THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

The Lord’s Sovereign Rule

Psalm 103:19 “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” (Matthew 28:18)

Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

He is Sovereign Over the Creation

He upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3)

Psalm 135:6-7 “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.”

He is Sovereign in His Plans and Purposes

Isaiah 46:9-10 “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”

Job 23:13 “But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.”

Job 42:2 ““I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

He is Sovereign Over All Spiritual Forces

Daniel 4:35 “all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?””

Mark 1:27 “And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.””

He is Sovereign Over Humanity

Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”

2 Chronicles 20:6 “and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.”

Isaiah 10:5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!”

Ezra 6:22 “And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”

He is Sovereign Over Life and Death

Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Mention Lazarus)

The Incredible Comfort of the Sovereignty of God

Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”

Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Genesis 50:20)

The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God… All evil is subject to Him, and evil cannot touch His children unless He permits it. God is the Lord of human history and of the personal history of every member of His redeemed family… He does not explain His actions to us any more than He did to Job, but He has given us what the sufferers of old never had- the written revelation of His sovereignty and love and His manifestation of Himself in the Savior. If those saints could triumph so gloriously without such revelation, shall we who have it go down to defeat? Margaret Clarkson