XLIII. DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY
J
When
applied do God, what doesn’t the word “sovereignty” mean?
1 Divine
sovereignty does not mean that God wills or acts arbitrarily. God acts with reasons so good and so
important, that He can’t act in any other way without violating the law of His
own intelligence and conscience.
Any view of Divine sovereignty that implies that God wills arbitrarily is
not only contrary to scripture, but is revolting to reason, and
blasphemous. God cannot act
arbitrarily in the sense of unreasonably, without that act being infinitely
wicked. For God to be arbitrary, in
the sense of unreasonable, would be much more wicked than any creature can be,
because God’s reason and knowledge is much greater than our reason is. Therefore, we should never represent God
as a sovereign in the sense that implies that He is motivated by self rather
than by His infinite intelligence.
2 Many
believe that the sovereignty of God consists in a perfectly arbitrary
administration of events. They seem
to see God as being completely above any law or rule of action that would guide
His will by His infinite reason and conscience. They see the law as completely separate
from God. They appear shocked at
the idea that God Himself is a subject of moral law, and are ready to ask, ‘Who
gives law to God?’ They feel that
if God obeys the law, then the law must be higher than God. I don’t think they have ever even
thought that God must be a law unto Himself; that He must be omniscient, and
that His reason must impose law on, or prescribe law to, His will. They seem to think that God lives
totally above the law, and is disposed to use His own will, whether it is
reasonable or unreasonable; to establish His own arbitrary pleasure as His only
rule of action, and to impose this rule on all of His subjects. They believe this sovereignty controls
all events with an inflexible, irresistible, and omnipotent iron rod. “Who works all things according to the
counsel of His will,” (Eph. 1:11) They believe this text teaches that God
disposes all events absolutely, not according to His own infinite wisdom and
discretion, but simply according to His own will; and, as their language would
often seem to imply, without reference at all to the universal law of love
(benevolence). I will not say that
this is their view, but this view is what I think their view is from the
language they use, which indicates their idea of Divine sovereignty. But this is not the view of Divine
sovereignty, which I will now state and defend.
K
What is Divine sovereignty?
1 The
sovereignty of God consists in the independence of His will, in consulting His
own reason in selecting His goal, and selecting the means to accomplish that
goal. In other words, the
sovereignty of God is simply infinite love directed by infinite knowledge. God consults no one concerning what He
will do. He does not ask permission
to do and require what His own wisdom dictates. He consults only Himself; that is, He
consults His own infinite intelligence.
God is not arbitrary in His sovereignty, in the sense that God is ever
unreasonable. God’s infinite reason
guides him. He consults His own
intelligence, not arbitrarily, but because His knowledge is perfect and infinite
and therefore it is safe and wise to take counsel nowhere else. It would be infinitely unreasonable and
wicked for God to ask permission from anyone before acting according to His own
judgment. He must make His own
reason His rule of action. God is a
sovereign, not in the sense that He is not under law, or that He is above all
law, but in the sense that He is a law to Himself; that He knows no law but the
law that resides in His own reason.
God’s sovereignty consists in doing everything that satisfies His own
reason, or the demands of His own intelligence. “He works all things after the counsel
of His own will” (Eph. 1:11), in the sense that He forms and executes His own
plans independently; in the sense that He consults His own infinite
discretion. In other words, He acts
according to His own views of what is proper and fit. God does this without setting aside the
freedom of moral agents. His
infinite knowledge enables Him to select a goal and select means that don’t
interfere with the perfect freedom of moral agents. The subjects of His moral government are
free to obey or disobey, and reap the rewards or suffer the consequences. But, foreseeing precisely how everything
will turn out, He has laid out His plan accordingly to bring about the results
He thought about and desired. In
everything He planned, God consulted no one but Himself. This leads me to say:
2 That
God is and should be an absolute and a universal sovereign.
By absolute, I mean,
that His will is law, because He exercises His will in obedience to His
reason. It is not law because it
comes from some arbitrary will, but because His will declares the affirmations
and demands of His infinite reason.
God’s expressed will is law because His will is an infallible declaration
of what is right. His will does not
make the things that He commands right, fit, proper, or obligatory in the sense
that, should He require it, the things that he previously required would no
longer be fit, proper, suitable, or obligatory. God’s will makes the things that He
commands right in the sense that the only evidence we need of what is proper,
fit, or obligatory is the expression of His will. Our reason tells us that what He wills
must be right; not because He wills it, but because what He wills is right; that
is, our reason tells us that He wills as He does only because He wills according
to the law that is in His reason.
This assures us that what he wills is right, and therefore He should will
or command exactly what He does will.
God is a sovereign in the sense that His will is law whether or not we
are able to see the reason for His commands. Our reason tells us that He has and must
have good and sufficient reasons for every command He makes. In fact, His reasons are so good and
sufficient, that He could not do anything else than require what He does under
the circumstances, without violating the law that lies in His own reason. We don’t need any other reason for
affirming our obligation to will and to do what God requires, than the fact that
God requires it; because what God requires must be right, not because He
arbitrarily wills it, but because He does not arbitrarily will it. In fact, God always has good and wise
reasons for every requirement.
3 Some
people represent God as a sovereign, in the sense that His arbitrary will is the
foundation of our moral obligation.
But if this is true, it is possible that He could require the opposite
from what He now requires us to do.
But this is absurd. These
people seem to think that unless we admit that God’s will is the foundation of
our moral obligation, it will follow that we have no obligation unless God gives
us the reasons why He requires us to do this or that. But this is a huge mistake. Our own reason tells us that God’s
expressed will is always law, in the sense that His will declares the law of
nature, or discloses the decisions of His own reason.
L
God
must be an absolute sovereign in the sense that I have just defined. We will see this if we consider:
1 That
God chose His end and decided on the means long before He created anyone, and
so, there was no one else to consult.
2 Creation
and providence are only the results of His plans that God carried out from
eternity past.
3 The
law of love, as it existed in God’s reason from eternity past has directed the
very course He has taken.
4 His
highest glory and the highest good of the universe demand that God should
consult His own discretion, and exercise an absolute and a universal
sovereignty. Infinite wisdom and
goodness should act independently to promote their goal. If infinite wisdom or knowledge is not
to administer the law, what or who will?
If infinite love will not declare and enforce the law, what or who
will? God’s attributes and
relationships require Him to exercise the holy sovereignty that we have
attributed to Him.
a
This
sovereignty, and no other, He claims for Himself.
1)
“But
our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases” (Psalms 115:3)
2)
“Whatever
the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep
places.” (Psalms 135:6)
3)
“For
as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but
water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the
sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it
shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10‑11)
4)
“At
that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have
revealed them to babes. Even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.’” (Matt. 11:25‑26)
5)
“For
He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then, it is not of him who wills, nor
of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘Even
for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you,
and that my name might be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills,
and whom He wills He hardens.”
(Romans 9:15‑18)
6)
“In
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the
purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” (Eph. 1:11)
b
Again:
God claims for Himself all the prerogatives of an absolute and a universal
sovereign. For example, God claims
to be the rightful and sole proprietor of the universe.
1)
“Yours,
O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty;
for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
and You are exalted as head over all.”
(1 Chron. 29:11)
2)
“For
every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains,
and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all
its fullness.” (Psalms
50:10‑12)
3)
“The
sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of
His hand.” (Psalms 95:5‑7)
4)
“Know
that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are
His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
(Psalms 100:3)
5)
“Behold,
all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is
Mine; the soul who sins shall die.”
(Ezek. 18:4)
6)
“For
if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we
are the Lord's.” (Romans 14:8)
c
Again:
God claims to have established the natural or physical laws of the
universe.
1)
“Your
faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it
abides. They continue this day
according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants.” (Psalms 119:90‑91)
2)
“The
Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens;
by His knowledge the depths were broken up, and clouds drop down the dew.” (Prov. 3:19‑20)
3)
“Thus
says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the
moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves
roar (the Lord of hosts is His name):” (Jer. 31:35)
4)
“Thus
says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not
appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the
descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his
descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to
return, and will have mercy on them.’”
(Jer. 33:25‑26)
d
God
claims the right to exercise supreme authority.
1)
“Yours,
O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty;
for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
and You are exalted as head over all.”
(1 Chron. 29:11)
2)
“For
God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding” (Psalms
47:7)
3)
“For
the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will
save us” (Isaiah 33:22)
e
God claims the right to exercise His own
discretion in using whatever means are necessary to secure the regeneration of
men, or not, as it appears wise to Him
1)
“Yet
the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear,
to this very day.” (Deut.
29:4)
2)
“Therefore
thus says the Lord God of hosts: ‘Because you speak this word, behold, I will
make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour
them.’” (Jer. 5:14)
3)
“And
the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ He answered and said to them, “Because
it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it has not been given.’”
(Matt. 13:10,11)
4)
“What
if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much
longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might
make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had
prepared beforehand for glory,” (Romans 9:22‑23)
5)
“In
humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them
repentance, so that they may know the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25)
f God claims the right to
try His creatures by means of temptation.
1)
“If
there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign
or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder of which he spoke to you comes to pass,
saying, ‘Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve
them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of
dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’” (Deut. 13:1‑3)
2)
“And
the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth
Gilead?’ So one spoke in this
manner, and another spoke in that manner.
Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will
persuade him.’ The Lord said to
him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I
will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And He said, ‘you shall persuade him,
and also prevail. Go out and do
so.’” (1 Kings 22:20‑22)
3)
“Then
the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none
like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns
evil? And still he holds fast to
his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without
cause.’ Then Satan went out from
the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his
foot to the crown of his head.”
(Job 2:3, 7)
4)
“Then
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil.” (Matt. 4:1)
g
God
also claims the right to use all creatures, and to dispose of all creatures and
events, in order to fulfill His own plans.
1)
“I
will be his Father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten
him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.” (2 Samuel
7:14)
2)
“Now
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable
man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to
Syria. He was also a mighty man of
valor, but he was a leper.” (2
Kings 5:1)
3)
“Now
there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in
their oldest brother’s house; and a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen
were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them
and took them away indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the
sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another
also came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep
and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another
also came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and
took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I
alone have escaped to tell you!’
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘Your sons and
daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and
suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four
corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead; and I
alone have escaped to tell you!’
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head, and he fell to the
ground and worshiped. And he said:
‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’”
(Job 1:13-21)
4)
“Woe
to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My
indignation. I will send him
against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath I will give him
charge, to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the
mire of the streets. Yet, he does
not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and
cut off not a few nations.
Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work
on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of
the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty
looks.’ Shall the ax boast itself
against him who chops with it? Or
shall the saw magnify itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against
those who lift it up, or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not
wood!” (Isaiah 10:5‑7, 12, and
15)
5)
“‘I,
the Lord, have spoken it; it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not
hold back, nor will I spare, nor will I relent; according to your ways and
according to your deeds they will judge you,’ says the Lord God.” (Ezek. 24:14)
6)
“For
indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches
through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not
theirs. Are You not from
everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die. O Lord,
You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for
correction.” (Hab. 1:6,
12)
h
God
claims the right to take the life of His sinful subjects at His own
discretion.
1)
“And
He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the
land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains
of which I shall tell you.’” (Gen.
22:2)
2)
“But
of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an
inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you
shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and
the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has
commanded you, lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations
which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God”
(Deut. 20:16‑18)
3)
“Now
go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare
them. But kill both man and woman,
infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” (1 Sam. 15:3)
i God declares that He will maintain
His own sovereignty.
1)
“I
am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My
praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8)
2)
“For
My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be
profaned? And I will not give My
glory to another.” (Isaiah
48:11)
M
Remarks
1 The
Sovereignty of God is an infinitely amiable, sweet, holy, and desirable
sovereignty. Some seem to treat it
as if it is revolting and tyrannical.
But it is the infinite opposite of this, and it is the perfection of all
that is reasonable, kind and good.
“For
thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I
dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite
ones. For I will not contend
forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and
the souls which I have made. For
the iniquity of his covetousness, I was angry and struck him; I hid and was
angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him;
I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips: peace,
peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,’ says the Lord, ‘And I will
heal him.’” (Isaiah 57:15‑19)
2 Many
are afraid to think or speak about God’s sovereignty. They even ignore those passages of
scripture that so fully declare it.
They think that it is unwise and dangerous to preach on the subject,
unless it is to deny or explain away the sovereignty of God. This fear originates in a misconception
of the nature of God’s sovereignty.
Because of false teachings, or something similar, they look at Divine
sovereignty as a despotism that is as hard as iron and very
unreasonable. Therefore, they
fear and reject His sovereignty.
However, please remember and understand, that God's sovereignty is
nothing more than infinite love directed by infinite knowledge to the eternal
joy and unspeakable consolation of all holy beings. From His infinite reason, God, in
infinite love, arranges events to secure the highest good of the universe. In all the details of God’s creation,
providence, and grace, there is not one measure of His sovereignty that is not
infinitely wise and good.
3 A
proper understanding of God’s universal moral agency and sovereignty, of the
perfect wisdom and benevolence of every measure of His providential and moral
government, is essential to the best understanding of all His dealings with us
and those around us. When we
understand that God’s hand is directly or indirectly involved in everything that
occurs. When we understand that He
is infinitely wise and good, and equally wise and good in all his dealings with
us. When we understand that He only
has one goal in mind, that everything He does is for the same ultimate goal and
that goal is the highest good of Himself and of His universe. When we understand these things and we
consider them, there is a Divine sweetness in all His dealings with us. Then we see a Divine reasonableness,
amiableness, and kindness, thrown like a broad mantle of infinite love over His
whole character, works, and ways.
Our soul, when we contemplate such a sacred, universal, holy sovereignty,
takes on a sweet smile of delightful complacency and feels secure. It rests in perfect peace, surrounded
and supported by His everlasting arms.
4 Many
today entertain most damaging ideas of Divine sovereignty. They think that Divine sovereignty
operates completely independent of the law. You often hear them using words that
suggest this. They say things like,
“If it is God’s will, you cannot hinder it. If God has begun the work, He will
accomplish it.” In fact, their
words are worthless, unless they assume that in the dispensation of grace
everything is miraculous. They
often say that something is providential, because it appears to be completely
disconnected from any appropriate physical means and agencies. In other words, it is quite
miraculous.
Now, I do believe that
Gods sovereignty sometimes manifests itself physically through and by means and
appropriate agencies. God is as
much a sovereign in the kingdom of nature as He is in the kingdom of grace. But, suppose farmers, mechanics, and
shopkeepers should adopt, in practice, this absurd view of Divine sovereignty
that so many people believe in today?
Why, they would succeed about as well in raising crops and in transacting
business, as those Christians and ministers, who apply their views of
sovereignty to spiritual matters, do in saving souls.