THE SOVEREIGNTY
OF GOD
FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION
In the following pages an attempt
has been made to examine anew in the light of God’s Word some of the
profoundest questions which can engage the human mind. Others have grappled
with these mighty problems in days gone by and from their labors we are the
gainers. While making no claim for originality the writer, nevertheless, has
endeavored to examine and deal with his subject from an entirely independent
viewpoint. We have studied diligently the writings of such men as Augustine
and Acquinas, Calvin and Melancthon, Jonathan Edwards and Ralph Erskine,
Andrew Fuller and Robert Haldane.* And sad it is to think that these eminent
and honored names are almost entirely unknown to the present generation.
Though, of course, we do not endorse all their conclusions, yet we gladly
acknowledge our deep indebtedness to their works. We have purposely refrained
from quoting freely from these deeply taught theologians, because we desired
that the faith of our readers should stand not in the wisdom of men but in the
power of God. For this reason we have quoted freely from the
Scriptures and have sought to furnish proof-texts for every
statement we have advanced.
It would be foolish for us to expect
that this work will meet with general approval. The trend of modern
theology—if theology it can be called—is ever toward the deification of the
creature rather than the glorification of the Creator, and the leaven of
present-day Rationalism is rapidly permeating the whole of Christendom. The
malevolent effects of Darwinianism are more far reaching than most are aware.
Many of those among our religious leaders who are still regarded as orthodox
would, we fear, be found to be very heterodox if they were weighed in the
balances of the Sanctuary. Even those who are clear, intellectually, upon
other truth, are rarely sound in doctrine. Few, very few, today, really
believe in the complete ruin and total depravity of man. Those
who speak of man’s "free will," and insist upon his inherent power to either
accept or reject the Saviour, do but voice their ignorance of the real
condition of Adam’s fallen children. And if there are few who believe that, so
far as he is concerned, the condition of the sinner is entirely
hopeless, there are fewer still who really believe in the absolute
Sovereignty of God.
In addition to the widespread effects of
unscriptural teaching, we also have to reckon with the deplorable
superficiality of the present generation. To announce that a certain book
is a treatise on doctrine is quite sufficient to prejudice against it the
great bulk of church-members and most of our preachers as well. The craving
today is for something light and spicy, and few have patience, still less
desire, to examine carefully that which would make a demand both upon
their hearts and their mental powers. We remember, also, ‘how that it is
becoming increasingly difficult in these strenuous days for those who are
desirous of studying the deeper things of God to find the time which such
study requires. Yet, it is still true that "Where there’s a will, there’s a
way," and in spite of the discouraging features referred to, we believe there
is even now a godly remnant who will take pleasure in giving this little work
a careful consideration, and such will, we trust, find in it "Meat in due
season."
We do not forget the words of one long
since passed away, namely, that "Denunciation is the last resort of a defeated
opponent." To dismiss this book with the contemptuous
epithet—"Hyper-Calvinism"! will not be worthy of notice. For controversy we
have no taste, and we shall not accept any challenge to enter the lists
against those who might desire to debate the truths discussed in these pages.
So far as our personal reputation is concerned, that we leave our Lord to take
care of, and unto Him we would now commit this volume and whatever fruit it
may bear, praying Him to use it for the enlightening of His own dear people
(insofar as it is in accord with His Holy Word) and to pardon the writer for
and preserve the reader from the injurious effects of any false teaching that
may have crept into it. If the joy and comfort which have come to the author
while penning these pages are shared by those who may scan them, then we shall
be devoutly thankful to the One whose grace alone enables us to discern
spiritual things.
June 1918.
ARTHUR W. PINK.
*Among those who have dealt most helpfully with the subject
of God’s Sovereignty in recent years we mention Dr. Rice, J. B. Moody, and
Bishop, from whose writings we have also received instruction.
FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION
It is now two years since the first
edition of this work was presented to the Christian public. Its reception has
been far more favorable than the author had expected. Many have notified him
of the help and blessing received from a perusal of his attempts to expound
what is admittedly a difficult subject. For every word of appreciation we
return hearty thanks to Him in Whose light we alone "see light." A few have
condemned the book in unqualified terms, and these we commend to God and to
the Word of His grace, remembering that it is written, "a man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven" (John 3:27). Others have sent us
friendly criticisms and these have been weighed carefully, and we trust that,
in consequence, this revised edition will be unto those who are members of the
household of faith more profitable than the former one.
One word of explanation seems to be
called for. A number of respected brethren in Christ feel that our treatment
of the Sovereignty of God was too extreme and one-sided. It has been pointed
out that a fundamental requirement in expounding the Word of God is the need
of preserving the balance of Truth. With this we are in hearty accord.
Two things are beyond dispute: God is sovereign, and man is a responsible
creature. But in this book we are treating of the Sovereignty of God, and
while the responsibility of man is readily owned, yet, we do not pause on
every page to insist on it; instead, we have sought to stress that side
of the Truth which in these days is almost universally neglected. Probably 95
per cent. of the religious literature of the day is devoted to a setting forth
of the duties and obligations of men. The fact is that those who undertake to
expound the Responsibility of man are the very ones who have lost ‘the
balance of Truth’ by ignoring, very largely, the Sovereignty of God. It is
perfectly right to insist on the responsibility of man, but what of God ?—has
He no claims, no rights! A hundred such works as this are needed, ten
thousand sermons would have to be preached throughout the land on this
subject, if the ‘balance of Truth’ is to be regained. The ‘balance of Truth’
has been lost, lost through a disproportionate emphasis being thrown on the
human side, to the minimizing, if not the exclusion, of the Divine side. We
grant that this book is one-sided, for it only pretends to deal with
one side of the Truth, and that is, the neglected side, the Divine side.
Furthermore, the question might be raised: Which is the more to be deplored—an
over emphasizing of the human side and an insufficient emphasis on the Divine
side, or, an over emphasizing of the Divine side and an insufficient emphasis
on the human side? Surely, if we err at all it is on the right side. Surely,
there is far more danger of making too much of man and too little of God, than
there is of making too much of God and too little of man. Yea, the question
might well be asked, Can we press God’s claims too far? Can we
be too extreme in insisting upon the absoluteness and universality of the
Sovereignty of God?
It is with profound thankfulness to God
that, after a further two years diligent study of Holy Writ, with the earnest
desire to discover what almighty God has been pleased to reveal to His
children on this subject, we are able to testify that we see no reason for
making any retractions from what we wrote before, and while we have
re-arranged the material of this work, the substance and doctrine of it
remains unchanged. May the One Who condescended to bless the first edition of
this work be pleased to own even more widely this revision.
1921 Swengel, Pa.
ARTHUR W. PINK
FOREWORD TO THE THIRD EDITION
That a third edition of this work is now
called for, is a cause of fervent praise to God. As the darkness deepens and
the pretentions of men are taking on an ever-increasing blatancy, the need
becomes greater for the claims of God to be emphasized. As the twentieth
century Babel of religious tongues is bewildering so many, the duty of God’s
servants to point to the one sure anchorage for the heart, is the more
apparent. Nothing is so tranquilizing and so stabilizing as the assurance that
the Lord Himself is on the Throne of the universe, "working all things
after the counsel of His own will".
The Holy Spirit has told us that there
are in the Scriptures "some things hard to be understood", but mark it is
"hard" not "impossible"! A patient waiting on the Lord, a diligent
comparison of scripture with scripture, often issues in a fuller apprehension
of that which before was obscure to us. During the last ten years it has
pleased God to grant us further light on certain parts of His Word, and this
we have sought to use in improving our expositions of different passages. But
it is with unfeigned thanksgiving that we find it unnecessary to either change
or modify any doctrine contained in the former editions. Yea, as time
goes by, we realize (by Divine grace) with ever-increasing force, the truth,
the importance, and the value of the Sovereignty of God as it pertains to
every branch of our lives.
Our hearts have been made to rejoice
again and again by unsolicited letters which have come to hand from every
quarter of the earth, telling of help and blessing received from the former
editions of this work. One Christian friend was so stirred by reading it and
so impressed by its testimony, that a check was sent to be used in sending
free copies to missionaries in fifty foreign countries, "that its glorious
message may encircle the globe"; numbers of whom have written us to say how
much they have been strengthened in their fight with the powers of darkness.
To God alone belongs all the glory. May He deign to use this third
edition to the honour of His own great Name, and to the feeding of His
scattered and starved sheep.
1929 Morton’s Gap, Kentucky.
ARTHUR W. PINK
FOREWORD TO THE FOURTH EDITION
It is with profound praise to God "most
high" that another edition of this valuable and helpful book is now called
for. Though its teaching runs directly counter to much that is being
promulgated on every hand today, yet we are happy to be able to say that its
circulation is increasing to the strengthening of the faith, comfort and hope
of an increasing number of God’s elect. We commit this new edition to Him whom
we "delight to honour," praying that He may be pleased to bless its
circulation to the enlightening of many more of His own, to the "praise of the
glory of His grace," and a clearer apprehension of the majesty of God and His
Sovereign mercy.
1949 I. C. Herendeen
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
INTRODUCTION
Who is regulating affairs on this earth
today—God, or the Devil? That God reigns supreme in Heaven, is generally
conceded; that He does so over this world, is almost universally denied—if not
directly, then indirectly. More and more are men in their philosophizing and
theorizing, relegating God to the background. Take the material realm. Not
only is it denied that God created everything, by personal and direct
action, but few believe that He has any immediate concern in regulating
the works of His own hands. Everything is supposed to be ordered according to
the (impersonal and abstract) "laws of Nature". Thus is the Creator banished
from His own creation. Therefore we need not be surprised that men, in their
degrading conceptions, exclude Him from the realm of human affairs. Throughout
Christendom, with an almost negligible exception, the theory is held that man
is "a free agent", and therefore, lord of his fortunes and the determiner of
his destiny. That Satan is to be blamed for much of the evil which is in the
world, is freely affirmed by those who, though having so much to say about
"the responsibility of man", often deny their own
responsibility, by attributing to the Devil what, in fact, proceeds from their
own evil hearts (Mark 7 :21-23).
But who is regulating affairs on
this earth today—God, or the Devil? Attempt to take a serious and
comprehensive view of the world. What a scene of confusion and chaos confronts
us on every side! Sin is rampant; lawlessness abounds; evil men and seducers
are waxing "worse and worse" (2 Tim. 3:13). Today, everything appears
to be out of joint. Thrones are creaking and tottering, ancient
dynasties are being overturned, democracies are revolting, civilization is a
demonstrated failure; half of Christendom was but recently locked-together in
a death grapple; and now that the titanic conflict is over, instead of the
world having been made "safe for democracy", we have discovered that democracy
is very unsafe for the world. Unrest, discontent, and lawlessness are
rife every where, and none can say how soon another great war will be set in
motion. Statesmen are perplexed and staggered. Men’s hearts are "failing them
for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth"
(Luke 21:26). Do these things look as though God had full
control?
But let us confine our attention to the
religious realm. After nineteen centuries of Gospel preaching, Christ is still
"despised and rejected of men". Worse still, He (the Christ of
Scripture) is proclaimed and magnified by very few. In the majority of modern
pulpits He is dishonored and disowned. Despite frantic efforts to attract the
crowds, the majority of the churches are being emptied rather than filled. And
what of the great masses of non-church goers? In the light of Scripture we are
compelled to believe that the "many" are on the Broad Road that leadeth to
destruction, and that only "few" are on the Narrow Way that leadeth unto life.
Many are declaring that Christianity is a failure, and despair is settling on
many faces. Not a few of the Lord’s own people are bewildered, and their faith
is being severely tried. And what of God? Does He see and hear? Is He
impotent or indifferent? A number of those who are regarded as leaders of
Christian-thought told us that, God could not help the coming of the late
awful War, and that He was unable to bring about its termination. It
was said, and said openly, that conditions were beyond God’s control.
Do these things look as though God were ruling the world?
Who is regulating affairs on this earth
today—God, or the Devil? What impression is made upon the minds of those men
of the world who, occasionally, attend a Gospel service? What are the
conceptions formed by those who hear even those preachers who are counted as
"orthodox"? Is it not that a disappointed God is the One whom
Christians believe in? From what is heard from the average evangelist today,
is not any serious hearer obliged to conclude that he professes to
represent a God who is filled with benevolent intentions, yet unable to carry
them out; that He is earnestly desirous of blessing men, but that they will
not let Him? Then, must not the average hearer draw the inference that
the Devil has gained the upper hand, and that God is to be pitied rather than
blamed?
But does not everything seem to show
that the Devil has far more to do with the affairs of earth than God
has? Ah, it all depends upon whether we are walking by faith, or walking by
sight. Are your thoughts, my reader, concerning this world and God’s relation
to it, based upon what you see? Face this question seriously and
honestly. And if you are a Christian, you will, most probably, have cause to
bow your head with shame and sorrow, and to acknowledge that it is so.
Alas, in reality, we walk very little "by faith". But what does "walking by
faith" signify? It means that our thoughts are formed, our actions regulated,
our lives molded by the Holy Scriptures, for, "faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17). It is from the Word of
Truth, and that alone, that we can learn what is God’s relation to this
world.
Who is regulating affairs on this earth
today—God or the Devil? What saith the Scriptures? Ere we consider the
direct reply to this query, let it be said that, the Scriptures predicted
just what we now see and hear. The prophecy of Jude is in course of
fulfillment. It would lead us too far astray from our present inquiry to fully
amplify this assertion, but what we have particularly in mind is a sentence in
verse 8—"Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion
and speak evil of dignities." Yes, they "speak evil" of the Supreme
Dignity, the "Only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords." Ours is
peculiarly an age of irreverence, and as the consequence, the spirit of
lawlessness, which brooks no restraint and which is desirous of casting off
everything which interferes with the free course of self-will, is rapidly
engulfing the earth like some giant tidal wave. The members of the rising
generation are the most flagrant offenders, and in the decay and disappearing
of parental authority we have the certain precursor of the abolition of civic
authority. Therefore, in view of the growing disrespect for human law and the
refusal to "render honor to whom honor is due," we need not be surprised that
the recognition of the majesty, the authority, the sovereignty of the Almighty
Law-giver should recede more and more into the background, and that the masses
have less and less patience with those who insist upon them. And conditions
will not improve; instead, the more sure Word of Prophecy makes known to us
that they will grow worse and worse. Nor do we expect to be able to stem the
tide—it has already risen much too high for that. All we can now hope to do is
warn our fellow-saints against the spirit of the age, and thus seek to
counteract its baneful influence upon them.
Who is regulating affairs on this earth
today—God, or the Devil? What saith the Scriptures? If we believe their plain
and positive declarations, no room is left for uncertainty. They affirm, again
and again, that God is on the throne of the universe; that the sceptre is in
His hands; that He is directing all things "after the counsel of His
own will". They affirm, not only that God created all things, but also that
God is ruling and reigning over all the works of His hands. They affirm that
God is the "Almighty", that His will is irreversible, that He is absolute
sovereign in every realm of all His vast dominions. And surely it must
be so. Only two alternatives are possible: God must either rule, or be ruled;
sway, or be swayed; accomplish His own will, or be thwarted by His creatures.
Accepting the fact that He is the "Most High", the only Potentate and King of
kings, vested with perfect wisdom and illimitable power, and the conclusion is
irresistible that He must be God in fact, as well as in name.
It is in view of what we have briefly
referred to above. that we say, Present-day conditions call loudly for a new
examination and new presentation of God’s omnipotency, God’s sufficiency,
God’s sovereignty. From every pulpit in the land it needs to be thundered
forth that God still lives, that God still observes, that God still reigns.
Faith is now in the crucible, it is being tested by fire, and there is no
fixed and sufficient resting-place for the heart and mind but in the Throne
of God. What is needed now, as never before, is a full, positive,
constructive setting forth of the Godhood of God. Drastic diseases call for
drastic remedies. People are weary of platitudes and mere generalizations—the
call is for something definite and specific. Soothing-syrup may serve for
peevish children, but an iron tonic is better suited for adults, and we know
of nothing which is more calculated to infuse spiritual vigor into our frames
than a scriptural apprehension of the full character of God. It is written,
"The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits"
(Dan. 11:32).
Without a doubt a world-crisis is at
hand, and everywhere men are alarmed. But God is not! He is never taken
by surprise. It is no unexpected emergency which now confronts Him, for He is
the One who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph.
1:11). Hence, though the world is panic-stricken, the word to the believer is,
"Fear not"! "All things" are subject to His immediate control: "all things"
are moving in accord with His eternal purpose, and therefore, "all things" are
"working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose." It must be so, for "of Him, and
through Him, and to Him are all things" (Rom. 11:36). Yet how little is
this realized today even by the people of God! Many suppose that He is little
more than a far-distant Spectator, taking no immediate hand in the affairs of
earth. It is true that man has a will, but so also has God. It is true that
man is endowed with power, but God is all-powerful. It is true that, speaking
generally, the material world is regulated by law, but behind that law is the
law-Giver and law-Administrator. Man is but the creature. God is the Creator,
and endless ages before man first saw the light "the mighty God" (Isa. 9:6)
existed, and ere the world was founded, made His plans; and being infinite in
power and man only finite, His purpose and plan cannot be withstood or
thwarted by the creatures of His own hands.
We readily acknowledge that life is a
profound problem, and that we are surrounded by mystery on every side; but we
are not like the beasts of the field—ignorant of their origin, and unconscious
of what is before them. No: "We have also a more sure Word of
Prophecy", of which it is said ye do well that ye "take heed, as unto a light
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in
your hearts" (2 Pet. 1:19). And it is to this Word of Prophecy we
indeed do well to "take heed," to that Word which had not its origin in the
mind of man but in the Mind of God, for, "the prophecy came not at any time by
the will of man: but holy men of God spake moved by the Holy Spirit." We say
again, it is to this "Word" we do well to take heed. As we turn to this
Word and are instructed there, we discover a fundamental principle which must
be applied to every problem: Instead of beginning with man and his world and
working back to God, we must begin with God and work down to man—"In the
beginning God"! Apply this principle to the present situation. Begin
with the world as it is today and try and work back to God, and everything
will seem to show that God has no connection with the world at all. But begin
with God and work down to the world and light, much light, is cast on the
problem. Because God is holy His anger burns against sin; because God
is righteous His judgments fall upon those who rebel against Him;
because God is faithful the solemn threatenings of His Word are
fulfilled; because God is omnipotent none can successfully resist Him,
still less overthrow His counsel; and because God is omniscient no
problem can master Him and no difficulty baffle His wisdom. It is just because
God is who He is and what He is that we are now beholding on earth what we
do—the beginning of His out-poured judgments: in view of His inflexible
justice and immaculate holiness we could not expect anything other than what
is now spread before our eyes.
But let it be said very emphatically
that the heart can only rest upon and enjoy the blessed truth of the
absolute sovereignty of God as faith is in exercise. Faith is ever
occupied with God. That is the character of it: that is what
differentiates it from intellectual theology. Faith endures "as seeing
Him who is invisible" (Heb. 11:27) : endures the disappointments, the
hardships, and the heart-aches of life, by recognizing that all comes
from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind. But
so long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will
be neither rest for the heart nor peace for the mind. But when we receive all
that enters our lives as from His hand, then, no matter what may be our
circumstances or surroundings—whether in a hovel, a prison-dungeon, or a
martyr’s stake—we shall be enabled to say, "The lines are fallen unto me in
pleasant places" (Ps. 16:6). But that is the language of faith,
not of sight or of sense.
But if instead of bowing to the
testimony of Holy Writ, if instead of walking by faith, we follow the evidence
of our eyes, and reason therefrom, we shall fall into a quagmire of
virtual atheism. Or, if we are regulated by the opinions and views of others,
peace will be at an end. Granted that there is much in this world of
sin and, suffering which appalls and saddens us; granted that there is much in
the providential dealings of God which startle and stagger us; that is no
reason why we should unite with the unbelieving worldling who says, "If I were
God, I would not allow this or tolerate that" etc. Better far, in the presence
of bewildering mystery, to say with one of old, "I was dumb, I opened not my
mouth; because Thou didst it" (Ps. 39:9). Scripture tells us that God’s
judgments are "unsearchable", and His ways "past finding out" (Rom.
11:33). It must be so if faith is to be tested, confidence in His wisdom and
righteousness strengthened, and submission to His holy will fostered.
Here is the fundamental difference
between the man of faith and the man of unbelief. The unbeliever is "of the
world," judges everything by worldly standards, views life from the standpoint
of time and sense, and weighs everything in the balances of his own carnal
making. But the man of faith brings in God, looks at everything from
His standpoint, estimates values by spiritual standards, and views life in
the light of eternity. Doing this, he receives whatever comes as from the hand
of God. Doing this, his heart is calm in the midst of the storm. Doing this,
he rejoices in hope of the glory of God.
In these opening paragraphs we have
indicated the lines of thought followed out in this book. Our first postulate
is that because God is God, He does as He pleases, only as He pleases,
always as He pleases; that His great concern is the accomplishment of His own
pleasure and the promotion of His own glory; that He is the Supreme Being, and
therefore Sovereign of the universe. Starting with this postulate we have
contemplated the exercise of God’s Sovereignty, first in Creation,
second in Governmental Administration over the works of His hands, third in
the Salvation of His own elect, fourth in the Reprobation of the wicked, and
fifth in Operation upon and within men. Next we have viewed the Sovereignty of
God as it relates to the human will in particular and human Responsibility in
general, and have sought to show what is the only becoming attitude for the
creature to take in view of the majesty of the Creator. A separate chapter has
been set apart for a consideration of some of the difficulties which are
involved, and to answering the questions which are likely to be raised in the
minds of our readers; while one chapter has been devoted to a more careful yet
brief examination of God’s Sovereignty in relation to prayer. Finally, we have
sought to show that the Sovereignty of God is a truth revealed to us in
Scripture for the comfort of our hearts, the strengthening of our souls, and
the blessing of our lives. A due apprehension of God’s Sovereignty promotes
the spirit of worship, provides an incentive to practical godliness, and
inspires zeal in service. It is deeply humbling to the human heart, but in
proportion to the degree that it brings man into the dust before his Maker, to
that extent is God glorified.
We are well aware that what we have
written is in open opposition to much of the teaching that is current both in
religious literature and in the representative pulpits of the land. We freely
grant that the postulate of God’s Sovereignty with all its corollaries is at
direct variance with the opinions and thoughts of the natural man, but the
truth is, we are quite unable to think upon these matters: we
are incompetent for forming a proper estimate of God’s character and
ways, and it is because of this that God has given us a revelation of His
mind, and in that revelation He plainly declares, "My thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and
My thoughts than your thoughts" (Is. 55:8,9). In view of this scripture, it is
only to be expected that much of the contents of the Bible conflicts
with the sentiments of the carnal mind, which is enmity against God.
Our appeal then is not to the popular beliefs of the day, nor to the creeds of
the churches, but to the Law and Testimony of Jehovah. All that we ask for is
an impartial and attentive examination of what we have written, and that, made
prayerfully in the light of the Lamp of Truth. May the reader heed the Divine
admonition to "prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess.
5:21).
Chapter 1
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY DEFINED
"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the
glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in
the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head
above all"
1 Chronicles 29:11
The Sovereignty of God is an expression
that once was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious
literature. It was a theme frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth
which brought comfort to many hearts, and gave virility and stability to
Christian character. But, today, to make mention of God’s sovereignty is, in
many quarters, to speak in an unknown tongue. Were we to announce from the
average pulpit that the subject of our discourse would be the sovereignty of
God, it would sound very much as though we had borrowed a phrase from one of
the dead languages. Alas! that it should be so. Alas! that the doctrine which
is the key to history, the interpreter of Providence, the warp and woof of
Scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology, should be so sadly
neglected and so little understood.
The sovereignty of God. What do we mean
by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the
godhood of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is
God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High,
doing according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants
of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou?
(Dan. 4:35). To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the
Almighty, the Possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so that none can
defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will (Ps. 115:3). To
say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is "The Governor among the
nations" (Ps. 22:28), setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and
determining the course of dynasties as pleaseth Him best. To say that God is
sovereign is to declare that He is the "Only Potentate, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). Such is the God of the Bible.
How different is the God of the Bible
from the God of modern Christendom! The conception of Deity which prevails
most widely today, even among those who profess to give heed to the
Scriptures, is a miserable caricature, a blasphemous travesty of the Truth.
The God of the twentieth century is a helpless, effeminate being who commands
the respect of no really thoughtful man. The God of the popular mind is the
creation of a maudlin sentimentality. The God of many a present-day pulpit is
an object of pity rather than of awe-inspiring reverence.[1]
To say that God the Father has purposed the salvation of all mankind, that God
the Son died with the express intention of saving the whole human race, and
that God the Holy Spirit is now seeking to win the world to Christ; when, as a
matter of common observation, it is apparent that the great majority of our
fellow-men are dying in sin, and passing into a hopeless eternity: is to say
that God the Father is disappointed, that God the Son is
dissatisfied, and that God the Holy Spirit is defeated. We have
stated the issue baldly, but there is no escaping the conclusion. To argue
that God is "trying His best" to save all mankind, but that the majority of
men will not let Him save them, is to insist that the will of the Creator is
impotent, and that the will of the creature is omnipotent. To throw the blame,
as many do, upon the Devil, does not remove the difficulty, for if Satan is
defeating the purpose of God, then, Satan is Almighty and God is no longer the
Supreme Being.
To declare that the Creator’s original
plan has been frustrated by sin, is to dethrone God. To suggest that
God was taken by surprise in Eden and that He is now attempting to remedy an
unforeseen calamity, is to degrade the Most High to the level of a
finite, erring mortal. To argue that man is a free moral agent and the
determiner of his own destiny, and that therefore he has the power to
checkmate his Maker, is to strip God of the attribute of Omnipotence.
To say that the creature has burst the hounds assigned by his Creator, and
that God is now practically a helpless Spectator before the sin and suffering
entailed by Adam’s fall, is to repudiate the express declaration of
Holy Writ, namely, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder
of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Ps. 76:10). In a word, to deny
the sovereignty of God is to enter upon a path which, if followed to its
logical terminus, is to arrive at blank atheism.
The sovereignty of the God of Scripture
is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is sovereign we
affirm His right to govern the universe, which He has made for His own glory,
just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is the right of the Potter
over the clay, i.e., that He may mould that clay into whatsoever form He
chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor. We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside of
His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is
under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any.
Sovereignty characterizes the whole
Being of God. He is sovereign in all His attributes. He is sovereign in the
exercise of His power. His power is exercised as He wills, when
He wills, where He wills. This fact is evidenced on every page of
Scripture. For a long season that power appears to be dormant, and then it is
put forth in irresistible might. Pharaoh dared to hinder Israel from going
forth to worship Jehovah in the wilderness—what happened? God exercised His
power, His people were delivered and their cruel task-masters slain. But a
little later, the Amalekites dared to attack these same Israelites in the
wilderness, and what happened? Did God put forth His power on this occasion
and display His hand as He did at the Red Sea? Were these enemies of His
people promptly overthrown and destroyed? No, on the contrary, the Lord swore
that He would "have war with Amalek from generation to generation"
(Ex. 17:16). Again, when Israel entered the land of Canaan, God’s power
was signally displayed. The city of Jericho barred their progress—what
happened? Israel did not draw a bow nor strike a blow: the Lord stretched
forth His hand and the walls fell down flat. But the miracle was never
repeated! No other city fell after this manner. Every other city had to
be captured by the sword!
Many other instances might be adduced
illustrating the sovereign exercise of God’s power. Take one other example.
God put forth His power and David was delivered from Goliath, the giant; the
mouths of the lions were closed and Daniel escaped unhurt; the three Hebrew
children were cast into the burning fiery furnace and came forth unharmed and
unscorched. But God’s power did not always interpose for the deliverance of
His people, for we read: "And others had trial of cruel mockings
and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned,
they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented"
(Heb. 11:36, 37). But why? Why were not these men of faith delivered like the
others? Or, why were not the others suffered to be killed like these? Why
should God’s power interpose and rescue some and not the others? Why allow
Stephen to be stoned to death, and then deliver Peter from prison?
God is sovereign in the delegation of
His power to others. Why did God endow Methuselah with a vitality which
enabled him to outlive all his contemporaries? Why did God impart to Samson a
physical strength which no other human has ever possessed? Again; it is
written, "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that
giveth thee power to get wealth" (Deut. 8:18), but God does not bestow
this power on all alike. Why not? Why has He given such power to men like
Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller? The answer to all of these questions, is,
Because God is Sovereign, and being Sovereign He does as He pleases.
God is sovereign in the exercise of
His mercy. Necessarily so, for mercy is directed by the will of Him
that showeth mercy. Mercy is not a right to which man is entitled.
Mercy is that adorable attribute of God by which He pities and relieves the
wretched. But under the righteous government of God no one is wretched who
does not deserve to be so. The objects of mercy, then, are those who
are miserable, and all misery is the result of sin, hence the miserable
are deserving of punishment not mercy. To speak of deserving mercy is a
contradiction of terms.
God bestows His mercies on whom He
pleases and withholds them as seemeth good unto Himself. A remarkable
illustration of this fact is seen in the manner that God responded to the
prayers of two men offered under very similar circumstances. Sentence of death
was passed upon Moses for one act of disobedience, and he besought the Lord
for a reprieve. But was his desire gratified? No; he told Israel, "The Lord is
wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said
unto me, Let it suffice thee" (Deut. 3:26). Now mark the second case
those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.
And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus
saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I
beseech Thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth and
with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight. And
Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the
middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again, and
tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David
thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I
will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.
And I will add unto thy days fifteen years" (2 Kings 20:1-6). Both of these
men had the sentence of death in themselves, and both prayed earnestly unto
the Lord for a reprieve: the one wrote: "The Lord would not hear me," and
died; but to the other it was said, "I have heard thy prayer", and his life
was spared. What an illustration and exemplification of the truth expressed in
Romans 9:15!—"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
The sovereign exercise of God’s
mercy—pity shown to the wretched—was displayed when Jehovah became flesh and
tabernacled among men. Take one illustration. During one of the Feasts of the
Jews, the Lord Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He came to the Pool of Bethesda,
where lay "a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt,
withered, waiting for the moving of the water." Among this "great multitude"
there was "a certain man which had an infirmity thirty and eight years." What
happened? "When Jesus saw hint lie, and knew that he had been now a
long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The
impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to
put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man
was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked" (John 5:3-9). Why was this
one man singled out from all the others? We are not told that he cried "Lord,
have mercy on me." There is not a word in the narrative which
intimates that this man possessed any qualifications which entitled him to
receive special favor. Here then was a case of the sovereign exercise of
Divine mercy, for it was just as easy for Christ to heal the whole of that
"great multitude" as this one "certain man." But lie did not. He put forth His
power and relieved the wretchedness of this one particular sufferer, and for
some reason known only to Himself, He declined to do the same for the others.
Again, we say, what an illustration and exemplification of Romans 9:15!—"I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion."
God is sovereign in the exercise of
His love. Ah! that is a hard saying, who then can receive it? It is
written, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven" (John
3:27). When we say that God is sovereign in the exercise of His love,
we mean that He loves whom He chooses. God does not love everybody;[2]
if He did, He would love the Devil. Why does not God love the Devil? Because
there is nothing in him to love; because there is nothing in him to
attract the heart of God. Nor is there anything to attract God’s
love in any of the fallen sons of Adam, for all of them are, by nature,
"children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). If then there is nothing
in any member of the human race to attract God’s love, and if,
notwithstanding, He does love some, then it necessarily follows
that the cause of His love must be found in Himself, which is only
another way of saying that the exercise of God’s love towards the fallen sons
of men is according to His own good pleasure.[3]
In the final analysis, the exercise of
God’s love must be traced back to His sovereignty, or, otherwise, He
would love by rule; and if He loved by rule, then is He under a law
of love, and if He is under a law of love then is He not supreme,
but is Himself ruled by law. "But," it may be asked, "Surely you do not
deny that God loves the entire human family?" We reply, it is written,
"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom. 9:13). If then God loved
Jacob and hated Esau, and that before they were born or had done either good
or evil, then the reason for His love was not in them, but in Himself.
That the exercise of God’s love is
according to His own sovereign pleasure is also clear from the language of
Ephesians 1:3-5, where we read, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. In love
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." It was "in
love" that God the Father predestined His chosen ones unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, "according"—according to
what? According to some excellency He discovered in them? No. What
then? According to what He foresaw they would become? No; mark
carefully the inspired answer—"According to the good pleasure of His will."
God is sovereign in the exercise of
His grace. This of necessity, for grace is favor shown to the
undeserving, yea, to the Hell-deserving. Grace is the antithesis of
justice. Justice demands the impartial enforcement of law. Justice requires
that each shall receive his legitimate due, neither more nor less. Justice
bestows no favors and is no respecter of persons. Justice, as such, shows no
pity and knows no mercy. But after justice has been fully satisfied, grace
flows forth. Divine grace is not exercised at the expense of justice, but
"grace reigns through righteousness" (Rom. 5:21), and if grace "reigns",
then is grace sovereign.
Grace has been defined as the unmerited
favor of God;[4] and if unmerited, then none can
claim it as their inalienable right. If grace is unearned and
undeserved, then none are entitled to it. If grace is a gift, then none
can demand it. Therefore, as salvation is by grace, the free gift of
God, then He bestows it on whom He pleases. Because salvation is by grace, the
very chief of sinners is not beyond the reach of Divine mercy. Because
salvation is by grace, boasting is excluded and God gets all the glory.
The sovereign exercise of grace is
illustrated on nearly every page of Scripture. The Gentiles are left to walk
in their own ways, while Israel becomes the covenant people of Jehovah.
Ishmael the firstborn is cast out comparatively unblessed, while Isaac the son
of his parents’ old age is made the child of promise. Esau the
generous-hearted and forgiving-spirited is denied the blessing, though he
sought it carefully with tears, while the worm Jacob receives the inheritance
and is fashioned into a vessel of honor. So in the New Testament. Divine truth
is hidden from the wise and prudent, but is revealed to babes. The Pharisees
and Sadducees are left to go their own way, while publicans and harlots are
drawn by the cords of love.
In a remarkable manner Divine grace was
exercised at the time of the Saviour’s birth. The incarnation of God’s Son was
one of the greatest events in the history of the universe, and yet its actual
occurrence was not made known to all mankind; instead, it was specially
revealed to the Bethlehem shepherds and wise men of the East. And this was
prophetic and indicative of the entire course of this dispensation, for even
today Christ is not made known to all. It would have been an easy matter f or
God to have sent a company of angels to every nation and announced the
birth of His Son. But He did not. God could have readily attracted the
attention of all mankind to the "star;" but He did not. Why? Because God is
sovereign and dispenses His favors as He pleases. Note particularly the two
classes to whom the birth of the Saviour was made known, namely, the
most unlikely classes—illiterate shepherds and heathen from a far
country. No angel stood before the Sanhedrin and announced the advent of
Israel’s Messiah! No "star" appeared unto the scribes and lawyers as they, in
their pride and self-righteousness, searched the Scriptures! They searched
diligently to find out where He should be born, and yet it was not made known
to them when He was actually come. What a display of Divine
sovereignty—the illiterate shepherds singled out for peculiar honor, and the
learned and eminent passed by! And why was the birth of the Saviour revealed
to these foreigners, and not to those in whose midst He was born? See in this
a wonderful foreshadowing of God’s dealings with our race throughout the
entire Christian dispensation—sovereign in the exercise of His grace,
bestowing His favors on whom He pleases, often on the most unlikely and
unworthy.[5]
ENDNOTES:
[1]
Some years ago an evangelical (?)
preacher of nation-wide reputation visited the town in which we then were,
and during the course of his address kept repeating, “Poor God! Poor God!”
Surely it is this “preacher” who needs to be pitied.
[2]
John 3:16 will be examined in
Appendix III.
[3]
We are not unmindful of the fact
that men have invented the distinction between God’s love of
complacency and His love of compassion, but this is
an invention pure and simple. Scripture terms the latter
God’s “pity” (see Matt. 18:33), and “He is kind unto the
unthankful and the evil” (Luke 6:35).
[4]
An esteemed friend who kindly read
through this book in its manuscript form, and to whom we are indebted for a
number of excellent suggestions, has pointed out that, grace is something more
than “unmerited favor.” To feed a tramp who calls on me is “unmerited favor,”
but it is scarcely grace. But suppose that after
robbing me I should feed this starving tramp—that would be “grace.”
Grace, then, is favor shown where there is positive de-merit in the one
receiving it.
[5]
It has been pointed out to us that
God’s sovereignty was signally displayed in His choice of the place
where His Son was born. Not to Greece or Italy did the Lord of Glory come,
but to the insignificant land of Palestine! Not in Jerusalem—the royal
city—was Immanuel born, but in Bethlehem, which was “little among
the thousands (of towns and villages) in Judah” (Micah 5:2)! And it was in
despised Nazareth that He grew up!! Truly, God’s ways are not
ours.
Chapter 2
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN CREATION
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor,
and power: for Thou hast created all things, and
for Thy pleasure they are and were created"
Revelation 4:11
Having shown that sovereignty
characterizes the whole Being of God, let us now observe how it marks all His
ways and dealings.
In the great expanse of eternity, which
stretches behind Genesis 1:1, the universe was unborn and creation existed
only in the mind of the great Creator. In His sovereign majesty God dwelt all
alone. We refer to that far distant period before the heavens and the earth
were created. There were then no angels to hymn God’s praises, no creatures to
occupy His notice, no rebels to be brought into subjection. The great God was
all alone amid the awful silence of His own vast universe. But even at that
time, if time it could be called, God was sovereign. He might create or not
create according to His own good pleasure. He might create this way or
that way; He might create one world or one million worlds, and who was there
to resist His will? He might call into existence a million different creatures
and place them on absolute equality, endowing them with the same
faculties and placing them in the same environment; or, He might create a
million creatures each differing from the others, and possessing
nothing in common save their creaturehood, and who was there to challenge His
right? If He so pleased, He might call into existence a world so immense that
its dimensions were utterly beyond finite computation; and were He so
disposed, He might create an organism so small that nothing but the most
powerful microscope could reveal its existence to human eyes. It was His
sovereign right to create, on the one hand, the exalted seraphim to burn
around His throne, and on the other hand, the tiny insect which dies the same
hour that it is born. If the mighty God chose to have one vast gradation
in His universe, from loftiest seraph to creeping reptile, from revolving
worlds to floating atoms, from macrocosm to microcosm, instead of making
everything uniform, who was there to question His sovereign pleasure?
Behold then the exercise of Divine
sovereignty long before man ever saw the light. With whom took God counsel in
the creation and disposition of His creatures. See the birds as they fly
through the air, the beasts as they roam the earth, the fishes as they swim in
the sea, and then ask, Who was it that made them to differ? Was it not their
Creator who sovereignly assigned their various locations and
adaptations to them!
Turn your eye to the heavens and
observe the mysteries of Divine sovereignty which there confront the
thoughtful beholder: "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the
moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from
another star in glory" (1 Cor. 15:41). But why should they? Why should the sun
be more glorious than all the other planets? Why should there be stars of the
first magnitude and others of the tenth? Why such amazing inequalities?
Why should some of the heavenly bodies be more favorably placed than
others in their relation to the sun? And why should there be "shooting stars,"
"falling stars," "wandering stars" (Jude 13), in a word, ruined stars?
And the only possible answer is, "For Thy pleasure they are and were created"
(Rev. 4:11).
Come now to our own planet. Why
should two thirds of its surface be covered with water, and why should so much
of its remaining third be unfit for human cultivation or habitation? Why
should there be vast stretches of marshes, deserts and ice-fields? Why should
one country be so inferior, topographically, from another? Why should one be
fertile, and another almost barren? Why should one be rich in minerals and
another own none? Why should the climate of one be congenial and healthy, and
another uncongenial and unhealthy? Why should one abound in rivers and lakes,
and another be almost devoid of them? Why should one be constantly troubled
with earthquakes, and another be almost entirely free from them? Why? Because
thus it pleased the Creator and Upholder of all things.
Look at the animal kingdom and
note the wondrous variety. What comparison is possible between the lion and
the lamb, the bear and the kid, the elephant and the mouse? Some, like the
horse and the dog, are gifted with great intelligence; while others, like
sheep and swine, are almost devoid of it. Why? Some are designed to be beasts
of burden, while others enjoy a life of freedom. But why should the mule and
the donkey be shackled to a life of drudgery, while the lion and tiger are
allowed to roam the jungle at their pleasure? Some are fit for food, others
unfit; some are beautiful, others ugly; some are endowed with great strength,
others are quite helpless; some are fleet of foot, others can scarcely
crawl—contrast the hare and the tortoise; some are of use to man, others
appear to be quite valueless; some live for centuries, others a few months at
most; some are tame, others fierce. But why all these variations and
differences?
What is true of the animals is equally
true of the birds and fishes. But consider now the vegetable kingdom.
Why should roses have thorns, and lilies grow without them? Why should one
flower emit a fragrant aroma and another have none? Why should one tree bear
fruit which is wholesome and another that which is poisonous? Why should one
vegetable be capable of enduring frost and another wither under it? Why should
one apple tree be loaded with fruit, and another tree of the same age and in
the same orchard be almost barren? Why should one plant flower a dozen times
in a year and another bear blossoms but once a century? Truly, "whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, and in the earth, in the seas,
and all deep places" (Ps. 135:6).
Consider the angelic hosts.
Surely we shall find uniformity here. But no; there, as elsewhere, the same
sovereign pleasure of the Creator is displayed. Some are higher in rank than
others; some are more powerful than others; some are nearer to God than
others. Scripture reveals a definite and well-defined gradation in the angelic
orders. From arch-angel, past seraphim and cherubim, we come to
"principalities and powers" (Eph. 3:10), and from principalities and powers to
"rulers" (Eph. 6:12), and then to the angels themselves, and even among them
we read of "the elect angels" (1 Tim. 5:21). Again we ask, Why this
inequality, this difference in rank and order? And all we can say is "Our
God is in the heavens, He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (Ps. 115:3).
If then we see the sovereignty of God
displayed throughout all creation why should it be thought a strange thing if
we behold it operating in the midst of the human family? Why should it
be thought strange if to one God is pleased to give five talents and to
another only one? Why should it be thought strange if one is born with a
robust constitution and another of the same parents is frail and sickly? Why
should it be thought strange if Abel is cut off in his prime, while Cain is
suffered to live on for many years? Why should it be thought strange that some
should be born black and others white; some be born idiots and others with
high intellectual endowments; some be born constitutionally lethargic and
others full of energy; some be born with a temperament that is selfish, fiery,
egotistical, others who are naturally self-sacrificing, submissive and meek?
Why should it be thought strange if some are qualified by nature to lead and
rule, while others are only fitted to follow and serve? Heredity and
environment cannot account for all these variations and inequalities. No; it
is God who maketh one to differ from another. Why should He? "Even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight" must be our reply.
Learn then this basic truth, that the
Creator is absolute Sovereign, executing His own will, performing His own
pleasure, and considering nought but His own glory. "The Lord hath made all
things for Himself" (Prov. 16:4). And had He not a perfect right
to? Since God is God, who dare challenge His prerogative? To murmur
against Him is rank rebellion. To question His ways is to impugn His wisdom.
To criticize Him is sin of the deepest dye. Have we forgotten who He
is? Behold, "All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to
Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God ?" (Isa.
40:17, 18).
Chapter 3
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN ADMINISTRATION
"The Lord hath prepared His Throne in the heavens; and
His Kingdom ruleth over all"
Psalm 103:19
First, a word concerning the need
for God to govern the material world. Suppose the opposite for a
moment. For the sake of argument, let us say that God created the world,
designed and fixed certain laws (which men term "the laws of Nature"), and
that He then withdrew, leaving the world to its fortune and the
out-working of these laws. In such a case, we should have a world over which
there was no intelligent, presiding Governor, a world controlled by nothing
more than impersonal laws—a concept worthy of gross Materialism and
blank Atheism. But, I say, suppose it for a moment; and in the light of such a
supposition, weigh well the following question:—What guaranty have we that
some day ere long the world will not be destroyed? A very superficial
observation of "the laws of Nature" reveals the fact that they are not
uniform in their working. The proof of this is seen in the fact that no
two seasons are alike. If then Nature’s laws are irregular in their
operations, what guaranty have we against some dreadful catastrophe striking
our earth? "The wind bloweth where it listeth" (pleaseth), which
means that man can neither harness nor hinder it. Sometimes the wind blows
with great fury, and it might be that it should suddenly gather in volume and
velocity, until it became a hurricane earth-wide in its range. If there is
nothing more than the laws of Nature regulating the wind, then, perhaps
tomorrow, there may come a terrific tornado and sweep everything from the
surface of the earth! What assurance have we against such a calamity? Again;
of late years we have heard and read much about clouds bursting and flooding
whole districts, working fearful havoc in the destruction of both property and
life. Man is helpless before them, for science can devise no means to
prevent clouds bursting. Then how do we know that these bursting-clouds
will not be multiplied indefinitely and the whole earth be deluged by their
downpour? This would be nothing new: why should not the Flood of Noah’s day be
repeated? And what of earthquakes? Every few years, some island or some great
city is swept out of existence by one of them—and what can man do? Where is
the guaranty that ere long a mammoth earthquake will not destroy the whole
world? Science tells us of great subterranean fires burning beneath the
comparatively thin crust of our earth, how do we know but what these fires
will not suddenly burst forth and consume our entire globe? Surely every
reader now sees the point we are seeking to make: Deny that God is
governing matter, deny that He is "upholding all things by the word
of His power" (Heb. 1:3), and all sense of security is gone!
Let us pursue a similar course of
reasoning in connection with the human race. Is God governing this
world of ours? Is He shaping the destinies of nations, controlling the course
of empires, determining the limits of dynasties? Has He described the limits
of evil-doers, saying, Thus far shalt thou go and no further? Let us suppose
the opposite for a moment. Let us assume that God has delivered over the helm
into the hand of His creatures, and see where such a supposition leads us. For
the sake of argument we will say that every man enters this world endowed with
a will that is absolutely free, and that it is impossible to compel or
even coerce him without destroying his freedom. Let us say that every
man possesses a knowledge of right and wrong, that he has the power to choose
between them, and that he is left entirely free to make his own choice and go
his own way. Then what? Then it follows that man is sovereign, for he
does as he pleases and is the architect of his own fortune. But in such
a case we can have no assurance that ere long every man will reject the good
and choose the evil. In such a case we have no guaranty against the entire
human race committing moral suicide. Let all Divine restraints be removed and
man be left absolutely free, and all ethical distinctions would immediately
disappear, the spirit of barbarism would prevail universally, and pandemonium
would reign supreme. Why not? If one nation deposes its rulers and repudiates
its constitution, what is there to prevent all nations from doing the same? If
little more than a century ago the streets of Paris ran with the blood of
rioters, what assurance have we that before the present century closes every
city throughout the world will not witness a similar sight? What is there to
hinder worldwide lawlessness and universal anarchy? Thus we have sought to
show the need, the imperative need, for God to occupy the Throne, take
the government upon His shoulder, and control the activities and
destinies of His creatures.
But has the man of faith any difficulty
in perceiving the government of God over this world? Does not the anointed eye
discern, even amid much seeming confusion and chaos, the hand of the Most High
controlling and shaping the affairs of men, even in the common concerns of
every day life? Take for example farmers and their crops. Suppose God left
them to themselves: what would then prevent them, one and all, from grassing
their arable lands and devoting themselves exclusively to the rearing of
cattle and dairying? In such a case there would be a world-famine of wheat and
corn! Take the work of the post-office. Suppose that everybody decided to
write letters on Mondays only, could the authorities cope with the mail on
Tuesdays? and how would they occupy their time the balance of the week? So
again with storekeepers. What would happen if every housewife did her
shopping on Wednesday, and stayed at home the rest of the week? But instead of
such things happening, farmers in different countries both raise sufficient
cattle and grow enough grain of various kinds to supply the almost
incalculable needs of the human race; the mails are almost evenly distributed
over the six days of the week; and some women shop on Monday, some on Tuesday,
and so on. Do not these things clearly evidence the overruling and controlling
hand of God!
Having shown, in brief, the imperative
need for God to reign over our world, let us now observe still further the
fact that God does rule, actually rule, and that His government
extends to and is exercised over all things and all creatures. And,
1. God Governs Inanimate Matter.
That God governs inanimate matter, that
inanimate matter performs His bidding and fulfils His decrees, is clearly
shown on the very frontispiece of Divine revelation. God said, Let there be
light, and we read, "There was light." God said, "Let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land
appear," and "it was so." And again, "God said, Let the earth
bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit
after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."
As the Psalmist declares, "He spake, and it was done; He commanded,
and it stood fast."
What is stated in Genesis one is
afterwards illustrated all through the Bible. After the creation of Adam,
sixteen centuries went by before ever a shower of rain fell upon the earth,
for before Noah "there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole
face of the ground" (Gen. 2:6). But, when the iniquities of the
antediluvians had come to the full, then God said, "And, behold, I, even.
I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh,
wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in
the earth shall die;" and in fulfillment of this we read, "In the six
hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the
month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and
the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days
and forty nights" (Gen. 6:17 and 7:11, 12).
Witness God’s absolute (and
sovereign) control of inanimate matter in connection with the plagues upon
Egypt. At His bidding the light was turned into darkness and rivers into
blood; hail fell, and death came down upon the godless land of the Nile, until
even its haughty monarch was compelled to cry out for deliverance. Note
particularly how the inspired record here emphasizes God’s absolute control
over the elements—"And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the
Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and
the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt." So there was hail, and fire
mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all
the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all
the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail
smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Only in
the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail"
(Ex. 9:23-26). The same distinction was observed in connection with
the ninth plague: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward
heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which
may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a
thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another,
neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of
Israel had light in their dwellings" (Ex. 10:21-23).
The above examples are by no means
isolated cases. At God’s decree fire and brimstone descended from heaven
and the cities of the Plain were destroyed, and a fertile valley was converted
into a loathsome sea of death. At His bidding the waters of the Red Sea parted
asunder so that the Israelites passed over dry shod, and at His word they
rolled back again and destroyed the Egyptians who were pursuing them. A word
from Him, and the earth opened her mouth and Korah and his rebellious company
were swallowed up. The furnace of Nebuchadnezzar was heated seven times beyond
its normal temperature, and into it three of God’s children were cast, but the
fire did not so much as scorch their clothes, though it slew the men who cast
them into it.
What a demonstration of the Creator’s
governmental control over the elements was furnished when He became flesh and
tabernacled among men! Behold Him asleep in the boat. A storm arises. The
winds roar and the waves are lashed into fury. The disciples who are with Him,
fearful lest their little craft should founder, awake their Master, saying, "Carest
Thou not that we perish?" And then we read, "And He arose, and rebuked the
wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and
there was a great calm" (Mark 4:39). Mark again, the sea, at the
will of its Creator, bore Him up upon its waves. At a word from Him the
fig-tree withered; at His touch disease fled instantly.
The heavenly bodies are also ruled by
their Maker and perform His sovereign pleasure. Take two illustrations. At
God’s bidding the sun went back ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz to help the
weak faith of Hezekiah. In New Testament times, God caused a star to herald
the incarnation of His Son—the star which appeared unto the wise men of the
East. This star, we are told, "went before them till it came and stood
over where the young Child was" (Matt. 2:9).
What a declaration is this—"He sendeth
forth His commandment upon earth: His word runneth very swiftly. He giveth
snow like wool: He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes. He
casteth forth His ice like morsels: who can stand before His cold? He
sendeth out His word, and melteth them: He causeth His wind to blow,
and the waters flow" (Ps. 147:15-18). The mutations of the elements are
beneath God’s sovereign control. It is God who withholds the rain, and
it is God who gives the rain when He wills, where He wills, as He
wills, and on whom He wills. Weather Bureaus may attempt to give forecasts of
the weather, but how frequently God mocks their calculations! Sun ‘spots,’ the
varying activities of the planets, the appearing and disappearing of comets
(to which abnormal weather is sometimes attributed), atmospheric disturbances,
are merely secondary causes, for behind them all is God Himself. Let His Word
speak once more: "And also I have withholden the rain from you, when
there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain
upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was
rained upon, and the piece whereon it rained not withered. So two or three
cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied:
yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. I have smitten you with
blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig
trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have
ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. I have sent among you the
pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the
sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your
camps to come up into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith
the Lord" (Amos 4:7-10).
Truly, then, God governs inanimate
matter. Earth and air, fire and water, hail and snow, stormy winds and angry
seas, all perform the word of His power and fulfil His sovereign pleasure.
Therefore, when we complain about the weather, we are, in reality, murmuring
against God.
2. God Governs Irrational Creatures.
What a striking illustration of God’s
government over the animal kingdom is found in Genesis 2:19! "And out of the
ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the
air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and
whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."
Should it be said that this occurred in Eden, and took place before the fall
of Adam and the consequent curse which was inflicted on every creature, then
our next reference fully meets the objection: God’s control of the beasts was
again openly displayed at the Flood. Mark how God caused to "come unto" Noah
every specie of living creature "of every living thing of all flesh, two of
every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they
shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, of every creeping thing
after his kind: two of every sort shall come unto thee" (Gen.
6:19, 20)—all were beneath God’s sovereign control. The lion of the jungle,
the elephant of the forest, the bear of the polar regions; the ferocious
panther, the untameable wolf, the fierce tiger; the high-soaring eagle and the
creeping crocodile—see them all in their native fierceness, and yet, quietly
submitting to the will of their Creator, and coming two by two into the ark!
We referred to the plagues sent upon
Egypt as illustrating God’s control of inanimate matter, let us now turn to
them again to see how they demonstrate His perfect ruler-ship over irrational
creatures. At His word the river brought forth frogs abundantly, and these
frogs entered the palace of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and,
contrary to their natural instincts, they entered the beds, the ovens and the
kneadingtroughs (Ex. 8:13). Swarms of flies invaded the land of Egypt, but
there were no flies in the land of Goshen! (Ex. 8:22). Next, the cattle were
stricken. and we read, "Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle
which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon
the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. And the
Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and
there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel. And the Lord
appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing in the
land. And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt
died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one" (Ex.
9:3-6). In like manner God sent clouds of locusts to plague Pharaoh and his
land, appointing the time of their visitation, determining the course and
assigning the limits of their depredations.
Angels are not the only ones who do
God’s bidding. The brute beasts equally perform His pleasure. The sacred ark,
the ark of the covenant, is in the country of the Philistines. How is it to be
brought back to its home land? Mark the servants of God’s choice, and how
completely they were beneath His control: "And the Philistines called for the
priests and the diviners saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell
us wherewith we shall send it to his place. And they said. . . . Now therefore
make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke,
and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: And take
the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold,
which ye return Him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof,
and send it away that it may go. And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own
coast to Bethshemesh, then He hath done us this great evil: but if not, then
we shall know that it is not His hand that smote us; it was a chance that
happened to us." And what happened? How striking the sequel! "And the kine
took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the
highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to
the left" (1 Sam. 6:12). Equally striking is the case of Elijah:
"And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and hide
thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that
thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee
there." (1 Kings 17:2-4). The natural instinct of these birds of
prey was held in subjection, and instead of consuming the food themselves,
they carried it to Jehovah’s servant in his solitary retreat.
Is further proof required? then it is
ready to hand. God makes a dumb ass to rebuke the prophet’s madness. He sends
forth two she-bears from the woods to devour forty and two of Elijah’s
tormentors. In fulfillment of His word, He causes the dogs to lick up the
blood of the wicked Jezebel. He seals the mouths of Babylon’s lions when
Daniel is cast into the den, though, later, He causes them to devour the
prophet’s accusers. He prepares a great fish to swallow the disobedient Jonah
and then, when His ordained hour struck, compelled it to vomit him forth on
dry land. At His bidding a fish carries a coin to Peter for tribute money,
and in order to fulfil His word He makes the cock to crow twice after Peter’s
denial. Thus we see that God reigns over irrational creatures: beasts of the
field, birds of the air, fishes of the sea, all perform His sovereign
bidding.
3. God Governs the Children of Men.
We fully appreciate the fact that this
is the most difficult part of our subject, and, accordingly, it will be dealt
with at greater length in the pages that follow; but at present we consider
the fact of God’s government over men in general, before we attempt to
deal with the problem in detail.
Two alternatives confront us, and
between them we obliged to choose: either God governs, or He is governed:
either God rules, or He is ruled; either God has His way, or men have theirs.
And is our choice between these alternatives hard to make? Shall we say that
in man we behold a creature so unruly that he is beyond God’s control?
Shall we say that sin has alienated the sinner so far from the thrice
Holy One that he is outside the pale of His jurisdiction? Or, shall we
say that man has been endowed with moral responsibility, and therefore God
must leave him entirely free, at least during the period of his probation?
Does it necessarily follow because the natural man is an outlaw against
heaven, a rebel against the Divine government, that God is unable to fulfil
His purpose through him? We mean, not merely that He may overrule the
effects of the actions of evil-doers, nor that He will yet bring the wicked to
stand before His judgment-bar so that sentence of punishment may be passed
upon them—multitudes of non-Christians believe these things—but, we mean, that
every action of the most lawless of His subjects is entirely beneath His
control, yea that the actor is, though unknown to himself, carrying out the
secret decrees of the Most High. Was it not thus with Judas? and is it
possible to select a more extreme case? If then the arch-rebel was performing
the counsel of God is it any greater tax upon our faith to believe the same of
all rebels?
Our present object is not philosophic
inquiry nor metaphysical causistry, but to ascertain the teaching of Scripture
upon this profound theme. To the Law and the Testimony, for there only can we
learn of the Divine government—its character, its design, its modus operandi,
its scope. What then has it pleased God to reveal to us in His blessed Word
concerning His rule over the works of His hands, and particularly, over the
one who originally was made in His own image and likeness?
"In Him we live, and move, and
have our being" (Acts 17:28). What a sweeping assertion is this! These words,
be it noted, were addressed, not to one of the churches of God, not to a
company of saints who had reached an exalted plane of spirituality, but to a
heathen audience, to those who worshipped "the unknown God" and who "mocked"
when they heard of the resurrection of the dead. And yet, to the Athenian
philosophers, to the Epicureans and Stoics, the apostle Paul did not hesitate
to affirm that they lived and moved and had their being in God, which
signified not only that they owed their existence and preservation to the One
who made the world and all things therein, but also that their very actions
were encompassed and therefore controlled by the Lord of heaven and earth.
Compare Dan. 5:23, last clause!
"The disposings (margin) of the
heart, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord" (Prov. 16:1). Mark that
the above declaration is of general application—it is of "man," not simply of
believers, that this is predicated. "A man’s heart deviseth his way: but
the Lord directeth his steps" (Prov. 16:9). If the Lord directs
the steps of a man, is it not proof that he is being controlled or
governed by God? Again; "There are many devices in a man’s heart;
nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand" (Prov.
19:21). Can this mean anything less than, that no matter what man may desire
and plan, it is the will of his Maker which is executed? As an illustration
take the "Rich Fool" The "devices" of his heart are made known to us—"And he
thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my
barns, and build greater; and there I will bestow all my fruits and my
goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up
for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Such were the
"devices" of his heart, nevertheless it was "the counsel of the Lord"
that stood. The "I will’s" of the rich man came to nought, for "God said
unto him, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee" (Luke
12:17-20).
"The king’s heart is in the hand of the
Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will"
(Prov. 21:1). What could be more explicit? Out of the heart are "the
issues of life" (Prov. 4:23), for as a man "thinketh in his heart, so
is he" (Prov. 23:7). If then the heart is in the hand of the Lord, and if "He
turneth it whithersoever He will," then is it not clear that men, yea,
governors and rulers, and so all men, are completely beneath the
governmental control of the Almighty!
No limitations must be placed upon the
above declarations. To insist that some men, at least, do thwart
God’s will and overturn His counsels, is to repudiate other scriptures equally
explicit. Weigh well the following: "But He is in one mind, and who can turn
Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth" (Job
23:13). "The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of His
heart to all generations" (Ps. 33:11). "There is no wisdom nor understanding
nor counsel against the Lord" (Prov. 21:30). "For the Lord of hosts hath
purposed, and who shall disannul it? And His hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back?" (Isa. 14:27). "Remember the former things of old: for
I am God, and there is none else! I am God, and there is none like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My
pleasure" (Isa. 46:9, 10). There is no ambiguity in these passages.
They affirm in the most unequivocal and unqualified terms that it is
impossible to bring to naught the purpose of Jehovah.
We read the Scriptures in vain if we
fail to discover that the actions of men, evil men as well as good, are
governed by the Lord God. Nimrod and his fellows determined to erect the tower
of Babel, but ere their task was accomplished God frustrated their plans. God
called Abraham "alone" (Isa. 51:2), but his kinsfolk accompanied him as he
left Ur of the Chaldees. Was then the will of the Lord defeated? Nay, verily.
Mark the sequel. Terah died before Canaan was reached (Gen. 11:31), and
though Lot accompanied his uncle into the land of promise, he soon separated
from him and settled down in Sodom. Jacob was the child to whom the
inheritance was promised, and though Isaac sought to reverse Jehovah’s decree
and bestow the blessing upon Esau, his efforts came to naught. Esau again
swore vengeance upon Jacob, but when next they met they wept for joy instead
of fighting in hate. The brethren of Joseph determined his destruction, but
their evil counsels were overthrown. Pharaoh refused to let Israel carry out
the instructions of Jehovah and perished in the Red Sea for his pains. Balak
hired Balaam to curse the Israelites, but God compelled him to bless
them. Haman erected a gallows for Mordecai but was hanged upon it himself.
Jonah resisted the revealed will of God, but what became of his efforts?
Ah, the heathen may "rage" and the
people imagine a "vain thing"; the kings of the earth may "set themselves",
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His
Christ, saying, "Let us break Their bands asunder, and cast away Their cords
from us" (Ps. 2:1-3). But is the great God perturbed or disturbed by the
rebellion of His puny creatures? No, indeed: "He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision" (v.
4). He is infinitely exalted above all, and the greatest confederacies of
earth’s pawns, and their most extensive and vigorous preparations to defeat
His purpose are, in His sight, altogether purile. He looks upon their
puny efforts, not only without any alarm, but He "laughs" at their folly; He
treats their impotency with "derision." He knows that He can crush them like
moths when He pleases, or consume them in a moment with the breath of His
mouth. Ah, it is but "a vain thing" for the potsherds of the earth to
strive with the glorious Majesty of Heaven. Such is our God; worship ye Him.
Mark, too, the sovereignty which
God displayed in His dealings with men! Moses who was slow of speech, and not
Aaron his elder brother who was not slow of speech, was the one chosen to be
His ambassador in demanding from Egypt’s monarch the release of His oppressed
people. Moses again, though greatly beloved utters one hasty word and was
excluded from Canaan; whereas Elijah, passionately murmurs and suffers but a
mild rebuke, and was afterwards taken to heaven without seeing death! Uzzah
merely touched the ark and was instantly slain, whereas the Philistines
carried it off in insulting triumph and suffered no immediate harm. Displays
of grace which would have brought a doomed Sodom to repentance, failed to move
an highly privileged Capernaum. Mighty works which would have subdued Tyre and
Sidon, left the upbraided cities of Galilee under the curse of a rejected
Gospel. If they would have prevailed over the former, why were they not
wrought there? If they proved ineffectual to deliver the latter then why
perform them? What exhibitions are these of the sovereign will of the Most
High!
4. God Governs Angels: Both Good and
Evil Angels.
The angels are God’s servants, His
messengers, His chariots. They ever hearken to the word of His mouth and do
His commands. "And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and
as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and He repented Him of the evil, and
said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, Stay now thine hand. . . .And
the Lord commanded the angel; and he put his sword again into the
sheath thereof" (1 Chron. 21:15, 27). Many other scriptures might be cited to
show that the angels are in subjection to the will of their Creator and
perform His bidding—"And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know
of a surety, that the Lord hath sent His angel, and hath delivered me
out of the hand of Herod" (Acts 12:11). "And the Lord God of the holy prophets
sent His angel to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly
be done" (Rev. 22:6). So it will be when our Lord returns: "The Son of
Man shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His
kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity" (Matt. 13:41).
Again, we read, "He shall send His angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. 24:31).
The same is true of evil spirits:
they, too, fulfil God’s sovereign decrees. An evil spirit is sent by God to
stir up rebellion in the camp of Abimelech: "Then God sent an evil spirit
between Abimelech and the men of Shechem,. . . which aided him in the
killing of his brethren" (Judges 9:23). Another evil spirit He sent to be a
lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets—"Now therefore, behold, the
Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and
the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee" (1 Kings 22 :23). And yet
another was sent by the Lord to trouble Saul—"But the Spirit of the Lord
departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him" (1
Sam. 16:14). So, too, in the New Testament: a whole legion of the demons go
not out of their victim until the Lord gave them permission to enter
the herd of swine.
It is clear from Scripture, then, that
the angels, good and evil, are tinder God’s control, and willingly or
unwillingly carry out God’s purpose. Yea, Satan himself is absolutely
subject to God’s control. When arraigned in Eden, he listened to the awful
sentence, but answered not a word. He was unable to touch Job until God
granted him leave. So, too, he had to gain our Lord’s consent before he could
"sift" Peter. When Christ commanded him to depart— "Get thee hence, Satan"—we
read, "Then the Devil leaveth Him" (Matt. 4:11). And, in the end, he
will be cast into the Lake of Fire, which has been prepared for him and his
angels.
The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. His
government is exercised over inanimate matter, over the brute beasts, over the
children of men, over angels good and evil, and over Satan himself. No
revolving world, no shining of star, no storm, no creature moves, no actions
of men, no errands of angels, no deeds of Devil—nothing in all the vast
universe can come to pass otherwise than God has eternally purposed. Here
is a foundation for faith. Here is a resting place for the intellect. Here is
an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. It is not blind fate,
unbridled evil, man or Devil, but the Lord Almighty who is ruling the world,
ruling it according to His own good pleasure and for His own eternal glory.
"Ten thousand ages ere the skies
Were into motion brought;
All the long years and worlds to come,
Stood present to His thought:
There’s not a sparrow nor a worm,
But’s found in His decrees,
He raises monarchs to their thrones
And sinks as He may please."
Chapter 4
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN SALVATION
"O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past
finding out"
Romans 11:33
"Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9);
but the Lord does not save all. Why not? He does save some; then if
He saves some, why not others? Is it because they are too sinful and
depraved? No; for the apostle wrote, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of
all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of
whom 1 am chief" (1 Tim. 1:15). Therefore, if God saved the "chief"
of sinners, none are excluded because of their depravity. Why then does not
God save all? Is it because some are too stony-hearted to be won? No; because
of the most stony-hearted people of all it is written, that God will yet "take
the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh"
(Ezek. 11:19). Then is it because some are so stubborn, so intractable, so
defiant that God is unable to woo them to Himself? Before we answer
this question let us ask another; let us appeal to the experience of the
Christian reader.
Friend; was there not a time when you
walked in the counsel of the ungodly, stood in the way of sinners, sat in
the seat of the scorners, and with them said, "We will not have this
Man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14)? Was there not a time when you
"would not come to Christ that you might have life" (John 5:40)? Yea, was
there not a time when you mingled your voice with those who said unto
God, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways. What is the
Almighty, that we should serve Him? and what profit should we have, if we pray
unto Him?" (Job 21:14, 15)? With shamed face you have to acknowledge
there was. But how is it that all is now changed? What was it that brought
you from haughty self-sufficiency to a humble suppliant, from one that was at
enmity with God to one that is at peace with Him, from lawlessness to
subjection, from hate to love? And, as one ‘born of the Spirit,’ you will
readily reply, "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).
Then do you not see that it is due to no lack of power in God, nor to His
refusal to coerce man, that other rebels are not saved too? If God was
able to subdue your will and win your heart, and that without
interfering with your moral responsibility, then is He not able to do the
same for others? Assuredly He is. Then how inconsistent, how illogical, how
foolish of you, in seeking to account for the present course of the
wicked and their ultimate fate, to argue that God is unable to save
them, that they will not let Him. Do you say, "But the time came when
I was willing, willing to receive Christ as my Saviour"? True, but it
was the Lord who made you willing (Ps. 110:3; Phil. 2:13) why
then does He not make all sinners willing? Why, but for the fact that
He is sovereign and does as He pleases! But to return to our opening inquiry.
Why is it that all are not saved,
particularly all who hear the Gospel? Do you still answer, Because the
majority refuse to believe? Well, that is true, but it is only a part of the
truth. It is the truth from the human side. But there is a Divine side
too, and this side of the truth needs to be stressed or God will be robbed of
His glory. The unsaved are lost because they refuse to believe; the others are
saved because they believe. But why do these others believe? What is it
that causes them to put their trust in Christ? Is it because they are more
intelligent than their fellows, and quicker to discern their need of
salvation? Perish the thought—"Who maketh thee to differ from another?
And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7). It
is God Himself who maketh the difference between the elect and the non-elect,
for of His own it is written, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and
hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true" (1 John
5:20).
Faith is God’s gift, and "all men
have not faith" (2 Thess. 3:2); therefore, we see that God does not bestow
this gift upon all. Upon whom then does He bestow this saving favor? And we
answer, upon His own elect—"As many as were ordained to eternal life believed"
(Acts 13:48). Hence it is that we read of "the faith of God’s elect" (Titus
1:1). But is God partial in the distribution of His favors? Has He not the
right to be? Are there still some who ‘murmur against the Good-Man
of the house’? Then His own words are sufficient reply—"Is it not lawful for
Me to do what I will with Mine own?" (Matt. 20:15). God is
sovereign in the bestowment of His gifts, both in the natural and in the
spiritual realms. So much then for a general statement, and now to
particularize.
1. The Sovereignty of God the Father in
Salvation.
Perhaps the one Scripture which most
emphatically of all asserts the absolute sovereignty of God in connection with
His determining the destiny of His creatures, is the ninth of Romans. We shall
not attempt to review here the entire chapter, but will confine ourselves to
verses 21-23—"Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump, to
make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to
show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that He might make known the
riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto
glory?" These verses represent fallen mankind as inert and as impotent as a
lump of lifeless clay. This Scripture evidences that there is "no difference,"
in themselves, between the elect and the non-elect: they are clay of "the same
lump," which agrees with Ephesians 2:3, where we are told, that all are by
nature "children of wrath." It teaches us that the ultimate destiny of
every individual is decided by the will of God, and blessed it is that such be
the case; if it were left to our wills, the ultimate destination of us
all would be the Lake of Fire. It declares that God Himself does make a
difference in the respective destinations to which He assigns His creatures,
for one vessel is made "unto honor and another unto dishonor;"
some are "vessels of wrath fitted to destruction," others are "vessels of
mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory."
We readily
acknowledge that it is very humbling to the proud heart of the creature to
behold all mankind in the hand of God as the clay is in the potter’s hand, yet
this is precisely how the Scriptures of Truth represent the case. In this day
of human boasting, intellectual pride, and deification of man, it needs to be
insisted upon that the potter forms his vessels for himself. Let man strive
with his Maker as he will, the fact remains that he is nothing more than clay
in the Heavenly Potter’s hands, and while we know that God will deal justly
with His creatures, that the Judge of all the earth will do right,
nevertheless, He shapes His vessels for His own purpose and according to His
own pleasure. God claims the indisputable right to do as He wills with His
own.
Not only has God the right to do as He
wills with the creatures of His own hands, but He exercises this right,
and nowhere is that seen more plainly than in His predestinating grace. Before
the foundation of the world God made a choice, a selection, an election.
Before His omniscient eye stood the whole of Adam’s race, and from it He
singled out a people and predestinated them "unto the adoption of children,"
predestinated them "to be conformed to the image of His Son," "ordained" them
unto eternal life. Many are the Scriptures which set forth this blessed truth,
seven of which will now engage our attention.
"As many as were ordained to eternal
life, believed" (Acts 13:48). Every artifice of human ingenuity has been
employed to blunt the sharp edge of this Scripture and to explain away the
obvious meaning of these words, but it has been employed in vain, though
nothing will ever be able to reconcile this and similar passages to the mind
of the natural man. "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Here
we learn four things: First, that believing is the consequence and not the
cause of God’s decree. Second, that a limited number only are "ordained to
eternal life," for if all men without exception were thus ordained by God,
then the words "as many as are a meaningless
qualification. Third, that this "ordination" of God is not to mere external
privileges but to "eternal life," not to service but to salvation itself.
Fourth, that all—"as many as," not one less—who are thus ordained by God to
eternal life will most certainly believe.
The comments of the beloved Spurgeon on
the above passage are well worthy of our notice. Said he, "Attempts have been
made to prove that these words do not teach predestination, but these attempts
so clearly do violence to language that I shall not waste time in answering
them. I read: ‘As many as were ordained to eternal life believed’, and I shall
not twist the text but shall glorify the grace of God by ascribing to that
grace the faith of every man. Is it not God who gives the disposition to
believe? If men are disposed to have eternal life, does not He—in every
case—dispose them? Is it wrong for God to give grace? If
it be right for Him to give it, is it wrong for Him to purpose to give
it? Would you have Him give it by accident? If it is right for Him to purpose
to give grace today, it was right for Him to purpose it before today—and,
since He changes not—from eternity."
"Even so then at this present time also
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace,
then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of
works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Rom. 11:5,
6). The words "Even so" at the beginning of this quotation refer us to the
previous verse where we are told, "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Note particularly the word
"reserved." In the days of Elijah there were seven thousand—a small
minority—who were Divinely preserved from idolatry and brought to the
knowledge of the true God. This preservation and illumination was not from
anything in themselves, but solely by God’s special influence and agency. How
highly favored such individuals were to be thus "reserved" by God! Now says
the apostle, Just as there was a "remnant" in Elijah’s days "reserved by God",
even so there is in this present dispensation.
"A remnant according to the election of
grace." Here the cause of election is traced back to its source. The
basis upon which God elected this "remnant" was not faith foreseen in them,
because a choice founded upon the foresight of good works is just as truly
made on the ground of works as any choice can be, and in such a case,
it would not be "of grace;" for, says the apostle, "if by grace,
then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace;" which means
that grace and works are opposites, they have nothing in common, and will no
more mingle than will oil and water. Thus the idea of
inherent good foreseen in those chosen, or of anything meritorious performed
by them, is rigidly excluded. "A remnant according to the election
of grace," signifies an unconditional choice resulting from the sovereign
favor of God; in a word, it is absolutely a gratuitous election.
"For ye see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are
called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty: and base
things of the world, and things which are despised, hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things
that are: That no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1:26-29). Three
times over in this passage reference is made to God’s choice, and
choice necessarily supposes a selection, the taking of some and the leaving of
others. The Choser here is God Himself, as said the Lord Jesus to the
apostles, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). The
number chosen is strictly defined—"not many wise men after the flesh,
not many noble," etc., which agrees with Matthew 20:16, "So the last
shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen."
So much then for the fact of God’s choice; now mark the objects
of His choice.
The ones spoken of above as chosen of
God are "the weak things of the world, base things of the world, and things
which are despised." But why? To demonstrate and magnify His grace. God’s
ways as well as His thoughts are utterly at variance with man’s. The
carnal mind would have supposed that a selection had been made from the ranks
of the opulent and influential, the amiable and cultured, so that Christianity
might have won the approval and applause of the world by its pageantry and
fleshly glory. Ah! but "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination
in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). God chooses the "base things." He
did so in Old Testament times. The nation which He singled out to be the
depository of His holy oracles and the channel through which the promised Seed
should come, was not the ancient Egyptians, the imposing Babylonians, nor the
highly civilized and cultured Greeks. No; that people upon whom Jehovah set
His love and regarded as ‘the apple of His eye’, were the despised, nomadic
Hebrews. So it was when our Lord tabernacled among men. The ones whom He took
into favored intimacy with Himself and commissioned to go forth as His
ambassadors, were, for the most part, unlettered fishermen. And so it has been
ever since. So it is today: at the present rates of increase, it will not be
long before it is manifested that the Lord has more in despised China who are
really His, than He has in the highly favored U. S. A.; more among the
uncivilized blacks of Africa, than He has in cultured (?) Germany! And
the purpose of God’s choice, the raison d’etre of the selection He has
made is, "that no flesh should glory in His presence"—there being nothing
whatever in the objects of His choice which should entitle them to His special
favors, then, all the praise will be freely ascribed to the exceeding riches
of His manifold grace.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the
heavenlies in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him; In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. . . .In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph.
1:3-5, 11). Here again we are told at what point in time—if time it could be
called—when God made choice of those who were to be His children by Jesus
Christ. It was not after Adam had fallen and plunged his race into sin and
wretchedness, but long ere Adam saw the light, even before the world itself
was founded, that God chose us in Christ. Here also we learn the purpose
which God had before Him in connection with His own elect: it was that
they "should be holy and without blame before Him;" it was "unto the adoption
of children;" it was that they should "obtain an inheritance." Here also we
discover the motive which prompted Him. It was "in love that He
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself"—a
statement which refutes the oft made and wicked charge that, for God to decide
the eternal destiny of His creatures before they are born, is tyrannical and
unjust. Finally, we are informed here, that in this matter He took counsel
with none, but that we are "predestinated according to the good pleasure of
His will."
"But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13). There are three things
here which deserve special attention. First, the fact that we are expressly
told that God’s elect are "chosen to salvation." Language could not be more
explicit. How summarily do these words dispose of the sophistries and
equivocations of all who would make election refer to nothing but external
privileges or rank in service! It is to "salvation" itself that God hath
chosen us. Second, we are warned here that election unto salvation does not
disregard the use of appropriate means: salvation is reached through
"sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." It is not true that
because God has chosen a certain one to salvation that he will be saved
willy-nilly, whether he believes or not: nowhere do the Scriptures so
represent it. The same God who predestined the end, also appointed the means;
the same God who "chose unto sal
