The Joy and Comfort of God's Absolute Sovereignty

There is such an overwhelming flood of scripture that confirms and underlines the majestic, absolute and unstoppable Sovereignty of God Almighty. He is Sovereign over Creation (“let us make man in our image..”); over all nations (“from one man God made every nation, and determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live”); and now, over our lives, our salvation and our final glory...

Rom 8:29 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son”

Ex 33:19 “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion”

Eph. 1:4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight”

Rom 11:5 “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace”

1 Cor 1:8 “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Jude 24-25 “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen”

Definition: Sovereignty
"Supreme, absolute and uncontrollable power"; "government free from external control"; "supreme authority"; "complete self-government".

Add to this that God is Awesome, Uncreated, Spirit, Infinite, Glorious, Creator - now the truth of His Sovereignty is infinitely more exciting than a mere man or nation enjoying sovereign status.

Regarding His dealings with us, His sovereignty means He has freely chosen us for salvation, is completely aware of us, has absolute power over our future, is unstoppable in His decreed purposes, is ultimately irresistible in His will. Our response to this is our “sanctification”.

For some, God's sovereignty in election and more generally in predestination is offensive. They choose to believe it is both "unfair" as well as “diminishing our personal responsibility” .

• Regarding the charge of God’s sovereignty being "unfair", all I can say is, "on whose basis of fairness?". I have a friend, who when he hears someone saying "life is tough", answers, "compared to what?". If God is Owner and Possessor, then He has complete power of such Possession. If a man were to lay a charge of unfairness against the Landlord, then he would need to substantiate the charge. When you look at the Created Universe as our rent-free Accommodation, all you see is flawless. When you consider true lawfulness, then all sin must be punished. But when you consider How God delays judgment on sinful mankind, all you see is mercy. When you discover how He uses everything to beckon and woo all men back to Him, all you see is Forbearance. When you look at the Cross, what you survey is inexplicable. When you look at your own heart and hidden motives, all charges against God are dropped.

• Regarding the charge that God’s sovereignty "diminishes our responsibility", all I can say is, “do you really want your responsibility to be your fixation and motivation?”. I would answer more fully: Our basic grasp of sovereignty means the emphasis on God’s sovereignty is not ever meant to undermine our responsibility to respond, but firstly to overwhelm us with who God is and what He has done in Christ, so shaping the platform and power of our response. Our response becomes the “accidental overflow”, as it were, of our Discovery. And there is enough Wonder in this Infinite God to keep us forever in Discovery Mode. As soon as my first reflex and gaze is me – my responsibility – then I begin to fall foul of the Malady of All Mankind through the ages – that which has been variously called Introspection, Self-Awareness, Scrupulosity, Anthropocentricism....! 

May God keep us in awe of Him. The final public evidence of looking firstly to Jesus is growing love, holiness, self-forgetfulness – but I would caution you not to obsess about this evidence either! I am convinced that to continue to wrestle indefinitely over the reality of God’s Absolute Sovereignty, is pride. 

One scriptural link between God’s predestination and man’s free will is Isa 55:9... “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”. One preacher called this the “perfectly parallel railways tracks” between God’s Election and our Free Will – but they join precisely in Heaven, in the Infinitude of God. Once verse 9 has sunk in, we go on to verses 10-12... “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

It is Fact that the New Covenant was initiated by God solely on the basis of Grace. Even the Old Covenants were, but this time God has also fulfilled our part in His Son Jesus Christ. And God’s loving will to give His only begotten Son came only from within Himself - I was chosen on the basis of grace alone, apart from my works, praise God.

We note also that the “Buts” come before the “Therefores” in our New Testaments - “BUT because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions”. It is only after the “Buts” we read the “Therefores” : “THEREFORE, in view of God’s mercy, I urge you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices”; “THEREFORE, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires”.

Far from being offensive, God’s sovereignty over our lives, futures, dreams, enemies and the world in which we live is surely the most comforting and profound of all revelations!

Col. 3:1-4 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”