Tag Archives: sovereignty

THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

Bible Study, ,

John 13:18, 21 NLT
[18]“I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this fulfills the Scripture that says, ‘The one who eats my food has turned against me.’…
[21] Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”

This scene plays out in fulfillment of God’s purposes decreed from before time and prophesied centuries before the event.

John 17:12 NLT
[12] “During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.”

Paul encouraged Timothy to stay away from sin, implying that he, Timothy, was a vessel created for godly purposes.

2 Timothy 2:20, 21 NLT
[20] “In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use.”
[21] “If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.”

It seems, then, that God has created some people to reflect His glory by holy lives and others to reveal His glory by His power in judgment of their ungodliness.

Romans 9:14-18 NLT
[14] Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! [15] For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” [16] So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. [17] For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” [18] So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

Romans 9:19-21 NLT
[19] “Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” [20] No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” [21] When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?”

Another huge subject…the sovereignty of God!

We attempt to understand God’s sovereignty against the backdrop of human reason and logic. We make no sense of God’s ways and accuse Him of being unfair. How can He save some from, and judge others for being who He created them to be?

From our viewpoint, we consider such actions unjust. Should God not treat all people alike?

Is it right that God should deliberately create people for judgment? What about Pharaoh? What about Judas Iscariot? How does human choice and accountability connect with God’s purposes?

At this point, our perspective and God’s perfect wisdom part company.

We have great difficulty understanding how God works and why He works the way He does, since His ways and thoughts are far above our own. However, the Apostle Paul elevates our understanding above our perception of justice and fairness to the nature of God.

God is under no obligation to show mercy to anyone. Paul has argued and concluded that the entire human race is guilty of rebellion and the objects of God’s wrath. He created people for a purpose, to be His human family, but we have all been born rebels, having inherited Adam’s nature. All are under His judgment.

God is, therefore, just in condemning all people to eternal destruction. However, God’s mercy desires to redeem those whom He has chosen to fulfill His purpose. He has not abandoned His original plan for a human family created in His image.

Jesus was the Father’s plan to redeem people from the ravages of sin. He “put all His eggs in one basket” by entrusting to Jesus the role of perfect Son and perfect sacrifice.

As a reward for His obedience, the Father gave to the Son a family of redeemed people.

Isaiah 53:10-12 NLT
[10] “But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. [11] When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. [12] I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.”

Jesus insisted that the Father had given Him many people, that all that the Father had given to Him would come to Him, and that He would save and protect them from judgment.

John 6:37-40 NLT
[37]”However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. [38] For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. [39] And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. [40] For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

John 17:11-12 NLT
[11]”Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. [12] During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.”

We are to recognise, then, that God, in His sovereign choices, is not about justice or fairness but about mercy and purpose. His justice is vindicated by judgment and His purposes fulfilled through His mercy.

He is not obliged to do anything about the sinful human race because we brought His judgment in ourselves by confirming Adam’s rebellion. However, because He is who He is, He chose to show mercy to some, and justice to others, revealing through His mercy to godly and ungodly alike that He is God. No one has the right or reason to complain.

Most of all, God’s glory, revealed through His words and actions, gives all humanity every reason to trust Him, though the majority do not. He is completely vindicated in all He says and does.

Romans 3:25-26 NIV
[25] “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— [26] he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

So, Jesus is God’s answer to all our foolish and futile accusations. Like His response to Job, God is not obligated to answer us, but He does…. Jesus!

Colossians 2:1-3 NLT
[1] I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.
[2] “I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. [3] In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

God wants us to see His glory so that we worship Him alone, so that we have no other gods because He alone can be to us all we need. He made us. We belong to Him. He is jealous for our love and loyalty. Only in Him can we ever be complete.

So, God reveals to us what we can only ever know through His plan of redemption, that attribute that is heaviest, most important if all, His chesed, His many-faceted, covenant love, His mercy.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – GOD KNEW

Bible Study, ,

GOD KNEW

“‘And now friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. But God who, through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that His Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfil His plans.'” Acts 3:17-18 (The Message).

It’s a mystery – this thing called the sovereignty of God! He did not create human beings to be puppets and yet, through our choices and even our failures, He works out His purposes in human lives and human history — and He holds us accountable for what we do!

When we take a step back and consider the life of Jesus as a whole, it becomes clear that He was not a victim of religious hatred or prejudice, nor was He a martyr for some cause He was championing. His life and His death were purposeful.

How many times did He have the opportunity to avoid the cross had He just kept His mouth shut instead of speaking out against the religious leaders to arouse their rage and hatred? It was almost as though He were deliberately out to get Himself killed — and He was. Yet His intention was not primarily to provoke them to murder but to expose their hearts.

He was never afraid or reticent to speak the truth if there was a chance that people would see themselves as God saw them and turn to Him for mercy and forgiveness. The fact that it had the opposite effect on the Pharisees was an exposure of what was really in them.

All of this played into God’s hands and contributed to His grand plan to offer His Son up as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. Men had to kill Jesus. We had to kill Him to silence His exposure of our hearts and to confirm our guilt before God. We thought that, by killing Jesus, we could get God off our backs once and for all but instead, He came back from the dead and now graciously offer us forgiveness and a place in His family and in His kingdom that we don’t deserve.

This sounds great when we are talking about God’s great redemption plan, but what about our puny lives? How do we fit into the bigger picture? How do our ignorant blunders and even our deliberate rebellion serve His purposes? I can’t answer that question. No one this side of eternity can.

But have you noticed how God takes broken, messed-up people who receive His mercy and starts all over again and, through them, rescues other broken and messed-up lives and then, through them, He uses other broken and messed-up people and…? How is that for God’s sovereignty!

It’s not a good thing to rebel against God, throw over His laws and spit in His face. It doesn’t faze Him but it certainly ruins us. When we have finished running, hiding and trying to evade Him, He will get us anyway. Why not turn and run to Him? That’s what He wants more than anything else for you.

David tried to run from God but it didn’t work. “Where can I go from your Spirit?” he asked. “Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven you are there, If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV).

No matter how guilty we are, God invites us to turn to Him. He intentionally had Jesus killed, using man’s hatred for Him to sacrifice His life for us so that we can return to Him, all our rebellious disobedience spent, and find acceptance, forgiveness and a safe place in His home.

God Knew

Christian Life, , ,

GOD KNEW

“‘And now friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. But God who, through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that His Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfil His plans.'” Acts 3:17-18 (The Message).

It’s a mystery – this thing called the sovereignty of God! He did not create human beings to be puppets and yet, through our choices and even our failures, He works out His purposes in human lives and human history — and He holds us accountable for what we do.

When we take a step back and consider the life of Jesus as a whole, it becomes clear that He was not a victim of religious hatred or prejudice, nor was He a martyr for some cause He was championing. His life and His death were purposeful.

How many times did He have the opportunity to avoid the cross had He just kept His mouth shut instead of speaking out against the religious leaders to arouse their rage and hatred? It was almost as though He were deliberately out to get Himself killed — and He was. Yet His intention was not primarily to provoke them to murder but to expose their hearts.

He was never afraid or reticent to speak the truth if there was a chance that people would see themselves as God saw them and turn to Him for mercy and forgiveness. The fact that it had the opposite effect on the Pharisees was an exposure of what was really in them.

All of this played into God’s hands and contributed to His grand plan to offer His Son up as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. Men had to kill Jesus. We had to kill Him to silence His exposure of our hearts and to confirm our guilt before God. We thought that, by killing Jesus we could get God off our backs once and for all but instead, He came back from the dead and now graciously offer us forgiveness and a place in His family and in His kingdom we don’t deserve.

This sounds great when we are talking about God’s great redemption plan, but what about our puny lives? How do we fit into the bigger picture? How do our ignorant blunders and even our deliberate rebellion serve His purposes? I can’t answer that question. No one this side of eternity can.

But have you noticed how God takes broken, messed-up people who receive His mercy and start all over again and, through them, rescues other broken and messed-up lives and then, through them, He uses other broken and messed-up people and…? How is that for God’s sovereignty!

It’s not a good thing to rebel against God, throw over His laws and spit in His face. It doesn’t faze Him but it certainly ruins us. When we have finished running, hiding and trying to evade Him, He will get us anyway. Why not turn and run to Him? That’s what he wants more than anything else for you.

David tried to run from God but it didn’t work. “Where can I go from your Spirit?” he asked. “Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven you are there, If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV).

No matter how guilty we are, God invites us to turn to Him. He intentionally had Jesus killed, using man’s hatred for Him to sacrifice His life for us so that we can return to Him, all our rebellious disobedience spent, and find acceptance, forgiveness and a safe place in His home.