THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD DEFINED
CHAPTER 2
11
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory
and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the
earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above
all. 1 Chronicles 29:11 (ESV)
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 places, 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? (Daniel 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 (Psalm 115:3).
To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is “The Governor among the nations”
(Psalm 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 Timothy 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 sugary
sentimentality. The God of many a present-day pulpit is an object of pity
rather than of awe-inspiring reverence. (a) 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, because
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
The sovereignty of the
God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, and 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
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 trials
of cruel mocking and scourging, 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” (Hebrews 11:36, 37). But why? Why weren’t these men of
faith delivered like the others? Or, why weren’t the others allowed to be
killed like these? Why should God’s power intervene 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,
18 “You
shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get
wealth” Deuteronomy 8:18 (ESV) but God doesn’t bestow this power on
everyone alike. Why not? Why has He given such power to men like Morgan,
Carnegie, and 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, because mercy is directed by the will of
Him that shows 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.
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
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, because
it was just as easy for Christ to heal the whole of that “great multitude” as
this one “certain man.” But he didn’t. 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.
God is sovereign in the
exercise of His grace. This of necessity, because 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” (Romans 5:21), and if grace “reigns”, then grace is
sovereign.
Grace has been defined
as the unmerited favor of God; (b) and if unmerited, then no one can claim it
as their inalienable right. If grace is unearned and undeserved, then no
one is entitled to it. If grace is a gift, then no one can demand it.
Therefore, just as salvation is by grace, the free gift of God, then He bestows
it on whomever 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
In a remarkable manner
Divine grace was exercised at the time of the Savior’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 specifically
revealed to the
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 Savior 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
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(a)
Some years ago an “evangelical” preacher of nation-wide reputation
visited the town in which we then lived, and during the course of his address
kept repeating “Poor God! Poor God!” Surely it is this preacher who needs to be
pitied!
(b)
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
beggar who calls on me is “unmerited favor,” but it is scarcely grace. But suppose that after he has
robbed me I fed this starving beggar--that would be “grace.” Grace, then, is
favor shown where there is positive demerit in the person receiving it.
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