Thursday, December 5, 2013

College Study #56: "God's Sovereignty: His Position and Power"




‘Behold, the Lamb of God’

ide o amnos tou theou

College Study

56th teaching

12.2.2013

 

“God’s Sovereignty”
 

 


         

Review:

          Thus far in our studies in Theology Proper, a study of God’s attributes, we’ve considered God’s metaphysical attributes. What are metaphysical attributes? What’s an example of one?

          Then we considered God’s moral attributes. What are moral attributes? What’s an example of one?

          And we concluded the moral attributes of God with a study of His grace. Last week, then, we kicked off our third and final collection of God’s attributes, known as the non-moral attributes? What are non-moral attributes? These neither define what God is nor do they relate to His moral character, therefore they are non-moral, not-having-to-do with morals. Notice, that’s not amoral or immoral. God neither lacks morality nor is He evil. Quite the contrary: our recent studies plumbed the depths of Scripture to discover that God is all-loving, that He is all-good, kind, caring, righteous, morally perfect, without sin and impeccable. Simply, God is good with no darkness at all.

          So then, what was our topic last week, the first of these non-moral attributes? What is a good definition of wisdom? How are wisdom and knowledge different? What’s the theological term for all-wise? How wise is God? How can He be all-wise (because He has all-knowledge; omnisapience based on omniscience)? Who is the wisdom of God? How do you know its Jesus Christ? What are some similarities between Jesus and the personification of Wisdom in the book of Proverbs? What is considered by the world to be offensive and foolish? The Bible encourages us to get wisdom, but how do we get it?

End of Review

 

          Tonight, we come to a topic which deserves some very careful consideration. It is a subject which I’ll openly admit has intimidated and frustrated me, not only over the past few days leading up to this study, but also many times in my past. It is a subject which, if misunderstood, can dramatically affect your interpretation of Scripture passages, your school of thought, your theological headquarters, and the way you live your life. Ideas have consequences.

          In a book by Dr. Norman Geisler, entitled Chosen but Free, he writes about a pastor who became so depressed over his understanding of God’s Sovereignty to the point that there was no more free will that he committed suicide.

          What Tozer said rings true: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” How we think about God, especially in the difficult doctrines, can dramatically affect our lives.

          What’s more, we must realize that tonight’s topic is one which has been a cause for division among many Christians throughout history, our own fellowship in recent history included. This one subject is part of one of the oldest problems in the history of theology: how to reconcile God’s control and man’s responsibility.

          Tonight’s study is entitled: “God’s Sovereignty: His Position and Power”.

          Look at I Chronicles 29. Here, King David is nearing the end of his reign, and he collects the materials and the offerings necessary for the future construction of the temple. Read v.10-14. Clearly, a major theme of David’s speech here is the sovereignty of God.

          As mentioned, the subject of God’s Sovereignty is one which invites and incites sharp debate. But let us affirm from the beginning of our study tonight that this is not our intention, to sow discord or to split friends, Christians or churches. There are many Christians who hold to varying views on the subject of God’s Sovereignty who remain Christians nonetheless.

          So while the problems discussed tonight are theological problems, they ought not to be ecclesiastical problems, nor relational problems. The command Jesus gave to His disciples was to love one another, not to debate the finer points of theology. And we as Christians should be characterized by what we do (loving others) rather than by what we do not do or do not agree with. I have brothers and sisters in Christ on both sides of the debate. And debate is not our intention tonight in an atmosphere of learning.

          That being said, I could not teach you if I wasn’t convinced that there’s both a right and a wrong understanding of God’s Sovereignty and the problems associated with it. I can only teach you what I am convinced of by Scripture and plain reason (as Luther said). I can tell you what others believe, but I can only teach you why I believe what I believe and how I believe it as according to Scripture.

          Our topic tonight then is God’s Sovereignty.

          Sovereignty is defined as the authority of a sovereign. Sovereignty involves the jurisdiction, rule, power, dominion and authority of a sovereign. When a king rules over his kingdom, he is exercising his authority. When kings set laws and enforce those laws over the free peoples of their kingdoms, whether those people choose to obey him or disobey him, he is exercising authority over his kingdom.

          Like other non-moral attributes, immanence and transcendence, sovereignty is a relational term that describe God’s relationship of authority over the universe. So when we refer to the Sovereignty of God, we’re talking about His power to rule, His authority, His position as King of all kings over all the universe.

          The question is: what kind of control is involved?

          Is God in absolute control over all things, including our every thought and action, whether good or sinful, so that God is a cosmic puppet master putting the lies we say into our mouths and the sins we commit into our minds?

          I heard a poem today which accurately depicts what such a God would be like: Edward Fitzgerald writes: “'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days, Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays.”

          Is that what God’s Sovereignty makes Him out to be? A cold and calculating Entity that moves men like game-pieces across a game-board through history? Are we merely robots crying to the One who made us either “I love You” or “I reject You” as He so programmed the words into our souls?

          Or on the other extreme angle, rather than elevating sovereignty they elevate free will. Does our capacity to choose form a kind of revolution against the Sovereign God? Does our free will negate and erase the Sovereignty of God? Does it denying Him any authority over mankind? Does our ability to choose “dethrone God and enthrone man” as one commentator put it? Some groups, known now as Open Theists, have even gone to the extreme of saying that our free will is so free that God cannot even know our free choices, that our free will has in fact blocked the omniscient foreknowledge of God.

          So you have the two extremes, the two views. Our aim is to discover which the Bible holds to, though it shall become clear that the Bible strikes right down the middle. The Scripture teaches that God is sovereign, but it also shows that man can choose to obey or disobey. The Scripture teaches that God controls all things, but it also shows that man is responsible for his actions. The Scripture expounds the authority of God and at the same time pleads upon the fact of man’s free will. Both extremes are included and moderated and balanced out in the Word of God.

          So let’s discover first what the Bible says about God’s Sovereignty, then we’ll break it down and discover what these verses are saying:

1.   Biblical Basis for God’s Sovereignty

Right at the outset, let’s have our Project Scriptura verses.

 

          Now God is both Sovereign by position and Sovereign by power. He has the throne and authority to rule and the power to control. Imagine a king who had the position of a sovereign but no power. He would look something like the King of Hearts out of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. A weasley, pathetic little shrimp with no real ‘oomph’ in his authority, no power in his words.

          On the flip side, imagine a king who had no position of sovereign but who exercised that kind of power. He’d resemble something a lot less humorous and a lot grimmer, like the French revolutionaries depicted in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities who overthrew the French authorities and began a wanton and bloody crusade that involved the murder of thousands at the guillotine.

          But God is both Sovereign ruler by position and by power. He is neither a helpless figurehead nor an uprising rebel. He has the throne and He has the ability to rule from it. Let’s look at these closer.

2.   Sovereign by Position

Who had Bible verses that referred to God’s position as Sovereign?

God is Sovereign by Position. Consider these verses and the phrases in them.

          Turn to Genesis 14:18-20. Here, this enigmatic figure known as Melchizedek comes and blesses Abram (later Abraham). And several times this new name for God is mentioned: God Most High. It says that Melchizedek was a priest of God Most High.

          In Hebrew this name of God is pronounced El Elyon. It means exactly what the translators put it down as in English, that God is the Highest of All, the greatest and most supreme of all beings. He is superior and vastly far above, transcendent over everything. The Hebrew phrase can also refer to mundane objects: that this object is above that object: this basket is above this table. When applied to God, El Elyon means that God is above all else in importance, in eminence, in greatness and in His Sovereign position.

          Anselm of Canterbury wrote: “God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.” There is nothing greater than God Most High.

          So El Elyon reminds of that God is the Most High, exalted far above all other things positionally sovereign.

          Also, notice another title for God, namely that God is the Creator. Ecclesiastes 12:1 says “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth…” The prophet says “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary” Isaiah 40:28.  Romans 1:25 says that unbelievers and rejecters of God’s truth have “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever.

          Scripture resounds with depictions of God as the Creator. And if God is Creator than He produced all things created and all creatures are His therefore by creative right. If you make something and produce something, we naturally and automatically assume that this thing is yours. If we had playdough lying around here (which we should), we would automatically say “Look at Armando’s octopus” if he had made an octopus, “Look at Blythe’s dog she made”, “Look at Christopher’s Venus de Milo”.

          Point being: since God created the universe than He is the rightful owner of it. Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

          So God is Sovereign by position according to one of His names: El Elyon, and one of His titles: the Creator. God is thirdly Sovereign by position because His importance as the Sustainer of all things.

          Colossians 1:17 says “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Hebrews 1:3 says Christ upholds “all things by the word of His power…” Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

          Simply, the universe exists because of God and the universe continues to exist because of God. The Lord upholds and sustains and keeps the universe together. Without this transcendent position over the universe, there would be nothing left.

          History remembers, vaguely, the first king to ever adopt the title of “king of kings” as far as we know. This was King Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria. Ever heard of him? Didn’t think so. That’s cause he’s been dead for three thousand years. He’s so old they didn’t even have cameras to take pictures of him, so I found a picture of a mace with his name on it.

          So this Tukulti-Ninurta I called himself “king of kings”, when in reality he and his kingdom have been long gone. Truly, there is only one King of kings and “of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33); “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion…” (Daniel 4:34). God is Sovereign by position. He has the right to rule His dominion.

          No wonder that the most common title for God in Scripture is the title Lord. God is the Master, the King, the Lord of all.

3.   Sovereign by Power

          Who had Bible verses for Project Scriptura which referred to God’s power as Sovereign?

          Ecclesiastes 8:4, Solomon writes: “Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” We are unused to royalty here in America, but it is clear that you don’t question kings, you obey them.

          Similarly, Job 9:12 says “If [God] takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’” Being a king carries certain authority and power to enforce his own will. A king has the power to grant freedom or to take life.

          God’s Sovereignty is related to His omnipotence, His all-powerfulness. God rules because He can rule, He has the power and ability to rule. God has all-authority because He has all-power. No one is stronger than He. No one can resist Him. No one can fight against Him and hope for victory.

          One of the central themes of the Book of Job is the Sovereignty of God. Job was allowed to suffer some terrible things at the direct hand of Satan but by the permission of God. I once talked with a man who told me that Job was about God gambling with a man’s life. While I definitely do not see that (God cannot gamble if He already knows the outcome), there is clear proof within the Book of Job that what Job suffered was what God allowed him to suffer within a set limit and for a specific purpose.

          But considering Sovereignty as its central theme, look over at Job 41. For the past few chapters, God speaks directly to Job out of a whirlwind. Job had been wrestling with his current predicament and had begun to cling to his own righteousness while at the same time beginning to question God. What God does is He begins to question Job, and with each question it becomes clearer and clearer that God is in a far superior position as Sovereign. God had the wisdom to form the universe. God had the knowledge to order the universe. God had the power to make and fill the universe.

          And so God brings before Job the constellations, the animals, the waters, the earth and asks Job “Did you make these? Did you form them? Did you order them?” To which Job finds himself feeling less righteous in the face of God’s Sovereignty.

          But in Job 41, God brings forth the final illustration of His Sovereignty over creation by showing Job one of His ultimate creative works: the Leviathan. (Read 41:1-11)

          Jon Courson even suggests that the Leviathan is a representation of Satan, that the one who originally brought Job low is here now presented and paraded before Job as a part of God’s lesson on His Sovereignty over all creation, including even the Devil. Incredible thought, but the point is clear. God is more powerful than man, more powerful than even the Devil. God is powerful enough to make the heavens and to form the earth and to create all the multitudinous life-forms we see.

          Jeremiah 32:27, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?Matthew 19:26, “…but with God all things are possible.” Daniel 4:35, “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” Psalm 115:3, “But our God is in heaven and He does whatever He pleases.”

          Now this can be either intensely frightening or incredibly comforting, to believe that God can do whatever He wants without anybody being able to stop Him. It can be intensely frightening if you do not know the character of God. And what is the character of God? I John 4:16 says “God is Love”. What is a primary characteristic of God’s moral personality? That He loves. As we’ve studied over these many weeks: God is good, kind, loving, affectionate and passionate. And that’s what makes this doctrine of God’s Sovereignty a comfort rather than a fear.

          With good reason do Christians say “God is still in control” to comfort one another in troubled times.

          God is not some horrible tyrant. God does not abuse His Sovereignty for wickedness and evil deeds, as has been the case of so many human sovereigns throughout our history. Rather, God is a loving King. And so the Sovereignty of God, remember, is always balanced out by the King’s Wisdom, Knowledge, Justice, Righteousness, Perfection, Goodness and Love.

          His attributes work in harmony and Sovereignty is no exception to that rule. We can trust that whatever our God allows or decrees to come to pass, He has allowed or decreed out of the abundance of all of His attributes, out of goodness, love, justice and wisdom. God doesn’t make bad decisions.

          But, and this is a big but, there are two problems that the concept of a Sovereign God presents.

          The first is the Problem of Evil. If God is in control of all things, then whence comes evil? How can evil exist if an all-powerful, all-loving God reigns? Where did it come from if God made all things? If God does all that He sovereignly pleases, then why is there evil in the world, why are some humans not going to be saved?

          Secondly, there is the Dilemma of Free Will. If God is in control of all things, then do human beings have any free will at all? If God orchestrates, ordains and causes all things to come to pass, then how could any of us make choices at all, if God chooses what kind of choices we’re making? If that’s so, then you cannot say that we have free will. As Geisler writes: “If God is sovereign, how then can we be free? Does not divine sovereignty make a sham of human responsibility? Does not a sovereign God pull the strings of human “puppets” at His will?” Like the pieces on a colossal checker-board…

          I was reminded of the excellent quote by the ever-eloquent C.S. Lewis: “If you choose to say, 'God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it,' you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words, 'God can.'”

          Lewis’ point is that there are intrinsic impossibilities, things which in and of themselves are impossible because they are self-contradictory, which even God cannot do. Nonsense remains nonsense even if we speak it of God.

          So we know and understand that there must be a resolution for these problems. We ought to have matured enough in the Christian faith to recognize that God is not magic. God could not magically wish away sin and forgive it automagically, as we discussed last week. Neither can God just magically give free will and then control our every movement and thought and still call it free. That’s a contradiction of terms.

          Now in order to grant sufficient time and consideration to these two immense issues before us: the Problem of Evil and the Dilemma of Free Will, we’re going to unfortunately have to consider them next week, when they can form the bulk of our session together.

          So then, what have we learned tonight. We have learned that God is definitely Sovereign both by position and by power. He has the authority to rule and the ability to rule. That God is Sovereign is definitely clear from Scripture.

          The question I’d like to leave you with is the one we mentioned earlier: Does the Sovereignty of God terrify or pacify you? Does the Sovereignty of God fill you with fear or with peace? Does the Sovereignty of God incite your resentment or does it stir up your faith? Does the Sovereignty of God depress or excite you?

          I would suggest that your response to those questions all depend on just Who you think this God person is, anyways. And that’s what it comes down to. That’s the thrust of these studies: who is God?

          Will you choose to trust the God that is in control of the universe, who allows things to happen in your life for the reasons determined by His wisdom and knowledge and decreed by His love and righteousness? Out of all the debates surrounding God’s Sovereignty, I believe this is something that everyone should be able to agree upon, that our King rules, yes, but that the King is also our Father, who loves us and cares for us. And more so than any earthly father we’ve ever had, God our Father can be trusted above all us because of the very God that He is.

          God is in charge. Make your bed and sleep in it, comfortably.

         

                  

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