THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN CREATION
CHAPTER 3
"You
are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they were created and have their
being." Revelation 4:11 (NIV)
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. Back then there were no
angels to sing God’s praises, no creatures to occupy His notice, and 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 except their creature-hood, 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 did God
consult with in the creation and disposition of His creatures? Look at 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 star differs from star in glory, 1Corinthians 15:41 (ESV).
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” (Revelation 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 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 are 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 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,”whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the
seas and all deeps,” Psalms 135:6 (ESV).
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” (Ephesians
3:10), and from principalities and powers to “rulers” (Ephesians 6:12), and
then to the angels themselves, and even among them we read of “the elect angels”
(1 Timothy 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 does all that he pleases. Psalms
115:3 (ESV).
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 allowed to
live 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 makes one to differ
from another. Why should He? “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy
sight” (Matthew 11:26) must be our reply.
Learn then this basic truth
that the Creator is absolutely Sovereign, executing
His own will, performing His own pleasure, and considering nothing but His own
glory. “The Lord hath made all things
FOR HIMSELF” (Proverbs 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 “Before him all the nations are
as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. 18
To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him
to? Isaiah 40:17-18 (NIV)
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