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God's Absolute Supreme Rule and Our Joy
by Jonathan Cummings
Within much of theological conservatism, I often hear the verse quoted, "And we
know that for those who love God all things work together For good..." Yet, the
breakdown of their theological underpinnings ought to show absolutely no confidence
in this verse. Their view of God's sovereignty is what ought to be recognized as
pseudo-sovereignty. The facility of their language is almost convincing that they
really believe in a God who is In total control. For them, God may or may not be
in control of any given situation. He is a good and sovereign God when He grows
our churches to 600+. Yet, when our churches split He is no longer in control, but
man's sinful nature rules. When a baby is born healthy. God is in control. When
a baby is born with many difficult birth defects, Satan won. When the United States
of America is terrorist free. God is in control. When terrorists bring down the
Twin Towers in New York, once again, Satan wins. As John Piper states, "For them,
now God is sovereign, and now he is not. Now he is in control, and now he is not.
Now he is good and reliable when things are going well, and then they go bad, well,
maybe he's not. Now he's the supreme authority of the universe, and now he is in
the dock with human prosecutors peppering him with demands that he give an account
of himself. * John Piper's indictment is piercingly true. The foundation for Romans 82"
which we can take confidence that all things are working together for good is that
God is the one working. If the pseudo-sovereigntist cannot with the Bible conclude
that God is absolutely supreme in his rule over the universe, then he also ought
not take confidence in Romans 8:28. If God is not absolutely supreme in his rule over
all things, then he may or he may not be able to works all things together for good.
What I would like to set forth in this short article is the deep-rooted joy that
comes with a proper understanding of God's absolute supreme rule over all things,
including evil.
Biblical Evidence of God's Absolute Supreme Rule Over Evil
We must not go much longer without showing the Biblical evidences of God's absolute supreme rule of all things (Rom. 11:36), specifically evil.
Our next necessary step is to see if indeed my proposition Is actually Biblical. I would first like two distinctions I make with the use of evil.
There are two kinds of evil that are both under the absolute supreme rule of God. First, natural evil is the catastrophic events untainted by
human will such as the following: tornados, avalanche, floods, diseases, etc. Second, moral evil is simply sin. Some examples are murder,
stealing, sexual promiscuity, etc.
We will first look at the Biblical evidences within the natural evil. I have three different categories under natural evil: life and death, disease,
and natural disasters.
Life and Death
Acts 17:42-28 states, "The God who made the world and everything In It, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live In
temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all
mankind life and breath and everything, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the
earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the
hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'In him we
live and move and have our being.'"
Verse 25 is crystal clear that God is the one who holds within his power the life and breath of every human being. There is not a single day or
a single moment where God is not sustaining our existence. If God were to simply release the clench of his hand we would cease to exist.
Colossians 1:17 explains that Jesus Christ holds all things together. Our life and its limits on earth is under the rule of God.
In the loss of Job's ten children he refused to give ultimate causality to the working of Satan. Though Satan did have a major role in Job's
calamity. Job does not see Satan as the having the final word. Job says, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed by the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). A possible objection could be that Job had a
misunderstanding of the nature of God's sovereignty. But verse 22 quickly erases such a conclusion: 'In all this Job did not sin or charge God
with wrong." This event clearly shows that God was the ultimate cause for the death of Job's children. Satan was and is today nothing more
than a tool in God's hand. In John Piper's poem The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God he imagines Job talking to a new daughter that God
had given Job and his wife after all the calamity. Job's daughter, Jemimah, asked; "So you think that it was God who made you sick?" Job
responds, "I think God never laid aside the reins that lie against the neck of Satan, nor unfenced His pen to run at liberty, but only by the
Lord's decree." Jemimah again with astonishment asks, "So you think God was kind to make you sick...and take away your health and all
your sons and friends, and daughters - all the ones you love?" With deep rooted hope in God's sovereign goodness Job once again tells
Jemimah, 'Jemimah, what I think is this: the Lord had made me drink the cup of his severity that he might kindly show to me what I would
be when only he remains In my calamity. Unkindly he has kindly shown that he was not my hope alone." Two great truths lie In that poem.
First, the picture of God having Satan by a leash is a wonderful picture of God's use of Satan. God never needs to go to Satan and plea with
him to stop his destruction. Satan destroys as God lets the leash out a little bit. Second, God's sovereign rule, even by way of calamity, was
best for Job's joy. All the calamity that God sent by means of Satan was for the good of Job. It was better for Job to suffer and have a
glorious understanding of God's sovereign goodness, then for Job to have a muddy view of the reality of God's supreme rule yet have all the
riches this world has to offer. According to Job, God gives and takes away and no matter which occurs he is to be blessed-even when the
taking away may be the most difficult circumstance life brings.
Another situation in which Satan brought calamity upon an individual only by the
permission of God is found in the life of Paul. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 12:7,
"...a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated." Paul pleaded
with God three times to take away this thorn in the flesh, but God refused for he saw that this thorn from Satan would allow Paul to enjoy
God's grace better. The weaker Paul was the greater he experienced the power of God in his life.
Disease
A verse to understand God's sovereign rule over diseases is found in Exodus 4:11. God told Moses, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes
him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is It not I, the LORD?" A very frightening reality for any parent is to have their child born mute, deaf,
or blind. Yet, this calamity is from God. If we hold to the reality of God's absolute supreme rule, even when the most difficult circumstances in
life come we can with confidence cry out to all the world, 'God is working all things together for His glory and my joy!"
Natural disasters
No doubt some of the greatest calamities have been caused by nature. Tornadoes that have demolished towns, earthquakes that have left
nothing but ruin, monsoons that leave the land-dwellers scraping for crop, and hurricanes that have taken not only possessions but lives
along with it are all from the hand of God. According to the Bible, none of this is out the absolute supreme rule of God. Psalm 105:16, "When
he [God] summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread." The disciples experienced the winds and waves obeying the voice of
Jesus. David states in Psalm 147:18, "He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow." Psalm 148:8
continues, 'Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creature and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his
word!"
A few texts to put over all the text just seen:
Job 42:2 - I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Isaiah 45:7 - I form the light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Amos 3:6 - Is the trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?
Ephesians 1:11 - ...who works all things according to the counsel of his will...
Now we will look to the Biblical evidences within moral evil.
There are two main texts of Scripture that deal with God's supreme rule over moral evil-the story of Joseph and the story of Jesus Christ.
First, Joseph, Genesis 50:20 states, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people
should be kept alive, as they are today." This text is classically misunderstood. So, many theologians will try to evade this text by saying that
God can. In man's purposing bad, make good come about. Namely, God had nothing to do with the moral evil committed by Joseph's
brothers, but after they acted God was able to make good come about. This understanding simply does not fit the language of this verse.
Joseph understood that his brothers were purposing evil, yet God purposed good by means of their evil. God is not reactionary in this story;
he is the ultimate causation making all things good (the best for the Joy of the saints and the glory of God). If there is still a little confusion
site Psalm 105:17: "...he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a stave." God did not react once Joseph was already
wronged and in Egypt, God was the one sending him to Egypt. Meaning, God was purposing through the evil purposing of Joseph's brother
good.
If that story is not convincing enough let us turn to Acts 4:27-28: "...for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant
Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and
your plan had predestined to take place." This text leaves no holes as to the understanding of God's absolute supreme rule over all things
including sin. Herod and Pontius Pilate were wrong in condemning Jesus to death, the Romans were sinning by their cruel treatment of Christ,
and surely the Jews were sinning by rejecting their promised Messiah. Yet, all those people did what God the Father had planned and
predestined to take place. Jonathan Edwards does see one potential objection that only the sufferings of Christ were ordained not the sin
against him, "I answer, [the sufferings] could not come to pass but by sin. For contempt and disgrace was one thing he was to suffer. Even
the free actions of men are subject to God's disposal."
A few texts to put over the two text just seen:
Romans 9:16 - So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy
Proverbs 20:24 - A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?
Proverbs 19:21 - Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
Proverbs 21:1 - The king's heart Is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.
All this may not sound like good news to the son who was sexually abused by his father, or the son who tragically lost a parent, etc. God's
being in control may only throw more things into confusion. Two things, all the Scripture texts seen are very clear that God is the only
absolute supreme ruler over the universe and must not be despised. Second, in the form of a question, would you rather that God cannot
continue today to make all things work together for good? If God is not in control during hardships, then there is no hope for the future. But if
God is in control during suffering, as difficult as ft is to understand, then we have an indestructible hope that God in fact is working all things
together for our good)
Length does not allow for the theological and philosophical questions that need to be dealt with on God's sovereign rule over evil. Perhaps
another article is to come. Better yet run to Jonathan Edwards for help.
These articles are intended to stimulate your thinking in a variety of areas;
please email driven to One
with any questions or comments.
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