The Sovereignty of God
By
Nick Bibile
Psalm
115:3 Our God is in the heavens;
he
does all that he pleases.
Now all Christians believe in God’s sovereignty
but how you understand God’s sovereignty is another question and denominations
may have a different view.
What is the meaning of sovereignty? The English word
sovereignty comes from the Latin word, superanus,
which means super, above, over, supreme in power and authority to the highest
degree. That is just the English meaning
of sovereignty.
The biblical meaning of God’s sovereignty means,
He is the Author of all things. God’s powerful authority overpowers all other
powers and authorities.
Job 42:2 I know that you can do
all things,
and
that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (thwarted means
prevented, or stopped)
It means nobody in the world or even Satan cannot stop God’s purposes.
If you believe God, something happens outside of
God’s sovereignty, then you don’t believe in God.
Especially these days where we see a virus running loose,
and if you think it’s outside God’s control and millions of people are dying,
then God is not God. Let me put it in another way. When something destructive
happening like today, according to God’s sovereignty, God has the power to stop
it, he can either prevent it, or he can simply allows it to happen because of
our fallen nature. If God allows it to
happen, it doesn’t mean he is rejoicing over it, or gives favor, but he does
allows it to happen as He is retaining His sovereignty over it.
Remember the story of Joseph, the brothers wanted
to kill him, and God had all the power to prevent it but God allowed it to
happen because God is glorified at the end.
Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to
bring it about that many people
should be kept alive, as they are today.
Remember the death of our Savior,
God could have prevented the extreme painful crucifixion,
that was the most horrible sin man has ever committed on the holy,
blameless Jesus, it was the most cruel and unfair trial in human history,
although God had the power to prevent, yet He allowed it to happen.
Acts 2:23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
1 Peter 1:20 He was foreknown
before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for
the sake of you.
Also Ephesians 1:4
From all eternity, God ordained,
appointed, established, planned everything that will happen throughout
history, and what he planned is unchangeable where no other powers can change.
He did this according to his most wise counsel.
Ephesians 1:11 In
him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the
purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
Let us see some other scriptures
of God’s sovereignty.
Remember King Nebuchadnezzar’s
pride was brought down to zero when God allowed him to eat grass like a cow for
seven years and at the end God restored him back and he said the following.
Daniel 4:35 all the inhabitants
of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and
he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and
among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or
say to him, “What have you done?
Even if bad things are happening
now, as millions are dying, can we question God and ask him what have you done?
By the way death on this earth is not the end, but what counts is eternal life,
what happens after death.
How about random events?
Proverbs 16:33 The
lot is cast into the lap,
but
its every decision is from the Lord.
How about God’s sovereignty over
nature?
Psalm 135:6 Whatever
the Lord
pleases, he does,
in
heaven and on earth,
in
the seas and all deeps.
What about the government’s plan
and your plans?
Psalm 33:10 The Lord
brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he
frustrates the plans of the peoples.
Proverbs 16:1 The
plans of the heart belong to man,
but
the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Proverbs 16:9 The
heart of man plans his way,
but
the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans
in the mind of a man,
but
it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Sovereignty of God is governed by
His wisdom
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Now my beloved, even if a one
tiny molecule or a virus like today is loose outside the control of God’s
sovereignty, God is surprised by it and no power over it, then what hope do you
and I have? Then we cannot trust in God. However the Bible says,
Colossians 1:17… and in him all things hold together.
The whole universe is held
together in Christ Jesus, including the smallest particle. Yes, man was very
prideful of the military power, nuclear power, yet an invisible virus that
cannot be seen destroyed most of the power of man, man was brought to humility, this is an opportunity how we need to trust in the
awesome God’s power through Jesus Christ.
Nothing can happen without the
sovereignty of God.
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
God is all powerful, even your hairs are numbered.
Matthew 10:30 But even the hairs of your head are
all numbered.
Our God is an awesome powerful God. Not even a smallest molecule cannot get out of control in this
universe without the knowledge of God, God is in control.
Now when a disaster happens like the coronavirus, the unbelievers will point the finger at the
Christians and ask where is your God? Let me ask the atheist who doesn’t
believe in God, but only believe in himself, what comfort do you have in a
disaster like this? Let me ask a Buddhist, Hindu or a Muslim, where is your god
in a disaster like this? What hope do you have?
Psalm 103:19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his
kingdom rules over all.
But our God is in the heavens, we have hope in a
risen Savior, a living God, and death is not a loss to the Christian but a
profit as to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. As
Christians, we have hope and a future, a glorious hope because of our blessed
Savior!