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God is sovereign.
God is in control.
God is all-powerful.
These phrases, or ones like them often come right after the telling of some negative event ….. a death, tragic accident, sickness, loss of a job or something like that. I cringe when I hear them because these phrases portray God as a careless overseer of the affairs of man whose best methods of instruction seem to be to visit pain and suffering on people who love Him. At worst, they make God out to be a devilish trickster who seems to delight in testing people’s faith, just to see if they really love Him.
These phrases, used of God in the context of absolute control over the world and all its people and events, are man-made and devil-inspired. They are meant to make it hard for us to trust God, and if we truly believe them, they result in a spiritual theft and weakening in our lives. As the truth makes us free, so lies encase us in a bondage of contradictive understanding.
God is not capricious or cavalier in the enforcement of His power. He does have boundaries, and His boundaries are the limitlessness of Christ.
Sovereign (used as an adjective) – “having supreme control or dominion” Often associated with the idea of independence from other authority and/or freedom of action.
I have never seen this word used in the Bible.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them (man), and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
So God gave at least some of His dominion away, to man. He gave away to man His “sovereignty” over the earth and all living things. Did God give it away but somehow really keep it, or take it back at some later date? Or rather, by giving it away did God limit Himself?
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.
The word “repentance” literally means “afterthought,” a thinking after the fact. (It can carry with it the meaning of changing one’s mind and/or attitude concerning something after the fact or of having regret, but not necessarily). Once God does a thing, He doesn’t go back and rethink about it afterward, and He certainly doesn’t change His mind or attitude about it, or feel bad about it.
Genesis 6:6,7 And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repents me that I have made them.
If you take what these verses are saying at face value, then you must reject what is told us in Romans 11:29. And this is what many people do, and because they do, their view of God is of a capricious, vindictive, ever-changing God who rules however He happens to feel at the time. “Today, I like you, but don’t piss Me off, or I’ll wipe you out.” And the Old Testament seems to support this capricious view of God.
Please read the study Does God Kill …. A More Thorough Response. Without understanding the truth set forth in this study, you will never be able to reconcile the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New Testament, without believing that He changed. Yet according to God, He doesn’t change.
Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Since God doesn’t change, then it must be man’s ability to understand God which has changed. In the New Testament, man (in whom the spirit of Christ dwells) has been born of God’s holy spirit and therefore has the inherent ability to know the true God, as well as to discern the devil and and his workings. Old Testament man had neither of these abilities.
In the Old Testament, man could not come into harmony with God, because his very nature was contrary to God’s. Once you become born of the spirit of the risen Christ, you are an entirely different creation than any and every person mentioned in the Old Testament, with the exception of Jesus.
Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater (one) than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Some say God “has a plan,” meaning that everything which happens falls into that plan. Is that true? No. God does have a plan, but that plan only takes place in and through and by means of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 3:11 According to the purpose of the ages, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 1:10 That in the administration of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him;
You see, if I wack my head and get a concussion, that’s not a part of God’s plan. Nor is Uncle Fred dying a part of God’s plan. Now if Uncle Joe believes unto Jesus Christ at Uncle Fred’s funeral, his believing is a part of God’s plan!
Hebrews 2:14,15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death; that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
The devil is not the agent of God, sent to carry out God’s will, neither can God contradict Himself. It is impossible for God to kill, because He sent His son Jesus Christ to die in order to defeat death and the one who wields it, the devil. Can you see how believing that God kills or maims and injures, will make it very difficult to learn to trust Him, or to even make any sense of His Word?
I Timothy 2:4 Who (God) will have all men be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
God wants all men to be saved. Are all men saved? No. Will all men be saved? According to the book of Revelation, no. Then that means God’s will doesn’t always happen. That is absolutely right. God’s will does not always come to pass…..except in Christ Jesus our Lord.
II Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him (Christ) are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
In Control – “to have free use of directive power and authority.” If God has the power and authority to freely direct his creation, then why is there so much chaos? If God can simply control man, why does He entreat man, encourage him, explain, command, instruct him? These are not the actions of one who can simply direct behavior and circumstances.
In His Word, especially the Pauline epistles, God explains to us how His life works within us, how to walk in and the benefit of walking in that life. If He simply controlled us, there would be no need for any of this explanation or instruction.
A puppeteer directs the actions of his puppets, he is in control of them; he does not encourage them to do what he wants, he makes them do what he wants. Is God in control of us? Is He in control of all events and situations? If He were, then He would be evil, at least in part, because evil is happening in the world all the time.
All-powerful – the greatest power. If you ask 10 Christians what this expression means, you’ll get 10 different explanations. This one’s mine. There is no greater power than God’s. However, God’s power is not always “in play,” for He has truly limited Himself as regards man. He truly gave dominion to man; and as it was man who gave up that dominion, so it was man who had to get it back.
Romans 5:17, 19 For it by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one (man) shall many be made righteous.
John 5:27 And (you, God) have given him (me, Jesus) authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man.
Yes it was God’s will that no one ever sin, and it was God’s will that all men be saved by the work of Jesus Christ, who lived and died by the will of God. But in all His will, God never ever took control and made anyone do anything. Jesus, the son of God, knew how his Father, God, worked.
Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as You will.
In all his lifetime on earth, Jesus never once prayed, “O God, take control.” He never once proclaimed that His Father was sovereign, or all-powerful, or in control. He came to carry out the will of his Father, because God could not do it without him.
John 4:34 Jesus said on them, My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me, and finish His work.
So do not ever think that when evil happens, that God somehow caused it to happen “for a good reason.” Do not think that God’s will will come to pass simply because God’s “in control,” or because He is “all-powerful.”
There’s a poem which starts like this: “God has no hands but our hands with which to give them bread; He has no feet but our feet with which to walk among the almost dead.” If a man (anthropos – a person) does not do, then it will not get done. May God’s good will continue to come to pass in and through and by the lives of those who allow the spirit of the risen Christ to direct their hearts and lives, now and forever.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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Other important studies:
The Illusion of Control
Does God Kill People?
What EXACTLY God wants from you.
Freedom from Sin’s Domination
How to be Saved ….. X 3
