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THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By Arthur W. Pink
Chapter 12
THE VALUE OF THIS DOCTRINE
"All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, And is profitable for doctrine, For reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be
perfect, Throughly furnished unto all good works"
2 Timothy
3:16, 17
"All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of
God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim.
3:16, 17). "Doctrine" means "teaching," and it is by
doctrine or teaching that the great realities of God and of our relation to
Him—of Christ, the Spirit, salvation, grace, glory, are made known to us.
It is by doctrine (through the power of the Spirit) that believers are
nourished and edified, and where doctrine is neglected, growth in grace and
effective witnessing for Christ necessarily cease. How sad then that
doctrine is now decried as "unpractical" when, in fact, doctrine
is the very base of the practical life. There is an inseparable connection
between belief and practice—"As he thinketh in his heart, so is
he" (Pro. 23:7). The relation between Divine truth and Christian
character is that of cause to effect—"And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32)—free
from ignorance, free from prejudice, free from error, free from the wiles of
Satan, free from the power of evil; and if the truth is not
"known" then such freedom will not be enjoyed. Observe the order of mention in the passage with which we have opened. All Scripture is
profitable first for "doctrine"! The same order is observed
throughout the Epistles, particularly in the great doctrinal treatises of
the apostle Paul. Read the Epistle of "Romans" and it will be
found that there is not a single admonition in the first five chapters. In
the Epistle of "Ephesians" there are no exhortations till the
fourth chapter is reached. The order is first doctrinal exposition and then
admonition or exhortation for the regulation of the daily walk.
The substitution of
so-called "practical" preaching for the doctrinal exposition which
it has supplanted is the root cause of many of the evil maladies which now
afflict the church of God. The reason why there is so little depth, so
little intelligence, so little grasp of the fundamental verities of
Christianity, is because so few believers have been established in the
faith, through hearing expounded and through their own personal study of the
doctrines of grace. While the soul is unestablished in the doctrine of the
Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures—their full and verbal inspiration—
there can be no firm foundation for faith to rest upon. While the soul is
ignorant of the doctrine of Justification there can be no real and
intelligent assurance of its acceptance in the Beloved. While the soul is
unacquainted with the teaching of the Word upon Sanctification it is open to
receive all the crudities and errors of the Perfectionists or
"Holiness" people. While the soul knows not what Scripture has to
say upon the doctrine of the New Birth there can be no proper grasp of the
two natures in the believer, and ignorance here inevitably results in loss
of peace and joy. And so we might go on right through the list of Christian
doctrine. It is ignorance of doctrine that has rendered the
professing church helpless to cope with the rising tide of infidelity. It is ignorance of doctrine which is mainly responsible for thousands of
professing Christians being captivated by the numerous fallacies of the day.
It is because the time has now arrived when the bulk of our churches "will
not endure sound doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:3) that they so readily
receive false doctrines. Of course it is true that doctrine, like
anything else in Scripture, may be studied from a merely cold intellectual
viewpoint, and thus approached, doctrinal teaching and doctrinal
study will leave the heart untouched, and will naturally be
"dry" and profitless. But, doctrine properly received, doctrine
studied with an exercised heart, will ever lead into a deeper
knowledge of God and of the unsearchable riches of Christ.
The doctrine of God’s
sovereignty then is no mere metaphysical dogma which is devoid of practical
value, but is one that is calculated to produce a powerful effect upon
Christian character and the daily walk. The doctrine of God’s sovereignty
lies at the foundation of Christian theology, and in importance is perhaps
second only to the Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures. It is the center of
gravity in the system of Christian truth—the sun around which all the
lesser orbs are grouped. It is the golden milestone to which every highway
of knowledge leads and from which they all radiate. It is the cord upon
which all other doctrines are strung like so many pearls, holding them in
place and giving them unity. It is the plumb-line by which every creed needs
to be measured, the balance in which every human dogma must be weighed. It
is designed as the sheet-anchor for our souls amid the storms of life. The
doctrine of God’s sovereignty is a Divine cordial to refresh our spirits.
It is designed and adapted to mould the affections of the heart and to give
a right direction to conduct. It produces gratitude in prosperity and
patience in adversity. It affords comfort for the present and a sense of
security respecting the unknown future. It is, and it does all, and much
more than we have just said, because it ascribes to God—Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit—the glory which is His due, and places the creature in his
proper place before Him—in the dust.
We shall now consider
the Value of the doctrine in detail.
1. It deepens our
veneration of the Divine Character.
The doctrine of God’s
sovereignty as it is unfolded in the Scriptures affords an exalted view of
the Divine perfections. It maintains His creatorial rights. It
insists that "to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are
all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all
things, and we by Him" (1 Cor. 8:6). It declares that His rights
are those of the "potter" who forms and fashions the clay into
vessels of whatever type and for whatever use He may please. Its testimony
is, "Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are
and were created" (Rev. 4:11). It argues that none has any right to
"reply" against God, and that the only becoming attitude for the
creature to take is one of reverent submission before Him. Thus the
apprehension of the absolute supremacy of God is of great practical
importance, for unless we have a proper regard to His high sovereignty He
will never be honored in our thoughts of Him, nor will He have His proper
place in our hearts and lives.
It exhibits the inscrutableness
of His wisdom. It shows that while God is immaculate in His holiness, He has permitted evil to enter His fair creation; that while He
is the Possessor of all power, He has allowed the Devil to wage war against
Him for six thousand years at least; that while He is the perfect
embodiment of love, He spared not His own Son; that while He is the
God of all grace, multitudes will be tormented for ever and ever in
the Lake of Fire. High mysteries are these. Scripture does not deny them,
but acknowledge their existence—"O the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments,
and His ways past finding out!" (Rom. 11:33).
It makes known the irreversibleness
of His will. "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning
of the world" (Acts 15:18). From the beginning God purposed to glorify
Himself "in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world
without end" (Eph. 3:21). To this end, He created the
world, and formed man. His all-wise plan was not defeated when man fell, for
in the Lamb "slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8)
we behold the Fall anticipated. Nor will God’s purpose be thwarted by the
wickedness of men since the Fall, as is clear from the words of the
Psalmist, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the
remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Ps. 76:10). Because God is the
Almighty His will cannot be withstood. "His purposes originated in
eternity, and are carried forward without change to eternity. They extend to
all His works, and control all events. He ‘worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will.’" (Dr. Rice). Neither man nor devil can
successfully resist Him, therefore is it written, "The Lord reigneth; let
the people tremble." (Ps. 99:1).
It magnifies His
grace. Grace is unmerited favor, and because grace is shown to the
undeserving and Hell-deserving, to those who have no claim upon God,
therefore is grace free and can be manifested toward the chief of
sinners. But because grace is exercised toward those who are destitute of
worthiness or merit, grace is sovereign; that is to say, God bestows
grace upon whom He pleases. Divine sovereignty has ordained that some shall
be cast into the Lake of Fire to show that all deserved such a doom.
But grace comes in like a drag-net and draws out from a lost humanity a
people for God’s name, to be throughout all eternity the monuments of His
inscrutable favor. Sovereign grace reveals God breaking down the opposition
of the human heart, subduing the enmity of the carnal mind, and bringing us
to love Him because He first loved us.
2. It is the solid
foundation of all true religion.
This naturally follows
from. what we have said above under the first head. If the doctrine of
Divine sovereignty alone gives God His rightful place, then it is also true
that it alone can supply a firm base for practical religion to build upon.
There can be no progress in Divine things until there is the personal
recognition that God is Supreme, that He is to be feared and revered, that
He is to be owned and served as Lord. We read the Scriptures in vain
unless we come to them earnestly desiring a better knowledge of God’s will
for us—any other motive is selfish and utterly inadequate and unworthy.
Every prayer we send up to God is but carnal presumption unless it be
offered "according to His will"— anything short of this
is to ask ‘amiss,’ that we might consume upon our own lusts the
thing requested. Every service we engage in is but a "dead work"
unless it be done for the glory of God. Experimental religion consists
mainly in the perception and performance of the Divine will—performance
both active and passive. We are predestinated to be "conformed to the
image of God’s Son", whose meat it ever was to do the will of the One
that sent Him, and the measure in which each saint is becoming
"conformed" practically, in his daily life, is largely determined
by his response to our Lord’s word—"Take My yoke upon you, and
learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart."
3. It repudiates the
heresy of salvation by works.
"There is a way
which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of
death" (Prov. 14:12). The way which "seemeth right" and which ends in "death," death eternal, is
salvation by human effort and merit. The belief in salvation by works is one
that is common to human nature. It may not always assume the grosser form of
Popish penances, or even of Protestant "repentance"—i.e.,
sorrowing for sin, which is never the meaning of repentance in Scripture—anything
which gives man a place at all is but a variety of the same evil genus. To
say, as alas! many preachers are saying, God is willing to do His part if
you will do yours, is a wretched and excuseless denial of the Gospel
of His grace. To declare that God helps those who help themselves, is to repudiate one of the most precious truths taught in the Bible, and in the Bible
alone; namely, that God helps those who are unable to help
themselves, who have tried again and again only to fail. To say that the
sinner’s salvation turns upon the action of his own. will, is
another form of the God-dishonoring dogma of salvation by human efforts. In
the final analysis, any movement of the will is a work: it is something from
me, something which I do. But the doctrine of God’s sovereignty
lays the axe at the root of this evil tree by declaring, "it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth
mercy" (Rom. 9:16). Does some one say, Such a doctrine will drive
sinners to despair. The reply is, Be it so; it is just such despair
the writer longs to see prevail. It is not until the sinner despairs of any
help from himself, that he will ever fall into the arms of sovereign mercy;
but if once the Holy Spirit convicts him that there is no help in
himself, then he will recognize that he is lost, and will cry,
"God be merciful to me a sinner," and such a cry will be
heard. If the author may be allowed to bear personal witness, he has found
during the course of his ministry that, the sermons he has preached on human
depravity, the sinner’s helplessness to do anything himself, and
the salvation of the soul turning upon the sovereign mercy of God, have been
those most owned and blessed in the salvation of the lost. We repeat, then,
a sense of utter helplessness is the first prerequisite to any sound
conversion. There is no salvation for any soul until it looks away from
itself, looks to something, yea, to Someone, outside of itself.
4. It is deeply
humbling to the creature.
This doctrine of the
absolute sovereignty of God is a great battering-ram against human pride,
and in this it is in sharp contrast from "the doctrines of men."
The spirit of our age is essentially that of boasting and glorying in the
flesh. The achievements of man, his development and progress, his greatness
and self-sufficiency, are the shrine at which the world worships today. But
the truth of God’s sovereignty, with all its corollaries, removes every
ground for human boasting and instills the spirit of humility in its stead.
It declares that salvation is of the Lord—of the Lord in its origination,
in its operation, and in its consummation. It insists that the Lord has to
apply as well as supply, that He has to complete as well as begin His saving
work in our souls, that He has not only to reclaim but to maintain and
sustain us to the end. It teaches that salvation is by grace through faith,
and that all our works (before conversion), good as well as evil,
count for nothing toward salvation. It tells us we are "born, not of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13).
And all this is most humbling to the heart of man, who wants to contribute
something to the price of his redemption and do that which will afford
ground for boasting and self-satisfaction.
But if this doctrine
humbles us, it results in praise to God. If, in the light of
God’s sovereignty, we have seen our own worthlessness and helplessness, we
shall indeed cry with the Psalmist, "All my springs are in
Thee" (Ps. 87:7). If by nature we were "children of
wrath," and by practice rebels against the Divine government and justly
exposed to the "curse" of the Law, and if God was under no obligation
to rescue us from the fiery indignation and yet, notwithstanding, He
delivered up His well-beloved Son for us all; then how such grace and
love will melt our hearts, how the apprehension of it will cause us to say
in adoring gratitude, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth’s
sake" (Ps. 115:1)! How readily shall each of us acknowledge, "By
the grace of God I am what I am"! With what wondering praise shall
we exclaim—
"Why was I made to hear His
voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?
‘Twas the same love that spread the feast,
That sweetly forced us in;
Else we had still refused to taste
And perished in our sin."
5. It affords a sense
of absolute security.
God is infinite in
power, and therefore it is impossible to withstand His will or resist the
outworking of His decrees. Such a statement as that is well calculated to
fill the sinner with alarm, but from the saint it evokes naught but praise.
Let us add a word and see what a difference it makes:—My God is
infinite in power! then "I will not fear what man can do unto
me." My God is infinite in power, then "what time I am
afraid I will trust in Him." My God is infinite in power, then "I
will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest
me dwell in safety" (Ps. 4:8). Right down the ages this has been
the source of the saints’ confidence. Was not this the assurance of Moses
when, in his parting words to Israel, he said—"There is none like
unto the God of Jeshurun (Israel), who rideth upon the heaven in Thy help,
and in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:26, 27)? Was
it not this sense of security that caused the Psalmist, moved by the Holy
Spirit, to write—"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He
is my refuge and my fortress: my God: in Him will I trust. Surely He
shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome
pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt
thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler: Thou shalt not be
afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand
at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High thy Habitation; There
shall no evil befall thee (instead, all things will work together for good), neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling" (Ps. 91)?
"Death and plagues around me fly,
Till He hid, I cannot die;
Not a single shaft can hit,
Till the God of love sees fit."
O the preciousness of
this truth! Here am I, a poor, helpless, senseless "sheep," yet am
I secure in the hand of Christ. And why am I secure there? None
can pluck me thence because the hand that holds me is that of the Son
of God, and all power in heaven and earth is His! Again; I have no
strength of my own: the world, the flesh, and the Devil, are arrayed against
me, so I commit myself into the care and keeping of the Lord and say with
the apostle, "I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He
is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that
day" (2 Tim. 1:12). And what is the ground of my confidence? How do I know that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him? I know it because God is almighty, the King of kings and
Lord of lords.
6. It supplies comfort
in sorrow.
The doctrine of God’s
sovereignty is one that is full of consolation and imparts great peace to
the Christian. The sovereignty of God is a foundation that nothing can shake
and is more firm than the heavens and earth. How blessed to know there is no
corner of the universe that is out of His reach! as said the Psalmist,
"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from
Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I
make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of
the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there
shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say
surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about
me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee: but the night shineth as the
day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee" (Ps. 139:7-12). How blessed it is to know that God’s strong hand is upon every one and
every thing! How blessed to know that not a sparrow falleth to the ground
without His notice! How blessed to know that our very afflictions come
not by chance, nor from the Devil, but are ordained and ordered by God:— "That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto" (1 Thess. 3:3)!
But our God is not only
infinite in power, He is infinite in wisdom and goodness too. And herein is
the preciousness of this truth. God wills only that which is good and His
will is irreversible and irresistible! God is too wise to err and too loving
to cause His child a needless tear. Therefore if God be perfect wisdom and
perfect goodness how blessed is the assurance that everything is in His hand, and moulded by His will according to His eternal purpose! "Behold,
He taketh away, who can hinder Him? who will say unto Him what doest
Thou?" (Job 9:12). Yet, how comforting to learn that it is "He",
and not the Devil, who "taketh away" our loved ones! Ah! what
peace for our poor frail hearts to be told that the number of our days is
with Him (Job 7:1; 14:5); that disease and death are His messengers, and
always march under His orders; that it is the Lord who gives and the
Lord who takes away!
7. It begets a spirit
of sweet resignation.
To bow before the
sovereign will of God is one of the great secrets of peace and happiness.
There can be no real submission with contentment until we are broken in
spirit, that is, until we are willing and glad for the Lord to have His way with us. Not that we are insisting upon a spirit of fatalistic
acquiescence; far from it. The saints are exhorted to "prove what
is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2).
We touched upon this
subject of resignation to God’s will in the chapter upon our Attitude
towards God’s Sovereignty, and there, in addition to the supreme Pattern,
we cited the examples of Eli and Job: we would now supplement their cases
with further examples. What a word is that in Leviticus 10:3—"And
Aaron held his peace." Look at the circumstances: "And Nadab and
Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire
therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord,
which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and
devoured them, and they died before the Lord. . . . . And Aaron held his
peace." Two of the high priests’ sons were slain, slain by
a visitation of Divine judgment, and they were probably intoxicated at the time; moreover, this trial came upon Aaron suddenly, without
anything to prepare him for it; yet, he "held his peace."
Precious exemplification of the power of God’s all-sufficient grace!
Consider now an
utterance which fell from the lips of David: "And the king said unto
Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favor in the
eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again, and shew me both it, and His
habitation. But if He thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am
I, let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him" (2 Sam. 15:25,
26). Here, too, the circumstances which confronted the speaker were
exceedingly trying to the human heart. David was sore pressed with sorrow.
His own son was driving him from the throne, and seeking his very life.
Whether he would ever see Jerusalem and the Tabernacle again he knew not.
But he was so yielded up to God, he was so fully assured that His will
was best, that even though it meant the loss of the throne and the loss of
his life he was content for Him to have His way—"let Him do to me as
seemeth Him good."
There is no need to
multiply examples, but a reflection upon the last case will be in place. If
amid the shadows of the Old Testament dispensation, David was content for
the Lord to have His way, now that the heart of God has been
fully revealed at the Cross, how much more ought we to delight in the
execution of His will! Surely we shall have no hesitation in saying—
"Ill that He blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill,
And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it he His sweet will."
8. It evokes a song of
praise.
It could not be
otherwise. Why should I, who am by nature no different from the careless and
godless throngs all around, have been chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world and now blest with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in
Him! Why was I, that once was an alien and a rebel, singled out for such
wondrous favors! Ah, that is something I cannot fathom. Such grace, such
love, "passeth knowledge." But if my mind is unable to discern a
reason, my heart can express its gratitude in praise and adoration. But not
only should I be grateful to God for His grace toward me in the past, His
present dealings will fill me with thanksgivings. What is the force of that
word "Rejoice in the Lord alway" (Phil. 4:4)? Mark
it is not "Rejoice in the Saviour," but we are to
"Rejoice in the Lord," as "Lord," as the Master of every circumstance. Need we remind the reader that when the apostle
penned these words he was himself a prisoner in the hands of the Roman
government. A long course of affliction and suffering lay behind him. Perils
on land and perils on sea, hunger and thirst, scourging and stoning, had all
been experienced. He had been persecuted by those within the church as well
as by those without: the very ones who ought to have stood by him had
forsaken him. And still he writes, "Rejoice in the Lord alway"! What was the secret of his peace and happiness? Ah! had not this same
apostle written, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His
purpose" (Rom. 8:28). But how did he, and how do we, "know,"
that all things work together for good? The answer is, Because all things are under the control of and are being regulated by the
Supreme Sovereign, and because He has naught but thoughts of love
toward His own, then "all things" are so ordered by Him that they
are made to minister to our ultimate good. It is for this cause we
are to give "thanks always for all things unto God and
the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20). Yes, give
thanks for "all things" for, as it has been well said "Our
disappointments are but His appointments." To the one who
delights in the sovereignty of God the clouds not only have a ‘silver
lining’ but they are silvern all through, the darkness only serving
to offset the light—
"Ye fearful saints fresh courage take
The clouds ye so much dread,
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings o’er your head."
9. It guarantees the
final triumph of good over evil.
Ever since the day that
Cain slew Abel, the conflict on earth between good and evil, has been a sore
problem to the saints. In every age the righteous have been hated and
persecuted, whilst the unrighteous have appeared to defy God with impugnity.
The Lord’s people, for the most part, have been poor in this world’s
goods, whereas the wicked in their temporal prosperity have flourished like
the green bay tree. As one looks around and beholds the oppression of
believers and the earthly success of unbelievers, and notes how few are the
former and how numerous the latter; as he sees the apparent defeat of the
right, and the triumphing of might and the wrong; as he hears the roar of
battle, the cries of the wounded, and the lamentations of the bereaved; as
he discovers that almost everything down here is in confusion, chaos, and
ruins, it seems as though Satan were getting the better of the conflict. But
as one looks above, instead of around, there is plainly visible to
the eye of faith a Throne, a Throne unaffected by the storms of earth, a
Throne that is "set," stable and secure; and upon it is seated One
whose name is the Almighty, and who "worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11). This then is our confidence—God is on the Throne. The helm is in His hand, and being Almighty
His purpose cannot fail, for "He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth" (Job
23:13). Though God’s governing hand is invisible to the eye of sense, it
is real to faith, that faith which rests with sure confidence upon His Word,
and therefore is assured He cannot fail. What follows below is from
the pen of our brother Mr. Gaebelein.
"There can be no
failure with God. ‘God is not a man, that He should lie, neither the Son
of man, that He should repent; bath He said and shall He not do it? or bath
He spoken, and shall He not make it good?’ (Num. 23:19). All will
be accomplished. The promise made to His own beloved people to come for them
and take them from hence to glory will not fail. He will surely come and
gather them in His own presence. The solemn words spoken to the nations of
the earth by the different prophets will also not fail. ‘Come near, ye
nations, to hear; and hearken ye people; let the earth hear, and all that is
therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the
indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all armies;
He bath utterly destroyed them, He hath delivered them to the slaughter’
(Isa. 34:1, 2). Nor will that day fail in which ‘the lofty looks of
man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the
Lord alone shall be exalted’ (Isa. 2:11). The day in which He is
manifested, when His glory shall cover the heavens and His feet will stand
again upon this earth, will surely come. His kingdom will not fail, nor all
the promised events connected with the end of the age and the consummation.
"In these dark and
trying times bow well it is to remember that He is on the throne, the throne
which cannot be shaken, and that He will not fail in doing all He has spoken
and promised. ‘Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read: Not one of
these shall fail’ (Isa. 34:16). In believing, blessed anticipation, we can
look on to the glory-time when His Word and His Will is accomplished, when
through the coming of the Prince of Peace, righteousness and peace comes at
last. And while we wait for the supreme and blessed moment when His promise
to us is accomplished, we trust Him, walking in His fellowship and daily
find afresh, that He does not fail to sustain and keep us in all our ways.
10. It provides a
resting place for the heart.
Much that might have
been said here has already been anticipated under previous heads. The One
seated upon the Throne of Heaven, the One who is Governor over the nations
and who has ordained and now regulates all events, is infinite not only in
power but in wisdom and goodness as well. He who is Lord over all creation
is the One that was "manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). Ah!
here is a theme no human pen can do justice to. The glory of God consists
not merely in that He is Highest, but in that being high He stooped in lowly
love to bear the burden of His own sinful creatures, for it is written
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor. 5:19). The Church of God was purchased "with His own
Blood" (Acts 20:28). It is upon the gracious
self-humiliation of the King Himself that His kingdom is established. O
wondrous Cross! By it He who suffered upon it has become not the Lord of our
destinies (He was that before), but the Lord of our hearts. Therefore, it is
not in abject terror that we bow before the Supreme Sovereign, but in
adoring worship we cry, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and
blessing" (Rev. 5:12).
Here then is the
refutation of the wicked charge that this doctrine is a horrible
calumny upon God and dangerous to expound to His people. Can a doctrine be
"horrible" and "dangerous" that gives God His true
place, that maintains His rights, that magnifies His grace, that ascribes all glory to Him and removes every ground of boasting from the creature? Can
a doctrine be "horrible" and "dangerous" which affords
the saints a sense of security in danger, that supplies them comfort in
sorrow, that begets patience within them in adversity, that evokes from them
praise at all times? Can a doctrine be "horrible" and
"dangerous" which assures us of the certain triumph of good over
evil, and which provides a sure resting-place for our hearts, and that
place, the perfections of the Sovereign Himself? No; a thousand times, no.
Instead of being "horrible and dangerous" this doctrine of
the Sovereignty of God is glorious and edifying, and a due apprehension of
it will but serve to make us exclaim with Moses, "Who is like unto
thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness,
fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Ex. 15:11).
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