God Is Sovereign Over Nations And Individuals

"...In order that the 

living may know

that the Most High 

rules in the kingdom

of men,

gives it to whomever

He will,

and sets over it

the lowest of men."

Daniel 4:17b

     The Sovereignty of God is exercised by causing King Nebuchadnezzar to become like the beasts of the field, eating grass as an animal. This seven year period when the senses of the king had left him ended King Nebuchadnezzar realized the Sovereignty of God and said: "Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down" (Daniel 4:37). God is Sovereign over nations and His providence rules over men. The Psalmist makes this fact plain and clear: "He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations; do not let the rebellious exalt themselves" (Psalm 66:7). God's Providence rules nature, nations, and people: "And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him" (Daniel 2:21-22). God gives power over whomever He will, nations and kings are not immune from the Providence of God. God does not overrule man's nature or free will to choose for Himself which way to go, rather God, in order to accomplish His end desire, influences and cause nations to do His bidding: "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger (here is a fact, God is using Assyria to do His bidding) and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath I will give him charge,..." (Isaiah 10:5-6a). Those above Scriptures make plain that God exercises complete control of nations, He absolutely uses them for His purposes, and employs them to accomplish all that He wills. 

     To the unfocused person life seems to take its course in a natural and solely physical manner. Life is born, lives, and dies, each generation comes and goes, and all seems not to be ordered by a higher power. The same is true for non-Christians as it is for Christians, whether or not you live in a heathen land or not, go to church or not, whether a man exhibits talents or not; in some boring continuum life continues in the mode that has been established in some manner. Yet, to the focused, the sequence of events in man's life are not seen as undetermined, not ruled by chance, rather there is intelligence behind each event and that intelligence is God. Samuel writes: "The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down the grave and brings up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and makes them inherit the throne of glory" (1 Samuel 2:6-8). God is the sole ruler of the universe and being the sole ruler it is by that authority of being the only, the Good, and Love, that all He does is for Good: "I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me...." (Isaiah 45:5a). I has been said, man is not controlled as if he were some puppet on a string and his own free will does not have any meaning; that is true, but, God uses all means to accomplish His purposes even directing men: "A man's heart plans the way, but the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). How does God's direction allow for my free will? this discussion of free will shall be taken up in other blogs, but to simply allow for some understanding I will address this subject briefly. God directs and God's will is accomplished whether through you, or by means of another person. These decisions will be accounted to Jesus on the day of judgement, what we say and what we do: "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment" (Matthew 12:36). Furthermore, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work" (Revelation 22:12). God has set the boundaries of men, His creation designed for His purpose and has set the means by which that purpose will be accomplished. We can either be an active servant of God or not, God will let us choose, but He will judge according to how we attended and exercised His will assigned to us: And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings" (Acts 17:26).

     Yes it is true, God is Sovereign in all creation, that we must admit, and that He is in control even of our lives. Don't get relaxed and say: "well, no matter what happens if I only believe on Jesus I will make it to heaven and no matter the consequences, I will be there for an eternity." Maybe as some seem to do and believe that if they just do saintly things, i.e., teach Sunday School, sing in the choir, be a pastor, or a teacher, hold home Bible studies, I will have done my part as a Christian. Yes, you may be doing all that as a Christian should be doing, but if you are doing it only because you have an impulse to do so then you have not done what Paul taught the Corinthian Church: "...casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). When we over emphasize the work for God and have not become simply obedient to God we have not brought into captive every thought to the obedience of Christ. If we have not spiritualized by determined discipline then the work we do for Christ; we have forgotten that we are first committed to Christ for salvation and not for salvation alone. Furthermore, we are to be committed to Jesus Christ's view of God, His view of the world, and recognize our responsibility to renew our minds. If this is not done then we make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, we must demolish, destroy all things that would cause us to be obedient only to our predetermined ideas rather than to be obedient and totally captive to Jesus Christ. God is Sovereign and He has set forth what He expects of His elected Children.

And you He made alive,

    who were dead

in trespasses and sins.

                      Ephesians 2:1

May the Grace of God Be With Your Spirit

Richard L. Crumb