Transparency is one of the most important traits people crave to see in their leaders and those in authority. We want to know that our tax dollars are being spent well, that those in power are making judicious decisions for the best benefit of all, rather than their selfish interests. “Because I said so” works for only so long, if at all. Eventually, there needs to be reasonable explanations supplied. When transparency is lacking in our leaders, distrust, doubt, and suspicion grow among the people. Conversely, when there is transparency, trust and confidence thrive.
It is no different in our relationship with God. None holds a position of authority and leadership higher than God. He knows that if He is going to gain and maintain the love and respect of His children, He must be transparent. Hence, throughout Scripture, we see a God who is constantly making Himself and His ways known.
Satan, the deceiver, doesn’t want us to know God as honest and truthful or open and transparent. As the serpent of old (Rev. 12:9) in the Garden of Eden, he sought to cloud with darkness the character of God by questioning His commands and miscoloring His motives. Satan in essence accused God of giving an unreasonable and overbearing command, being a liar, and ultimately of being selfish by withholding what is good solely for Himself. While God’s divine attributes necessarily make Him mysterious and somewhat incomprehensible to us humans (Ps. 145:3; Job 26:14; Isa. 55:8, 9), the infestation of sin and falsehood has made knowing Him even more challenging (Isa. 59:2).
Yet God has not left us in the dark. He responded to the devil’s accusations not by merely denying them, but by disproving them through demonstration, revelation, and transparency. He came into the garden declaring to lost humanity the glorious plan of salvation (Gen. 3:15). From henceforth God has been seeking to reveal His goodness to humans to woo and win them back to Himself (Rom. 2:4; John 12:32). Through Jesus Christ, the promised seed of the woman, God has made transparent the true character of God (2 Cor. 4:6; John 14:7, 9), revealing that He is indeed love (1 John 3:16; 4:8). Jesus calls us friends and wants to make known to us “all things” (John 15:15). Satan concealed God’s true character; Christ came to reveal it.
“It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among men.”[i]
The Means Justify the End
While everything God does is right and righteous, if others do not perceive it as right God loses credibility. In order to ultimately win this war against sin, Satan, and evil, God must not only do what is just but also be seen and understood as doing what is just from beginning to end. With God, it is the means that justify the end, not the other way around.
Throughout Scripture we see God demonstrating mercy intertwined with perfect justice from beginning to end. He is transparent in the process of judgment, wanting everyone to see that His judgments are not arbitrary, but fair and true (Rev. 16:7).
As part of God’s master plan of salvation . . . God allows for a full judgment process where all angels and humans can see and know for themselves that God is merciful and perfectly righteous in His judgments.
God knew that humankind was becoming so evil and violent that eventually they would destroy themselves (Gen. 6:13). So what did He do? Destroy them all suddenly without warning or way of escape? No! God extended grace to humankind for 120 years, persistently warning them of what was to come and how they could be saved. God was being transparent by revealing what He was going to do through Noah, as He consistently did with the prophets (Amos 3:7).
When Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin was just about full to the brim, we read that God came down to see for Himself if this indeed was the case or not (Gen. 18:21). Think of that for a moment. Did God really have to come down and observe the city’s inhabitants to know they were evil? Of course not—God is omniscient and omnipresent. He would have already known. To demonstrate that He doesn’t judge arbitrarily, however, God took the extra step so that we would know that He is indeed fair, just, and knowledgeable firsthand with the situation before pronouncing final judgment. We see further openness on God’s part in His willingness to dialogue with Abraham about the fate of the inhabitants of the wicked cities. The heart and transparency of God are on full display here by even allowing Abraham to ask, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25).
The first angel announces that “the hour of His judgment has come” (Rev. 14:7), referring to the time when God began reviewing the lives of His followers to determine if their profession matches their practice (Matt. 7:21–23; 1 John 2:3, 4; 1 Tim. 3:5; 1 Peter 4:17; 2 Cor. 5:10). While our obedience to God’s commands isn’t what saves us—believing in and accepting His grace does (Eph. 2:8, 9)—it is our good works that demonstrate and display that we are saved and have endured until the end (James 2:17-23; Heb. 3:14; Matt. 24:12, 13).
Seen as Right
Does God need to perform this judgment to help Him truly know and decide who are His faithful followers and who aren’t? Of course not—God already knows all things! Would God be seen as right, however, if He didn’t provide for full transparency in the judgment process? No, He would not. And so, as part of God’s master plan of salvation to eternally secure the safety of the universe from another rebellion, God allows for a full judgment process in which all angels and humans can see and know for themselves that God is merciful and perfectly righteous in His judgments.
The pre-Advent judgment is for the benefit of angels and heavenly intelligences (Dan. 7:9, 10; Luke 12:8, 9). The millennial judgment is for the benefit of the saints (Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:2, 3; Eze. 28:17, 19; Isa. 14:16, 17). And the final, executive judgment is for the benefit of the wicked to see for themselves that their sentence is just (Rev. 20:11-13; Phil. 2:9-11). In the end, all of God’s ways, decisions, and reasons will be entirely disclosed, made fully manifest, and totally transparent.
When this judicial review is done, there will be left no doubt or suspicion that God could have done anything more to save as many as possible (Isa. 5:4; Matt. 23:37). It will be seen clearly that God withheld nothing from us that would be for our benefit (Rom. 8:32). There will be no thought or fear that God is selfish. Love will triumph, and we will live forever with Him in a safe, eternally secured, and transparent universe.
“God would make it impossible for man to say that He could have done more. With Christ He gave all the resources of heaven, that nothing might be wanting in the plan for man’s uplifting. Here is love—the contemplation of which should fill the soul with inexpressible gratitude! Oh, what love, what matchless love! The contemplation of this love will cleanse the soul from all selfishness. It will lead the disciple to deny self, take up the cross, and follow the Redeemer.”[ii]
[i] Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), p.11.
[ii] Ellen G. White, Counsels on Health (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1923), pp. 222, 223.