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The Sovereignty of God
by S. Leigh Hunt
Editorial Introduction
The sovereignty of God may be defined as that absolute right, springing from all His perfections, by which God does as He pleases.
This sovereignty is universal. It covers all His creatures. There is no limit to His sovereign authority.
Then again, it is unchangeable. God can never hand over His sovereignty to anyone else or cease to be sovereign.
The Word of God is full of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Consider the following specimen passages:
‘He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?’ (Dan 4:35).
‘Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased.’ (Psa 115:3).
‘The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.’ (Prov 16:4).
‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.’ (Isa 46:10).
‘The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.’ (Rev 19:6).
‘All authority hath been given to me [Christ] in heaven and on earth.’ (Matt 28:18).
‘Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?’ (Rom 9:20-21).
Today people set aside the truth of God’s sovereignty to make way for the imagined independence of man. Our pride and presumption, on the one hand, and our ignorance of ourselves on the other, lead us to exclude God and exalt man as much as possible.
It is to counter this trend that the following pamphlet is re-printed. After all, as Loraine Boettner asks, Who would not prefer to have his affairs in the hands of a God of infinite power, wisdom, holiness and love, rather than leave them to blind fate, or mere chance, or inexorable natural law, or short-sighted and perverse self?
Why we must submit to the Sovereignty of God
The doctrine of the sovereignty of God lies at the very heart of Christian theology, and therefore at the heart of all true religion and godliness. It is applicable to every stage of life.
1. First and foremost, divine sovereignty glorifies God and humbles man. This is the essence of true religion. In the last analysis the character of a man’s religion is determined by the object of his worship. Is that object a paper-thin wafer, turned into the body of Christ at the bidding of a sinner? Or is it the forlorn figure of Holman Hunt’s Light of the World, standing at the door of a sinner’s heart and vainly seeking admission? Or is it He who does according to His will in heaven and on earth, whose counsel shall stand, and who has mercy on whom He will have mercy?
The secular press and other news media are full of the vaunted achievements of man; hence their popularity. ‘They are of the world; therefore speak they of the world.’ And the world loves its own.
From time to time the Creator lifts the veil and discloses ‘parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him?’ Radio and television are useful inventions, but God prepared the sound and light waves long before men discovered their purpose. Those who realize his sovereignty will cry: ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.’
Belshazzar was guilty of gluttony, drunkenness, impurity and sacrilege, but when Daniel charged him with these things, he made it clear that the king’s crowning sin was refusal to confess the sovereignty of God: ‘The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.’
2. Divine Sovereignty produces godly fear in the hearts of those who are exercised by it. At one time a Christian was commonly referred to as “a God-fearing man,” but this description is rarely heard nowadays. Modern preachers have much to say about “the Fatherhood of God,” but it is significant that the Holy Ghost links divine paternity with filial fear. ‘Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.’ When Jesus prayed to his holy Father, we are expressly told that he ‘was heard in that he feared.’
The confession of divine sovereignty apart from a sense of relationship can only produce servile fear.
Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged to Daniel: ‘Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings,’ but soon afterwards he set up the golden image in the plain of Dura. The proud monarch was subsequently constrained to pay homage to ‘the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.’
Darius realised the majesty of the God of Daniel, and cried with a lamentable voice: ‘O Daniel, the living God is thy God,’ but we never read that he was able to say with Ruth: ‘Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God.’
Luther said: “Religion is a matter of personal pronouns.” It depends, however, on which personal pronouns one is able to use. Nebuchadnezzar said “your”; Darius said “thy”; Ruth, David, and even doubting Thomas were enabled by grace to say, “my” and “our”: ‘Thou art my God, and I will praise thee; thou art my God, I will exalt thee.’ ‘This is our God for ever and ever.’ ‘My Lord and my God!’
‘This awesome God is ours, our Father and our love;
He shall send down his heavenly powers to carry us above.’
3. Divine Sovereignty furnishes a solid foundation for Christian Confidence. The Gospel of the grace of God is as immutable as the throne on which He sits. It is called “the everlasting Gospel” because it is based on the pillars of His eternal purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It is called “the Gospel of Jesus Christ” because it brings good tidings of salvation to guilty sinners, not for their doings or deservings, but by His doing and dying, by His redeeming righteousness and blood. “It is finished!” hear Him cry. It is the Gospel of a finished salvation, so complete that not even the creature’s consent is needed to complete it.
Such a Gospel is good news indeed to the sinner who, like the ‘woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years,’ feels himself to be ‘bowed together,’ so that he can ‘in no wise lift up’ himself. ‘The humble hear thereof and are glad,’ as the Holy Spirit leads them away from creature confidence to repose all their trust in One who ‘is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him’; whose ability covers all their inability; whose blood can cleanse from every stain; whose love is everlasting. “From everlasting through predestination, to everlasting through glorification: the one knows no beginning, the other no end,” says Bernard of Clairvaux. In another place he writes: “The purpose of God stands, the sentence of peace upon them that fear him also stands, so that not only their graces but even their sins, work together for good. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is completely for my justification to have him propitious against whom only I have sinned. Everything which he has decreed not to impute to me is as if it had never been.” How firm a foundation is here for the sinner who has learned something of the plague of his own heart, and who can now rejoice that his soul’s salvation depends not on his doings and deservings, not on his fickle frames and feelings, but upon Jehovah’s unchanging purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
The fact that God’s purpose is sovereign and immutable affords the Christian a solid ground for confidence at the throne of grace. “What comfort would it be to pray to a god that, like the chameleon, changed colour every moment?” asks Charnock. “Who would put up a petition to an earthly prince that was so mutable as to grant a petition one day and deny it another?” Who, indeed! But we pray to the Sovereign of the universe, ‘the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ ‘And this is the confidence which we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.’
4. Divine Sovereignty enables a Christian to rejoice in tribulations. A practical recognition of this great truth will exclude all murmuring and cause us to cry: ‘He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.’
When Nadab and Abihu were suddenly slain before the Lord, we read that ‘Aaron held his peace.’ What sublime resignation!
When Eli heard from Samuel that his two sons were to be cut off by divine judgment, he exclaimed: ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.’ What marvellous submission!
When Job heard that the Sabeans had carried off his cattle, and that the winds had slain his children, he not only recognized, but rejoiced in God’s sovereignty, for he exclaimed: ‘The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away,’ and immediately added, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’
“Faith can sing through days of sorrow: All, all is well.” Bernard Gilpin was being brought to London, in the days of Queen Mary, to be burned at the stake, ‘for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God.’ On the way he fell and broke his leg. During the delay caused by this “accident,” the news came that bloody Mary had been called to her account, and thus he was free. Instead of going to the stake, Gilpin lived for many years to proclaim the Gospel, and became known as “The Lion of the North.”
The Christian is not only resigned, but should even rejoice in times of trouble. He knows that all his trials are ordained and ordered by sovereign love and mercy. And so in the midst of them he may sing:
‘Since all that I meet shall work for my good,
The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food;
Though painful at present, ‘twill cease before long,
And then, O how pleasant the conqueror’s song!’
(Adapted)
‘He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?’ (Dan 4:35).
‘Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased.’ (Psa 115:3).
‘The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.’ (Prov 16:4).
‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.’ (Isa 46:10).
‘The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.’ (Rev 19:6).
‘All authority hath been given to me [Christ] in heaven and on earth.’ (Matt 28:18).
‘Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?’ (Rom 9:20-21).
1. First and foremost, divine sovereignty glorifies God and humbles man. This is the essence of true religion. In the last analysis the character of a man’s religion is determined by the object of his worship. Is that object a paper-thin wafer, turned into the body of Christ at the bidding of a sinner? Or is it the forlorn figure of Holman Hunt’s Light of the World, standing at the door of a sinner’s heart and vainly seeking admission? Or is it He who does according to His will in heaven and on earth, whose counsel shall stand, and who has mercy on whom He will have mercy?
The secular press and other news media are full of the vaunted achievements of man; hence their popularity. ‘They are of the world; therefore speak they of the world.’ And the world loves its own.
From time to time the Creator lifts the veil and discloses ‘parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him?’ Radio and television are useful inventions, but God prepared the sound and light waves long before men discovered their purpose. Those who realize his sovereignty will cry: ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.’
Belshazzar was guilty of gluttony, drunkenness, impurity and sacrilege, but when Daniel charged him with these things, he made it clear that the king’s crowning sin was refusal to confess the sovereignty of God: ‘The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.’
2. Divine Sovereignty produces godly fear in the hearts of those who are exercised by it. At one time a Christian was commonly referred to as “a God-fearing man,” but this description is rarely heard nowadays. Modern preachers have much to say about “the Fatherhood of God,” but it is significant that the Holy Ghost links divine paternity with filial fear. ‘Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.’ When Jesus prayed to his holy Father, we are expressly told that he ‘was heard in that he feared.’
The confession of divine sovereignty apart from a sense of relationship can only produce servile fear. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged to Daniel: ‘Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings,’ but soon afterwards he set up the golden image in the plain of Dura. The proud monarch was subsequently constrained to pay homage to ‘the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.’
Darius realised the majesty of the God of Daniel, and cried with a lamentable voice: ‘O Daniel, the living God is thy God,’ but we never read that he was able to say with Ruth: ‘Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God.’
Luther said: “Religion is a matter of personal pronouns.” It depends, however, on which personal pronouns one is able to use. Nebuchadnezzar said “your”; Darius said “thy”; Ruth, David, and even doubting Thomas were enabled by grace to say, “my” and “our”: ‘Thou art my God, and I will praise thee; thou art my God, I will exalt thee.’ ‘This is our God for ever and ever.’ ‘My Lord and my God!’
‘This awesome God is ours, our Father and our love;
He shall send down his heavenly powers to carry us above.’
3. Divine Sovereignty furnishes a solid foundation for Christian Confidence. The Gospel of the grace of God is as immutable as the throne on which He sits. It is called “the everlasting Gospel” because it is based on the pillars of His eternal purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It is called “the Gospel of Jesus Christ” because it brings good tidings of salvation to guilty sinners, not for their doings or deservings, but by His doing and dying, by His redeeming righteousness and blood. “It is finished!” hear Him cry. It is the Gospel of a finished salvation, so complete that not even the creature’s consent is needed to complete it.
Such a Gospel is good news indeed to the sinner who, like the ‘woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years,’ feels himself to be ‘bowed together,’ so that he can ‘in no wise lift up’ himself. ‘The humble hear thereof and are glad,’ as the Holy Spirit leads them away from creature confidence to repose all their trust in One who ‘is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him’; whose ability covers all their inability; whose blood can cleanse from every stain; whose love is everlasting. “From everlasting through predestination, to everlasting through glorification: the one knows no beginning, the other no end,” says Bernard of Clairvaux. In another place he writes: “The purpose of God stands, the sentence of peace upon them that fear him also stands, so that not only their graces but even their sins, work together for good. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is completely for my justification to have him propitious against whom only I have sinned. Everything which he has decreed not to impute to me is as if it had never been.” How firm a foundation is here for the sinner who has learned something of the plague of his own heart, and who can now rejoice that his soul’s salvation depends not on his doings and deservings, not on his fickle frames and feelings, but upon Jehovah’s unchanging purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
The fact that God’s purpose is sovereign and immutable affords the Christian a solid ground for confidence at the throne of grace. “What comfort would it be to pray to a god that, like the chameleon, changed colour every moment?” asks Charnock. “Who would put up a petition to an earthly prince that was so mutable as to grant a petition one day and deny it another?” Who, indeed! But we pray to the Sovereign of the universe, ‘the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ ‘And this is the confidence which we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.’
4. Divine Sovereignty enables a Christian to rejoice in tribulations. A practical recognition of this great truth will exclude all murmuring and cause us to cry: ‘He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.’
When Nadab and Abihu were suddenly slain before the Lord, we read that ‘Aaron held his peace.’ What sublime resignation!
When Eli heard from Samuel that his two sons were to be cut off by divine judgment, he exclaimed: ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.’ What marvellous submission!
When Job heard that the Sabeans had carried off his cattle, and that the winds had slain his children, he not only recognized, but rejoiced in God’s sovereignty, for he exclaimed: ‘The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away,’ and immediately added, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’
“Faith can sing through days of sorrow: All, all is well.” Bernard Gilpin was being brought to London, in the days of Queen Mary, to be burned at the stake, ‘for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God.’ On the way he fell and broke his leg. During the delay caused by this “accident,” the news came that bloody Mary had been called to her account, and thus he was free. Instead of going to the stake, Gilpin lived for many years to proclaim the Gospel, and became known as “The Lion of the North.”
The Christian is not only resigned, but should even rejoice in times of trouble. He knows that all his trials are ordained and ordered by sovereign love and mercy. And so in the midst of them he may sing:
‘Since all that I meet shall work for my good, The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food; Though painful at present, ‘twill cease before long, And then, O how pleasant the conqueror’s song!’