Is God Sovereign or Not?

by

Bennie Morgan

Some thoughts that have been on my mind these last few days, concerning our sovereign God, Creator and Lord of all things, and the historic rebellion against His sovereignty by His creatures. 

The overriding issue from the beginning has been rebellion against our sovereign God:

Lucifer rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven along with one-third of the angels. (Isaiah 14:12-15, Jude 1:6)

God sovereignly decided Who His elect were, How they would be brought to salvation, and When they would be brought into His kingdom. But man wanted to insert himself in the process. Many refuse to accept that salvation is by God's grace alone. Instead, man wants to make it conditional on his own added works to accomplish it.

Similarly, many have ignored and refused to accept the sovereign words of Jesus, concerning the immediacy of His return in AD 70, the abolishment of the old imperfect, legalistic order, and the establishment of His new kingdom. Instead, man has come up with a 'Futurist' theology, which includes man in a future rapture, which also has led to faulty and deadly political decisions, based on Futurist views of Armageddon, the tribulation, temporal Israel's place in God's timetable, war with Islamic countries, etc. 

In all instances, God's creatures have sought to challenge and deny God's sovereignty, by substituting their own scenario outside, and apart from, what God has said and ordained.

Preterist View

In seems to me, that in promoting the Preterist view of eschatology, it should be presented, not just as an alternative to the prevailing man-made Futurist view, but should be presented as the only interpretation based on the authoritative and sovereign words of Jesus concerning the end-times. The two views are not equally valid. The Preterist accepts the sovereign words of Jesus concerning the timing and events at the end of the age in AD 70, and the Futurist rebels against these words of Jesus and replaces them with his own Futurist scenarios.

I think the sovereignty of God should be stressed in any discussion of Preterism. I believe this would set it apart and distinguish it from man-made doctrines about the future. I hope you agree.

The Elect

As far as the elect are concerned, we are truly outsiders to this worldly system. I have come to understand more and more, how we are just strangers and pilgrims in this life (Heb 11:13, 1Pet 2:11) We are part of the “few” that have been elected to salvation and found “the narrow way which leads to life” (Matt. 7:14). Our political leaders have shown no sign that they are on this narrow way which leads unto life. In fact, I can't think of one, who has spoken of having made his “calling and election sure” (2 Pet 1:10), and who demonstrates having done so. They are all guilty of idolatry, because they worship the gods of campaign contributions. Their corporate donors are also idolaters, because they worship the gods of profits to get the contributions to give to the politicians, to ensure that their special interests are prioritized. Jesus has also described these politicians, non-elect professing Christians, and others (the “many”), as being on “the broad way that leads to destruction” (Matt.7:13). 

Free Will

I believe that man has free will in general, but there are at least several areas where he does not. These are in the areas of his physical birth and his spiritual birth.

Man does not have the freedom to choose which parents he will be born to and which nation he will be born into, and which DNA he will be given. Also upon being born, man automatically inherits Adam's sinful, fallen nature, without having a choice of having that nature. And similarly, he does not have a choice of being born into God's spiritual family, because God sovereignly made that choice before the foundation of the world.

Those who contend that man has free will to choose salvation, will have to concede that our sovereign God also has His own free will to choose which men are to be part of his eternal family. Since God exercised His will long before the foundation of the world, and long before man was created, then God's choices preempt and trump any choice man would or could make in terms of his own eternal salvation.

Also because eternal life is the single most important and valuable possession in any man's life, it rightfully belongs to the sovereignty of his Creator God, who determines who would or would not, receive it.

9-11

Much has been said about this tragic event, who was responsible for it, and whether our government was complicit in it.  My gut level feeling is that something is very suspicious about the lack of, or very slow response to the attack, the rapid carting away of the debris before it could be forensically examined, the resistance to an immediate official full inquiry, the later collapse of building #7 despite never being hit, and a host of post-revelations about what was known and who was warned (but ignored) about a coming attack. I will never be able to prove it, because I don't have the resources and the access to learn the truth. But I'm not dismayed, but instead overjoyed, that I don't have to know the truth - because our sovereign God absolutely knows the Who, When, Where, Why, and How of what happened!  He can't be spun with half-truths or evasions like I could be. His perfect knowledge is like a laser-beam that is focused on the conspirators and the perpetrators, whomever and wherever they are, and He has promised that “what a man sows, that shall he also reap.” Also our sovereign God is omnipotent, and could have prevented the attack if He had chosen to. The fact that He permitted it to happen tells me that His own will and purpose is being done here in the earth, as Jesus said in Matt. 6.

Praise God for His sovereignty, and priceless, eternal gift of salvation!  What an awesome responsibility we have to be thankful and treasure this unspeakable gift from God.