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THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By Arthur W. Pink
Chapter 2
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN CREATION
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to
receive glory, and honor, and power: for Thou hast created all things, and
for Thy pleasure they are and were created"
Revelation 4:11
Having shown that
sovereignty characterizes the whole Being of God, let us now observe how it
marks all His ways and dealings.
In the great expanse of
eternity, which stretches behind Genesis 1:1, the universe was unborn and
creation existed only in the mind of the great Creator. In His sovereign
majesty God dwelt all alone. We refer to that far distant period before the
heavens and the earth were created. There were then no angels to hymn God’s
praises, no creatures to occupy His notice, no rebels to be brought into
subjection. The great God was all alone amid the awful silence of His own
vast universe. But even at that time, if time it could be called, God was
sovereign. He might create or not create according to His own good
pleasure. He might create this way or that way; He might create one
world or one million worlds, and who was there to resist His will? He might
call into existence a million different creatures and place them on absolute
equality, endowing them with the same faculties and placing them in the
same environment; or, He might create a million creatures each differing from
the others, and possessing nothing in common save their creaturehood, and
who was there to challenge His right? If He so pleased, He might call into
existence a world so immense that its dimensions were utterly beyond finite
computation; and were He so disposed, He might create an organism so small
that nothing but the most powerful microscope could reveal its existence to
human eyes. It was His sovereign right to create, on the one hand, the
exalted seraphim to burn around His throne, and on the other hand, the tiny
insect which dies the same hour that it is born. If the mighty God chose to
have one vast gradation in His universe, from loftiest seraph to
creeping reptile, from revolving worlds to floating atoms, from macrocosm to
microcosm, instead of making everything uniform, who was there to
question His sovereign pleasure?
Behold then the
exercise of Divine sovereignty long before man ever saw the light. With whom
took God counsel in the creation and disposition of His creatures. See the
birds as they fly through the air, the beasts as they roam the earth, the
fishes as they swim in the sea, and then ask, Who was it that made them to
differ? Was it not their Creator who sovereignly assigned their
various locations and adaptations to them!
Turn your eye to the
heavens and observe the mysteries of Divine
sovereignty which there confront the thoughtful beholder: "There is one
glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the
stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory" (1
Cor. 15:41). But why should they? Why should the sun be more glorious than
all the other planets? Why should there be stars of the first magnitude and
others of the tenth? Why such amazing inequalities? Why should some
of the heavenly bodies be more favorably placed than others in their
relation to the sun? And why should there be "shooting stars,"
"falling stars," "wandering stars" (Jude 13), in a word, ruined stars? And the only possible answer is, "For Thy pleasure
they are and were created" (Rev. 4:11).
Come now to our own
planet. Why should two thirds of its surface be
covered with water, and why should so much of its remaining third be unfit
for human cultivation or habitation? Why should there be vast stretches of
marshes, deserts and ice-fields? Why should one country be so inferior,
topographically, from another? Why should one be fertile, and another almost
barren? Why should one be rich in minerals and another own none? Why should
the climate of one be congenial and healthy, and another uncongenial and
unhealthy? Why should one abound in rivers and lakes, and another be almost
devoid of them? Why should one be constantly troubled with earthquakes, and
another be almost entirely free from them? Why? Because thus it pleased the
Creator and Upholder of all things.
Look at the animal
kingdom and note the wondrous variety. What
comparison is possible between the lion and the lamb, the bear and the kid,
the elephant and the mouse? Some, like the horse and the dog, are gifted
with great intelligence; while others, like sheep and swine, are almost
devoid of it. Why? Some are designed to be beasts of burden, while others
enjoy a life of freedom. But why should the mule and the donkey be shackled
to a life of drudgery, while the lion and tiger are allowed to roam the
jungle at their pleasure? Some are fit for food, others unfit; some are
beautiful, others ugly; some are endowed with great strength, others are
quite helpless; some are fleet of foot, others can scarcely crawl—contrast
the hare and the tortoise; some are of use to man, others appear to be quite
valueless; some live for centuries, others a few months at most; some are
tame, others fierce. But why all these variations and differences?
What is true of the
animals is equally true of the birds and fishes. But consider now the
vegetable kingdom. Why should roses have thorns, and lilies grow without
them? Why should one flower emit a fragrant aroma and another have none? Why
should one tree bear fruit which is wholesome and another that which is
poisonous? Why should one vegetable be capable of enduring frost and another
wither under it? Why should one apple tree be loaded with fruit, and another
tree of the same age and in the same orchard be almost barren? Why should
one plant flower a dozen times in a year and another bear blossoms but once
a century? Truly, "whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in
heaven, and in the earth, in the seas, and all deep places" (Ps.
135:6).
Consider the angelic
hosts. Surely we shall find uniformity here. But
no; there, as elsewhere, the same sovereign pleasure of the Creator is
displayed. Some are higher in rank than others; some are more powerful than
others; some are nearer to God than others. Scripture reveals a definite and
well-defined gradation in the angelic orders. From arch-angel, past seraphim
and cherubim, we come to "principalities and powers" (Eph. 3:10),
and from principalities and powers to "rulers" (Eph. 6:12), and
then to the angels themselves, and even among them we read of "the elect angels" (1 Tim. 5:21). Again we ask, Why this inequality, this
difference in rank and order? And all we can say is "Our God is in the
heavens, He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (Ps. 115:3).
If then we see the
sovereignty of God displayed throughout all creation why should it be
thought a strange thing if we behold it operating in the midst of the
human family? Why should it be thought strange if to one God is pleased
to give five talents and to another only one? Why should it be thought
strange if one is born with a robust constitution and another of the same
parents is frail and sickly? Why should it be thought strange if Abel is cut
off in his prime, while Cain is suffered to live on for many years? Why
should it be thought strange that some should be born black and others
white; some be born idiots and others with high intellectual endowments;
some be born constitutionally lethargic and others full of energy; some be
born with a temperament that is selfish, fiery, egotistical, others who are
naturally self-sacrificing, submissive and meek? Why should it be thought
strange if some are qualified by nature to lead and rule, while others are
only fitted to follow and serve? Heredity and environment cannot account for
all these variations and inequalities. No; it is God who maketh one
to differ from another. Why should He? "Even so, Father, for so it
seemed good in Thy sight" must be our reply.
Learn then this basic
truth, that the Creator is absolute Sovereign, executing His own will,
performing His own pleasure, and considering nought but His own glory.
"The Lord hath made all things for Himself" (Prov.
16:4). And had He not a perfect right to? Since God is God,
who dare challenge His prerogative? To murmur against Him is rank rebellion.
To question His ways is to impugn His wisdom. To criticize Him is sin of the
deepest dye. Have we forgotten who He is? Behold, "All nations
before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing,
and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God ?" (Isa. 40:17, 18).
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