Why Good Things Happen to Bad People. -- and Why We Need to Hear the Rest of the Story

February 5, 2022

Larry R Evans

 

Introduction

 

In October 1969, Samuel Beckett, an Irish novelist and philosopher, wrote a short play called “Breath.”  It is an understatement to say it was short. From the time the curtains opened to the time they closed was 35 seconds.  It could be said that the play has three acts.  (1) It opens with darkness and then the cry of a baby is heard. Next (2), as the lighting begins and gradually intensifies the sound of inhaling is heard.  What is seen now is trash, nothing but trash. (3) Then as the light begins to fade the sound of exhaling or a death gurgle is heard and then total darkness.  In 35 seconds Beckett summarized his view of life which is nothing more than trash. Such a view of life leaves nothing to imagine except despair and emptiness and many questions that such a perspective does not answer.

 

Two years ago, I invited Dr. Richard Rice of Loma Linda University to speak for a conference we held at Loma Linda. He is the author of an excellent book entitled When Bad Things Happen to God’s People.  Here are a few excerpts from the book.  

True forgiveness does not retreat from suffering. It does not pretend that evil hasn’t happened. Nor does it resign itself to the idea that things can’t be changed.

Only someone who has received forgiveness himself will be free to forgive others.

When someone has hurt you, all you can remember about him is what he has done to you. But when you pray for that person, you begin to see him as God sees him. (Chapter 7)

You may wonder what connection there is with Beckett’s play about trash and Rice’s discussion of why bad things happen to God’s people and with this week’s study of Hebrews is about “Jesus, the Faithful Priest.”  I see a connection.  No one is a piece of trash!  Life does have significance.  The ministry of Jesus on this earth and now in Heaven makes that clear.  

 

Leading up to this week’s lesson, we have studied about Jesus being “Our Faithful Brother,” “Jesus, the Giver of Rest,” and now “Jesus, the Faithful Priest.”  Next week we will study “Jesus, the Anchor of the Soul.”  Jesus is the theme in every study this quarter. What we will see from our study is that we are special, and we will become more like Jesus as begin to realize how special He thinks we are.  As see how Jesus prays and intercedes for us, not only are we encouraged, we are also enabled to pray for and intercede for those who have hurt us. Life has a meaning that is liberating.  Jesus wants the word to get out about what He is doing for us even now. 

 

Rice’s book, “When Bad Things Happen to God’s People” raises in my mind the question, “If bad things happen to God’s people, then why do good things happen to bad people?” When going through a tough experience it is easy to ask, “Why is it, that while going through a bad experience, when we are praying and following God’s Word, that others who are not professing to follow God seemingly have all the good luck, are having all the fun times?  Why is that? It just doesn’t seem to be fair. 

 

Questions like that seem to suggest that if you live a good life, love Jesus, then bad things shouldn’t happen to you!  That isn’t Rice’s position, but the question is often asked.

 

Let’s let the Bible set the record straight.

“No one is righteous—

not even one. – Romans 3:10

So, who is “good?” No one is . . . “not even one.”  From our lesson study for today, we will see that although “we may not be “good” God has not abandoned us.  He does have a plan to save us. We will see that while things may not be looking good the Bible pulls back the curtain so we can see what God is doing for us right now!  While none of us are inherently good or righteous, God treats us as if we are. To get to that point let’s begin let’s not forget the most basic teaching in the Bible.

 

We Have God on Our Side

 

If we say we have God on our side, it sounds like some don’t have God on their side!  That’s not the case. The familiar gospel text of John 3:16,17 reminds us that God is working for everyone.  Jesus is on our side. Here is that familiar passage from the New Living Translation,

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

God is on our side and for good reason. He invested the very best Heaven has to offer for you and me.  The question remains, however, “Are we on His side? Does He have our backs!” What is Jesus doing now and how should we respond?

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are —yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb. 4:14-16)

Separation from God

 

The book of Genesis makes it clear that sin disrupted God’s plan for us.  We have become separated from the very One in whose image we were created. Satan had tempted and persuaded Adam and Eve to shift their center of trust and loyalty from God to themselves. The resulting isolation from the source of life meant certain death for them and us. But God stretched out His hand in the person of Jesus, His Son, and sought to reconcile sinful man with Himself. To do that Jesus became our High Priest. To understand what that means, a little review is helpful.

 

In Leviticus, we discover that there was a sanctuary that symbolically communicated vital truths God wanted His people to understand. The insights revealed in the services were meant to bring assurance, hope, and even a change in the lives of the people. God wanted His people to know that he was working to fix the problem that disrupted the plan He had for them. The ritual services pointed and explained how Jesus would resolve the sin problem.

 

In the Levitical earthly sanctuary services, animals were sacrificed. The animals had no choice but Jesus voluntarily “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil.2:8).

 

The Levitical sacrifices were never complete. They were repeated day after day, year after year. Christ died but once. The Levitical sacrifices were cleansed only in a ritual sense.  Christ atoned completely for the sins of the world.

 

Jesus is referred to as the high priest. In the Levitical symbolism, the common priest never got beyond the veil in the holy place, while the worshiper never got beyond the court.  Hebrews, however, tells us that Jesus, our High Priest, 

. . . did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. (Heb. 9:24)

What does this mean for us? It means we have direct access to the “command center of the universe”!  We don’t have to go through Mary or any saints. But what kind of representation do we have?  What is it about having “a great high priest” on our side that should give us confidence?  What is there about our high priest that should make all the difference with the way we see God and ourselves?

 

The Qualifications of the High Priest

 

In Hebrews 5:1-4 we discover the qualifications that were necessary to become a high priest. I’ll give you a heads-up before we read the passage!  There are at least 12 distinguishing qualifications of the Levitical high priest.

Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

There are 12 qualities of a High priest named in this passage.

 

Job description qualifications

1.     “chosen from among mortals”

2.    Selected “on their behalf”

3.    “in charge of things pertaining to God”

4.    Appointed “to offer gifts and sacrifices”

5.    “for sins”

Personal qualifications

6.    “He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward”

7.     Is “subject to weakness”

8.    “he must offer sacrifice for his own sins”

9.    “as well as those for the people”

His vocation or calling

10. “one does not presume to take this honor”

11.  “but takes it only when called by God”

12.  “just as Aaron was” called,

Christ came to make it possible for the sin that is blocking our reunion with God.  

“Our wants, necessities, sins, temptations, trials, infirmities, are better known to Him than to ourselves. Even our inward yearnings and secret longings are fully known. Because He is man, one with us, He is able to share our lives. He is the captain of our salvation.” (Heb. 2:10). Eward Heppenstall in Our High Priest, p.54.

 

What Is Jesus Doing Now?

 

Jesus is our high priest. If God loved us even before Jesus gave His life, and if Jesus is acting as our personal high priest, what do we have to fear?  God’s blessings are coming tailor-made just for us. We can, as Hebrews reminds us, “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.”  Despite not being “good” we have the assurance that “good things” are happening right now on our behalf!

 

Paul reminds us that Jesus became a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6:20).  Melchizedek was both a king and a priest who served as a resemblance of Christ.  Christ is a priest “forever.” Sacrifice is not now the work of Christ for He did that once on earth. The two aspects of Christ’s priestly work are closely related – (1) redemption that took place at the cross, and (2) the application of the redemption in the life of the believer realized Christ’s work as our advocate in heaven.  What characterizes the work of a high priest, however, is not just the function but the attitude he is to have.  He is to have an inward feeling which is in keeping with his sacred work.  

He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. (Heb. 5:2)

The typical high priest had to offer a sin-offering for himself as well as for his people.  Jesus, however, as our high priest, offered Himself.

Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Heb. 7:27)

 

The work of Jesus is that of intercession (Heb. 7:25). He advocates on our behalf.  If this is true, who is standing in the way? Is God our accuser?

 

Speaking of Satan who has been thrown out of heaven, Revelation 12:10,11 says,

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down.

They triumphed over him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony;

they did not love their lives so much

as to shrink from death.

As Satan accuses God’s people who have surrendered their lives to Jesus, Jesus then acts as their advocate by covering their sinfulness with His own life (blood). The testimony lived out in the lives of His people gives credible evidence of whose side they are on regardless of the circumstances they face.

 

Amid bad times when all looks bleak the testimony of God’s people give evidence that the advocacy of Jesus and the price He paid backs up His rebuke of Satan’s charges.  The perfection offered is His. The resilience of the faith of His people is made possible because of the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence.

 

The faith experience during the bad times is shown in Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to tread on the heights.

In Conclusion

 

Yes, good things do happen to bad people. Best of all, good things happen to God’s forgiven people regardless of how bad they may have been if they have turned and given their lives to Him.  We are more than “trash” as Samuel Beckett implies. Life does have meaning and a purpose. What is striking, however, is that Jesus the High Priest reveals just how special we are! God has not abandoned us. He is answering the accusations of Satan. If only we would not forget “the rest of the story”!

 

When we see how Jesus forgives and even advocates for those who have hurt Him in the past we are humbled and challenged. We, in turn,  have an inner desire to relate differently to those who have hurt us.

 

As Dr. Rice has written in When Bad Things Happen to God’s People,

Only someone who has received forgiveness himself will be free to forgive others.

When someone has hurt you, all you can remember about him is what he has done to you. But when you pray for that person, you begin to see him as God sees him.

 

No wonder, why we are filled with gratitude for our High Priest.  As for those hard times?  Ellen White wrote,

The things hard to be understood will then find explanations. The mysteries of grace will unfold before us. Where our finite minds discovered only confusion and broken promises, we shall see the most perfect and beautiful harmony. We shall know that infinite love ordered the experiences that seemed most trying. As we realize the tender care of Him who makes all things work together for our good, we shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.... " (Ellen G. White, Adventist Home, p.  542)