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God is Sovereign

When we say God is sovereign we mean he is totally free to acts as he wills, and does so. No-one and nothing outside of his own being controls him. In fact, as Sovereign (king), God directs everything. By everything we mean - absolutely everything. He oversees the big and little things and the good and bad things; the coincidences, the accidents, the trivial, the terrible, the titanic, human behaviour, animal behaviour, cyclones and sea breezes, all are under his control. The seasons are directed by God. What we call ‘laws’ of nature are commands of God and evidence of his consistency as Creator. He creates and controls all things. If at any moment God were to remove his upholding activity the whole universe would fall into chaos and indeed non-being. Life is given by him and withdrawn by him. The sun rises at his command and sets when he decrees it. All creatures and forces obey his bidding; disease, demons, destruction and death all obey him.

He was sovereign in creating. He did not need to create. There was neither compulsion (force from without) nor impulsion (inner need) that made creation inevitable. God was not unhappy, lonely or in need of approval. Creation was a sovereign choice. At every point in creation (Gen 1) God shows his complete authority and power. He creates by a mere word. As divine king he delivers a fiat and we read ‘it was so’. His every word calls into being exactly what he desires and decrees.

Throughout creation’s history God will remain the same – sovereign; even in rejection God is still sovereign and his undisclosed will is carried out in the macro and minutiae of life. He creates and he destroys; he lifts up and he casts down; he turns the heart of Life’s powerful whichever way he (God) pleases. He is the God of the ant-hill as well as the mountain; he provides for the sparrow as well as the man; the chance decision (the lot) is in his hand. He is in control of the chaos of sin and from it will mould the order of redemption – a new heavens and new earth where God is all in all (recognised and worshipped as sovereign by all creation).

We could continue in this vein. However, this article intends to show that God’s absolute sovereignty is not merely the construct of philosophy (or philology) or even theology but is plainly (and persistently) rhapsodised in the Bible itself. The God of the Bible, if he is anything, is sovereign.

The following quotations are based on the ESV unless otherwise stated (for no other reason than I do not have software for the NIV).

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About John

Hi there - I am a member of Greenview and have been for over 20 years. For a number of these years I functioned as an elder, however, indifferent health forced me to take more of a back seat. I see this as an opportunity to do a little writing, often focussing on issues that are a matter of evangelical debate today. Naturally the views expressed are my own and may not reflect the views of the elders or church at large, though differences are likely to be in the detail and not the substance.

These articles and sermons were written partly to clarify my own thoughts and partly with the intention of provoking thought in others who may read them. If you read one I hope you find it stimulating. Please feel free to give me feedback or discuss my articles in the forums.

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