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At the outset of our study of God’s characteristics or attributes, as they are properly known, we said that these may be divided into natural and moral attributes. His natural attributes are those which convey some "statistical" information about Him—His "age," "size," "location" or "address," "strength," etc., which are more properly known by the facts that He is invisible, a Spirit, eternal, the Creator, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and a Trinity. We have already covered each of these in previous articles. God’s moral attributes are those that denote more of what He is like personally: loving, holy, righteous, etc. In this, the last of His natural attributes which we will take up, we will discuss the fact that God is sovereign.

What do we mean when we say that He is "sovereign"? What does the word mean? Webster’s Third New International Dictionary says "sovereign" means "1.a. possessed of controlling power: ruling, predominant, as ‘the king could not be sovereign if there were any immunities....outside his jurisdiction’ (Christopher Morris); b. unlimited in extent, absolute; c. enjoying autonomy: independent, self-governing; 2.a. of the most exalted kind, supreme; b. superlative in quality, excellent, unsurpassed;...d. of an unqualified nature; e. having undisputed ascendancy." How fitting these aspects of the definition of "sovereign" are when it comes to God is readily evident to anyone who has become acquainted with Him through the Scriptures. Truly He and only He in the final sense is independent and self-governing and has ruling power that is absolute and unlimited in extent. Others have only a limited range of authority derived from those over them and are not autonomous in the true sense of the word. "Sovereign" is a term applied to kings and princes and nation states. We say that ours is a sovereign nation, but in the truest sense it is not, for it, as well as all other authorities or entities we may call sovereign are accountable to a higher authority, and all authority of whatever kind is accountable to God. But God Himself is the Highest or Ultimate Authority, being answerable and accountable to no one else; hence only He is sovereign and autonomous or self-ruling in the truest sense. A good synonym for "sovereign" with reference to God would be "Highest Ruler" or "Supreme Authority."

God’s sovereignty is attested to frequently and in a number of ways in Scripture, both directly and indirectly. Indeed, the concept of His sovereignty is innately a part of our very conception of what it means to be God. Stephen Charnock, in his classic work on the attributes, writes:

The very name of God includes in it a supremacy and an actual rule. He cannot be conceived as God, but he must be conceived as the highest authority in the world. It is as possible for him not to be God as not to be supreme. Wherein can the exercise of his excellencies be apparent, but in his sovereign rule? To fancy an infinite power without a supreme dominion, is to fancy a mighty senseless statue, fit to be beheld, but not fit to be obeyed; as not being able or having no right to give out orders, or not caring for the exercise of it. God cannot be supposed to be the chief being, but he must be supposed to give laws to all, and receive laws from none. (The Existence and Attributes of God; Baker Books: Grand Rapids, MI; 1979 reprint of 1681, Vol. 1, pp.365,366)

God is often called in Scripture "the Most High" or "Most High God:"

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself." But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’" (Genesis 14:17-23)

O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more." Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord—that you alone are the Most High over all the earth. (Psalms 83:1-4,18)

So, the first thing we want to say about God being sovereign is that it means He rules over all. He rules over everything in every realm whether visible or invisible, in heaven, earth, and hell. All thrones and authorities rule only in a limited sphere and only by His permission. They derive their authority from Him and are answerable to Him whether they choose to recognize it or not.

Just as people refer to earthly monarchs and kings as their "sovereign," God also is often called a King in the Bible:

The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. (Psalms 10:16)

How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth! (Psalms 47:2)

Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. (Psalms 47:6-8)

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. (Psalms 95:3)

But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. (Jeremiah 10:10)

"For I am a great king," says the Lord Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations." (Malachi 1:14)

Not only is He a King, but the Great Universal King whose dominion extends over all the earth, including all nations. Along with the references to His being the Great King are many that speak of His rule, dominion, kingdom, and reign:

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. (Psalms 22:27,28)

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength....Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. (Psalms 93:1,2)

Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns." (Psalms 96:10)

The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. (Psalms 99:1,2)

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. (Psalms 103:19)

As the Great King of the Universe, God, just as earthly "sovereigns" do, governs His subjects by making laws and then enforcing them, punishing offenders. In this we have somewhat of a problem as modern Americans, because we have despised the notion of a monarchy from our very inception, having built our nation upon democratic principles. We elect our officials, including our highest, the president. He as well as some others have in turn the power to appoint certain other officials. Our legislatures which write our laws are made up of representatives elected by the people. And all this is done under the framework of a constitution which is supposed to guarantee individual rights and freedoms. I am certainly not saying that all this is wrong or unscriptural; I appreciate being under our form of government, notwithstanding the abrogation of many of our freedoms in this century, as much as anyone else. But our love of and familiarity with representative democracy as well as our complete ignorance of monarchy or rule by a king may hinder us from fully appreciating and submitting to the sovereignty of God. In our system, all our authorities are (ultimately and ideally at least) subject to us and what we think. Many monarchies in the world today, like that in Great Britain, have no real authority—they are only figure heads. This is exactly the attitude of many toward God. Sure, He’s up there, but the real action is down here on earth in what we decide to do. Even in most countries today that have a viable monarchy, it is defined and restricted by a constitution that the king or queen must obey. But God is the absolute Monarch: no consent of the people elected Him or has any bearing whatever on His continuance, no other power or constitution keeps Him in check, and He governs and rules just as He pleases, making laws for all His subjects to obey to suit His own likes, and punishing offenders as He sees fit. I don’t think we as Americans or any others who live under democratic rule really understand and appreciate this as we should. I know it poses problems for us when it comes to the government of the church, which is a theocracy, that is, God ruling through His appointed representatives. Of course, His representatives may not rule as they see fit but are subject themselves not only to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, but are bound by a "constitution"—the Bible.

Our second point regarding God’s sovereignty, then, is that He takes orders from no one, He answers to no one. In this God is unique. In almost every aspect of our lives, we are subject to and must take orders from someone, whether it be our employers on the job, our elected officials or their appointees, our judges, our law enforcement, our teachers in school, our parents, our husbands if we are wives, and our pastors and other spiritual leaders. Even earthly "sovereigns" are usually subject to something, whether it be a constitution or the will of the people in the case of rebellion, insurrection, and revolution, as in the case of our nation’s independence from Britain. And even the most autocratic tyrant in the world is subject to God whether He acknowledges Him or not. He can easily be deposed by sickness and death or the invasion of a rival power. But God is unique in that He takes orders from no one, is answerable to no one. In fact, everything and everyone else takes orders from Him or is ruled by Him to some degree, even the rebel subjects of the universe, and everyone else is answerable to Him through temporal and eternal judgments. God is the only true Sovereign. Just as He is unique in that only He is self-existent, everyone else being dependent upon for and owing his existence to Him, and just as He is unique in that only He is eternal in the fullest sense, that He has always been, everyone and everything else coming into being through Him, so also is He unique in that He is absolutely Sovereign, independent, self-governed, everyone and everything else including the highest authorities merely deriving their authority as well as their existence from Him. Everyone else but God is accountable to some other authority.

Consider these passages from the book of Job:

"If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’" (Job 9:12)

"In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food? Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons cannot be released. If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. To him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are his. He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges. He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established. He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders. He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty. He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste. They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards." (Job 12:10-25)

"But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than man. Why do you complain to him that he answers none of man's words?" (Job 33:12,13)

Who appointed him over the earth? Who put him in charge of the whole world? (Job 34:13)

Without inquiry he shatters the mighty and sets up others in their place. (Job 34:24)

God rules over nature, over deceived and deceiver alike, over judges, kings, nobles, priests, elders, and nations. "In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind" (12:10), and "He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them" (12:23). In other words, His sovereignty extends to individuals as well as nations.

We see God’s absolute sovereignty expressed repeatedly also in the book of Daniel, whose primary subject is world rulers and empires. In response to the king to reveal and interpret a dream he had, Daniel said,

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." (Daniel 2:20,21)

And in interpreting another of king Nebuchadnezzer’s dreams, Daniel revealed it meant that God had determined to humble the proud monarch by driving him from his throne and banishing him to madness, eating grass like an ox:

"‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.’"..."You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes." (Daniel 4:17,25)

All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" (Daniel 4:35)

Later Daniel was called upon to interpret the "handwriting on the wall" at the great feast of Belshazzer, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar:

"O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two. (Daniel 5:18-31)

How does all this comport with the temptation of Christ and Satan’s boast that it was his prerogative to rule on earth and give political authority to whomsoever he would? "Faith movement" teachers, not exactly known for their love of God’s sovereignty to say the least, ignore all these affirmations of God’s total control in Job and Daniel and opt out instead for Satan’s boast in the temptation of Jesus that it is he, not God, who rules over everything in the world. They would like to spare God any embarrassment for the bad things that happen in the world and they would also like to have it in their own power what happens to them, especially when it comes to health and wealth. But their stress upon Satan ruling everything just doesn’t pan out with a lot of Scripture. Was Satan lying then? Not completely; he does have a say in who gets the power, but the ultimate control belongs in the hands of God. Surely not every ruler that has ever reigned has been put in office by the devil! No doubt Satan’s boast is a good example of inflated exaggeration and the fact that most lies contain at least some truth.

Job replied to God after He had appeared to him: "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2).

In order for him to better understand the judgment soon to be meted out upon Israel, God told Jeremiah to

"Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel." (Jeremiah 18:1-6)

This is true not only of Israel, but of all nations and individuals—we are clay in the hands of the divine potter. He "shapes us as seems best to Him."

"God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed his ways for him, or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?" (Job 36:22-23)

God’s sovereignty is often expressed in Scripture as His "doing what pleases Him" and His "will:"

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. (Psalms 115:3)

I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. (Psalms 135:5,6)

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight."

(Luke 10:21, New American Standard Version)

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:11)

That God does "whatever pleases Him" may be taken in two ways, both valid: that He does whatever He chooses to do without anyone telling Him so or forbidding it, and that He does what pleases His own nature, what He sees best.

This brings us to the third of our observations of God’s sovereignty: He does everything according to His own nature, will, and purpose, nothing else. Charnock writes:

God depends upon none in the foundation of his government; he is not Lord by the votes of his vassals. Nor is it successively handed to him by any predecessor, nor constituted by the power of a superior....He holds not the right of his empire from any other; he hath no superior to hand him to his throne, and settle him by commission....[He needs] no license from any when to act, nor direction how to act, or assistance in his action; he owes not any of those to any person; he was not ordered by any other to create, and therefore received not orders from any other to rule over what he hath created. He received not his power and wisdom from another, and therefore is not subject to any for the rule of his government. He alone made his own subjects, and from himself hath the sole authority; his own will was the cause of their beings, and his own will is the director of their actions. He is not determined by his creatures in any of his motions, but determines the creatures in everything; his actions are not regulated by any law without him, but by a law within him, the law of his own nature....His dominion is absolute in regard of supremacy and uncontrollableness. None can implead him, and cause him to render a reason of his actions. He is a sovereign King, "Who may say unto him, What doest thou?" (Eccles.8:4)....Subjects are accountable to their princes, and princes to God, God to none; since he is not limited by any superior, his prerogative is supreme. His dominion is absolute in regard of irresistibleness. Other governments are bounded by law; so that what a governor hath strength to do, he hath not a right to do; other governors have a limited ability, that what they have a right to do, they have not always strength to do; they may want a power to execute their own counsels. But God is destitute of neither; he hath an infinite right, and an infinite strength; his word is a law; he commands things to stand out of nothing, and they do so....Magistrates often use not their authority, for fear of giving occasion to insurrections, which may overturn their empire. But if the Lord will work, "who shall let it?" (Isa.43:19): and if God will not work, who shall force him? He can check and overturn all other powers; his decrees cannot be stopped, nor his hand held back by any: if he wills to dash the whole world in pieces, no creature can maintain its being against his order. (Ibid.,pp.373,374,376,377)

It is true that God is accountable to no one but Himself, but this does not mean He is a tyrant who rules only according to arbitrary choices of His will. God’s sovereignty does not stand alone but is rooted in His nature and Being, which is good, just, loving, holy, etc. In other words, we should not think of God’s sovereignty as the first and last word concerning Him but keep in mind that it is couched in His other attributes. Some theologians, extreme Calvinists in particular, have stressed God’s sovereignty at the expense of His other attributes, so that it is viewed as the beginning and end of God. He possesses absolute and unlimited authority over everything, but He is not a despot. His rule is a good, just, and loving one also; He always chooses what is best for His subjects taken as a whole. It would be a mistake to think of God’s sovereignty apart from His other attributes, and this leads us to our fourth point—

God’s sovereignty stems from His omnipotence and the fact that He created everything. Because everything is His, He can dispense with and govern everything as He pleases.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12)

One of the most colorful expressions of God’s sovereignty linked with His being the Creator is this passage in Job:

"Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words? Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life? Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering. No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me." (Job 41:1-11)

Note these claims by God to sovereignty based upon creation:

 

With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. (Jeremiah 27:5,6)

"Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20:15, New American Standard Version)

In the following passages, God’s sovereignty is linked with His omnipotence. He not only has the authority to rule everything, He has the power to do what He wills as well. Nothing is able to withstand Him:

Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said: "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you." (2 Chronicles 20:5,6)

Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12)

He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations—let not the rebellious rise up against him. Selah. (Psalms 66:7)

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign." (Revelation 11:16,17)

Charnock writes:

[God’s sovereignty] is founded in his act of creation. He is the sovereign Lord, as he is the almighty Creator. The relation of an entire Creator induceth the relation of an absolute Lord; he that gives being, that is the sole cause of the being of a thing, which was before nothing, that hath nothing to concur with him, nothing to assist him, but by his sole power commands it to stand up into being, is the unquestionable Lord and proprietor [owner] of that thing that hath no dependence but upon him; and by this act of creation, which extended to all things, he became universal Sovereign over all things....God hath a natural dominion over us as creatures, before he hath a dominion by consent over us as converts: as soon as ever anything began to be a creature, it was a vassal [servant or slave] to God, as a Lord. Every man is acknowledged to have a right of possessing what he hath made, and a power of dominion over what he hath framed: he may either cherish his own work, or dash it in pieces; he may either add a greater comeliness to it, or deface what he hath already imparted. He hath a right of property in it: no other man can, without injury, pilfer [steal] his own work from him. The work hath no propriety in itself; the right must lie in the immediate framer, or in the person that employed him....[T]he first inventor of an art hath a right of exercising it. If a man hath a just claim of dominion over that thing whose materials were not of his framing, but from only the addition of a new figure from his skill; as a painter over his picture, the cloth whereof he never made, nor the colors wherewith he draws it were never endued by him with their distinct qualities, but only he applies them by his art, to compose such a figure; much more hath God a rightful claim of dominion over his creatures, whose entire being, both in matter and form, and every particle of their excellency, was breathed out by the word of his mouth....A man hath a right to a piece of brass or gold by his purchase, but when by his engraving he hath formed it into an excellent statue, there results an increase of his right upon the account of his artifice. God’s creation of the matter of man gave him a right over man; but his creation of him in so eminent an excellency, with reason to guide him, a clear eye of understanding to discern light from darkness, and truth from falsehood, a freedom of will to act accordingly, and an original righteousness as the varnish and beauty of all; here is the strongest foundation for a claim of authority over man, and the strongest obligation on man for subjection to God....The dominion of God is founded upon his preservation of things. (Ps. 95:3,4); "The Lord is a great King above all gods;" why? "In his hand are all the deep places of the earth." While his hand holds things, his hand hath a dominion over them. He that holds a stone in the air, exerciseth a dominion over its natural inclination in hindering it from falling. The creature depends wholly upon God in its preservation; as soon as that Divine hand which sustains everything were withdrawn, a languishment and swooning would be the next turn in the creature....God is Lord of all, as he is the sustainer of all by his power, as well as the Creator of all by his word....God maintains the vigor of all things, conducts them in their operations; so that nothing that they are, nothing that they have, but is owing to his preserving power. The Master of this great family may as well be called the Lord of it, since every member of it depends upon him for the support of that being he first gave them, and holds of his empire. As the right to govern resulted from creation, so it is perpetuated by the preservation of things. (Ibid., pp.368-371)

Concerning the link between God’s sovereignty and His other attributes, Charnock writes:

[God’s] dominion, though it be absolute, is not tyrannical, but it is managed by the rules of wisdom, righteousness, and goodness....Since he is his own rule, and his nature is infinitely wise, holy, and righteous, he cannot do a thing but what is unquestionably agreeable with wisdom, justice, and purity. In all the exercises of his sovereign right, he is never unattended with those perfections of his nature....Worldly princes often fancy tyranny and oppression to be the chief marks of sovereignty, and think their sceptres not beautiful till died in blood, nor the throne secure till established upon slain carcasses....But God makes not so much might, as right, the support of his. He sits on a "throne of holiness" (Ps.47:8)....It is always linked with his holiness, that he will not do by his absolute right anything but what is conformable to it: since his dominion is founded upon the excellency of his nature, he will not do anything but what is agreeable to it, and becoming his other perfections. Though he be an absolute sovereign, he is not an arbitrary governor...it is impossible but he should act righteously in every punctilio of his government, since his righteousness capacitates him to be a judge, not a tyrant, of all the earth (Gen.17:25)....God cannot by his absolute sovereignty command some things, because they are directly against unchangeable righteousness....It is lawful for God to do what he will, but his will being ordered by the righteousness of his nature, as infinite as his will, he cannot do anything but what is just....Though his nature be infinitely excellent above us, and his power infinitely transcendent over us, yet the majesty of his government is tempered with an unspeakable goodness. He acts not so much as an absolute Lord, as a gracious Sovereign and obliging Benefactor. He delights not to make his subjects slaves; exacts not from them any servile and fearful, but a generous and cheerful, obedience....And though it be granted he hath a full dispose of his creature, as the potter of his vessel, and might by his absolute sovereignty inflict upon an innocent an eternal torment, yet his goodness will never permit him to use this sovereign right to the hurt of a creature that deserves it not....As not to punish the sinner would be a denial of his justice, so to torment an innocent would be a denial of his goodness....The excellency, thereof, of the Divine nature is the natural foundation for his dominion. He hath wisdom to know what is fit for him to do, and an immutable righteousness whereby he cannot do any thing base and unworthy: he hath a foreknowledge whereby he is able to order all things to answer his own glorious designs and the end of his government, that nothing can go awry, nothing put him to a stand, and constrain him to meditate new counsels. So that if it could be supposed that the world had not been created by him, that the parts of it had met together by chance, and been compacted into such a body, none but God, the supreme and most excellent Being in the world, could have merited, and deservedly challenged the government of it; because nothing had an excellency of nature to capacitate it for it, as he hath, or to enter into a contest with him for a sufficiency to govern. (Ibid., pp.368,377-381)

As is our pattern with each of the attributes we study, let us ask ourselves what our response to God’s sovereignty should be. First, let us note how this attribute has been transgressed against:

How great is the contempt of this sovereignty of God! Man naturally would be free from God’s empire....there is not a law of God but the corrupt heart of man hath an abhorrency of: how often do men wish that God had not enacted this or that law that goes against the grain! and, in wishing so, wish that he were no sovereign, or not such a sovereign as he is in his own nature, but one according to their corrupt model. This is the great quarrel between God and man, whether he or they shall be the Sovereign Ruler....[M]an is more impatient of the yoke of God than of the yoke of man. There are not so many rebellions committed by inferiors against their superiors and fellow-creatures, as are committed against God....[S]uch a disesteem of the Divine authority is a virtual undeifying of him. To slight his sovereignty is to stab his Deity....How base and brutish is it for vile dust and mouldering clay to lift up itself against the majesty of God, whose throne is in the heavens, who sways his sceptre over all parts of the world—a Majesty before whom the devils shake, and the highest cherubims tremble!...All sin in its nature is a contempt of the Divine dominion. As every act of obedience is a confirmation of the law, and consequently a subscription of the authority of the Lawgiver (Deut. 27:26), so every breach of it is a conspiracy against the sovereignty of the Lawgiver; setting up our will against the will of God is an accusation against his authority, as setting up our reason against the methods of God is an articling against his wisdom; the intendment of every act of sin is to wrest the sceptre out of God’s hand....[T]o obey our own wills before the will of God, is to prefer ourselves as our own sovereigns before him....The dominion of God, as a Proprietor, is practically condemned by envy....The foundation of this passion is a quarrel with God; to envy others the enjoyment of their propriety [ownership] is to envy God his right of disposal, and, consequently, the propriety of his own goods; it is a mental theft committed against God; we rob him of his right in our will and wish....Since God is the Lord of all, and may give the possession and dominion of things to whom he pleaseth, all theft and purloining, all cheating and cozening another of his right, is not only

a crime against the true possessor, depriving him of what he is entrusted with, but against God, as the absolute and universal proprietor, having a right thereby to confer his own goods upon whom he pleaseth, as well as against God as a Lawgiver, forbidding such a violence: the snatching away what is another’s, denies man the right of possession, and God the right of donation....Impatience is a contempt of God as a governor. When we meet with rubs in the way of any design, when our expectations are crossed, we will break through all obstacles to accomplish our projects, whether God will or no. When we are too much dejected at some unexpected providence, and murmur at the instruments of it, as if God divested himself of his prerogative of conducting human affairs; when a little cross blows us into a mutiny, and swells us into a sauciness to implead [blame] God, or make us fret against him (Isa.7:21), wishing him out of his throne; no sin is so devilish as this; there is not any strikes more at all the attributes of God than this, against his goodness, righteousness, holiness, wisdom, and doth as little spare his sovereignty as any of the rest: what can it be else, but an impious invasion of his dominion, to quarrel with him for what he doth, and to say, What reason hast thou to deal thus with me? This language is in the nature of impatience, whereby we question his sovereignty, and parallel our dominion with his. When men have not that confluence of wealth or honor they greedily desired, they bark at God, and revile his government: they are angry God doth not more respectfully observe them, as though he had nothing to do in their matters, and were lacking in that becoming reverence which they think him bound to pay to such great ones as they are; they would have God obedient to their minds, and act nothing but what he receives a commission for from their wills. When we murmur, it is as if we would command his will, and wear his crown; a wresting the sceptre out of his hands to sway it ourselves; we deny him the right of government, disown his power over us, and would be our own sovereigns....Men would be their own carvers, and not suffer God to use his right; as if a stone should order the mason in what manner to hew it, and in what part of the building to place it. We are not ordinarily concerned so much at the calamities of our neighbors, but swell against heaven at a light drop upon ourselves. We are content God should be the sovereign of others, so that he will be a servant to us: let him deal as he will himself with others, so long as he will treat us, and what relates to us, as we will ourselves....When things do not go according to our vote, our impatience is a wish that God was deposed from his throne, that he would surrender his seat to some that would deal more favorably, and be more punctual observers of our directions. Let us look to ourselves in regard of this sin, which is too common, and the root of much mischief....Man, that is God’s vassal, would set bounds to his lord and

cease to be a servant, and commence master, when he would give, not take directions from him....Man that hath not wit enough to govern himself, would be governing God, and those that cannot be their own sovereigns, affect a sovereignty over heaven. Pride and presumption is another invasion of his dominion. When men will resolve to go to-morrow to such a city, to such a fair and market, to traffic, and get gain, without thinking of the necessity of a Divine license, as if ourselves were the lords of our time and of our lives, and God were to run errands for us (James 4:13,15)....Self is the great invader of God’s sovereignty; doth not only spurn at it, but usurp it, and assume divine honors, payable only to the universal Sovereign....To disdain that any creature should be above us, is to disdain God’s sovereign disposition of men, and consequently, his own superiority over us....How dreadful is the consideration of this doctrine to all rebels against God! Can any man that hath brains in his head, imagine it an inconsiderable thing to despise the Sovereign of the world? (Ibid., pp. 426-428,433-435,437-440,446)

Finally let us consider what should be our response to this attribute. Charnock continues:

How is the love of God seen in his condescension below the majesty of earthly governors!...[H]e rules as a Father, by love as well as by authority....In his being Sovereign, his pardons carry in them a full security....Who can repeal the act of the chief Governor? what tribunal can null the decrees of an absolute throne? (Isa.43:25)....Since we are under the dominion of God, if he pardons, who can reverse it?....Hence is a strong encouragement for prayer....[W]e pray to one that hath the whole globe of heaven and earth in his hand, and can do whatsoever he will: though he be higher than the cherubims, and transcendently above all in majesty, yet we may soar up to him with the wings of our soul, faith and love, and lay open our cause, and find him as gracious as if he were the lowest subject on earth, rather than the most sovereign God in heaven. He hath as much of tenderness as he hath of authority, and is pleased with prayer, which is an acknowledgment of his dominion, an honoring of that which he delights to honor; for prayer, in the notion of it, imports thus much—that God is the Pastor of the world, that he takes notice of human affairs, that he is a careful, just, wise Governor, a storehouse of blessing, a fountain of goodness to the indigent, and a relief to the oppressed. What have we reason to fear when the Sovereign of the world gives us liberty to approach to him and lay open our case?...If God hath an extensive

dominion over the whole world, this ought to be often meditated on, and acknowledged by us. This is the universal duty of mankind. If he be the Sovereign of all, we should frequently think of our great Prince, and acknowledge ourselves his subjects, and him our Lord....The meditation of this would fix us on him as an object of trust. It is upon his sovereign dominion as much as upon anything, that safe and secure confidence is built; for if he had any superior above him to control him in his designs and promises, his veracity and power would be of little efficacy to form our souls to a close adherency to him. It were not fit to make him the object of our trust that can be gainsayed by a higher than himself, and had not a full authority to answer our expectations....It would make us diligent in worship....When we consider the majesty of God, clothed with a robe of light, sitting upon his high throne, adorned with his royal ensigns, we should not enter into the presence of so great a Majesty with the sacrifice of fools, with light motions and foolish thoughts, as if he were one of our companions to be drolled with. We should not hear his word as if it were the voice of some ordinary peasant. The consideration of majesty would engender reverence in our service; it would also make us speak of God with honor and respect, as of a great and glorious king, and not use defaming expressions of him, as if he were an infamous being....The Lord is to be honored with our substance (Prov.3:9); kings were not to be approached without a present; tribute is due to kings....It would make us entertain afflictions as they ought to be entertained, viz., with a respect to God. When men make light of any affliction from God, it is a contempt of his sovereignty, as to scorn the frown, displeasure, and check of a prince is an affront to majesty....There is a "despising the chastening of the Almighty" (Job 5:17). To be unhumbled under his hand, is as much, or more, affront to him, than to be impatient under it. Afflictions must be entertained as a check from heaven, as a frown from the great Monarch of the world; under the feeling of every stroke, we are to acknowledge his sovereignty and bounty; to despise it, is to make light of his authority over us....This dominion of God would make us resign up ourselves to God in everything. He that considers himself a thing made by God, a vassal under his authority, would not vehemently find fault with him, and call him to an account why he hath dealt so or so with him....We should not then contest with him, but humbly lay our case at his feet, and say with Eli, (1 Sam. 3:18), "It is the Lord, let him do what seems good." We should not commence a suit against God, when he doth not answer our prayers presently, and send the mercy we want upon the wings of the wind; he is the Lord, the Sovereign. The consideration of this would put an end to our quarrels with God; should I expect that the Monarch of the world should wait upon me; or I, a poor worm, wait upon him?...The doctrine of the dominion of God may teach us humility. We are never truly abased, but by the consideration of the eminence and excellency of the Deity. Job never thought himself so pitiful a thing, so despicable a creature, as after God’s magnificent declamation upon the theme of his own sovereignty (Job 42:5,6)....How unreasonable is pride in presence of majesty! How foolish is it for a country justice of peace to think himself as great as his prince that commissioned him! How unreasonable is pride in the presence of the greatest sovereignty!...Let man be great as he can, and command others, he is still a subject to One greater than himself. Pride would then vanish like smoke at the serious consideration of this sovereignty....Is any proud in his possessions?...Your dominion lasts but a short time, too short to be a cause of any pride and glory in [them]. God by a sovereign power can take you from them, or them from you, when he pleaseth....Doth not that man deserve scorn from you, who will play the proud fool in gay clothes and attire, which are known to be none of his own, but borrowed?....Is anything you have your own truly? Is it not lent you by the great Lord? Is it not the same vanity in any of you, to be proud of what you have as God’s loan to you, as for such a one to be proud of what he hath borrowed of man?...What ground is there to be proud of those things you are not the absolute lords and owners of, but only have the use of them granted to you during the pleasure of the Sovereign of the world!...Praise and thankfulness result from this doctrine of the sovereignty of God....We owe him thankfulness. He is at his own choice whether he will bestow upon us any blessings or no....[I]t is the Divine will in everything that doth us good....His goodness to us calls for our thankfulness, but his sovereignty calls for a higher elevation of it: a smile from a prince is more valued, and thought worthy of more gratitude, than a present from a peasant; a small gift from a great person is more gratefully to be received than a larger from an inferior person: the condescension of royalty magnifies the gift....Praise and thankfulness is a rent due from all mankind, and from every creature, to the great Landlord, since all are his tenants, and hold by him at his will....We are as much bound to the sovereignty of God for his preservation of us, as for his creation of us; we are no less obliged to him that preserves our beings when exposed to dangers, than we are for bestowing a being upon us when we were not capable of danger.....Obedience naturally results from this doctrine. As his justice requires fear, his goodness thankfulness, his faithfulness trust, his truth belief, so his sovereignty, in the nature of it, demands obedience: as it is most fit he should rule, in regard of his excellency, so it is most fit we should obey him in regard of his authority: he is our Lord, and we his subjects; he is our Master, and we are his servants; it is righteous we should observe him, and conform to his will....It is not by professions but by observance of the laws of a prince, that we manifest a due respect to

him....All creatures obey him. All creatures punctually observe the law he hath imprinted on their nature, and in their several capacities acknowledge him their Sovereign; they move according to the inclinations he imprinted on them. The sea contains itself in its bounds, and the sun steps not out of its sphere; the stars march in their order (Ps.119:91)....Shall insensible and sensible creatures be punctual to his orders, passively acknowledge his authority? shall lions and serpents obey God in their places?—and shall not man, who can, by reason, argue out the sovereignty of God, and understand the sense and goodness of his laws, and actively obey God with that will he hath enriched him with above other creatures? Yet the truth is, every sensitive, yea, every senseless creature, obeys God more than his rational, more than his gracious creatures in this world....[L]et us not pretend to own God as our Lord, and yet act the part of rebels; let us give him the reverence, and pay him that obedience, which of right belongs to so great a King....Obedience is due to God, as King, and the choicest obedience is due to him, as he is the most excellent King. The more majestic and noble any man is, the more careful we are in our manner of service to him....It is folly not to submit to him. (Ibid., pp.450-471)

More could be said about how through a lack of regard for this attribute we "cease to be a servant and commence to be a master" of God, especially as it relates to modern ethical issues such as abortion, suicide, and euthanasia. But once again, as I say so often, my space and time is gone. (I say the same thing in the pulpit, even after preaching an hour and a half or more!). Certainly we haven’t nearly exhasted the great subject of God’s sovereignty, but we have said enough, that given careful thought, would make a big difference in our lives. Until next month, may you have a renewed sight of the majesty of our Sovereign Lord!

Leon Stump, Pastor of Victory Christian Center

Background from Greenfield Graphics.