The Sovereignty of God

The Sovereignty of God

SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
God, who exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is sovereign and exercises supreme and absolute rule over all creation as a part of and consistent with the essence and attributes of Deity. The biblical teaching that God is the source of all creation and that all things come from and depend upon God. Sovereignty means that "God is in all and over all".

(Psa 24:1-9 KJV) A Psalm of David.
The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
{2} For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
{3} Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
{4} He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
{5} He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
{6} This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
{7} Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
{8} Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
{9} Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER EVERYTHING BECAUSE:

GOD CREATED EVERYTHING
God is the Lord of creation, the source of all things, who brought the world into being and who guides His creation toward a meaningful end. God’s creativity is not the result of chance or randomness. It holds promise and purpose which God intends.
(Gen 1:1 KJV)
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

GOD IS MORALLY RIGHTOUS AND HOLY AND GOOD
God’s sovereignty, His authority over creation, is grounded in God’s essential nature which is moral. God is to be obeyed not simply because He is mighty but because He is righteous (Ps. 50:6). God judges His creation on the basis of His profound moral character. He is both the source of all creation and the source of all goodness.

(Psa 50:3-7, 14-17 KJV)
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence:
a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
{4} He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
{5} Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
{6} And the heavens shall declare his righteousness:
for God is judge himself. Selah.
{7} Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.....
{14} Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
{15} And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

{16} But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
{17} Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

GOD IS HIGH OVER ALL AND UNTOUCHED BY EVIL
God’s sovereignty is transcendent, beyond our complete comprehension (Isa. 6:1). God is separate from His creation and works in ways that human beings do not always understand. "Transcendence" is closely related to God’s holiness, His surpassing moral purity and essential otherness. See Holy.

(Isa 6:1-8 KJV)
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
and his train filled the temple.
{2} Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings;
with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
{3} And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
{4} And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

{5} Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone;
because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:
for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
{6} Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
{7} And he laid it upon my mouth, and said,
Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
{8} Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Then said I, Here am I; send me.

GO HAS A DEFINITE PLAN FOR THE UNIVERSE CONSISTENT WITH HIS CHARACTER
God’s sovereignty moves toward a particular end, a specific purpose. God’s purpose is to bring His creation—His whole creation—to fulness and completion, to fellowship with Him: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself". The kingdom of God is the end toward which God moves His creation.

(2 Cor 5:17-20 KJV)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
{18} And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
{19} To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them;
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
{20} Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us:
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

(Phil 2:5-13 KJV)
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
{6} Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
{7} But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men:
{8} And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
{9} Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
{10} That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
{11} And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
{12} Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only,
but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
{13} For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

SOVEREIGNTY AND FREEDOM TO CHOOSE
Divine sovereignty does not mean that everything which occurs in the world is God’s will. God has created a world in which freedom is a real possibility. His permissive will provides for human freedom and the laws of nature. This freedom means that sovereignty must always be distinguished from "fate" or "destiny," the belief that everything which occurs in the world has been predetermined, scheduled in advance, by God. That view, carried to extremes, makes human beings pawns or puppets of a mechanical universe in which all choices are made in advance and where freedom is not possible.

(Deu 30:19-20 KJV)
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
{20} That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice,
and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:
that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

(Josh 24:14-16 KJV)
Now therefore fear the LORD