The Sovereignty of God
By Arthur W. Pink
Chapter One - God's
Sovereignty Defined
"Thine,
O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and
the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is
the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as Head above all" (1 Chron.
29:11).
The
Sovereignty of God is an expression that once was generally understood. It was
a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme frequently
expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts,
and gave virility and stability to Christian character. But, today, to make
mention of God's Sovereignty is, in many quarters, to speak in an unknown
tongue. Were we to announce from the average pulpit that the subject of our
discourse would be the Sovereignty of God, it would sound very much as though
we had borrowed a phrase from one of the dead languages. Alas! that it should
be so. Alas! that the doctrine which is the key to history, the interpreter of
Providence, the warp and woof of Scripture, and the foundation of Christian
theology should be so sadly neglected and so little understood.
The
Sovereignty of God. What do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy
of God, the kingship of God, the god-hood of God. To say that God is Sovereign
is to declare that God is God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that
He is the Most High, doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto
Him what doest Thou? (Dan. 4:35). To say that God is Sovereign is to declare
that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth, so
that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will (Psa.
115:3). To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is "The
Governor among the nations" (Psa. 22:28), setting up kingdoms,
overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleaseth Him
best. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the "Only
Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). Such is
the God of the Bible.
How
different is the God of the Bible from the God of modern Christendom! The
conception of Deity which prevails most widely today, even among those who
profess to give heed to the Scriptures, is a miserable caricature, a blasphemous
travesty of the Truth. The God of the twentieth century is a helpless,
effeminate being who commands the respect of no really thoughtful man. The God
of the popular mind is the creation of maudlin sentimentality. The God of many
a present-day pulpit is an object of pity rather than of awe-inspiring
reverence. To say that God the Father has purposed the salvation of all
mankind, that God the Son died with the express intention of saving the whole
human race, and that God the Holy Spirit is now seeking to win the world to
Christ; when, as a matter of common observation, it is apparent that the great
majority of our fellowmen are dying in sin, and passing into a hopeless
eternity; is to say that God the Father is disappointed, that God the Son is dissatisfied,
and that God the Holy Spirit is defeated. We have stated the issue baldly, but
there is no escaping the conclusion. To argue that God is "trying His
best" to save all mankind, but that the majority of men will not let Him
save them, is to insist that the will of the Creator is impotent, and that the
will of the creature is omnipotent. To throw the blame, as many do, upon the
Devil, does not remove the difficulty, for if Satan is defeating the purpose of
God, then, Satan is Almighty and God is no longer the Supreme Being.
To declare
that the Creator's original plan has been frustrated by sin, is to dethrone
God. To suggest that God was taken by surprise in Eden and that He is now
attempting to remedy an unforeseen calamity, is to degrade the Most High to the
level of a finite, erring mortal. To argue that man is a free moral agent and
the determiner of his own destiny, and that therefore he has the power to
checkmate his Maker, is to strip God of the attribute of Omnipotence. To say
that the creature has burst the bounds assigned by his Creator, and that God is
now practically a helpless Spectator before the sin and suffering entailed by
Adam's fall, is to repudiate the express declaration of Holy Writ, namely,
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt
Thou restrain" (Psa. 76:10). In a word, to deny the Sovereignty of God is
to enter upon a path which, if followed to its logical terminus, is to arrive
at blank atheism.
The
Sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When
we say that God is Sovereign we affirm His right to govern the universe which
He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is
the right of the Potter over the clay, i. e., that He may mold that clay into
whatsoever form He chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor. We affirm that He is under no rule or law
outside of His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He
is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any.
Sovereignty
characterizes the whole Being of God. He is Sovereign in all His attributes. He
is Sovereign in the exercise of His power. His power is exercised as He wills,
when He wills, where He wills. This fact is evidenced on every page of
Scripture. For a long season that power appears to be dormant, and then it is
put forth in irresistible might. Pharaoh dared to hinder Israel from going
forth to worship Jehovah in the wilderness-what happened? God exercised His
power, His people were delivered and their cruel task-masters slain. But a
little later, the Amalekites dared to attack these same Israelites in the
wilderness, and what happened? Did God put forth His power on this occasion and
display His hand as He did at the Red Sea? Were these enemies of His people
promptly overthrown and destroyed? No, on the contrary, the Lord swore that He
would "have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Exo.
17:16). Again, when Israel entered the land of Canaan, God's power was signally
displayed. The city of Jericho barred their progress-what happened? Israel did
not draw a bow nor strike a blow: the Lord stretched forth His hand and the
walls fell down flat. But the miracle was never repeated! No other city fell
after this manner. Every other city had to be captured by the sword!
Many other
instances might be adduced illustrating the Sovereign exercise of God's power.
Take one other example. God put forth His power and David was delivered from
Goliath, the giant; the mouths of the lions were closed and Daniel escaped
unhurt; the three Hebrew children were cast into the burning fiery furnace and
came forth unharmed and unscorched. But God's power did not always interpose
for the deliverance of His people, for we read: "And others had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they
were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword;
they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted,
tormented" (Heb. 11:36, 37). But why? Why were not these men of faith
delivered like the others? Or, why were not the others suffered to be killed
like these? Why should God's power interpose and rescue some and not the
others? Why allow Stephen to be stoned to death, and then deliver Peter from
prison?
God is
Sovereign in the delegation of His power to others. Why did God endow
Methuselah with a vitality which enabled him to outlive all his contemporaries?
Why did God impart to Samson a physical strength which no other human has ever
possessed? Again; it is written, "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy
God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth" (Deut. 8:18), but
God does not bestow this power on all alike. Why not? Why has He given such
power to men like Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller? The answer to all of these
questions is, Because God is Sovereign, and being Sovereign He does as He
pleases.
God is
Sovereign in the exercise of His mercy. Necessarily so, for mercy is directed
by the will of Him that showeth mercy. Mercy is not a right to which man is
entitled. Mercy is that adorable attribute of God by which He pities and
relieves the wretched. But under the righteous government of God no one is
wretched who does not deserve to be so. The objects of mercy, then, are those
who are miserable, and all misery is the result of sin, hence the miserable are
deserving of punishment not mercy. To speak of deserving mercy is a
contradiction of terms.
God
bestows His mercies on whom He pleases and withholds them as seemeth good unto
Himself. A remarkable illustration of this fact is seen in the manner that God
responded to the prayers of two men offered under very similar circumstances.
Sentence of death was passed upon Moses for one act of disobedience, and he
besought the Lord for a reprieve. But was his desire gratified? No; he told
Israel, "The LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me:
and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee" (Deut. 3:26). Now mark the
second case: "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet
Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set
thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face
to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech Thee, O LORD, remember
now how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have
done that which is good in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to
pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the
LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my
people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy
prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou
shalt go unto the house of the LORD. And I will add unto thy days fifteen
years" (2 Kings 20:1-6). Both of these men had the sentence of death in
themselves, and both prayed earnestly unto the Lord for a reprieve: the one
wrote: "The Lord would not hear me," and died; but to the other it
was said, "I have heard thy prayer," and his life was spared. What an
illustration and exemplification of the truth expressed in Romans
9:15!-"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
The
Sovereign exercise of God's mercy-pity shown to the wretched-was displayed when
Jehovah became flesh and tabernacled among men. Take one illustration. During
one of the Feasts of the Jews, the Lord Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He came to
the Pool of Bethesda where lay "a great multitude of impotent folk, of
blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water." Among this
"great multitude" there was "a certain man which had an
infirmity thirty and eight years." What happened? "When Jesus saw him
He, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him,
Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answer Him, Sir, I have no man, when
the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but when I am coming, another
steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked"
(John 5:3-9). Why was this one man singled out from all the others? We are not
told that he cried "Lord, have mercy on me." There is not a word in
the narrative which intimates that this man possessed any qualifications which
entitled him to receive special favor. Here then was a case of the Sovereign
exercise of Divine mercy, for it was just as easy for Christ to heal the whole
of that "great multitude" as this one "certain man." But He
did not. He put forth His power and relieved the wretchedness of this one
particular sufferer, and for some reason known only to Himself, He declined to
do the same for the others. Again, we say, what an illustration and
exemplification of Romans 9:15!-"I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
God is
Sovereign in the exercise of His love. Ah! that is a hard saying, who then can
receive it? It is written, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given
him from Heaven" (John 3:27). When we say that God is Sovereign in the
exercise of His love, we mean that He loves whom He chooses. God does not love
everybody (John 3:16 will be examined later); if He did, He would love the
Devil. Why does not God love the Devil? Because there is nothing in him to
love; because there is nothing in him to attract the heart of God. Nor is there
anything to attract God's love in any of the fallen sons of Adam, for all of
them are, by nature, "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). If then there is
nothing in any member of the human race to attract God's love, and if,
notwithstanding, He does love some, then it necessarily follows that the cause
of His love must be found in Himself, which is only another way of saying that
the exercise of God's love towards the fallen sons of men is according to His
own good pleasure.
In the
final analysis, the exercise of God's love must he traced back to His
Sovereignty or, otherwise, He would love by rule; and if He loved by rule, then
is He under a law of love, and if He is under a law of love then is He not
supreme, but is Himself ruled by law. "But," it may be asked,
"Surely you do not deny that God loves the entire human family?" We
reply, it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated"
(Rom. 9:13). If then God loved Jacob and hated Esau, and that before they were
born or had done either good or evil, then the reason for His love was not in
them, but in Himself.
That the
exercise of God's love is according to His own Sovereign pleasure is also clear
from the language of Ephesians 1:3-5, where we read, "Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." It
was "in love" that God the Father predestined His chosen ones unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,
"according"-according to what? According to some excellency He
discovered in them? No. What then? According to what He foresaw they would
become? No; mark carefully the inspired answer-"According to the good
pleasure of His will."
We are not
unmindful of the fact that men have invented the distinction between God's love
of complacency and His love of compassion, but this is an invention pure and
simple. Scripture terms the latter God's "pity" (see Matt. 18:33),
and "He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil" (Luke 6:35)!
God is
Sovereign in the exercise of His grace. This of necessity, for grace is favor
shown to the undeserving, yea, to the Hell-deserving. Grace is the antithesis
of justice. Justice demands the impartial enforcement of law. Justice requires
that each shall receive his legitimate due, neither more nor less. Justice
bestows no favors and is no respecter of persons. Justice, as such, shows no
pity and knows no mercy. But after justice has been fully satisfied, grace
flows forth. Divine grace is not exercised at the expense of justice, but
"grace reigns through righteousness" (Rom. 5:21), and if grace
"reigns," then is grace Sovereign.
Grace has
been defined as the unmerited favor of God*; and if unmerited, then none can
claim it as their inalienable right. If grace is unearned and undeserved, then
none are entitled to it. If grace is a gift, then none can demand it.
Therefore, as salvation is by grace, the free gift of God, then He bestows it
on whom He pleases. Because salvation is by grace, the very chief of sinners is
not beyond the reach of Divine mercy. Because salvation is by grace, boasting
is excluded and God gets all the glory.
*An
esteemed friend who kindly read through this book in its manuscript form, and
to whom we are indebted for a number of excellent suggestions, has pointed out
that grace is something more than "unmerited favor." To feed a tramp
who calls on me is "unmerited favor," but it is scarcely grace. But
suppose that after robbing me I should feed this starving tramp-that would be "grace."
Grace, then, is favor shown where there is positive demerit in the one
receiving it.
The
Sovereign exercise of grace is illustrated on nearly every page of Scripture.
The Gentiles are left to walk in their own ways while Israel becomes the
covenant people of Jehovah. Ishmael the firstborn is cast out comparatively
unblest, while Isaac the son of his parents' old age is made the child of
promise. Esau the generous-hearted and forgiving-spirited is denied the
blessing, though he sought it carefully with tears, while the worm Jacob
receives the inheritance and is fashioned into a vessel of honor. So in the New
Testament. Divine Truth is hidden from the wise and prudent, but is revealed to
babes. The Pharisees and Sadducees are left to go their own way, while
publicans and harlots are drawn by the cords of love.
In a
remarkable manner Divine grace was exercised at the time of the Saviour's
birth. The incarnation of God's Son was one of the greatest events in the
history of the universe, and yet its actual occurrence was not made known to
all mankind; instead, it was specially revealed to the Bethlehem shepherds and
wise men of the East. And this was prophetic and indicative of the entire
course of this dispensation, for even today Christ is not made known to all. It
would have been an easy matter for God to have sent a company of angels to
every nation and to have announced the birth of His Son. But He did not. God
could have readily attracted the attention of all mankind to the
"star"; but He did not. Why? Because God is Sovereign and dispenses
His favors as He pleases. Note particularly the two classes to whom the birth
of the Saviour was made known, namely, the most unlikely classes-illiterate
shepherds and heathen from a far country. No angel stood before the Sanhedrin and
announced the advent of Israel's Messiah! No "star" appeared unto the
scribes and lawyers as they, in their pride and self-righteousness, searched
the Scriptures! They searched diligently to find out where He should be born,
and yet it was not made known to them when He was actually come. What a display
of Divine Sovereignty-the illiterate shepherds singled out for peculiar honor,
and the learned and eminent passed by! And why was the birth of the Saviour
revealed to these foreigners, and not to those in whose midst He was born? See
in this a wonderful foreshadowing of God's dealings with our race throughout
the entire Christian dispensation-Sovereign in the exercise of His grace,
bestowing His favors on whom He pleases, often on the most unlikely and unworthy.
*
It has
been pointed out to us that God's Sovereignty was signally displayed in His
choice of the place where His Son was born. Not to Greece or Italy did the Lord
of Glory come, but to the insignificant land of Palestine! Not in Jerusalem-the
royal city-was Immanuel born, but in Bethlehem, which was "little among
the thousands (of towns and villages) in Judah" (Micah 5:2)! And it was in
despised Nazareth that He grew up! Truly, God's ways are not ours.