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This time I want to look at God's sovereignty, which is
another of the midot (attributes) of God. A sovereign is one who
is supreme in power, rank and authority. Because he is supreme, a
sovereign has the right to rule. Whenever you read words like
king, kingdom, lord, majesty, dominion, reign, rule, authority,
glory, bow down, or bend the knee, know that the doctrine of
sovereignty is being taught.
God's
sovereignty arises out of His perfections as the
Supreme Being. Since God is infinite, eternal,
all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, unchangeable,
perfect, and completely free, He is by inherent
right the Sovereign Ruler over all things. To
be sovereign, God must be all-knowing, all-powerful,
and absolutely free. To be Lord over creation,
He must possess all knowledge. Were there one
little bit of knowledge unknown to God, His rule
would break down at that point. The prophet Isaiah
said: Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom
did He consult and who gave Him understanding?
Who taught Him the path of justice and taught
Him knowledge, and informed Him of the way of
understanding (Isaiah 40:13-14)?
God is sovereign because He has infinite power. If God were
lacking in any power, even the smallest amount, that lack would
end His reign and undo His kingdom at that point. That one stray
atom would belong to some other power, and God would be a limited
ruler and therefore not the Supreme Sovereign. Good King
Jehoshaphat declared this when he prayed: Power and might are
in Your hand so that no one can stand against You (2 Ch.
20:6).
God's sovereignty requires that He be able to do whatever He
wants to do anywhere, at any time, in every single detail, and
without any interference. If He was less than completely free He
would be less than sovereign. God is absolutely free to do what
He wills because no one and nothing can hinder Him or compel Him
or stop Him. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and
in the earth, in the seas and in all deeps (Psalm 135:6). The
Lord is able to do as He pleases always, everywhere, and forever.
There is no limit to be placed on His authority. It extends over
all His creatures, from the highest to the lowest. He does
according to His will in the host of heaven and among the
inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to
Him, What have you done (Dan. 4:35)? Can you imagine the Lord
of Hosts having to request permission from anyone? At whose
throne would God kneel as a supplicant? Who is higher than the
Most High? Who is mightier than the Almighty? Who is more
knowledgeable than the All-Knowing One? Where is the greater one
to whom He can appeal?
God is sovereign because He is the Creator and the Owner of
all things. To the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest
heavens, the earth and all that is in it (Deut. 10:14). As
the Creator and Owner of everything, it is right that He govern
His own possession as He wishes. He is free to dispose of His
creation as He wills, and it is reasonable that all created
beings worship and obey Him. You have made the heavens, the
heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is
on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of
them and the heavenly host bows down before You (Neh. 9:6).
The Lord is sovereign because He is the Preserver and
Sustainer of all things. He continually upholds all things with
His powerful Word. Since we live and move and have our being in
Him, it is right that all creatures serve Him, since all things
depend on Him every moment for their existence.
God is sovereign because He is the Redeemer. The authority of
God is supremely established over those He redeems. We have been
bought with a price, the infinitely precious blood of the Son of
God. It is proper that the redeemed serve their King who bought
them with such a high cost to Himself.
God exercises sovereign control over everything in the
universe in a variety of ways. His sovereignty is seen in the
physical and moral laws by which all creatures are governed. When
His creatures obey these laws, they are blessed. When they
deviate from these laws, they fall under God's displeasure. The
Lord makes the events of the physical and moral realms work out
His purposes.
The King is sovereign over every aspect of the physical
universe. Wind, rain, lightening, thunder, waters, hail, ice,
snow, and frost are all subject to His bidding. The heavenly
bodies, like the sun, the moon and the stars all obey His will
and fulfill His word (Psalm 148). Every proton, electron, neutron
and quark obey Him. The mountains are removed, the earth quakes
and the ground yields its increase at His command. He uses good
things that happen to us as expressions of His goodness and love.
He uses destructive things like earthquakes, storms, and floods
as instruments of His discipline and judgement. In times of
physical distress men should therefore humble themselves and pray
to Him who has all the elements in His power.
The Lord is sovereign over all the plant and animal life on
Planet Earth. In His hand is the life of every living thing
(Job 12:10). God controls all the millions of species of plants,
birds, animals and fish that exist on this earth. They all
fulfill His will. Every beast of the forest is Mine, the
cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains,
and everything that moves in the field is Mine (Psalm
50:10-12).
The King is sovereign over the most important and the most
trivial of circumstances that occur. God determines the most
important decisions of existence, like the nature and powers of
the different orders of created beings, such as the various kinds
of angels, men and animals. He assigns to each its appropriate
sphere, whether it is great or small, important or obscure. He
also is involved with the seemingly unimportant events. The Lord
determines the way that the lot falls. The lot is cast into
the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord (Pr. 16:33).
He is concerned about every sparrow that falls to the ground, and
even more so with every hair on our heads.
The Lord God is sovereign over every area of man's existence.
The King determines when, where and under what circumstances each
individual of the human race will be born, live, and die. He
determines all the times, places, and circumstances of our lives.
He has determined the numbers of our days before we see one of
them (Psalm 139:16). God holds our life in His hands. When he
takes our breath away, we die. The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to Sheol and raises up (1 Sam. 2:6). To some
He gives honor; to others he withholds honor. He brings down
leaders and exalts the lowly. He fills up the hungry but rejects
the rich (Luke 1:52-53). He promotes one person and demotes
another (Ps. 75:7). The Lord makes poor and rich. He brings
low, He also exalts (1 Sam. 2:7).
The Lord is sovereign over the destinies of all mankind, the
saved and the unsaved. He has mercy on whom He desires, and He
hardens whom He desires (Romans 9:18). Some are vessels for
common use, and some are vessels for more honorable use. Jeremiah
was known by God and appointed to be a prophet before he was
formed (Jer 1:5). Paul was set apart for God's purposes from his
mother's womb (Gal. 1:15). The Supreme Being sovereignly works
out His purposes in each person's life. The steps of a man are
established by the Lord (Psalm 37:23). He marks out the paths
of all His creatures and determines the way in which they will
walk. I know O Lord that a man's way is not in himself; nor is
it in a man who walks to direct his steps (Jer.10:23).
The King is sovereign even over the free acts of humans. God
uses men and women to fulfill His purposes, whether they realize
it or not, whether they know Him or not. God said to Cyrus even
before he was born: I have called you by your name; I have
given you a title of honor though you have not known Me... I will
gird you, though you have not known Me (Is. 45:4-5). He is
involved in the thinking processes of rulers. The king's heart
is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it
wherever He wishes (Prov. 21:1). He worked in the heart of
Pharaoh to do His bidding. He worked in the hearts of Kings David
(1 Sam. 24:8) and Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:27). God works especially in
the hearts of believers: it is God who is at work in you, both
to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).
Nations, as well as individuals, are in the hands the Lord. God
is the King of all the earth... God reigns over the nations
(Psalm 47:7-8). The King controls each nation's destinies. The
Lord uses nations and their rulers as He wills (Is. 10:5-15,
45:1-4). He keeps watch over them (Ps. 66:7). He assigns them
their place on earth and how long they will exist as a nation. He
determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their
habitation (Acts 17:26). He increases and destroys them (Job
12:23). He establishes and then dethrones their rulers (Dan.
2:37-39, 4:25).
The Lord is sovereign over the needs of His people. He
sustains us: My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me
(Ps. 63:8). He supplies our needs: My God shall supply all
your needs according to His riches in glory in Messiah Yeshua
(Phil. 4:19). He gives us safety: In peace I will both lie
down and sleep, for You alone O Lord, make me to dwell in safety
(Psalm 4:8). He protects us: He will not allow your foot to
slip... the Lord is your keeper ... the Lord will protect you
from all evil (Psalm 121:3-7). He acts on our behalf. From
of old they have not heard nor perceived by ear, neither has the
eye seen a God besides You, who acts in behalf of the one who
waits for Him (Is. 64:4). In general He makes all things work
together for good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). Therefore
we can pray: Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from
evil, for Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory
forever (Matthew 6:13).
WHAT IS GOD DOING WITH HIS SOVEREIGNTY?
The primary goal of God's government is to manifest His
perfections and display His glory. For My own sake, for My own
sake I will act; for how can My Name be profaned? And My glory I
will not give to another (Isaiah 48:11). His power is seen in
His work of creation, preservation, and redemption. His wisdom is
seen throughout His creation and the ways He accomplishes His
goals. His holiness is seen in His hatred and opposition to sin.
His love is seen in His provision for His creatures, especially
in His provision of salvation through the gift of His Messiah.
His truth is seen in the laws of nature and in His faithfulness
to His promises.
The Lord also governs the world with a view to the happiness
of His creatures. The Lord causes His sun to rise on the evil and
the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous
(Mt. 5:45). Satan implied in his temptation of Eve that God was
trying to withhold something good from her and Adam, and the
adversary has been using this same technique throughout history
to whip up human resentment against God. In contrast, Rabbi Paul
told the people of Lystra that God did not leave Himself
without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from
heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and
gladness (Acts 14:17). The Lord's goodness is intended to
bring happiness to us and lead people to repentance.
God also governs the world with a view toward the improvement
of the human race. This development is seen in various ways over
the past 2000 years wherever the Messianic Faith has penetrated
the world. It is seen in the elevation of the status of women,
the building of hospitals, the introduction of educational
systems, the abolition of slavery, the granting of religious and
intellectual liberty, and the development of technology. These
are all human developments for the betterment of mankind, but
they are ultimately traced back to God's good government of the
world.
Finally, the King governs the world with the goal of creating
the children of God (Eph. 1:9-12). He desires the salvation of a
people for His own possession. He chose the nation of Israel that
we might be such a people. If you will indeed obey My voice
and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among
all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine (Exodus 19:5). He
has called the Messianic Community (the Church) for the same
purpose. He is redeeming for Himself a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for His own possession
(Titus 2:14, 1 Pet. 2:9). His creation of the Jewish people,
God's dealings with the nation of Israel, the incarnation of the
Messiah, His atoning death on the cross, the coming and the
gifting of the Holy Spirit, the production and preservation of
the Holy Scriptures, the Church and its ministry, the Messianic
Jewish revival, the regathering of Israel, are all intended to
help prepare an eternal people for Himself.
Just as there are key words that teach the sovereignty of God,
so there are certain words that indicate our proper response to
His Lordship: give glory, glorify, honor, obey, yield, serve,
dedicate, be subject to, and submit. Our song must always be: Worthy
are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and
power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they
existed and were created (Rev. 4:11). Is that your song? One
day soon all Your works will give thanks to You O Lord, and
Your godly ones will bless You. They will speak of the glory of
Your Kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make known to the sons
of men Your mighty acts, and the glory of the majesty of Your
kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your
dominion endures throughout all generations (Psalm
145:10-13).
YESHUA IS THE SOVEREIGN LORD
Yeshua is understood to be the Lord in the pages of the New
Testament (Brit Chadasha) with the same frequency and regularity
that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was understood to be the
Lord in the Tenach (Hebrew Scriptures). Yeshua is described in
the New Testament as our creator, our owner, our preserver and
our redeemer, just as the God of Israel is portrayed in the
Hebrew Scriptures. In Romans 10:13 Rabbi Paul quotes Joel 2:32, Whoever
will call upon the name of the Lord (Adonai) will be saved,
and applies it to Messiah Yeshua. How can Rabbi Paul, the
greatest of all theologians, apply Joel 2:32 to Yeshua? Because
Rabbi Paul knew that calling Yeshua "Lord" is
equivalent to calling Yeshua "Adonai" - because Yeshua
is Adonai - the Lord.
Since Yeshua is the Lord, we are called upon to make Him the
supreme object of our love, His will the highest rule of duty,
His glory the greatest goal of our being. We are to exercise the
same faith in Him as we place in the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. We are to yield the same devotion and obedience to Yeshua
as we would to the Lord God of Israel.
Messiah Yeshua was the Lord of the apostles and earliest
Messianic Jews in just that way. Yes Lord, you know that I
love you... Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God... Lord Yeshua receive my spirit... Believe in the
Lord Yeshua... and the Lord said I am Yeshua... the grace of our
Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you... He is the Lord of lords...
the Lord of all... the Lord of the living and the dead... the
Lord of all who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
The first Messianic Jews regarded Yeshua as their Sovereign Lord,
to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given. They
considered Him as the One to whom they belonged. He was always
present with them, dwelling in them, controlling their inward and
outward lives. They were accountable to Him for their moral
conduct. They believed that they had to account to Him for their
sins, and for the use of their time and talents. They believed
that every act, every thought and every word of theirs, and of
every man or woman who ever lived, would lie open before His all
seeing eyes. They knew that one day they were to stand before His
judgement seat. They believed that the destiny of every soul
depends on His judgement.
These first Messianic Jews believed the whole matter of man's
ultimate destiny centers around recognizing Yeshua as Lord. To
them, true religion did not consist of the love of God alone, but
also of the love and knowledge of the Lord Yeshua. In Romans
10:9 Paul wrote: if you confess with your mouth Yeshua as
Lord... you shall be saved. They realized that accepting
Yeshua as Lord and restoring God to His proper place of Lordship
is the essence of salvation. They understood that when a
person came to realize that Yeshua was Lord, the work of
salvation had been accomplished; the saving truth had been
revealed to their souls.
Why is this so? Because at the Fall, mankind usurped God's
rightful place. Ever since the Garden of Eden, we are rebels who
are sitting on the true King's throne. So the Lord God came to
earth and died on a Roman cross so that the sinful, rebellious
self can be thrown down, and the Lord God restored as the
rightful Sovereign King over our lives. It is impossible to
separate Messiah Yeshua as Savior from Messiah Yeshua as Lord.
To be the Savior, He must be returned to His rightful place as
the Lord of our lives. That is why the Messianic Message (the
Good News) comes to us in the form of a command. It commands all
men everywhere to repent and surrender to God by believing in the
Lord Yeshua. The Messianic Faith is something that must be
obeyed. Every human being must choose whether to obey the
Good News, or reject its authority. Would you like some free
advice? It is infinitely better to accept Yeshua's Lordship now.
You can willingly serve Him now as a loyal subject, or one day
you will be forced to bow before Him as a defeated enemy, when
every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Yeshua
the Messiah is Lord.
HOW DOES SIN AND EVIL FIT INTO THE PLAN OF A SOVEREIGN GOD?
Yes, the God of Israel is the King of the universe. Yeshua is
Lord, with all authority in heaven and on earth given to Him. But
that raises a difficult question: if the Lord God is sovereign,
could He not have prevented sin and evil, pain and suffering from
coming into existence? While we can seldom determine why God
allows one thing rather than another, there are several things
that we do know. We know that the authority of God is limited
by nothing outside of Himself, but it is controlled by His
infinite perfections. Even though God's sovereignty is
universal and absolute, His will is entirely guided by His good
and wise attributes. His kingship is based on His attributes of
wisdom, holiness and love. As a wise God, He may be expected to
act rationally. As a good God, He will have the best interests of
His creatures at heart. As the all powerful God, He may be relied
on as having the ability to accomplish all His purposes.
In fact, there are certain things that God cannot do. He
cannot deny Himself and His essential nature. He cannot be cruel.
He cannot lie. He cannot sin. He cannot change. He cannot act or
be other than what He is. God cannot decree anything that is
contrary to His nature, or to His wisdom, or to His love, or to
His righteousness, or to His holiness. And yet consider the
following, apparently contradictory, examples: God hardened
Pharaoh's heart (Ex. 10:27). It was wrong for David to number
Israel, yet the Lord moved him to do it (2 Sam. 24:1). An evil
spirit from the Lord plagued King Saul (1 Sam. 19:9). God gave
sinners up to even more sin (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). God allowed the
iniquity of the Amorites to fill up even further (Gen. 15:16).
The Lord shut up all in disobedience (Rom. 11:32). During the
Tribulation of the Last Days, God will send a deluding influence
on the world so that unbelievers will believe what is false (2
Thes. 2:11). If God is not the author of sin, how can these
incidents be explained? How is a holy God related to man's sinful
acts? This can be answered in four ways:
1. God will often restrain man from the sin which man intends
to do. God said to Abimelech: I kept you from sinning against
Me; therefore I did not let you touch her (Gen. 20:6). King
David prayed: keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
let them not rule over me (Psalm 19:13). God has promised us
that He will not allow the believer to be tempted beyond what we
are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). God's sovereignty can have a
restraining influence on human sin.
2. Sometimes God, instead of actively restraining man from
doing evil, will sometimes permit sin to take its course. I
gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in
their own devises (Psalm 81:12). The Lord God also said: Ephraim
is joined to idols; let him alone (Hos. 4:17). For many
centuries God permitted all the nations to go their own ways
(Acts 14:16).
3. God determines the limits which evil and its effects may
go. Evil acts can only occur by the Lord's permission, and only
insofar as He permits them. The Lord said to Satan: Behold,
all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand
on him (Job 1:12). In His wisdom God has permitted evil to
exist for a time in carefully restricted areas of His creation.
Evil is limited in extent as well as in duration. A day is coming
when evil will be completely eliminated. Evil has entered the
universe, but it will not be allowed to thwart God's original,
wise and good purpose.
4. God allows evil, but can direct the way it goes. All the
evil acts of creatures are under the complete control of God.
Though they are evil in themselves, God can overrule the evil
acts of angels and men for good. God uses the wrath of man to
praise Him (Ps. 76:10). Perhaps the most powerful example is the
crucifixion. Yeshua said to Judas: What you do, do quickly.
All those involved in the crucifixion of Messiah did what God
predestined to occur (Acts 2:23, 4:27). Man's intent was evil,
but God used their evil intent to accomplish His will. The wicked
conduct of Joseph's brethren toward him (you meant evil
against me, but God meant it for good... to preserve many people
alive - Genesis 50:20), the stubbornness and hardness of
Pharaoh's heart toward God and Israel, the lust for conquest of
the Gentile nations that invaded Israel and carried the Jewish
people off into captivity, the rejection and crucifixion of
Messiah, the persecutions that the Messianic Community has
endured, and the Shoah (Holocaust), have all been overruled for
God's purposes. The fact that God has turned evil into good
should encourage us to trust Him to do the same with this present
evil generation, and all the difficulties that we face.
Another question that arises from the sovereignty of God is
this: if God rules the universe as the Supreme Sovereign, how is
it possible for man to exercise free choice? And if he can't
exercise freedom of choice, how can man be held responsible for
his conduct? Many theologians go to an extreme and deny either
the sovereignty of God or the free will of man. But perhaps it is
possible to reconcile these two positions. Consider the
following: God has sovereignly decreed that man should be free to
exercise moral choices, and man from the beginning has fulfilled
that decree by making his choices between good and evil. When he
chooses to do evil, he does not overrule the sovereign will of
God. No - he actually fulfills it. God's eternal decree didn't
predetermine which choice the man should make, but that he should
be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom, God has granted
man limited freedom, who is there to say: what are You doing
(Isaiah 45:9)?
Let me give you an illustration that might better explain this
concept. A Boeing 747 leaves JFK airport in New York bound for
Tel Aviv. Its destination has been determined by the proper
authorities (this is a picture of God's sovereignty). On board
the airliner are 350 passengers. They are not in seat belts all
of the time, neither are all of their activities determined for
them. They are completely free to sleep, watch a movie, read a
book, walk around, eat, talk, or pray (this is man's free will).
But all the time this great airplane is steadily carrying them
toward a predetermined destination. Both freedom and
sovereignty are present here, and they do not contradict each
other. So it is with man's freedom and God's sovereignty. The
mighty airplane of God's sovereignty keeps its steady course over
the air of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward
the fulfillment of those eternal plans which He purposed before
the world began.
In the meantime things are not running quite as smoothly as
this quick overview might suggest. The mystery of iniquity is
even now at work. Within the broad expanse of God's sovereign
will, the conflict between good and evil continues with
increasing fury. There will be storms and winds that might buffet
the 747 of His will, but God will have His way despite the storms
and winds. God will fulfill every promise made to the prophets.
We know that those who ignore God will one day be removed from
the earth. We know that a redeemed people will enter into
everlasting joy and the righteous will shine in the kingdom of
their Father. We know that the present imperfect order will be
done away with, and a new heaven and a new earth will be
established forever. We know that all created beings will
acknowledge Yeshua as Lord, which will bring glory to God the
Father. Toward all this God is moving with infinite wisdom and
perfect precision of action. No one can stop Him from His
purpose. Nothing can turn Him aside from His plans. Since He is
all knowing, there can be no unforeseen circumstances; there can
be no accidents. Since He is all powerful, there can be no lack
of power to achieve His chosen ends. There can be no breakdown in
His authority. Since He is sovereign, there can be no orders
given by someone else that will countermand His.
God has determined the law of choice and consequences. God has
decreed that all those who willingly commit themselves to Messiah
Yeshua with the obedience of faith will receive eternal life. He
has also decreed that all who love darkness and continue in
rebellion against the high authority of heaven will remain in a
state of spiritual alienation and at the last suffer eternal
death. There is freedom to choose which side we will be on, but
we don't have the freedom to negotiate the results of the choice.
It has already been determined. Whoever is on Messiah's side
is on the winning side and cannot lose. Whoever is on the other
side is on the losing side and cannot win.
The sovereignty of God should be a source of peace, joy and
confidence to all His people. There is perfect peace and the
highest destiny for those who subject themselves to the Kingship
of God. They can already say Halleluyah! They already rejoice
that the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. They know that
neither chance, nor the folly of man, nor the hatred of Satan,
controls the sequence of events or the destiny of their lives,
but that the Lord God and His infinite wisdom, love, and power
do. But the knowledge of the sovereignty of God should also be a
source of distress and anguish for all those who ignore the
Lordship of God, and choose to live their life without King
Messiah. Their destiny is the one of the usurper and rebel, and
they will have a usurper's and rebel's reward.
Messiah Yeshua is the Lord. Have you become one of His
faithful servants? The Lord God of Israel is the King of kings.
Are you one of His loyal subjects? Everyone in creation one day
bow down to Him. You might as well be wise, get a head start, and
do it now.
I am indebted
to A.W. Tozer, Henry Thiessen, and Charles Hodge
for this article.
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