Bang theory). The cosmos appears to be expanding at an increasing rate. Our planet is estimated to be about 4.543 billion years old. Scientists are unsure precisely how the Earth may have formed. The cosmos is running down. Some of us tend to think that the immaterial spiritual heaven is good while the material earth is bad. From God’s perspective, there is no divorce of the spiritual from the material in God’s good creation. Thus, Genesis 1:31a tells us that “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good”. Seven times in Genesis 1, God observes his creation to be very good. God has evaluated the creation as good at various points (Genesis 1:3, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), but now he rates the totality of creation, including humans, as “very good.” Genesis 1 tells us about six days of creation. “Day” can mean a period of indefinite duration. We are living on Day 7 continuously (Genesis 2:2).

God’s moral pronouncement is made because the object is good in itself. James Montgomery Boice wrote: “…this means that a tree is not good only because we can cut it down and make a house of it or because we can burn it in order to get heat. It is good because God made it and has pronounced it good. It is good, like everything else in creation, it conforms to God’s nature” (Genesis: Volume 1, 1998, p. 84). Suffering and physical death (not spiritual death) are part of God’s “good” creation.  Death and suffering over millions of years is part of the history of our world. Predators, including humans, rely on the physical death of other creatures for survival. Therefore, God created light, air, water, plants, vegetables, trees, fruits, fish, other sea creatures, and land animals, long before he created humans. We thank God for our daily food.  God’s creation was “very good.” Creation was made so that new creation could come.  In the meantime, let us thank God for the creation he has made. Let us thank God for sustaining nature moment by moment. Let us delight in his creation. Let us appreciate its beauty. Let us demonstrate a responsibility toward nature. Let us continue to learn to trust God, who cares for nature and all of us.  Indeed, God’s creation was “very good.”  It was built to prepare humans for glory in the new heaven and new earth.

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