The Sovereignty of God (7)

God’s Sovereignty Over Salvation

God has from eternity past intended to save people from their sins through the death of Christ on the cross. This tells us that God is interested in saving sinners. However, God is only interested in saving by his sovereign grace. Scripture is replete with evidence that this is how God saves people. It is wholly of grace that rebellious sinners come to delight in God and embrace him for all that he is for them in Jesus. Sovereign grace is God’s method for upholding the glory of his name and saving a people for himself.

I believe Romans 8 may be the greatest chapter in the greatest book ever written. We’ve just seen in the last blog in Romans 8:31-32 that Christ’s death on the cross won for us every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3). It is because of Christ’s atoning death on the cross that God freely gives us all things. We need to see, however, the ground or foundation for this love that God has for us. In Romans 8:31 Paul raises an important question: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” We know that God is for us because in v. 32 Paul tells us that God will graciously give us all things because he “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.” But how do we know this? What are “these things” that Paul mentions? Or in other words, what is the ground or foundation for God’s love for us in sending his Son to die? Paul gives the answer in the preceding verses:

Romans 8:28-30: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The reason we know that God is working everything out for our good and will graciously give us all things and every spiritual blessing in Christ is because of the foundational truth that God’s love for us is rooted in eternity. It cannot be broken. This is why Paul speaks in the past tense even though we await our glorification. Our final salvation is absolutely sure because God has committed to save us by his sovereign grace in Christ from eternity past. From beginning to end, our salvation is wholly by the sovereign grace of God.

Fortunately, Scripture records for us a fine example of these verses at work in Acts 13. When Paul was preaching in Antioch to the Jews his words were rejected and they “began to contradict” him. In response to this, Paul and Barnabas told them that their message would now go to the Gentiles. Look at what happened:

Acts 13:47-48: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Do you see it? The Jews rejected Christ in their unbelief and opposed the message of the gospel preached by Paul and Barnabas. However, the message of the gospel penetrated the hearts of some of the Gentiles. However many Gentiles that God had appointed to salvation, these responded to the gospel and were saved. It wasn’t due to any inherit goodness in them that the Gentiles were able to respond and not the Jews. It was simply the sovereign grace of God that allowed them to see their sin and repent and believe the gospel.

How comforting it is to know that our salvation is not dependent on us, for we would reject God just like the Jews rejected Paul’s words. Instead, it is God who has determined to save his people for his glory and our enjoyment. Oh, how marvelous is our God! How unmeasured is his grace! Let us then be like the Gentiles in Acts 13:48, and rejoice and exult over the Word of our Lord. In the next few blogs we'll examine closer in Scripture how each of the stages of salvation in Romans 8:29-30 truly is the sovereign work of Almighty God.

The Sovereignty of God (6)

God’s Sovereignty Over the Cross

Earlier we reflected on the nature of God’s sovereignty. We discovered that God works all things out of his own pleasure and according to the counsel of his will. These two aspects are most clearly seen in the event of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. Let’s first consider how it was God’s will all along for Jesus to be the once for all sacrifice for sin. For this we turn to Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:

Acts 2:22-23: Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know —this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

There are two important things to see in this passage. Peter acknowledges the sovereignty of God over both evil and the cross. The people who killed Jesus committed the most heinous crime ever committed.[1] Peter describes them as “lawless men.” Yet he maintains that Christ was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Here again we see that God from eternity past had predetermined that Christ would suffer on the cross as an atonement for sin. This decree of God also included the necessary means for fulfillment, such as the betrayal of Judas and the unbelieving people who demanded his crucifixion. In this God displayed his sovereignty over evil in ordaining the lawlessness of Judas and the unbelieving community as well as his sovereignty over the cross. Throughout the narrative of the gospels (and the entire Old Testament!) we see the invisible hand of God orchestrating all the events to lead to the cross. Further evidence of this is given later in the book of Acts. In Acts 4:24-28 we learn that everyone who gathered against Jesus to kill him did whatever God’s hand and plan had predestined to take place, and in Acts 13:27-29 that they “carried out all that was written of him.” It is clear that God worked all the events of the cross according to the counsel of his will.

The second thing we need to examine is how it was the pleasure of God to have Christ crucified for sin. For this we turn to the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 53:10: Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

It was the will (or pleasure) of God to bruise Christ. This is in full accordance with our earlier observations, that “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). God was pleased to magnify the worth of his name in Christ by giving sinners through the cross the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God. Both Father and Son were totally unified in this from all eternity, and thus there was no disagreement or hesitancy within the Godhead that the Son should be crushed for sin. It was totally and absolutely the pleasure of God to save sinners through the atoning death of Christ on the cross.

Further evidence that the “will of the Lord” here implies the pleasure of God is given in two other passages in Isaiah. In Isaiah 1:11 God says, “I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats,” and in Isaiah 62:4 says of his people, “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.” The word for “delight” in both of these passages is the same word that’s used in the first line of Isaiah 53:10, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.” It was the will, or delight, or pleasure of God to crush the Son.

But how could God delight in bruising his Son? Wouldn’t it grieve the Father to put to death his only Son? Part of the answer is given in the verse itself. The Father is pleased in what is accomplished through the death of his Son. This is implied by the phrase “the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” Through his death Christ won salvation for “his offspring” and was granted prolonged days, referring to his resurrection from the dead back to life. Also, verse 11 tells us that through “the anguish of his soul” he would “make many to be accounted righteous.” In other words, Christ’s death on the cross would serve as the basis for our justification.

But there is another reason. There was a fundamental problem that the cross was meant to solve. That problem was that God’s commitment to his glory required atonement for sin. Sin undermines the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and for hundreds of years God had forgiven sin without the recompense of a perfect substitute. This threw the righteousness of God into question. The very glory of God was at stake. Christ’s death on the cross solves this problem by vindicating the infinite worth of God’s glory as the perfect substitute for sin. Thus, when the Father bruised his Son, he was not demonstrating any lack of love for the Son. The Father knew that the Son had infinite love for the glory of God, and in this the Father took deep delight. Both Father and Son were completely unified in mission to uphold and display the infinite value of the glory of God and to free sinners from bondage into everlasting joy in God.

The implications of this for us are immense. God has from before the foundation of the world intended to redeem us from slavery to sin through the death of his Son. The depths of God’s love for us and for his glory are so great, and our sin so wretched, so infinitely deserving of eternal punishment, that it cost the death of Christ to save us. What amazing grace this is! “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31-32).

---

[1] Given that Peter is speaking to thousands of people (about 3,000 were saved!) who weren’t even present at the crucifixion, the implications of this are incredible for our conception of our own sinful nature. Peter claims that even though they were not there and had no immediate involvement with the crucifixion, they nevertheless were responsible for killing Jesus.

The Sovereignty of God (5)

God’s Sovereignty Over Evil

We’ve just seen that God is sovereign over Satan and his evil works. The Bible tells us that God is sovereign over all evil, not just that of Satan and his demons. However, God never does evil. God is not the author of evil. He is “A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4). This is not to say, however, that God doesn’t create, move, permit, and even send evil, for nothing occurs, exists, or endures apart from the sovereign will of God. “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4).

Scripture tells us that God creates evil: “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). The word for “create” here is the same one used in Genesis 1, and the word for “calamity” means evil. Amos poses the rhetorical question: “When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?” (Amos 3:6, NIV).

Scripture also tells us that God sends evil. God sent demons to torture Saul (1 Sam. 16:14-23). He sent angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19, esp. v. 13). He sent the ten plagues on Egypt (Ex. 7-12). He sent snakes to bite the Israelites (Num. 21:6). In Isaiah 10 God promised to punish Assyria by sending a plague among its warriors—in Isaiah 37 the angel of the Lord was sent to fulfill this promise, and 185,000 Assyrian warriors were killed. Again, the rhetorical question is asked: “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” (Lamentations 3:38).

Scripture also affirms that God permits evil. We’ve seen this explicitly in the case of Job and Satan asking for God’s permission to test him. There are other passages that carry this idea of no one ever doing evil unless God permits it. In Geneses 31:7, Jacob says that God did not allow Laban to harm him; in Exodus 12:23, God did not allow the destroyer to enter the Israelite homes who had spread blood on the lintel and two doorposts; and in Luke 22:31 Satan is denied permission to sift Peter.

Scripture even asserts that God moves others to do evil. Again, in Job’s story it is implied that God suggested Job for Satan to attack. Consider also Isaiah 19:2:

Isaiah 19:2: And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

God is said to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would pursue after the Israelites:

Exodus 14:4: And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”

Revelation 17:17 tells us concerning the ten horns:

Revelation 17:17: For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

Reflecting on these four aspects of God’s sovereignty over evil poses the question: Why does God allow and even create and send and move others to do evil? There are several reasons given to us in Scripture. One is that God ordains evil to exist as a means for carrying out his righteous judgment upon the wicked. This is seen in God’s creating and sending evil to destroy wicked cities or to discipline the rebellious Israelites. Another reason is to bring about good out of evil. The classic text for this is Genesis 50:20. After being sold into slavery by the wicked act of his brothers, Joseph tells them years later after all that had occurred in Egypt and how many people were saved from the famine, including Joseph’s family: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” In Psalm 105:17 we learn that it was God who “had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.” God sent Joseph to Egypt. God didn’t just see Joseph as a victim of evil choices and decide to bring about some good – it was God’s plan all along. We learn then that not only does God bring about good out of evil, he ordains the very events so that it happens this way.

So then, Scripture both renounces the idea that God does actual evil while affirming that God ordains all the evil that exists. No evil occurs, exists, or endures outside God’s ordaining, sovereign will. “The Lord of hosts has sworn: ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand’” (Isa. 14:24). “For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27). So when we endure even the grossest evils, we can know that they have ultimately come from the hand of our sovereign, omnipotent God, and will ultimately work out for our good (Rom. 8:28).

The Sovereignty of God (4)

God’s Sovereignty Over Satan

Satan is described in the Bible as “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), or “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), or “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30). He “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). We ought to take seriously then Satan’s power and abilities, and flee from him. At the same time though, we can be confident that God exercises his same sovereign control over Satan as he does with creation. No evil work of Satan, whether it is temptation, persecution, sickness, or even death, can happen outside the sovereign control of Almighty God.

This is evident in the story of Job. In the beginning of the story we find that it is God who gives permission for Satan to test Job. In fact, he even puts Satan up to it by suggesting Job (Job 1:8). Satan then proceeds to use all sorts of means to destroy Job’s property and children. He sent the Sabeans to kill Job’s oxen and donkeys. He sent fire to burn Job’s sheep. He sent the Chaldeans to slaughter Job’s camels. He caused a great wind to strike down Job’s house and fall upon all Job’s children. In doing this all of Job’s servants were killed as well. How did Job respond to losing everything he had to Satan’s destructive power?

Job 1:21: And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

What an amazing statement! Instead of attributing all the destruction to Satan, or getting angry with God for ruining his life, Job instead responds with great humility, saying that it was God who was the final cause of the entire calamity. Verse 22 tells us that “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

Satan then has another discussion with God, saying that if he was only allowed to afflict Job, then his faith would falter and he would curse God. Once again God gives Satan permission to do whatever he pleased with Job, except take his life. So Satan struck Job with sores that covered his entire body. How did Job respond?

Job 2:9-10: Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

Job again acknowledged the sovereignty of God in all things. The end of verse 10 tells us that “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Satan was the one who struck down all of Job’s property and children and gave Job soars from head to toe; yet even all of this was under the sovereign control of God. Satan has no power outside of God’s permission.

Another example is found in the New Testament account of Judas. In Luke 22:3-4 we find that it is Satan who enters Judas, and soon afterwards Judas began to plot with the chief priests on how to betray Jesus. At first glance this may seem as if the ultimate reason for Judas’ betrayal was the work of Satan—but it’s not. Peter would later say:

Acts 1:16: Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

God had planned from the beginning that Judas would be the one to betray Jesus. Satan was simply a means to fulfilling God’s sovereign purpose. Jesus confirmed this in his High Priestly Prayer:

John 17:12: While I was with them [the disciples], I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Therefore, we can affirm and rejoice that God is sovereign over Satan. He has appointed a time for Satan’s destruction (Rev. 20:7-10), and all of Satan’s current evil is under God’s sovereign control, including Satan’s demons (Mark 1:27). Even if death should befall the ones we love, our greatest comfort will come in the sweet doctrine of God’s sovereignty. He has the power of human life, not Satan. “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” (Ex. 4:11). “I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand” (Deut. 32:39). “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up” (1 Sam. 2:6). We need the confidence and faith of Job, so that we too can say: “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (Job 13:15).