Study:-2
Three Aspects of God’s Sovereignty
Bro. Dennie Matthews, Mumbai
The subject of the Sovereignty of God has been both contentious and enthralling for every serious student of the Scriptures. I approach this topic with due reverence and with a sincere desire to share my understanding of this vast and complex aspect of our living God in a simple and palatable manner for the encouragement of saints and the glory of God.
Let’s look at this subject in a three-pronged manner, beginning with:
1. God is Sovereign in His Creation
The book of Genesis’ account of creation reminds us that God singlehandedly made and sustains all that we see, all the rhythms of nature and its forces, the vastness of the galaxies and the universe and the wonder of all - man, made in the image of God Himself from dust. God wants us to remember that He created everything on earth below and heaven above before He created man.
And these were done, that all glory of creation must remain with God alone and man may see and acknowledge the Sovereignty of God. Our God does not believe in shared glory. All glory vests in Him alone. (Rev 4:11)
In Romans 1:18-32 we see the apostle Paul bring the truth to us that, when man refuses to acknowledge God’s existence revealed in creation and give glory to God and be grateful to Him, God gives their foolish hearts to darkness, wherefore by their imaginations they would end up in unpleasant sins and even rebel to make his own gods and ultimately earn the wrath of God.
Fallen man is always at loggerheads with God, as Satan is the father of the unregenerate and therefore such exhibit the desire of Lucifer to be the Sovereign one.
As believers, it’s imperative therefore to see God as Sovereign in creation and give Him the glory.
2. God is Sovereign in Salvation
Here comes the most contentious part among believers on the aspect of whether it’s the free will of man or God’s sovereignty in man’s salvation. For ages, people of God have been divided greatly on this doctrine, to the extent of both sides willing to look at the other side with great contempt, even to the extent of being ready to lose fellowship with each other.
However, both sides do believe in the underlying truth that God is above all and capable of all and no man could overturn His will. Personally, I am persuaded by the absolute sovereignty of God and this narrative is not drawn by my personal preference but by the explicit intent of this great truth narrated in various scripture portions. Some popular verses in defence are John 1: 12, 13; Acts 13:48; Romans 8: 29; 9: 9-16, Ephesians 1:4 and more.
However, I have been most impacted by Ephesians 2: 1, which says “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”. As one of the contemporary Lord’s servants Voddie Baucham while defending the Sovereignty of God in men’s salvation said reading this verse, ‘dead men don’t grab’!
The profoundness of the folly to think that asking a dead man to grab a rope to rescue and give new life to him falls far short of a thinking Christian. It is by grace, which we have received through faith that we have been saved and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. The problem has been that we refuse to interpret dead man as dead man but think of our spiritual state to be semi-dead, weak, paralysed person who can respond – which is incorrect and unscriptural and not tenable if we want to be true to the Scriptures. A dead man can respond only if God calls him out.
As a closing defence to this in Matthew 19:26 the Lord says in this regard to the young man seeking an entry into the kingdom of God “This is impossible with men, but with God all things are possible”. Shall we humble ourselves to acknowledge that God is sovereign in our salvation as well?
3. God is Sovereign in All Aspects of Our Lives
The scripture vehemently exhorts that we must willingly live in submissiveness to Christ, (Eph 5:24). In other words Christ must be Sovereign to the Church in all its functioning. The Word of God is the will of God for us and must be adhered to. Christ loved the Church and gave His life for it (Eph 5:25), so there should be no excuse for us not to have Him indeed as our Lord and King in our gatherings, He is worthy of it.
In our personal lives too, there is no second doctrine but to abide under the knowledge and understanding of the Sovereignty of God, fully and constantly being aware that He is Immanuel – God with us at all times.
Many times individuals and families who are not soundly grounded on the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God in our lives get flustered, and swayed when trials come (trials are God’s examination pods for His chosen ones) and our lives may be rocked with fear. Faith is the antidote to fear.
As children of God, we can effectively deal with any difficult situation, if we nurture our inner man with full faith and assurance that God is in control, He knows all that we go through and He allows all things and that no one can pluck us from His hands or lay their hands on you (Acts 18.10).
We can at best plan the best plan but it is God who is our Director, who may lead us through diverse ways. “A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” (Prov 16:9)
There are several instances of evil befalling God’s people (not for their sins) in the Bible and yet they all held their faith, whether it’s Job, Joseph, Daniel or the host of saints, who chose to suffer affliction than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. They chose to patiently endure knowing the end is eternal life (Rom 2:7).
Had Job not known that God was not Sovereign in the evil which befell him, he would never have said in Job 1:21 “The Lord gave and The Lord hath taken away, BLESSED be the name of the Lord” That capacity to bear is proportional to our faith in the Sovereignty of God in all our ways and all what befalls us.
May we be reassured of God’s Sovereignty in our lives in line with Rom 8: 28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Our individual and assembly life should be of faith and submissiveness to the Sovereignty of God. The journey of life is then and only then beautiful for we will see the hand of the Lord. May these words give us the grace to humble ourselves under our Sovereign God. TO GOD BE THE GLORY. G&P
