When you think of the Sovereignty of God what comes into your mind? Some people that I have talked with in the church define the sovereignty of God in the following terms: "God is as sovereign in my life as I allow Him to be." Even though that may sound good it is NOT and I repeat NOT a good Biblical definition of God's sovereignty.
This is a short study in the sovereignty of God over both good and evil. Do you have a category for this in your mind? Clear your mind and prepare your heart as we study the sovereignty of God in all things.
The Sovereignty of God
God continually oversees and directs all things pertaining to the created order in such a way that
1) He preserves in existence and provides for the creation He has brought into being
(see Neh 9:6; Matt 6:25-34; Acts 2:25; Col 1:16-17; and Heb 1:2-3; Jas 1:17), and
2) He governs and reigns supremely over the entirety of the created order in order to
fulfill all of His intended purposes in it and through it (see Deut 32:39; Psa 135:5-7;
Prov 21:1; Isa 45:5-7; Dan 2:21; 4:34-37; Eph 1:11)
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of . . . leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.
Questions may immediately come to mind such as:
➢ The child who rebels against the parents authority
➢ The terrorists crashing planes into the twin towers in NYC
➢ Tsunami of 2004
➢ Hurrican Katrina
II. Biblical Support
A. Spectrum Texts – This will speak to texts in which God controls both sides of the spectrum, He controls what is good and what is evil. We can come to think of God controlling that which is good, joyful and life bringing but in these texts we see that He controls evil, destruction and calamity.
1. Deuteronomy 32:39 – This is Moses song to the people that they are to recite and sing
“See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to
death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who
can deliver from My hand.”
Here we see that God is announcing that He is God and that in being God He can do contrasting things.
I am the God who puts to death and I am the God who gives life, both of these are done by God. He also says I am the One who wounds and I am the One who heals. When it says there is no god besides Me then you see that God is establishing Himself as One who has the prerogative to do this kind of thing.
2. Isaiah 45:5-7
5 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird
you, though you have not known Me; (By the way this is a reference to Cyrus, the King of Persia who God would raise up as an instrument to get the people of God back into Jerusalem after exiled by the Babylonians. This is predicted 150 years before it happens) 6 that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, 7 the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being
and creating calamity; I am the LORD Who does all these.”
Look at the spectrum:
Forms light and creates darkness
Causes well being and creates calamity
Forms light
Creates darkness
Causes well being
Creates calamity
It is very easy for us to think about God as the One who forms light and causes well being but also creating darkness and calamity we don’t think about God in this way.
Notice two observations from the Hebrew:
a. The term bara (“create”) is used in the OT exclusively with God as its subject.
It is the term used in Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Also it is used in Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
This term is never used of us creating something, other Hebrew verbs are used when we create something but God alone “bara’s” something.
Here it is used in v. 7 for the two negative aspects of God’s control –
darkness and calamity
If we wrote this most of us would write God creates light/well being and use a weaker verbs with
Darkness/calamity. But in fact God does just the opposite.
Biblical insight - God uses the strongest word “bara” to emphasize the face that He creates darkness and calamity not the weaker verb for light and well-being.
Forms (weaker verb) light
Creates (stronger verb) darkness
Causes (weaker verb) well being (strong word for peace or shalom)
Creates (stronger verb) calamity (strongest word to denote what is horrible)
b. The terms in the second couplet are the strongest Hebrew words,
respectively, for all that is good (shalom, or “peace”) and all that is bad (ra,
or “calamity,” “destruction,” “evil”).
This is the strongest Hebrew word in the Old Testament that describes all that is horrible! It is usually translated as evil in the Hebrew Bible.
So the verse is saying that God causes well-being (peace) and God creates evil.
If we feel the need to get God off the hook in His attachment to or involvement in evil then evidently God doesn’t have that same sensitivity in regard to Himself.
Critical Point:
God controls fully both light and darkness (Isa 45:7), but consider 1 John 1:5
also – “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you , that
God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
God controls fully both all that is good and all that is evil (Isa 45:7), but consider
along with this also Psalm 5:4 – “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in
wickedness; no evil (ra) dwells with you.” (Note: “Evil” in Psalm 5:4 is the same
term (ra) used in Isaiah 45:7)
Conclusion: God fully controls both good and evil, yet God is wholly good
and is not evil in any respect whatsoever.
These are twin pillars that must be held by Christian people who want to:
1. Honor who God is and…
2. Understand the work of God in this world
Wouldn’t it be easy to draw the conclusion that if God controls both good and evil, then what must we conclude about God Himself…well then He must be both good and evil. WRONG!
OR
God is good and Him there is no evil so what do we conclude about His control of the world…then God has everything to do with what is good and nothing to do with what is evil. WRONG!
Either way we miss one major stream of Biblical teaching about God.
God is good and in Him there is no evil at all but God controls all that is good and all that is evil. So both of these things must be held together – God is holy, just, good but we praise God that He ultimately reigns over evil. Because we know by God reigning over this in the end He will bring about His good and wise purposes.
B. “Compatibilist” Texts
This means two things that need to be brought together in convergence. One is the sovereign control of God, He is ordaining, He is determining, He is causing to bring about certain things but that sovereign ordination of God doesn’t cancel out human free action and responsibility. Instead that sovereign action of God is compatible with and doesn’t happen separate from responsible human action. So these two things are compatible – Divine Sovereignty and Free Human Responsibility
1. Genesis 45:4-8
You remember the story, there was seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. So when the brothers went down to Egypt to buy food the one that they appeared before was in fact there brother Joseph. The brothers sold Joseph as a slave hoping that he would have a painful death. They had no idea that he was promoted, God had given him those dreams, and now he was second in command in all of Egypt. Then in Genesis 45 Joseph decides to reveal his true identity to his brothers.
4 “Then Joseph said to his brothers, . . . ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you
sold into Egypt. Question – is this true? Did his brothers sell him into Egypt? Yes indeed they did, they plotted it and carried it out and did exactly what they wanted to do. First of all they wanted to kill him but Reuben was there and kept them from doing that, but when the caravan came along they decided that was better because they could make some money and also be sure he would have a painful death as a slave.
5 Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you
sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life . . . Now stop and think, notice is does not say this “don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me into Egypt for God took what you did and turned it into good. Instead it says that God sent me, this is the language of past tense or past action to indicate what God did and what they did. The brothers selling Joseph into Egypt was God’s sending Joseph into Egypt. It was not using what they did for some good purpose.
Now here is the question – when you have two activities that converge in bringing about what happens:
The brothers selling Joseph into Egypt
God sending him to Egypt
Now the question is would one of the two actions be more ultimate or primary? Or does one of the two weigh in heavier than the other in explaining what happens.
7 God sent me (notice who gets dropped out of the equation all together in this verse – the brothers are no longer mentioned because God’s purpose is fulfilled in what they did)
before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a
great deliverance. (It looks like a stronger weight given to God’s action than the brothers)
8 Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; (This verifies what we thought in verse 7 that God has the ultimate action here) and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.’”
In an ultimate sense what happened to Joseph can’t be explained by what happened according to your jealousy and anger and vengeful action toward Joseph in selling him into Egypt. Basically what this means is that the brothers carried out God’s ordained will. God sent Joseph through the brothers selling him.
Question: If that is the case then on judgment day can the brothers of Joseph hold up this passage from Genesis 45 and say “we can’t be held accountable for this because we didn’t send Joseph but it was God and therefore we are off the hook.” Is that going to work? No way
And the reason we know this is because in Genesis 50 when Jacob dies and the brothers are left with Joseph they are worried because the father is gone so what is Joseph now going to do with them? So they plead with him to forgive them and Joseph responds “you meant it for evil but God meant it for good.” It is very clear that God’s sending Joseph to Egypt through the brothers selling Joseph to Egypt does not in any way absolve them of responsibility.
God is praised for the action that He does for the people and they are blameworthy for the action they did in selling Joseph down to Egypt.
2. Isaiah 10:5-7, 12, 15
5 “Woe to Assyria, (this starts out with a warning like, you are in big trouble Assyria, you who are what?) the rod of My anger, and the staff in whose hands is My indignation (Do we get the point? Assyria you who are carrying out My will, My rod in My hand doing exactly what I ordain you to do, now you might ask how can Assyria be in trouble with God for doing what He has ordained them to do?) 6 I send it against a godless nation (who is this? It is Israel), and commission it against the people of My fury, to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
(The next verse is critical in understanding what is going on here) 7 Yet it does not so intend, nor does it plan so in its heart, (what does that mean?, do you see the point of it? They are being commissioned by God to do the very things of God but they do not see themselves as the instrument of God) but rather it is its purpose to destroy, and to cut off many nations . . . (Assyria is selfish and arrogant and they are doing this entirely for their own benefit, they have no idea that as they do this they are carrying out the very will of God)
12 So it will be when the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion (this means the work that God ordained Assyria to do) and on
Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of
Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness . . . 15 Is the axe to boast itself over
the one who chops with it? (who is the ax? Answer – Assyria, who is the One who chops with it? Answer – God)
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?’” (who is the saw? Answer – Assyria, who is the One who wields it? Answer – God)
Assyria is raised up by God and given the military prowess that they have, used and ordained by God to carry out this work to bring judgment against His own people then when they have finished it, God then holds them accountable for what they did. Not so much for the work they did but for the intent of the heart in which there was pride and arrogance and selfishness.
They are judged for what they did even though they did exactly what God ordained them to do.
3. Acts 2:23; 4:27-28
2:23 “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of
God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death . . .
4:27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant
Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose
predestined to occur.”
It is incredible to think that all we read about in the gospels, the betrayal of Judas, the trial before Caiaphas, the people that a week before on Palm Sunday were throwing palms down in front of Him and declaring Him to be the Messiah, and now a week later are crying out for Him to be crucified, the Romans, Jews, and Herod all fulfilling exactly what God had ordained to occur.
The point is that given the weight of the evidence which is in Scripture then we must hold in one hand that God is entirely sovereign over all things that happen, on the other hand that sovereignty of God does not cancel out our free and moral responsibility in doing the things that we do. Therefore these two things must go together in some respect.
(From a lecture series by Bruce Ware on the Doctrine of God)
