Discovery #19: The Sovereignty of God Conundrum? (Part 1)

 

Nothing demonstrates God’s power and sovereignty better than a good Northern Lights show

 Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

What makes God, God?

Does it matter to Him what we think of Him? I was having this conversation with a very dear friend of mine, and it evolved into a major discussion about God’s sovereignty.  I thought the discussion raised some pretty difficult yet important questions about how God works in our lives. I hope you will find this an interesting path to explore as it deals with such important questions as:

• Do we really have free will?
• Why is there suffering in the world?
• Does God allow Satan to do whatever he wants?
• Why doesn’t God do a better job of helping us with these problems and answering our prayers?

A lot of people struggle with these questions because we know God is aware of everything that happens to us. Unfortunately, some draw the conclusion that God is too busy to respond. We struggle with believing that He cares about His creation in general, much less us in specific. Yet, to even have that thought is somewhat comparable to comparing God to a 2-year-old. We imagine that God might care deeply about us one minute, yet in the very next moment, God tosses us aside only to be enamored with someone (or something) else. The problem with that example is that God is infinitely more sophisticated than a 2-year-old! And His love for us is not dictated by (nor dependent on) any response of ours. The fact that we are even aware of God is purely because He wants and encourages our awareness. The Bible makes it clear that He wants us to know Him! The Bible also tells us why.

The Foundations of Sovereignty 

We were created in God’s image—something that God did not do for any other part of His creation. Imagine that. God implanted His own DNA—that which defines Him—into us! That one act was the greatest single miracle ever done across all time! God, who is the one and only true God, the “First Cause” of everything, deliberately decided to breathe into “the dust of His creation” and make Adam (the first human) in an image of Himself. What does that even mean?

 So God created human beings in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female. Genesis 1:27 NCV

Adam was not God—he was created using one part creation (dust) and one part inspiration (God). No other aspect of God’s creation can make that claim! What was God thinking?  And, while your mind is being blown, imagine this: Jesus’s stint on earth had a similar ring—the Holy Spirit breathed into Mary the DNA of Jesus—God! Thus, out of God came man, then, out of woman came God!

But we were not created to be God! Two huge points stand in our way:

1. We only have part of God’s DNA—we are not a facsimile, we are an image (reflection) of Him, and

¹⁰ The Lord says, “You are my witnesses and the servant I chose.
I chose you so you would know and believe me,   so you would understand that I am the true God. There was no God before me,    and there will be no God after me. Isaiah 43:10 NCV

1. We were born into sin. Because God is perfect, sin can never be a part of Him. 

Think of it this way: just as you received DNA from your parents, you will never be your parents. That analogy, although true, falls short of explaining our relationship with God. Although we were created in His image, God will always remain as the “one and only true God.” Part of our DNA comes directly from Him breathing it into us. It is His breath that gave us life and His DNA that gave us an eternal spirit. But we must never forget that the other half of our heritage came from God using the “dust of the earth” (part of His creation) to form us into a fleshly being. The bifurcation of our heritage is what keeps God, God, and us as something less than God. Although we may not fully understand why this must be so, the Bible is clear—there will always be only one God. Without Him in this position, there would be chaos. There would be no one who has control over creation, and (as a result) all creation would collapse. God must be the stabilizing force. This is an important principle that must be understood if one wants to have a prayer of truly knowing God.  The same is not true of Jesus. Although Jesus was born with DNA coming from Mary, we know that Jesus was not defined by that DNA. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is fully God because (as the Bible tells us) Jesus existed even before Abraham and was, in fact, He is the creator of the world.

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!” John 8:58 NCV

He is fully man because He was born as a man, lived His life as a man, and then experienced death, as do all humans. But, because He is God, Jesus did something none of us could do—He lived a perfect life without sin.

Grace: the ultimate gift from a sovereign God!

When we ask ourselves why God created us, the Bible tells us—it is because He loves us! The Bible also teaches that when sin entered the world, its stain on us created a separation between us and God. If God were to remain God and have fellowship with us, that stain needed to be removed. We clearly could not do it on our own. Once sin infected us, we could not heal ourselves and make ourselves right with God. So, God intervened. Only the King of Heaven and Earth could grant us our unearned pardon—GRACE (God’s Redemption at Christ’s Expense). This was the act of a sovereign and loving God giving us something we could not earn nor accomplish on our own.

There is a reason God created time

One thing that may help you understand how God remains sovereign is to appreciate why God created us to live in a world defined by the constant movement of time.

• God is the only one who sees to the end of time: As long as we live under this constraint, God can easily maintain His sovereignty as He is the only one who sees everything from beginning to end with absolute clarity. Neither Satan, nor the angels, nor even Jesus can make that claim. God maintains His sovereignty (in part) by fully controlling time.

³⁶ “No one knows when that day or time will be, not the angels in heaven, not even the Son. Only the Father knows. ³⁷ When the Son of Man comes, it will be like what happened during Noah’s time. (Jesus’ words) Matthew 24: 36-37 NCV

• Humanity is (for a time) constrained by time: And herein lies the conundrum. God, in His absolute sovereignty, decided to create something only God could create—a creation that mirrored who He is—in all His glory. This was more than the miracle of creating life (another thing only God can do). It was the creation of an eternal spirit that, like God, would never end. Yet, once God created us, we were all locked into something called “time.” Our path had a clear beginning and would suffer an end of the flesh but not our spirit. God is eternal and has no beginning nor end. And God’s plan was to keep us locked in this time bubble until we made the transition from our created, fleshly bodies to our eternal spirit. What was He thinking?

It seems clear to me that God had plans for humanity that went well beyond anything He had for the rest of His creation. Every other living creature would live out their time and then return to the dust from which they came—never leaving the time bubble. Humans were set on a path that was destined to qualify them to live forever. The question was—would they spend that eternity with God or somewhere else? The answer would be decided during the time we spent as “fleshly” beings. God knew there would be a learning curve, and time was the means by which God chose to teach us. Getting through this experience would be a journey—both individually and for humanity in general. Our flesh would one day transcend into a spiritual form that would make us “like God.” But stage one of our existence would lock us in that time bubble where:

• • God protects His sovereignty because time is a concept created by God and controlled by God. Although sin and rebellion exist within the concept of time, they don’t affect God because, as our creator, what He started, He will also finish.
  • God could use time as a teaching tool where humanity could learn and grow by using their free will to make their own mistakes and learn from the mistakes of those who came before them.

The Bible says that God’s endgame will conclude with us being united with His Son, Jesus, via holy matrimony, where we would become “one flesh” together. The binding of us to Jesus via “flesh” vs. spirit provides just enough room for God to be God and maintain His sovereignty. At that point, we will be purified by the blood of Jesus (another fleshly concept) and declared worthy to spend eternity with God and Jesus. We will be His family. I think this is a very clever solution.

• Only God can use time to His advantage (What I call “Time Tweaks”): God created us with a purpose, and time has always played a big role in those plans. God has never been in a hurry to see us grow up.

² Before the mountains were born and before you created the earth and the world, you are God.
    You have always been, and you will always be.

³ You turn people back into dust. You say, “Go back into dust, human beings.”
⁴ To you, a thousand years is like the passing of a day,  Psalms 90: 2-4 NCV

He has patiently watched us and occasionally intervened when He thought (by doing so) He could accelerate our learning and/or show his love. Isn’t that exactly what a good parent tries to do? The difference with God is that He always knows what is best for us and what and when an intervention will do the most good. Satan, as God’s adversary, may interfere with certain events in time but only God knows the full impact of every intervention. Think of time as a river flowing down a mountain. It can only go in one direction, yet its path is affected by whatever obstacle it encounters. The bigger the obstacle, the bigger the impact. All of God’s creation can, by the exercise of their free will (both through prayer and action), act as an obstacle that in some way diverts the path of time. But only God knows what each diversion will do to the ultimate path time will take. And that is why I believe God intervenes with His “Time Tweaks”—they reset the path so it will end how God wants it to end. Scholars worry about how God’s “Time tweaks” may impact our freedom to be ourselves. They say it violates God’s sovereignty, but I believe that God is more concerned with how His sovereignty will interfere with our freedom to learn, grow, and evolve. Think of it like this. If you just watched a movie and didn’t like the ending, have you ever thought what might have happened if:

• • The movie was just 10 minutes longer?
  • One character had done just one thing differently?

God has the ability to do that. And we even have a name for it— “Divine Intervention!” When Trump was shot at in Butler, PA, many interpreted his not being killed as an act of God and a sign that He is not yet finished with Donald Trump. His intervention (if you believe in that) didn’t violate anyone’s free will (well, maybe the shooter’s), but the outcome has nonetheless changed. Imagine the impact if Trump had died! Whatever the reason, God intervened because He saw a better outcome. I think Mr. Trump and his followers would agree with that.

God reigns on His throne!

Throughout the Bible, there are images of God reigning on His throne in heaven.

…they are before the throne of God. They worship him day and night in his temple. And the One who sits on the throne will be present with them. Revelation 7:15

These images present us with the clear and irrefutable fact that God is in control. This was true on the first day of creation, and as Revelation points out, it is true even to the end. All creation will worship Him “day and night” as the sovereign God on His throne in heaven.

Next time, we will address the practicalities of God’s sovereignty.

Like what you read? Don’t miss the next edition! Subscribe to my posts.