The first thing we need to examine is the nature of God’s sovereignty. For this we turn to the psalmists. Consider these two texts:
Psalm 115:3: Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
Psalm 135:6: Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
So the first thing to observe about the nature of God’s sovereignty is that it is according to and out of his own good pleasure. God never works to bring about something that ultimately displeases him. Paul confirms this in his letter to the Ephesians, where he says that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” So we have the psalmists claiming that God does everything according to his own good pleasure, and Paul claiming that God does everything according to the counsel of his will. These are not two opposing statements. It is both/and, not either/or. Everything God wills he does because it pleases him; everything God is pleased to do he does according to his perfect will. Therefore, we can say that the nature of God’s sovereignty is that God works all things out of his own pleasure and according to the counsel of his will.
The second thing we need to consider is the extent of God’s sovereignty. Does God’s sovereignty apply only to the main events of redemptive history, or does it cover every second of history and our lives today? Three texts are relevant here:
Isaiah 46:7-9: Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
Lamentations 3:37: Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?
Daniel 2:20b-21: Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
These texts tell us that from ancient times, before anything existed, God ordained all the events of history. Furthermore, God has determined to bring to pass all the things that he has purposed and planned. He will accomplish his purpose. All of history happens under God’s sovereign purpose and direction. He sets up kings and removes them; he determines the changing of seasons; he gives wisdom to the wise. Nothing occurs apart from God’s sovereign will.
This leads to our third consideration of God’s sovereignty: its absoluteness. Besides the texts already mentioned, two other passages further solidify the absoluteness of God’s sovereign decrees:
Job 42:2: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Psalm 139:16: Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Job says that no purpose of God can be upset by anyone or anything, and David even says that his very life was planned before he even lived and was written in a book, indicating a sense of permanence. These two biblical figures give great insight as to the absoluteness of God’s sovereignty. Who can resist his sovereign will (Romans 9:19)? None can stay his hand (Dan. 4:35).
Therefore, we can assert the Bible’s teaching that God has decreed everything that comes to pass. This includes not only the major events of history but also the daily events of ordinary life as well as the movement of molecules. This is why James exhorts us to bring everything in light of the sovereignty of God (James 4:13-16), for not even the sparrow falls apart from God’s control (Matthew 10:29).
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