The world is good.
If you are a Christian (perhaps even if you are not), I've probably already started an argument with you. You'll immediately want to reject this statement because, as we've been taught, the world is a source of sin; a corrupted place awaiting destruction which we are not supposed to embrace. Satan is called the god of this world in Scripture. Anything ruled by Satan can't possibly be good.
Indeed, you have to roll back the clock several millennia to find a time when the truth of this statement was beyond dispute. There was such a time, however. With creative genius surpassing the combined talents of every great architect, precision beyond the abilities of the most brilliant engineer, and beauty that could only be feebly copied by the most renowned artists, God created the heavens and the earth. There came a day when God stepped back and assessed His work. "God saw that it was good." The addition of humanity, male and female, made in His own image, prompted God to go further in His assessment. "God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good."
Our discussion of Advent and contemplation of its themes must begin, as with any other discussion of the biblical narrative, where God starts it. In the beginning, God created. He did it. Of His own initiative. For His own reasons. For His own glory. It was, at one time, empty. It was dark and lacked form and order. But God brought light, form, and order; mountains, lakes, oceans, deer, roses, spiders, zebras, sagebrush, and salmon (even cui-ui).
Creation is the beginning of God's revelation of Himself to humanity. Some scholars, considering the question of why God created the universe, have surmised that Lucifer had already rebelled against God, setting in his heart an ambition to "be like the most high." God ended the insurrection and followed it up by showing His sole and unsurpassed power in creating a material, physical universe from nothing but His own mind and will (your turn, Lucifer!). In His goodness, He then created man in His own image and instructed this good creature to propagate His good image throughout His good creation. The Man and Woman were also given what Lucifer lusted after: dominion. God created a physical realm and made a physical creature who would become a race to rule that realm and fill it with more of His artistic beauty, constructive creativity, and loving relationships modeled after and enjoyed with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can only imagine what an uninterrupted history of such humanity on earth would look like. It's fun to try to imagine it, though. Such an episode is coming.
The world might be ruled by evil (more on this in the next post), but it was created and certified as good by God Himself. As we consider God's coming to earth over these weeks of Advent, let us begin by thinking about the character of the God who came and what He had planned for the world to which He came and the people to whom He came. He is good. What He makes is good. What He does is good. Advent acknowledges the darkness that precedes the light, but without the introduction of light there is no way to know it is dark. We know it's dark because we were made for light.
Good word, Eric.
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