That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.
Philippians 3:10.
The Sovereign
Lord
The last chapter discussed who God is, whereas now
we turn our attention to God's relationship with
us. Before Saul became king over Israel, God, who
was their king, had already intended to give them a
human king. That king would be Himself in the
person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord. That
declaration not only identifies Jesus as the Living
God, but is a statement of His office. As the
sovereign God, Jesus is the King of the
Universe. He is the King of kings,
and the Lord of lords. Our English word, "king,"
comes from the Old English, cyng, which
means "cane." A cane was a unit of measurement, so
by implication, a king was one who set a standard
for living. The office of the King is unknown in
our American government. Power in our American
government was deliberately divided between the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches. A
king holds all three branches in one office.
Jesus is the
legislator who made up all the rules. He has
declared the rules according to His time schedule.
With Adam it was one rule - don't eat from the tree
of knowledge (Gen. 2:17). With Noah He gave the
right of capital punishment (Gen. 9:5-6). With
Moses it was the ten commandments and the Torah. It
is usually said, "Moses the lawgiver," but in truth
it is Jesus the lawgiver. And Jesus gave us grace
by faith (Eph. 2:8) which works by love (Gal. 5:6)
thus fulfilling the law (Rom. 13:10).
Jesus is the
administrator and executor who enforces the
laws. "And the government shall be upon His
shoulder... of the increase of his government and
peace there shall be no end" (Isa. 7:6a & 7a).
He is the Lord of Hosts (the Lord of the Army), the
Captain of Hosts, and the Lord Sabaoth (Lord of
War). Isaiah says of His kingdom, "And he shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of
Yahweh.. .and he shall smite the earth with the rod
of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked" (Isa. 11:3a & 4b).
And He is the
adjudicator who judges the earth. "And
before him shall be gathered all nations; and he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats: and he set the
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left"
(Matt. 25:32 & 33). Again Isaiah says, "and he
shall not judge after the sight of the eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of the ears: but
with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and
reprove with equity for the meek of the earth"
(Isa. 11:3b & 4a). "It is He which was ordained
of God to be the Judge of quick [living] and dead"
(Acts 10:42).
As touched upon under the heading of God's
omnipotence, people have difficulty reconciling
God's goodness with all the evil and pain that He
allows in creation. Consequently, many rationalize
blatant statements in Scripture, as though it was
not God, when God takes responsibility for causing
some kind of harm. Examples abound. In the slaying
of the firstborn He says, "For I will pass
through the land of Egypt this night and will smite
all the firstborn" (Ex. 12:12a). He said, "I will."
Later He says, "when He sees the blood upon the
lintel, and on the two side posts, Yahweh will pass
over the door, and will not suffer the
destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite
you" (v. 23). It can be argued that "the destroyer"
is the devil, which I believe to be so. Ultimately,
though, it is God who takes the responsibility, and
the devil still is His servant. It is difficult to
understand his sovereign control over life,
particularly over evil. We know that He is purely
good, yet He declares, "I form the light, and
create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I
Yahweh do all these things" (Isa. 45:7). The devil
apparently has a free will and is pursuing his own
agenda, yet God is Lord over him, too. He calls him
"his servant, that walks in darkness, and has no
light" (Isa. 50:l0b).
Here are more examples: "Cursed is the ground for
thy sake" (Gen. 3:17) - it is God doing the
cursing; "If I shut up heaven so that there is no
rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the
land, or if I send pestilence among my people" (2
Chron. 7:13) - all acts of God who controls all of
nature. Consider some statements regarding His
character - "I Yahweh thy God am a jealous
God" (Ex. 20:5a) and "And my wrath shall wax hot,
and I will kill you with the sword" (Ex. 22:24a);
all statements that demand respect. His wrath will
ultimately play out in the Lake of Fire (Rev.
20:15) where "their worm dieth not, and the fire is
not quenched" (Mark 9:48). Is this a God to take
lightly? All these examples show that God is deadly
serious about his plans and purposes. We all need
to take God as seriously as He takes us. When he
requests obedience, make haste to be obedient.
It is just as difficult to understand how He
handles His lordship over our free wills. God is in
total control of the universe, even declaring the
end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10), as the
controller of fate and destiny. Yet our free will
is genuine and "time a chance happens to them all"
(Ecc. 9:llb), which demonstrates a random element
that God does not create, but accounts for. In
Isaiah 45:9b He asks, "Shall the clay say to him
that fashioneth it, 'What makest thou?'" Paul
elaborates on Isaiah's verse thusly, "Hath not the
potter power over the clay; of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honor, and another unto
dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath,
and to make his power known, endured with much long
suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction: and that he might make known the
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which
he had afore prepared unto glory" (Rom. 9:21-23).
It is a fearful thing to fall in the wrath of God
Almighty! Yet He "is long suffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9b). Only by trusting
in the work of our Savior, the man Christ Jesus,
our point of grace, do we have confidence in being
vessels of mercy.
While the wicked will receive everlasting
punishment, the will of God can still lead
believers into unpleasant circumstances. Jesus was
led by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan (Matt.
4:1); Hosea was commanded by God to marry a whore
(Hosea 1:2); Isaiah was told to walk butt naked for
three years in front of the people of Israel (Isa.
20:2-4); and so on. Is there any wonder that Jesus
said to count the cost? Bearing your cross may put
you in undesirable circumstances. Then again, the
alternative of eternal punishment is worse. And God
rewards obedience. After the horrible experience
that Job went through, and the purpose of God was
accomplished, "Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job
more than his beginning" (Job 42:12). Job received
double in blessings at his end. When Paul said,
"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God"
(Rom. 1:22), he was encouraging us in the fear of
the Lord.