Pastor's Power Points

Understanding God’s Sovereignty

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.
Ps. 103:19

It has been said that the most important thing about any person is what that person at any given time thinks about God. When the Psalmist said “O magnify the Lord with me” (34:3), he did not mean “try to make God look bigger,” but to perceive Him as big as He is. Indeed one’s faith and ability to live by faith is in proportion to one’s perception of God. A.W. Tozer offers us a practical picture with a powerful punch: “You know, it is awfully hard to get a Christian scared.  It’s hard to get him panicked if he really believes in God. If he’s just a church member, you can get him panicked. But if he really believes in God it’s very difficult to do it.”

Sovereign is a word that describes God. Essentially, the word (mālak) means to reign as in exercising the functions of a monarch. The derivative used in Ps 103:19 (malkût) means sovereign power carrying the sense of supreme rule or authority.  This is most commonly translated “reign” or “royal.”  Sovereignty, then, means the seat of authority. 

Nebuchadnezzar, in all his glory, thought he had sovereignty (supreme authority) until it was taken away from him by the Most High (see Dan. 4:30-32).  Only One can have supreme authority. When that truth is recognized by any other, only then can one’s existence be understood appropriately and lived out to its intended purpose and meaning.

We will unfold this truth of God’s sovereignty by exploring four key statements in the Scriptures: 

1) “All things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16)
2) “In Him all things consist” (Col. 1:17)
3) “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men” (Dan. 4:17)
4) “Him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13).

If, as we explore the majesty of God, we resolve as Paul did – “that I may know Him” – then we will come to understand that there is but one appropriate response to the Sovereign One:  surrender.

 He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
1Tim. 6:15

1. All things have been created through Him and for Him.   Col. 1:16

To understand the apostle Paul’s statement to the church at Colossi in 1:16 is to understand God’s sovereignty. The verse is clear in its message – specifically that everything was created by God and for God (the text speaks specifically of Jesus Christ, but that speaks of His deity). Two prepositions say it all. Romans 1:19-20 makes it clear that by looking at creation alone we can see and understand two things: that there exists an eternal power, and that this eternal power is an infinite Person worthy of our honor (“Godhead”). The truth of the matter is that God determined our existence and He determined the meaning of our existence. Mankind has special meaning and that meaning can only be understood by what the Creator has defined and revealed. That’s sovereignty. We cannot establish our own meaning and specialness any more than a car can establish its own purpose for existence – the designer of the car does that. We, however, as rational emotive beings (not machines) can recognize our meaning and purpose as determined by a sovereign Creator.  Where a car was designed for convenient transportation, we were designed for communion with God Himself (relationship with a Person). A car, as a machine, does not recognize its own meaning – it cannot. Humanity can not only recognize and understand meaning, we can grow and prosper in it or we can ignore and abuse it. If we ignore and abuse our meaning and purpose it is to our own detriment and eternal judgment (we’ll discuss more on this later), but if we grow and prosper in it, it is to our fulfillment and eternal satisfaction. In both cases it is to God’s glory alone! That is the truth that we are created for Him. He is the point to our existence.

As His sovereignty determined our existence and meaning, His character and purpose become the measuring rod for all human activity. What conforms to His character and purpose is good and for our benefit. What does not is evil and to our detriment. To come to understand this is to know the sovereignty of our Creator/Designer.

 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Rom. 11:36

2. In Him all things consist  Col. 1:17

God alone is the self-existent One depending on nothing and no one else for his own existence. As the one who has determined and defined our existence and purpose He is the One upon whom we and all of creation depend for our existence and sustenance (see Ps. 119:90-91). Christ himself is the controlling and unifying force in nature. Curtis Vaughan puts it, it springs from him and finds in him its common bond and center. Lightfoot here calls Jesus Christ the principle of cohesion which is why the universe is a cosmos instead of a chaos. The writer of Hebrews asserts that the Son of God is the One who upholds the universe by the word of his power.

The movement of the cosmos (understanding that it is here not by accident but for a purpose) is in the direction determined by the Creator to which the apostle Paul speaks: his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth  (Eph. 1:9-10, if ever there was Scriptural truth that makes God the point to our existence – this is it!). He has established the parameters of our existence – the beginning and the end of this time-space continuum which He himself transcends. Paul confirmed this to the Athenian philosophers when he said (concerning the “unknown God”) in Him we live and move and have our being.

Atomic science has explained how matter is made up primarily of space and rapidly moving electric particles. It has been asked “If this is the way matter works, what holds it all together?” The revelation of God alone provides an answer: sovereign God – the infinite personal Creator/Sustainer.

3. The Most High rules in the kingdom of men. Daniel 4

 The “Most High” is the name ascribed to the living God (13 times) in the book of Daniel. Lessons learned, mostly by king Nebuchadnezzar, through the faithful service of Daniel reveal a clear theme in this key prophetic book – the truth of God’s sovereign direction over the cosmos toward the accomplishment of His purpose. Three times in Daniel 4, the record of Nebuchadnezzar’s  second dream interpreted by the prophet and the king’s resulting abasement, the message is repeated: “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He chooses.”  Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling came after he was marinating in his own glory (self-preeminence) overlooking the great city of Babylon. In human terms he had reason to be proud, but the living God’s message to this arrogant pagan was that he only played a role in the sovereign outworking of God’s historic plan.

The Aramaic word “rule” (i.e. the Most High rules) is a word that carries the meaning of authority and mastery. It is the ability to obtain power over anyone or anything. God, as the infinite personal creator and sustainer is sovereign over His creation meaning He has absolute freedom to intervene and override natural laws as well as the judgments and actions of human behavior.  His intervention we see in the incarnation of Jesus Christ – “the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The overriding of natural laws we observe in all the miracles of Scripture including the incarnation (virgin birth), feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish, calming the stormy sea with three words, and clearly, the resurrection from the dead. His overriding and reversal of human judgments and actions we notice in the stories of Joseph, Daniel, Peter, John and Paul and many others (we have studied this in I Pet.4:5-6).

Mankind, in general, has mastered one thing – making bad choices. But God is sovereign and is moving all of history toward His desired end – the completion of His purpose which can be summed up in two verses: creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21), and the summing up of all things in Christ. (Eph. 1:10). Indeed He is sovereign.

4. Him to Whom we must give account. Heb.4:13

"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,and every tongue shall confess to God."
Rom. 14:11 / Isa. 45:22-23

“I am… the Beginning and the End” is the self-designation of the Almighty (Rev. 1:8). A truth of God’s sovereignty is that all exists by His will (Rev. 4:11). Another truth of His sovereignty is that all creation is accountable to Him and all people created in His image will, in the end, stand before Him to give account. “Each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). The writer of Hebrews makes it clear, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Paul’s own testimony was “We make it our aim… to be well pleasing to Him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” And what impact did this perspective have on him?  “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade others” (II Cor. 5:9-11).

 A healthy understanding of the fear of God is recognition of His majesty, power and perfection and my accountability to Him. “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13). 

 The believer’s life is hidden with Christ in God and not under condemnation (Col. 3:3; Rom.8:1). But we will still be called to account for our stewardship of God’s grace (Matt. 25:31-46). It has been said that saints live in such a way that their lives would not make sense if God did not exist.  Philip Yancey asserts that “the reverse also applies: the [unbeliever] lives in such a way that life would not make sense if God does exist.”

 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
Isa. 3:10-11