Tragedy strikes: you lose your child, thousands killed in a tsunami, you hear the doc say the word ‘cancer’. Then, all of a sudden, that loving christian-soldier, ever faithfully looks you in the eye and says— ‘God must have a reason, a plan, for the higher good, this is all part of His higher plan.’ So a devastation happens for my good? No one wants to hear that in the moment. While the sting is fresh it doesn’t seem to bring much relief at all. In fact, for the weak hearted Christian, it makes you feel like God is schizo. I mean He’s good one moment, and then blows you up the next moment, all because He loves you?! Seems like a lot of questions about this and about God’s workings. This brings me to the first question…
What is the truth about Sovereignty? Let’s start with the definition. It means: INDEPENDENT of. God is: absolute; unlimited; unrestricted; unrestrained; unbound; infinite; paramount; incomparable; matchless; unequaled; unparalleled; unsurpassed… beyond our comprehension. He Is holy— separate from us in every way. He is divided by a ‘vail’ of perfection. The physical vail was tore in the Temple at the death of Christ. Symbolizing that God can now dwell with His people because of the substitute forgiveness of sin, accomplished by Jesus’ death. As He Himself said— “It is finished” (John 19.30). The Holy God (Spirit) is now indwelled in us, permanently. That does not mean that God walks with us in a physical way, or share all that is on His mind or plans to do. Could we even take it if He did? could we comprehend it? He is holy, awesome, above and beyond our comprehension. Wouldn’t hurt to shout it… it’s a truth-praise if I ever heard one. So for us to be able to define His ability to be ‘in charge’ or ‘over all’ is laughable. The only way in which we could do so is through His scripture, where He has revealed His mind, His general plans, things of this earth… and us. Having said that, we now embark on the second truth about His sovereignty…
The ‘unknown’ factor. There is absolutely no way to know exactly, with precision, what God is thinking and what He is up to. He has no reason or obligation to tell us anything! He is that much higher than we are, in every aspect. It’s lunacy to think that God owes us an explanation, let alone an apology. If you are a believer, there is no reason, at all, that God owes you anything. In fact— you owe Him! That’s right, you owe Him your life. He paid the price for your eternal soul to not be damned forever; the least you could do is follow Him. The only reason you wouldn’t, is because you think He’s not good, or failed in some way. The one who cannot make mistakes, made one some how? I don’t think so. The easiest way for me to explain this conundrum is: There is no way to figure out God, unless He tells you what’s up. This is why we need the scripture. He tells us. He even gave us the Holy Spirit, who would— “…guide you into all truth…” (John 16.13). So, without scripture attached to an event or decision, the disciple of Christ is sunk before he begins his journey to know ‘what’s up’.
This behoves one to search where He reveals. An encounter with God changes you, takes you to the mat, disturbs your reality, alters your scope of thought and life… permanently.
Our Text for this section is in Isaiah 45.1-13: “1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; 2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. 5 I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. 8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. 9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? 10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth? 11 Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. 12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. 13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Since He is Independent… God is: Ruler of all; Answers to no one; Can accomplish whatever He wants in all things; Sees history from beginning to end at the same time; No obstacle or advisory can hinder His plan from happening; Is afraid of nothing; Ignorant of nothing; Needs nothing; Always knows what’s best; Never makes a mistake. He is in control of it all. He sees what we can’t see. He knows what we can’t know. You heard me right… we cannot know or see what He does. He is over it all, all the time. Are you?
When we go through a trial, we think of us first, not Him first. We are prewired in our sinful condition to magnify self first instead of magnifying Him. When life happens, we think of how this will effect me; rather than how this affects my relationship with God, and what He is doing for me.
What He plans— He delivers. What He wants— He gets. That applies to you and to Isaiah 2700 years ago. At the time Isaiah wrote this section, the Babylonian Empire covered all the countries of: Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and more. They confiscated parts but not all of what we know to be Iran today. King Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem, took the people, and all the items of worship in the temple. He destroyed the temple and the majority of the walls. After Nebuchadnezzar came other kings: Darius, Belshazzar, etc. You can get a first hand account of this entire period in the book of Daniel. Daniel, as a prophet, experienced the entire thing. Through God using Daniel, we have an uninterrupted history of all of these events: Daniel 1.17-21: “17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. 20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. 21 And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.”
Toward the end of Daniel’s life came the Medo-Persian empire. On October 12, 539 BC an army led by the Persian (Iran) King, named Cyrus, marched on Babylon and swallowed the entire empire. Within one month Cyrus released all the deported Israelites, allowing them to flee Babylon. Not all left, but in one day approximately 50,000 Jews returned to their homeland. If this release had not happened, it’s very doubtful the nation of Israel would have existed in Jesus’ day. All that God wanted to do and bringing the Messiah to the world hinged on a pagan King named Cyrus. This is the man God called in our text: “His anointed”— “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;” (Isaiah 45.1)
The word “anointed” the same word translated in other places as “Messiah”. God is so completely and entirely in control, that when He wants to get something done, He can even use a person who is a pagan to accomplish His sovereign will. Nothing can ever stop or slow God’s sovereign purposes. One hundred fifty years before the event happened God revealed to Isaiah the details surrounding Israel’s return to the land. We study Isaiah 45 as history; Isaiah spoke it as prophecy. He even gave the exact name of the ruler, even though Cyrus’ own grandfather had not been born yet. Cyrus may have thought that he was conquering those lands. But we know it was really God holding him by the hand. He said: “I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.” (Isaiah 45.2-3)
Why did God do it? “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.” (Isaiah 45.4). It says here: “…for the sake of Jacob my servant, in Israel my chosen one.” From the first chapter of Ezra we learned that Cyrus was so generous to the Jews that he actually stormed the treasury in Babylon and gave back their golden instruments of worship which Nebuchadnezzar had taken more than a century earlier. They would be a free people again, through a Pagan King!
Nothing is too impossible for God to orchestrate. After all, He is separate and unrestrained by this bounds of this world: “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45.5-6). God is the all-time, undisputed, forever, ruler of the universe! Nothing happens in this world by chance… nothing! Forget about luck. There is no such thing as coincidence either. There is only the sovereign God who rules over all that we are, and do. As verse 6 says— “… there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.” Even Napoleon understood this after his loss at Waterloo, when he said: “man purposes, but God disposes.” Our only real choice in this life is if we are: for God or against God. And this question has to be asked in the details of our every day life. We can either choose to obey him, or not, but He’s not going to change His mind.
It’s hard to understand sometimes. It is. Sovereignty is not an easy subject. We do have clues though— “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.” (Isaiah 45.7-8). This is where we have a problem. If it all comes from Him, then it all comes from Him. This is both perplexing and powerful. It is our conundrum. We love the good but hate the bad. We may forget to thank Him when it’s good, but we defiantly remember to blame Him when it’s bad, forgetting verse 8. How is it that God: “…creates evil…” (verse 7)? It means that He does things and allows things we would consider ‘evil’ because we don’t understand the purpose (which is good). God created a world in which we have a choice. We can choose right or wrong; good or bad; sin or righteousness. He has not left us defenseless, or ignorant. We have the word of God, the Holy Spirit to instruct us, and a church family to walk with us. There is universal suffering because we are members of a fallen race. Not only that, but there is an enemy running people into Hell. The same enemy is constantly tempting us with the same vices and habits, while executing his control over the people of this world. The effects of this on humanity, shows up in sickness, natural disasters, and death itself.
These truths naturally lead people to ask: ’How can a loving God allow so much human suffering?’ To blame God is laughable. Adam brought this upon us, and then we have brought this upon ourselves. The only thing that really ticks us off is that God chooses to not prevent the fallout of a fallen people. ‘Why doesn’t He step in? If He is sovereign, then He could stop it, but He chose not to… so He must not love us or not good at all.’ The question is natural, but what we see in this passage is: God ensures us that His desired end, regardless of choices we make, is under His complete sovereignty, and will be for our good ultimately. Regardless of how our immediate life is going, He is over the bigger picture.
So the core issue with God being fully in charge in accordance with His sovereignty is: Trust. Do you trust He is good and has your ultimate best interest in focus? You do have choices to make and those choices end up eternal or wasted at judgment. The supreme choice is to go with it God’s way, trusting Him, or you can choose to buck Him. Remember though Isaiah 45.9a— “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!” He gives us 2 illustrations to reason with in 9b-10— “Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?” God illustrates, how absurd it is to question His sovereignty, from our present position. Nor would a clay mold on a potters wheel come to life and say— ‘Get your hands off me! and where is my handle?’ Who would say to his dad— ‘Who do you think you are making me.’ Or to their mom— ‘How dare you give birth to me.’ How ridiculous we sound when we try to direct God’s hand or question its movements. You don’t like what’s going on? Think you got an unfair shake? Again, God says— “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!” Remember your place created one. Remember His place while you’re at it! You know, this is precisely why there is a great falling away. This is why believers are rushing to hack out Genesis as history. Because if you do, then the Bible is make believe and our God is a benevolent Grandpappy in the sky who dolls out candy to all, so I can ignore Him. Or He’s a Machiavellian sledge hammer in the sky, so I would be crazy to follow Him. Sad. Tragedy will happen, but the majority of our misery is our own making.
All the stress and worry we have about life, the events in it, and others actions, get us nowhere. We serve a God who is completely in control of the universe. He does not ask for favors; He does not need counsel; He has never taken out a loan; and He doesn’t weary from His day. As a matter fact, He has no day. He is above time, space, and our little reality. He does all of this, with his feet propped up. He is not stretched or stressed in anyway. He is sovereign! Isaiah 45.11-13– “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.” Look back at the text and notice: ‘I will, I have, I the LORD, I have , I, I will.’ Again and again we see God declaring what He will do. You’re not going to stop Him. You can either get on board, or reject His plan… it’s that simple. You can either love Him for who He is and what He has already proven to you on the cross, or you can get huffy, depressed, and bitter… your choice.
Take a look in Matthew 5, the beginning of Christ’s commands to us, His disciples. What I see is both anti-human and counter-intuitive. Broken (poor in spirit); Emotionally crushed (mourn); Defenseless (meek); On the brink of spiritual death (hunger and thirst after righteousness); Humbled (merciful); Selfless (pure in heart); Blamed (peacemaker); Innocent pain (persecuted). Then why does He say that we are blessed when this happens? Because He is there. You have to choose to declare war on human pride first, and have God close; or take charge all by your lonesome. Good luck with the later.
Do you have the sovereignty to know what’s ahead and around the corner? Neither do I. Which do you value more: His closeness or your perceived freedom; His closeness or your will to be done; His closeness or your facade of safety; His closeness or your temporary feelings? He is sovereign and I am not. So I chose obedience; I chose submission; I chose loyalty; I chose Him.