Video Transcript: The Sovereignty of God

The first part of this course has focused on giving an overview of the redemptive historical story leading up to Jesus incarnation. Now, in the second part of this  course, let's consider some of the recurring biblical themes found in the  scriptures of the Old Testament. Some of the most important of these have to do with a distinction between creator and creature. Let's start with the Old  Testaments attestation to the sovereignty and Providence of God. God's  sovereignty is affirmed at the very beginning of the Bible with these words in the  beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There's no no attempt to  prove that God existed prior to his creation or to argue for that truth. It simply  stated and assumed throughout the scriptures. First there was God, then there  was his creation. It's manifestly clear that the creator must be greater than any  part of His creation, He transcends it and exists independently of it. And King  Solomon of ancient Israel understood this very well. Although he built a  magnificent temple in Jerusalem as a place for God to meet with his people. He  also knew that this temple was not God's true home, as I Kings 8:27 puts it,  Solomon's prayer is but what will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even  the highest heaven cannot contain you how much less this temple that I've built.  Solomon realized what the Bible repeatedly proclaims. Although God chooses to be present and active in his creation, He is not confined to it. God is not bound  by time. Isaiah 57:15, calls him the one who lives forever. In Psalm 90:2,  confesses from everlasting to everlasting you are God. God has always existed  and will always exist. He can take all of human history in with a glance, every  moment, every life every day. God is not bound by space. Psalm 139:7-8 asks  this rhetorical question, Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from  your presence? Nowhere Of course, that's a rhetorical device. If I go up to the  heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. God is  not subject to changing circumstances. I Samuel 15:29, says he who is a glory  of Israel does not lie or change his mind for he is not a human being that he  should change his mind. God is never taken by surprise. He knows everything. A Psalm 139:2 two puts it like this, you know, when I sit and when I rise, you  perceive my thoughts from afar. God sees it all and he knows it all. So to sum it  up, God is all sufficient in himself. He needs neither permission nor help to do  what he wants to do. As much as God loves us. He does not need us. He did  not need to create us because he was lonely or lacking in some way, nor does  he choose to use us because he can't get things done without us, is not limited  in any way. Here's the truth. God can do anything he wants. He is Almighty.  Psalm 135.:4-5 says, he determines the number of the stars and calls them  each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power. He is understanding has  no limit. 56 times the Bible says that God is the almighty one. He is in control.  And he's been so since from before the creation of the world. Among other  things, this means that creation is not a product of blind chance, but the result of the purposeful act of the Creator. To be sure we have limited knowledge of 

God's purposes, intestinal parasites and mosquitoes, for example, may be  essential essential to our world. But if so we know little of why or how but we do  know a little of God's ultimate purpose for his creation. It reveals something of  what God is like and stands as a testament to his majesty and glory. Psalm  104:2 says, He wraps himself in light as with a garment. As long as the Sun,  Moon, and stars have been shining, besides helping us to see other parts of  God's handiwork. They bear witness in themselves to what God has done and is Doing. Psalm 104 continues, he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays  the beams of his upper chambers. On their waters, he makes the clouds his  chariot and rides on the wings of the wind, he makes winds, His messengers,  flames of fire, his servants, there is no spot in the universe, which does not in  some way reflect the glory of God. Indeed, the whole universe is a sort of mirror  which helps us to see the invisible God. As Hebrews 11:3 mentions, the whole  creation speaks a language to use imagery of Psalm 19 that is heard in every  part of the world. Of course, anyone who studies the details of natural of the  natural and physical sciences, sciences like biology, astronomy, physics, and so  on, cannot fail to be amazed at the order and beauty within the parts of the  Creation they study. But even the unschooled can see a lot of God's excellent  work all around them, in some of the very best testimony to God's excellent work is given by the design and functioning of human beings. Even babies who can't  even speak words of praise to God, yet by their very existence, you have a  testimony strong enough, as Psalm 8:2 puts it, to silence God's opponents. from the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise because of your  enemies, to silence the foe in the Avenger. There have been and will continue to be many attempts to rob the creator God of the honor that is due him but the  creation stands as a living monument to God's power, and goodness. Another  way to speak of the sovereignty of God and the realm over which He rules is by  use of the words King, and kingdom. God is King in this world, not like the other  kings have various eras and places who exercise control for a time and over  certain regions of the world, but the Supreme King for all time, and for an  eternity, to whom all other kings and kingdoms are subject. The battle between  God and the mighty Pharaoh of Egypt in the time of Moses illustrates this truth  very well. When by God's command, Moses appeared before Pharaoh to  demand the release of his people from Egyptian slavery. Pharaoh was  incredulous. Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let  Israel go, I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go. But Pharaoh learned over time that he had no choice in the matter. He had to submit to the sovereign  word of the Lord. And when in one final rebellion against the Lord, He sent his  army in pursuit of the Israelites, he lost them in an event that still terrified the  hearts of Jericho citizens. 40 years later, Joshua 2:10 makes clear and similar, if not always a spectacular demonstrations of the sovereignty of God we're seen  over and over again throughout Israel's history. The superiority of God's kingship

and kingdom is a frequent subject for the writers of the Psalms, here are some  representative samples. God reigns over the nation's God is seated on his holy  throne. That's Psalm 47:8. Psalm 93:2, your throne was established long ago,  you are from all eternity. Psalm 103:19. The Lord has established His throne in  heaven in his kingdom rules overall. In Psalm 145:13, your kingdom is an  everlasting kingdom, and your Dominion endures through all generations. Daniel was given even more insight into the extent and duration of God's sovereign  power. And this was partly from a dream that God gave the mighty  Nebuchadnezzar which Daniel interpreted for him. In this is in Daniel 2, the rock  that crushed the the giant golden statue of the king's dream became a mountain  that filled the Earth. It was nothing less than a kingdom that would endure  forever. And Nebuchadnezzar was suitably impressed, but after a time, he  thought enough of nothing but the power and glory of Babylon, which he  attributed to himself. It was soon after that, that he lost his sanity and his  kingdom for what Daniel describes as seven times from the years until he  acknowledged that the most high God was sovereign over all the kingdoms of  Earth, and gave them to anyone he wished. This message of God's sovereign  and internal power over every other kingdom was reinforced later in Daniel's life  in a dream given to him in the first year of another king of Babylon, Belshazzar.  In this dream, Daniel saw one like a Son of man, to whom the Ancient of Days  gave authority, glory and sovereign power such that all nations and peoples of  every language, worshiped him, his dominion, Daniel was made to understand,  son, Daniel 7:13-14 His dominion is an everlasting dominion, that will not pass  away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Jesus later had much to say about God's eternal kingdom, that is God's absolute right and authority  over the whole world, the unseen and the seen world. And that idea is reinforced by the way, Jesus started off the prayer meant to be a model for all human  prayer, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, Your will be done. No other name, and no other kingdom, and no other will, makes any sense if these are in  any way opposed to what the sovereign creator of the universe has in mind.  Jesus had much more to say too, but we're limiting ourselves mostly to the Old  Testament. And as we've seen, you cannot read it without recognizing the claim  it makes the repeated claim for the absolute sovereignty of God. Nor is there  only the power God exercises over his whole creation that is impressive. So is  the way God continues to care for everything under his control, what we call his  providence. Psalm 104:27-30 describes his providence of God for the creatures  he has made these all look to you to give them their food at the proper time.  When you give it to them, they gather it up. When you open their hand they are  satisfied with with things. When you hide your face, they are terrified. When you  take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your  spirit they are created and you renew the face of the earth. Dr. Gordon Spykman has some cogent comments about God's providence. He says, The biblical 

concept of Providence expresses two main ideas, namely, that God upholds and guides all things. It used to be popular to speak of God as a kind of infinitely  powerful watchmaker who wants he finished his work, wounded it up and left it  to run on its own. Well, creation is not like that. Nor is God a cut nor Is God a  kind of absentee landlord, who allows a world to run its course by natural law.  God is not only the Creator, but also a providentially, the Sustainer, nourisher  and caretaker for all that exists. Ceaselessly undergirding the life and  replenishing the resources of His creation. Should he withdraw at any moment,  this cosmos would fall into chaos. See, for example, Psalm 33:6-7 which  expresses this truth poetically, by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made  their starry host by the breath of his mouth, that's what God did in creating now,  what he continues to due in his providence. The Psalm goes on, he gathers the  waters of the sea into jars and puts the deep into storehouse in ancient times,  many occurrences in nature and human lives were attributed to fate. Yet the  doctrine of God's providence tells us there's no such thing as fate luck or  fortune, because God is continually watchful, effective, inactive. Again, Dr.  Spykman puts it like this creation cannot exist apart from the Creator, cannot run on its own powers. Moment by moment all life, plant, animal and man, together  with all the physical forces in the universe, is upheld by those everlasting arms.  Although the word providence itself is absent from the Bible, the concept of God  looking after things is assumed on every page. The story of Joseph is a good  one to explain the inner workings of divine providence. Joseph was the as you  remember the favorite son of his father but detested by his brothers as a  dreamer and sold into slavery by them. And then in Egypt, Joseph's owner  initially valued him as a responsible steward but later sent him to prison as the  abuser of his wife. But the overruling providence of God intercepted the hostile  intentions of various people, bending evil into good, so that God's intention  would be fulfilled for Joseph to be the preserver and protector of his people.  Neither Joseph nor any other human understood what was happening for a long time. But Joseph finally put his whole life story in perspective with these words,  to his brothers, Genesis 50:20, he said to them, you intended to harm me, but  God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done the saving of  many lives. God's providence, in God's sovereign and providential care was  repeated over and over in the history of the descendants of Jacob, from what he did to rescue them centuries later, from Egyptian oppression, to what he did to  give them a homeland, and after they lost it through disobedience, to restore  them to it, and eventually, to send a redeemer not only for them, but for all who  would accept Christ as their Savior and master. The beginning of everything, the affairs of people and nations and movement of planets and atoms lies in the  decision of God to create and since then God has been moving his creation to  his desired end. Article 12 of the Belgic confession says something about this  end to which God is working, and says he gives, or he has given all creatures 

their being, form, and appearance and the various functions for serving their  Creator. Even now, he also sustains and governs in all according to His eternal  providence and by His infinite power, that they may serve man in order that man may serve God. Christian faith therefore rejects chance as the answer to life's  questions, things do not just happen to happen the way they happen. We are  not senseless victims of arbitrary forces. There are laws and structures built into  the world order, which operate under the steadying hand of their maker and  keeper who neither slumbers nor sleeps. This confidence assures us of the  regularity of life's processes, in the outcome of our endeavors. Still, since God's  ways are higher than our ways, we are often left with baffling questions which  keep coming back to haunt us questions about the relationship between God's  sovereign will and human freedom, and about why God does not intervene as  much as we would like to prevent the terrible impact of evil on our world. Our  understanding of these things is partial at best, although we'll come back to look  at this in another lecture, but one thing is certain, the answer is not to be found  in what is one of the many false notions of providence that is in the air these  days. That notion of the of the humanist who sees God is a gentle and congenial philanthropist, who nudges humanity along in their evolutionary climb toward  utopia. That conception, that distorted idea of Providence such as Hitler  appealed to, in an attempt to legitimize his destiny as a leader of the super race. That vague notion of Providence which sees it as a convenient substitute for  God, or the denial of Providence such as is found in nihilism, that philosophy  which in a world groaning under the almost unbearable weight of nuclear  stockpiles, and civil wars and famine and social revolution cries aloud, God is  dead, nothing makes sense. Nothing could be farther from the biblical truth,  which even if we don't understand it perfectly is so well stated in answer 27 of  the Heidelberg Catechism. This is what the Catechism says Providence is the  Almighty and ever present power of God, by which he upholds as with his hand,  heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain  and drought, fruitful and lean year, food and Drink, Health and sickness,  prosperity and poverty. All things in fact, come not by chance, but From his  fatherly hand, that's an unspeakable comfort, and one to rest upon. Knowing  that God holds in check the devils in all our enemies who cannot hurt us without  his permission and will. The end to which God is bringing us may seem a long  way off. And it may also seem to us that God's providence is somewhat  disorderly and unpatterned. That's not too surprising because we, we work on it  pretty limited time horizon, but actually things are in good hands, and they never get out of hand to God, there are no miscues or accidents. Even though to us  things do apparently happen by chance, but God is at work, moves forward from his predestined word to providential acts. In response, it is our business in  childlike trust to leave the secret things to the Lord and live instead by the  revealed word. Responding to God's providential acts in prayer, saying Your will 

be done, and then living the way he calls us to live. Human planning is not  useless, it can help us fulfill God's direction for our lives. However, God remains  in control. And we must not forget, for his will is ultimately done sometimes  along with our cooperation, but sometimes in spite of it. When you recognize  God's sovereignty is the most important aspect of your daily plans, you'll see  amazing things begin to happen. The Annoying distractions will turn into  anointed directions, an impossible situation will turn into an opportunity for faith.  The feeling that your world is falling apart will turn into the assurance that God is at work in even the worst that life throws at you. God not only keeps things  going, he keeps things moving toward their established goals. He directs  governs and guides and therefore though to us, His ways are often past finding  out still, life does have an underlying rhyme and reason. The times are not out of joint, things do not really go astray, because all things work together for good  unto the coming of his kingdom here now, and in the end, until Christ is all in all