Sunday: God’s Sovereignty
At first glance the book of Daniel begins with a somber note of defeat. Judah has capitulated to Nebuchadnezzar and the temple vessels have been taken from Jerusalem to the land of Shinar. The word Shinar appears in the Bible in Genesis 11:2 as the location of the tower of Babel. Shinar is an ominous sign, as it alludes to a project rooted in open defiance of God. But even if the builders of Babel failed in their attempt to reach the heavens, external appearances suggested that Nebuchadnezzar and his gods — located in the land of Shinar — had overpowered the covenant God of Israel.
Image © Daniel Pape from GoodSalt.com
Still, the opening lines of Daniel make it clear that the defeat of Jerusalem is not credited to the superior power of the Babylonian king; rather, it has occurred because “the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] hand” (Dan. 1:2, NKJV). Much earlier, God announces that should His people forget Him and break the covenant, He would send them as captives to a foreign land. So, Daniel knows that behind and beyond the military power of Babylon, the God of heaven is leading the march of history. It is this clear view of God’s sovereignty that sustains these young men and gives them strength and courage to face the temptation and pressure of the Babylonian empire.
Read 2 Kings 21:10-16, 2 Kings 24:18-20, and Jeremiah 3:13. Why does God give Judah and Jerusalem into the hands of the Babylonians?
As we face the challenges of the twenty-first century, we need to recapture the perception of God that is so vividly reflected in the book of Daniel. According to this book, the God whom we serve not only drives the forces of history through His sovereignty but also mercifully intervenes in the lives of His people to provide them with crucial help in times of need. And as we shall see later, what God did for the Hebrew captives He will do for His people in the end time, regardless of the various attacks on them and their faith.
| What are some of the challenges your faith faces now, either from outside sources, from within the church, or from your own personal defects of character? How can you learn to lean on the power of God to help you overcome whatever is before you? |
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The sovereignty of God is possibly best illustrated in Elijah's encounter with God in the desert when he was running away from everything.
God was a little voice of encouragement, not a huge display of power.
In the grand scheme of things, Jerusalem was not a big target, it was a small non-tax-paying city between the powers of the East - Babylon in this case, and Egypt. That the thread of belief in God was retained though this conflict testifies to the sovereignty of God and is the miracle that demonstrates his power.
Listen to Jesus talk about his sovereignty:
Praise God and Happy New year all!
God's resumé
He existed before anything else
Ps. 90:2: "Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, You are God."
1 Tim. 6:16 tells us that God is "the only One who has immortality." Eternality trumps finiteness every time.
He created all things
John 1:3: "All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created." Col. 1:16: "Because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him." Job copped an attitude with God over the crushing blows he was enduring, only to be reminded that God knows the score in the game of life because He created the game, the field, the ball, the bat, and every player.
He sustains all things
Col. 1:17: "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Hebrews 1:3 adds that Jesus is the radiance of [God's] glory, the exact expression of His nature, and He sustains all things by His powerful word. The language of the Bible tells us that His power to make everything hold together instead of fly apart is operative from the atomic level to the universe level.
He is above all things
Isaiah 46:9-10: "Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; [I am] God, and no one is like Me. I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: My plan will take place, and I will do all My will." God is not limited or restrained by anything.
He knows all things
Ps. 139:1-4: "Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord." The knowledge of God is described in Scripture as exhaustive, thorough, covering the details down to the smallest possible levels.
He can do whatever He pleases
Ps. 135:6: "The Lord does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths." Jeremiah 32:27: "Look, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?"
He orchestrates all things
Isaiah 14:24: "The Lord of Hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so it will be; as I have purposed it, so it will happen." Eph. 1:11 reminds us that God "works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will
He rules over all things
In Daniel 4:34-35, the most powerful man on earth decided to take on God. When God was through with him, here was what he said, "But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does what He wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can hold back His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'"
He is in control of all things
He controls the choices of world leaders - Prov.21:1: "A king's heart is a water channel in the Lord's hand: He directs it wherever He chooses."
He controls the course of human events - Ps. 33:9-11: "For He spoke, and it came into being; He commanded, and it came into existence. The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations; He thwarts the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation."
He controls calamity (Amos 3:6 says, "If a disaster occurs in a city, hasn't the Lord done it?" The psalmist is awed by this: He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants"; "He unleashes His winds, and the waters to flow . . . Lightning and hail, snow and cloud, powerful wind that executes His command." (Psalm 104:4; 147:18; 148:8). Isaac Watts was right, "There's not a plant or flower below but makes your glories known; and clouds arise and tempests blow by order from your throne."
He controls our circumstances (James 4:13-15: "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit." You don't even know what tomorrow will bring - what your life will be! For you are a bit of smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
Happy New Year Josiah K.
I am having difficulty with the last five statements or conclusions. Would you mind elaborating on how humanity’s “free will” fits in with these conclusions?
Humanity's free will operates in the context of God's foreknowledge, as well as His infinite wisdom and power. In other words, while our choices will determine our own eternal destiny, no exercise of man's free will can thwart God's ultimate purposes, including His control of your circumstances. We cannot even save ourselves by free will. That takes a divine intervention. We can only lose out by the exercise of our stubborn free will.
I believe that the topic of God's 'sovereignty' is a vital one that needs to be closely re-examined. As more and more disaster is unfolding and will continue to unfold (as per the principle expressed in Revelation 7:1), it will become more and more important to understand what is actually going on and who is and is not responsible for what.
Today's lesson states: "the God whom we serve not only drives the forces of history through His sovereignty but also mercifully intervenes in the lives of His people to provide them with crucial help in times of need."
Yet when I read the account of what was going on behind the scenes in Job's situation I find this: "The Lord said to Satan ... you (Satan) incited Me against him (Job) to destroy him without cause" (Job 2:3).
Thus, it would appear that God is not the only one driving the forces of history. Satan, from the instance of his departure from the way of abundant life, has initiated a history that was never meant to be but nevertheless has unfolded and is still unfolding. The calamities that are overtaking the world's present history are NOT being driven by God.
Job (and his friends) were trying to make sense of what was going on - just like we are today. Job's friends were taking the line that God is in absolute control and that because He is, Job must have done something to cause/deserve the calamity he was experiencing. That is the only conclusion that can be drawn if we hold to the view that God is in absolute control exercising absolute Sovereignty - the way God's 'Sovereignty' is typically understood/conceptualised.
Amid the conversation, Job asks an interesting question in Job 9:24 - if it is not God that is driving the forces at work in Job's situation (ie Job's history), "then who is it?" God answers this question in Job 41 - it is Leviathan (The Serpent). Furthermore, God affirms in Job 42:7 that the position that Job's friends has been holding (that it is God who is behind all this in His 'sovereignty') was 'not right' whereas Job's position that it can't be God, it must be someone else 'was right'.
I do believe that God is Sovereign - but I do not believe it is in the way/s we typically view/understand sovereignty. Isaiah 55:8,9 is a key principle that needs to be kept in mind when dealing with terms that describe our ways of being/doing and are also used with reference to God. If God's ways and thoughts are "higher" than our ways, then we need to step back and intentionally consider how God's Sovereignty is different (higher) than our typical view/understanding.
So, we need to ask, in what way/s is God Sovereign different to our typical view/understanding of sovereignty? Paul states in Romans 8:28 that God is able to work all things together for good for those who love Him. What does this mean in light of what I have outlined above? I would propose that there are things that because of God's necessary commitment to freedom, there are forces of history that God is not in control of. However, while God can't stop these destructive forces, He can and does work to ultimately bring about good from the midst of destruction for those who align with Him (ie who love Him) - though this good may not be visible this side of eternity (as per, for example, the list of people in Hebrews 11 who died not seeing the fulfilment of their faith this within this present, sin-infected temporal world where we are temporary aliens and strangers).
I believe that what I have outlined above is one of the reasons why Jesus parting words were "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). If we also recall that Jesus had said, "In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world" (John 16:33), we again have this picture that we may well have to journey amid disaster in this temporal realm - but that ultimate 'victory'/restoration is assured for those who love God in the eternal realm. And, in the meanwhile, God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit will be present with us here and now even when we are walking through the horrors of the valley of the shadow of death - and perhaps even into death itself.
Of relevance to the book of Daniel, is it possible that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego understood what I have outlined above when they acknowledged to Nebuchadnezzar that while God had they power to deliver them, it was possible that He might not (Daniel 3:17,18). However, they were not afraid of whatever outcome was to occur within this temporal realm because they knew that God as with them and would never leave or forsake them (Deuteronomy 31:6) - a perspective that is instead anchored within the eternal realm.
For those who are interested, when the lesson gets to Daniel chapter 10 later on, you might want to revisit Daniel 10:12,13 and ask yourself what kind of Sovereignty is reflected in the thought-provoking experience that at first glance can seem a somewhat strange inclusion in the book of Daniel.
GOD ANSWERS SATAN'S PRAYERS.
Did you know that satan prays and that God answers his prayers?
He asked God to remove the wall of protection around Job and God did so. He asked Jesus to allow him to enter the pigs and Jesus did so. Jesus told his disciples that satan had asked for permission to sift them like wheat.
God also limits Satan's prayer. In Job's time he was told ' Don't touch him ' Don't kill him !' In Jesus's time satan had to wait for his time to come and when it came he was capable of even CARRYING JESUS.
Once given permission satan can use anything. He used fire, wind, disease, neighbours, friends and even family members to attack Job.
Satan is given time to show what he is capable of and as we speak now he is burning Australia just as he burned Job's 7000 sheep. He has caused floods in Indonesia. He has made a building to collapse in Cambodia just as he did with job's elder son's house. He is causing war in Yemen,Syria and Libya. And rumours of war in Iraq where nuclear powers are threatening each other.
Thank you, Phil, for your cogent, biblical discussion of God's sovereignty. This is a concept we must get right, or our view of God becomes distorted. Those who argue for the absolute sovereignty of God have no satisfactory answer for the horrors of WW2, the inhumanity of most powers on this earth, or the apparent current triumph of evil on this planet. Thanks for offering a balanced view of God's interaction with His creation.
The power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
While God is Sovereign- has supreme powers and authority, he still gave humans the power of choice. At creation Adam and Eve were given that power and same was pass down to every human being. The Lord presents good and evil and asked that we serve him for good. The consequences of evil are also before us.
The question is asked- Why did God gave the Israelites into the hands of the Babylonians? I asked myself, did God really gave them into the hands of the Babylonians OR God withdrew his protection from them because they refused to follow him and as a result Satan had his way? Does a loving God allows bad things to happen to good people? Do humans understand Divine Will. Does prayer brings God down to us or does prayer lifts us up to God.
How do people do everything to live healthy and still get sick? How do
people live unhealthy and don’t get sick?
It is impossible to please God without faith! He knows the end from the begining! I do not see any other way out but to trust Him! He knows everything.
The lesson asks why did the LORD give Judah (the Jews) into the hands of Chaldeans? The answer is clear - because they broke their commitment to love the LORD with all their being. Deut 6:5,6 The covenant is conditional, Ex 19:5,6 Lev 26:3,14, always if - then.
My question is we know that Daniel loved the LORD so why was he given into the hands of the Chaldeans with the rest of the Jews?
Secondly why were the Jews as a nation preserved, although in captivity, and not wiped out of existence like the 10 tribes of Israel 2Kings 17:20
Just as With Esther, God allowed Daniel and His friends to be captured in order for his an end that will bring Gods glory
That is the problem with legalism. If God's love and care was conditional on obedience ("if then"), none of us would deserve it or receive it (Romans 3:10-12; Psalm 14:3; Psalm 53:1-3).
Moreover, according to legalistic righteousness by works, "if" we somehow managed to be perfectly obedient, "then" God would be in debt to us and we would have something to boast about (i.e., our obedience). This is clearly not so (Romans 4:2-4 NKJV). Paul went to great lengths to fight against this false doctrine but, as is true today, many insisted on earning God's love and gift of salvation and by this stubborn insistence, rejected His grace and thereby lost the gift of salvation they insisted on earning themselves.
“If” we cannot earn a gift, “then” why do we continue to insist that we can (Galatians 3:2-5)?
I agree there is a fine line between loving the LORD and accepting that His way is the best - or on the other hand trying to earn the blessings without loving Him.
A bit like marrying someone for their money not for love.
What does it mean to accept the LORD's gift of salvation? From what are we saved? What is the purpose of salvation? To be changed?