God’s Universal Rule Over All Creation

Transcript

GRM 1248
11/15/2020
God’s Universal Rule Over All Creation
Daniel 4 and Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I want to look with you into the scriptures today on a subject we’ve looked at before, but it’s been a little while. And want to serve as a reminder of what God is doing in the world these days and give us confidence and assurance as believers so that we are not unsettled or shaken by things that might be going on around us. I want to talk about God’s universal rule over all creation. We looked at this on different occasions, I’m basically going to overview material that I’ve drawn from the Greatness of the Kingdom by Alva J. McClain that some of you have read and some of you have studied together in Bible study. We talk about the kingdom, usually there are three aspects that are considered, and if we take the three R’s, there will be a ruler, realm, and then rulership. In other words there has to be someone to rule, there has to be a realm over which he rules, and then he must be exercising his rulership and that is what we are looking at that’s involved in a kingdom.
Now as we come to the scriptures we see maybe two aspects of God’s kingdom, the first one is one perhaps we think of most as believers. We call it the mediatorial kingdom, that is the term that Alva J. McClain uses, among others, the mediatorial kingdom. That is basically when we are thinking about that, we are thinking about the kingdom which is yet future, the kingdom which will be established when Jesus Christ will rule and reign on the earth. Now McClain, some of you are familiar with his work, would go more broadly but I want to keep it simple and more narrowly focused, I’m talking about the prophetic kingdom, the future kingdom. Someday Jesus Christ will come to this earth and He will rule and reign the kingdom forever and ever. We call that the mediatorial kingdom.
The kingdom we are going to focus on today is not that future, prophetic kingdom when Christ comes and rules on the earth but the universal kingdom that has always existed. This is God’s universal reign over all His creation for all time. It has existed from the beginning of creation and the opening chapters of Genesis and goes on forever. In fact, when Jesus Christ comes and rules on the earth it will be bringing to earth in a fuller and most complete way the sovereign rule of God over His creation. So these are distinct periods of time. But the universal rule of God will ultimately become manifested fully on earth when Christ is reigning and the new heavens and the new earth will be the fullest manifestation of that. So we want to walk through what God says about His present reign over His creation because this is what gives us confidence, assurance, stability of life even when it says the world is in turmoil and confusion. Reminds us, God is sovereign, His will is done in heaven and on earth. There is a sense everything is out of control, the world looks and wrings their hands and shakes their head, throws up their hands in despair, disappointment, but we have a settled assurance that it’s God’s will that is being done. Now be careful, we talk about God’s will being done, does not only mean good things, but it means bad things, unpleasant things, destructive things, but they are all part of God’s rule over all His kingdom.
So I have five characteristics of this universal kingdom or universal rule and reign of God over all creation. We are just going to walk through these characteristics and look at a number of scriptures so I’ve called them the major characteristics of this universal kingdom, this rule and reign of God over all His creation. The first one is: the universal kingdom exists without interruption throughout all time. This universal kingdom has been in existence since the creation of the world. Turn in your Bibles to Psalms 145: 13, I have these verse written out in my own notes but I want you to be able to find them in your Bibles, maybe mark them. Some of these verses are good to be on your mind and prepared for conversations you might have because people are talking about rulership, reigning, who is our president, what does it mean to change presidents of our country, what will this mean for us individually and then us for a country, what is going on in the world. Understand God has ruled sovereignly without interruptions. So it doesn’t matter that we change presidents if we do, we have changed a number of times in our history as a country. The ultimate rule rests with God because this whole creation is His kingdom, if you will, over which he rules. Look at Psalms 145: 13, “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations”. You see that? It is a permanent kingdom, it endures through all generations. And that means generations come and go, people die and are replaced, one generation, succeeds another generation, but His dominion, His rule over all creation, His kingdom endures. It goes on throughout all generations and that means rulers change but God does not change, the ultimate authority over the universe, if I can speak that way, unchanging. You think about the history of our world and how many nations have come and gone as great powers, how many rulers there have been, but there has only been one ultimate ruler, that is the unchanging God.
We will jump around, come back to Psalm 29: 10, here we are told, “The Lord sat as King at the flood; yes, the Lord sits as King forever”. You’ll note, ‘as king’ is in italics, it doesn’t appear in the first line but in this parallelism in the poetry, “the Lord sat”, well, He just doesn’t have a recliner, He is sitting on a throne. The second line says, “He sits as King forever.” He was King at the flood, of course He was, because He sits as King forever. Keep in mind that means He was sovereign ruling over and bringing about the greatest disaster the world has ever seen, the destruction of all humanity except for eight individuals. But He was enthroned, sovereignly ruling and bringing about it all. We believers acknowledge that, we say yes. Sometimes when it gets down to our days, in the days we are living and the situations we’re in, basically we sometimes think, well, in our situation if the vote would go this way or if the vote would go that way or if this would happen or if that would happen. But you understand the sovereign God sits enthroned as King today just like He did generations ago at the flood of Noah.
Jeremiah the prophet, come over to Jeremiah 10… Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, those large books after the very large book of Psalms. There are smaller books in between but give you a focus, you are about the middle of your Bible. Jeremiah 10, Jeremiah is speaking, drawing a contrast between God and the nations of the earth, the rulership of God and the nations of the earth and their rulers. Verse 2, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them.” That’s not what we talk about, you know, we say don’t make fun of other people’s religions. The prophets were out of step with the world around them in their day, they would be out of step today, because they were God’s spokesmen and they mocked the other religions. “The customs of the peoples,” verse 3, “are a delusion; because it is wood cut from the forest.” He goes on to say, to make their gods they cut a piece of wood, then they put silver and gold on it to make it look expensive. I like verse 4, “They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter”. That is a great god, nail it down so he doesn’t fall over, now I can really get a lot of help from him. Then he goes, “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,” this is what your god’s like, “a scarecrow in a cucumber field… And they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot walk!” I’m going to ask god to help me, he can’t even walk. What kind of god is he? “Do not fear them, for they can do no harm. Nor can they do any good.”
Then note what he says, “There is none like You, O Lord; You are great, and great is Your name in might. Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?” There are many nations, they have their own kings but there is one sovereign God who is king over the kings, His kingdom rules over all the earthly kingdoms, that is the point that Jeremiah is making. Come down to verse 10, “But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.” There were powerful nations on the earth and there were at this time. Babylon conquering the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom had already been conquered by Assyria, they were a fearful nation. But there is one true God, the living God, the everlasting King, at His word the earth shakes, the nations tremble. There is one sovereign ruler of all, He is the living God, He is the everlasting King, verse 12, “It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom; and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.” He had been sovereign from the beginning of creation, and that is why anything outside of Him exists, of course, it’s all under His rule, under His authority and under His control.
You are in Jeremiah, turn over to Lamentations, that is just after the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah wrote the Lamentations of Jeremiah, as well as the prophecy that bears his name. He is writing in the context of Israel being taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Jeremiah was permitted to stay in the land by Nebuchadnezzar because Nebuchadnezzar had become familiar with the prophecy of Jeremiah and him prophesying that Babylon would conquer the Jews and be victorious and so on. But he laments over the situation and in chapter 5 of Lamentations verse 19, here he is dealing with the overwhelming… There is a reason it’s called Lamentations. He has to weep, the sorrow of it all, the destruction of the nation. You know, the ten tribes have been carried away by the Assyrians long ago and now here the destruction of our nation. He knows the hand of God is in it but it’s still causes him grief. Verse 19 of chapter 5, “You, O Lord, rule forever,” or the words you have in the margin ‘sit forever,’ “Your throne is from generation to generation. Why do you forget us forever? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to you, O Lord.” He sees the sovereign hand of God in it, it’s painful, it hurts, he loves the people that God has chosen but they must be disciplined. But he cries out for mercy. But you note, his confidence in God has not changed, because You rule forever, “Your throne is from generation to generation”. The nation may have been carted off into captivity, God’s still on the throne. You reign, You rule, You determined this would happen, now I ask You to intervene.
You never want to lose that anchor that keeps you strong and settled. You believe God is on the throne today? Does it matter who is president? Ultimately who decides? Well, if the vote were to go this way or if people would only do this or that. What? Then God could win? He is sovereign, He rules over all! Now you know on earth kingdoms come and go. Remember the consistency, God rules from heaven, that never is interrupted. If the United States of America collapses and is no longer a significant nation God will still be on the throne. There is only one nation that we are assured of glorious victory in the end. Now other nations will be in that kingdom when Christ reigns but there is only one kingdom that we can say has the promises of God for their endurance and that is Israel. The United States could be wiped out and disappear totally from the face of the earth. God would still be on the throne and would still be consistent with what He reveals in His word. So we need to be careful we don’t caught up in the emotion of the moment.
Second characteristic of God’s universal kingdom: the universal kingdom includes all that exists in space and time. Which is another way to say everything that exists outside of God Himself, all that exists in space and time, nothing is excluded from His kingdom, from His sovereign rule. Everything, everyone, every detail. We looked in Jeremiah 10:7 where God is called the King of the nations. Well, the nations didn’t acknowledge the God of Israel as their king, Israel was even rebelling against Him, but He is the God of the nations. Doesn’t depend on their recognition of Him. Now their failure to recognize Him and bow before Him will bring serious consequences, but He is the God of the nations when He is not recognized. Well, they’re not believers so… So they are in rebellion against God. He is still God, He is still the God over them. His being God, His being King, does not depend on their recognition because He maintains sovereign authority.
The book of Daniel… so you are in Lamentations, keep going through Ezekiel, that is the next book, then you’ll come to the book of Daniel. Daniel 4, Daniel has a lot to say prophetically about the nations. And you see God lays out what nation will come next, what nation will come next, what nation will come next, when Christ will come to earth to establish the earthly kingdom which will ultimately be the manifestation of the sovereign rule of God over all of His creation. Daniel 4:17, this is Daniel’s interaction with Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4:2, verse 1 for the context, “Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth: ‘May your peace abound! It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.’ ” We’ll read a couple more verses back but really what is happening is Nebuchadnezzar is going to give a testimony. As the result of the powerful working of God Nebuchadnezzar came to realize he wasn’t the most powerful ruler over the earth although he was the most powerful physical, earthly king. But God was the one who was powerful, verse 2, “It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders,” note, “which the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion is from generation to generation.” You might think that was a prophet of God speaking but this is Nebuchadnezzar, God has radically transformed him and he has a different perspective.
And he goes on to tell he had a dream, then Daniel comes and interprets the dream for him. You come down and Daniel then is going to interpret for Nebuchadnezzar. Keep in mind Nebuchadnezzar is not a nice man before God transforms him, he is a brutal ruler. Those were the only kind pretty much they had in those days. Remember what he did to the last king of Israel for rebelling against him when he conquered Jerusalem? He led him and his whole family out to where Nebuchadnezzar would be setting up his throne of judgment, then he had all of his children executed. This wasn’t find a way to do it in the less painful, this is to be a brutal thing. Then he had the eyes of that king blinded so the last thing he would see was the execution of all of his children. Then he had him carted off to Babylon to be imprisoned. He is the king who when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we’ll look in a moment, wouldn’t bow down to the idol he put up and worshiped, threw them in to a furnace that was heated multiple times it’s normal heat, so that even the soldiers that brought Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to throw them in were burned up. He is a man who could be very cruel, a man who tolerated no disobedience. Remember when Daniel came and he was being trained to be one of the wise counselors for the king and he didn’t want to eat defiled food? He was a Jew and naturally he had dietary restrictions out of the Mosaic Law. What did the man in charge for the young men say? Look, if I don’t give you the right food and you don’t look good, you endanger my head to the king. This was a man to be feared, so keep in mind this. And here he is acknowledging he is the man, if you won’t bow down to the image which is a god reflecting my power I’ll throw you in to the furnace. Now he is saying, the Most High God has done wonders for me, “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion is from generation to generation.” Come down to verse 17, and you can read the context, there was a decree, “This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers. This decision is made to command to the holy ones,” these are the angels that serve God, “in order that the living may know.” Now what are we supposed to know? We are the living today, we learn from it even though we weren’t there. “That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.” This is where it comes to, God makes a decree, the angels who do His bidding carry it out. What do you need to learn from this? “The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind.” We are talking about the ultimate ruler, it’s His rule, He bestows it on whom He wishes.
We watch the news since we came through a presidential election. I said to Marilyn. “You know, I’m not watching anymore news, they are going to take a vote. We can watch it after all said and done and find out what God decided. You watch it and everyone is debating, and oh, if they don’t do this, if this gets done, or if that gets done. When all said and done I will find out what God decided and that will be good. Keep in mind God appoints rulers for different purposes. He raised up Nebuchadnezzar to crush the Jewish kingdom and lead it away into captivity, that was His will, He was going to use the Babylonians to do that. So don’t think… we think of it, well, what would be for our organization to continue. What God is doing is what fits His plan for His creation, sometimes it’s for good and sometimes it’s for evil, we will see more on that.
Look down to verse 24, when Daniel is giving the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. “This is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king.” One thing Daniel is, he is respectful, always, to those who have authority over him. It is required in scripture for a godly person to respect the authority. This is a young man who was uprooted from his home country, his family, and transported to Babylon, he didn’t have a say in it, and given certain specific responsibility. He doesn’t stand before Nebuchadnezzar and say you were an ungodly man and you are going to be punished for mistreating my people and my family. No, no, very respectful. This is “come upon my Lord the King,” He is his Lord, he is the King, very respectful even though he has the message of God. This is the decree, it is not a recommendation, it is not an idea, God has decreed what will take place. I love how it’s put, this is the decree of the Most High, you don’t go above Him. So when you say this is the decree of the Most High, this is the final word. And it’s Nebuchadnezzar, most powerful man on earth, is going to eat straw like an ox for seven years. So he learns that he is nothing but a dumb animal when he rebels against God. He will be treated like that, then in the end God will restore him, amazing. The kingdom went on for seven years and then he could step back into place, but that’s another story for another time. Look at the end of verse 25, why is this happening? “Until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind,” there is a greater ruler over the realm that man rules over, “and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”
Now He does it in different ways: well, well, it’s different, we have a vote, sure, and God uses the vote in our country to determine, to appoint, who He will. In Nebuchadnezzar’s time they used the greater army and whoever won the battle won. But don’t get confused, there is One who decides and that is God, He “bestows it on whomever He wishes,” that is the same as verse 17 said, “He bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.” Not even sometimes the people we would pick or think they are most qualified. What would be the best? God decides for His purposes. Verse 26, middle of the verse, “your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules.” How many times does God have to tell us? Come down to verse 32, the last line of verse 32, “until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.” You know, we have great opportunities in these days to talk to people. Everybody is talking about who is going to be the president, the vote, and all the issues over that. We have the opportunity to share with them, you know, these things have a relative importance and our vote is used to determine, but you know what the Bible says? The Bible says God retains the ultimate authority of appointment to Himself, He is the sovereign God. Sometimes Christians sound like the world. I see them sometimes interviewed on news programs and that. It’s like the whole future depends on this. The world talks like this is the most important election. It may be on the human level, it may not be, God controls the future, I don’t. I know some of the major things He has revealed but many things He hasn’t. Where is the United States going to be, if it is, in 20 years? I don’t know, cause God didn’t reveal that particular detail. So whether He is using this election for the good of the nation or the bad of the nation, I don’t know. So Christians get on and sometimes I hear talking (pastors are great at this) because now of their position, to sound prophetic, making pronouncements. Wait a minute, where did you get that? I know that it will be God’s decision who reigns. And am I comfortable with what God does? Am I wringing my hands and saying I’m disgusted? Wait, I don’t approve of what God did? Maybe I need to learn what Nebuchadnezzar had to learn, “that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”
Then come down to verse 34, after Nebuchadnezzar seven years of this walking around, gnawing on the grass like an ox, God restores him. Well, with all palace intrigue that went on in all these days you would think someone else would have moved in and there would have been no future for him or his family. But God decided, you are going to be removed from the throne and then after seven years I will put you back on, just like that. Doesn’t seem so easy to me. He is the sovereign God and Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson. Down to verse 34, “at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.” What a change, when God changes the heart He changes the heart, what a difference. They’re nothing… You know what Nebuchadnezzar says? I am nothing before the living God.
It has been demonstrated, “He does according to His will,” now note this, “in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ ” This is why we as believers are very comfortable with whatever the outcomes are. What am I going to do, challenge God? What have you done, Lord? That is a terrible thing to happen! If it’s what God wants to happen it’s not a terrible thing. It may be terrible for me personally, obviously. Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, there was personal sense of loss but he didn’t lose perspective, God is ruling from generation to generation, cause sometimes He inflicts great pain, even on His people. No one can “say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ ” You see His control, His authority, is absolute, it’s not relative. Yes, but in our society we have a freedom, if we had voted… In those days they had a certain thing, if the king had made a better decision, if he had prepared the army better, it he hadn’t done this we would have won the battle; there are all those things. When we as God’s people lose our perspective we become just as unsettled, fearful, and confused as the world of the unbeliever is. This is why we come to the scriptures and anchor our thinking.
Come back to Daniel 2:19, we could read the whole book of Daniel and it would fit, chapter 2 verse 19, “Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.’ ” Keep in mind this is a young man, we know he is a young man early on in his ministry cause he is going to last for 70 years or so. He has a long prophetic ministry, he has been rooted up from his family, from his home nation, his king… the king’s family was massacred, his eyes have been blinded, he is a blind man in a prison. And I’m (Daniel) saying, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs,” note that, “It is He who changes the times and the epochs.” Brings stability to a life doesn’t it when Daniel knows this change was brought about by my God. So I don’t fight against what God is doing, I adjust to it by His grace. “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.” What comments from a young person, not shaken, not despairing, my God rules over all.
We won’t go back there for time, but Psalms 103:19 says, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.” How many times does God have to tell us? Yes, okay, it may not be the way you choose. I’m sure godly people in Israel, Judah, when Nebuchadnezzar's armies were coming up were praying, but note Jeremiah. He is bringing God’s word to the king, if you will do this and if that. When that instruction comes he does wail and weep but he doesn’t change his theology, God is sovereign over all. Of course, I hope we continue to have freedom as a country, at least the rest of my lifetime and then He will give grace to the rest of you to suffer. None of us want to suffer, none of us hope they’ll come and arrest us and put us into prison. None of the godly Jews wanted the Babylonians to conquer Judah. There is that connection, but God is sovereign over all and when He has spoken we adjust and accept it.
In Matthew 25:41, you don’t need to turn there, but when Christ returns to earth they’ll set up a throne and all living peoples and all living nations will be gathered before Him to be judged and some will be sentenced to hell and Christ will say “Depart from Me… into the everlasting fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” God has ordained from the beginning to the end, He is sovereign over all. You have to come to Amos 9, cause I wonder, maybe you haven’t been to Amos this last week, so you are in Daniel so it’s not hard to get to Amos, just go Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. So we move into what we call the minor prophets, not because they are less important but they are smaller. Amos 9:2, “Though they dig into Sheol, from there will My hand take them; and though they ascend to heaven, from there will I bring them down.” You know, the point is there is no place to go to escape from the living God. You go to the depths of Sheol, to hell itself, if you would, and you can’t escape God, He rules over all. You could climb to heaven but you can’t get away from God, His power is absolute. We’ve seen more open displays and disregard of that, even in our day. One of the Supreme Court justices in a lecture this past week spoke, recorded in the news, there’s coming a dangerous time in our country where there is no place for religion. There is no place for Christian beliefs. Even talking about Christians broadly, even using the analogy there was a time when marriage was between a man and a women, now you are a bad person if you teach that. We see those things happen, we aren’t glad they happen as believers but we can understand if our country does come under judgment that it was necessary. I don’t rejoice over that. I’m glad I can get up freely and preach the Word on a day like today; there may a come a time when that won’t be possible, but God will be just as much in control. Remember part of God’s control is He turns men over to their own sinful desires in judgment, Romans 1.
We have to go to one more passage I think on this point, 1 Chronicles, now we’ve got to go back before the Psalms, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and then you will be getting up near the book of Job and the book of Psalms, I’m just picking out the big books. 1 Chronicles 29, some of you cheat and use your iPad or something and then you get there immediately, it’s not really biblical cheating, but it gets ahead of the rest of us, just don’t make fun of us old folks. 1 Chronicles 29 and David is transferring the kingdom to Solomon his son, David is old and is going to pass away here, verse 10, “David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, ‘Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.’ ” Couldn’t be said any more plainly. “ ‘Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.’ ” Because he is asking God to bless now in the transfer of the kingdom to Solomon but he recognizes we are not the ultimate authorities here, we are not the ultimate powers. It is in God’s hands, He rules over all. What is his kingdom compared to the universal rule of God over all on earth and in heaven? The greatest earthly empire never ruled heaven, they fought against heaven often but they never could ascend to the throne of God. Lucifer tried it and suffered the consequences.
So we have these first two characteristics of the universal kingdom, the universal kingdom exists without interruptions throughout all time, so just as much in existence and in control today as it was thousands of years ago. The universal kingdom includes all that exists in time and space, there is nothing outside God’s kingdom except God Himself. The third characteristic, the divine control in the universal kingdom, is generally providential. The divine control in the universal kingdom is generally providential. By that I mean God works usually through secondary causes. In other words, when He wanted to have the northern ten tribes judged He just didn’t intervene directly, He used the Assyrian army to come in and conquer them. When He wanted to judge the southern kingdom He just didn’t intervene directly, He used the Babylonian army to defeat the Jews. When He was delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt they came to the Red Sea and what did He use? He had a strong wind blow through the sea and separated it and dried out the land. He could have just done it with a direct command but providence and the providential working of God is working.
We have people today, they don’t recognize the hand of God. I was watching a little bit of a program on the weather channel where they were talking about disasters that had happened in different parts of the world. Then they interviewed someone, and the person said something to the effect, you can’t fight against Mother Nature. Whatever that is! But they see nature just as its own force but we as believers understand it’s the God who rules over His kingdom, who brings the forces of nature to carry out His purposes. So that is what we are talking about, generally providential, it is working in ways then people can deny it’s God doing it. It just happened, it’s just nature, the way nature works as they would say. Sometimes the Bible does attribute what happens in nature to the direct action of God. God thunders in the heavens, well, we say thunder happens because of these natural things, but they would speak of the direct action of God because ultimately it is God. He directs the lightning to its mark, so it’s just not all the forces happen, what we would call natural actions, and you have lightning form and it strikes. Yes, but it is the God who caused it all and that lightning struck at just the point that He appointed. That is God’s providence.
A great passage in Isaiah, come to Isaiah 10. What God says is these other things are just tools in My hands that I use. Very important passage, Isaiah 10, note how it starts, “Woe to those who enact evil statutes and to those who constantly record unjust decisions.” What a reminder, you know, we put into laws certain things that are evil, that make just and right and acceptable conduct that is repulsive and abhorrent to God. God warns against doing that but we see it done. We think if the Supreme Court approves it, the legislature passes a law, the Supreme Court says it’s the law and we… There is nothing greater outside of ourselves anymore so we make it up as we go. Talking about ‘we,’ the people of our day, and so we enact evil statutes. He is coming down to talk about judgment because that is what Israel did when it came time for God to bring judgment on them for their rebellion against Him. Then he is going to say in verse 5, “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger.” You see all that Assyria is? Assyria was a mighty nation. a powerful nation, a brutal nation. Most of you are familiar with something of the Assyrians but, you know, they brutalized people. When they were coming to conquer a city they took the captives from a previous city and put stakes in the ground and impaled the people on the stakes, like fish impaled, flopping, all around the city. Gruesome sight. Not one or two, they surround the city with these kinds of corpses. It was a statement, if you don’t surrender this is what we are going to do to you. People just gave in before there would be a fight because we are not going to fight and end up then surrendering, because it is too late. So they are brutal. All they are, God says, is a rod of My anger. This is like something I’m going to use to discipline because I’m angry at their sinful activity. That’s all -- Assyria. Oh no, they became the most powerful nation by these kinds of battles, these kinds of maneuvers, this kind of power -- God says that’s all they are, like a paddle in your hand, if I can put it that way, and nothing more. The greatest power on earth at the time, just like a paddle in the hand, a rod used to discipline, a staff that’s used. “I send it against a godless nation”, note “I send it,” yeah, it is under My control. I’m sending the Assyrians against Israel because of their persistent rebellion, “commission it against the people of My fury”. You see, it’s God’s anger here, we think it’s the Assyrians’ anger, God is just directing that and using it to accomplish His purposes. We don’t have time to read down through it all, come on down to verse 15. “Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?” No, this is just a tool in My hand that I choose to use, that is the providence of God, He chose to use the Assyrians. Who is in control here? God! It’s just like an axe then, as he goes on here, we won’t take time to read it, how dumb would it be for the axe to turn around and try to use the person who is wielding it, it doesn’t work that way. God makes the decision, that’s it, it’s final. The axe does whatever the person wielding it does with it. That is all Assyria is, it is a tool, it’s like the axe or the saw through this analogy.
You are in Isaiah, come over to chapter 44. Now we are going to go centuries later from the Assyrians. So what’s going to happen future to Isaiah? Because we’ve got to go through the Assyrians, and then we will go through Babylon, then we will get to the Persians. In Isaiah 44:28, this context in verse 24, God declares His greatness, and then verse 28 of chapter 44, “It is I who says of Cyrus,” Cyrus is going to be king of the Persians, he is not even going to be born for hundreds of years. “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ ” Wait a minute, how do you know his name? He is not even a Jew. How do you know what his parents will decide to call him? I know what his parents will decide to call him because the One who decides what the parents will decide told me. His name is Cyrus, he will be My shepherd, he is going to act on My behalf doing My will, he will perform all My desire. And we will see it in a moment when we read God says he doesn’t know Me, he is not a child of God, but he’s going to do everything I want. He is going to be used to provide for the Jews to return to the land but it's not the action of a godly man obeying the living God. Chapter 45:1, “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand.” This is like taking your little child and you hold his right hand because he is going where you are taking him, that’s the picture. My anointed, that word ‘anointed’ becomes a word for the Messiah. He is the anointed one because that is what you do with a king, you anoint Him. He is My anointed and he is going to subdue nations and all this. Verse 4, “For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor,” note this, “though you have not known Me.” That was going on and Cyrus does not know the living God. “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me.”
Let’s get the point, God’s controls the unbelievers as well as the believer. “That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity.” That is why I said I don’t know what the Lord has for our nation next. We change; any time you change rulers and people in power, what is God doing now? Don’t pretend we know. Don’t act like, well, this is what we will do because… because we don’t know. Is it time for judgment for our nation? Then the leadership will be to bring about the fall of the nation. Is it to preserve the nation for another time? Then it will be, that is in God’s hands. We don’t want to act like we know because we are Christians. We know what the Bible says. I don’t know whom God has chosen for the next ruler, I don’t know whether it’s for good or evil because He does both, “causing well-being and creating calamity.” Whichever it is, the sovereign God will have determined that, “I am the Lord who does all these.” He doesn’t cause sin but He does bring judgment on the nation and use nations that may be very sinful to bring His judgment when He turns people over to the consequences of their own actions.
Verse 9 is a crucial verse “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker -- an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Our nation is lost, any concern and fear of that. They see nothing to take a stand that is directly opposite to what God has said in His word. Now how far have we gone, where are we, I don’t know. I know where we are going along, but where the United States is, where individual nations at different times are going to be, that is in God’s hands. But that I am confident of, it is in God’s hands.
One more verse, we can’t go there, before I summarize the last two points. Proverbs 16:33, you want to know how tight God’s control is? Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord”. Now take that, roll the dice, every single decision that would come up from that roll of the dice He would have controlled. Now don’t go to the casino and pray because obviously that’s not what He is saying. He is showing there is nothing that happens outside of My control. He doesn’t cause sin but His perfect plan and His control uses sin. I don’t have to understand every detail but I know God is in control. So if we are going to decide the presidency let’s roll the dice and decide, it’s not my decision to make so I will accept whatever the decision rolls out to be. Then I will come read Proverbs 16:33 and say the Lord made His decision known, we accept it. That’s it!
A fourth point, I will mention these to you, the divine control and the universal kingdom may be exercised at times by supernatural means, God is free to intervene directly. The king of Israel reached his hand out against the prophet and that hand immediately shriveled up and he couldn’t pull it back, that was direct intervention. So the king asked the prophet to pray that God would restore his hand and he did, so there are direct times when God intervenes so it’s not that He can’t bring miracles. We could have a fellow believer that’s diagnosed with a serious disease and we could pray. The physicians say there is nothing more we can do. We might pray together and for some miraculous reason the doctor says, “I don’t know what happened but it seems to have taken care of itself.” Well, God does directly intervene. So when I say He usually uses providential means during this period of time, He is not running around doing miracles, because if they won’t believe Moses and the prophets, they won’t believe that one was raised from the dead. But God does answer our prayers and sometimes acts in direct intervention. I don’t have time to take you to those verses.
The last point, the universal kingdom always exists efficaciously regardless of the attitude of it’s subjects. In other words, it always is working God’s purposes, it doesn’t matter whether men acknowledge it or not. God’s actions are not dependent upon man’s deciding. God acts, He acts with His people, He acts with those who are His enemies. “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all,” Psalm 103:19. We noted, it is an all inclusive sovereignty. He is working for His purposes, ultimately for our good as His people and for destruction of all His enemies in an eternal hell. This kingdom… Earthly kingdoms come and go, they alter, they change. The Most High, the Lord Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. What do we have to fear? Our God reigns, He rules. Now be careful, we are not talking about the kingdom that is prophesied. That will come, then God’s reign will be on this physical earth, visible for all because God will reign on the earth. Now He reigns from heaven, but His reign is full, complete, absolute.
We still have some uncertainty, for example, the finality of who will be our ruler. Well, I don’t need to turn on the news, find out whether the count is here or there, that’s fine if you want to do that, something to talk about, I just as soon wait. Shortly God will make clear what He decided and we as believers will adjust. That is why the church shouldn’t get caught up in all these things going on around us because we are here to be a pillar and support of the truth. Like Paul said, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). He didn’t have time to try to collect the errors, the problems, in the Roman Empire, he was there to bring salvation to the individual people in the Roman Empire and we are here for that purpose in this day and we want to be faithful to Him.
Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. Lord, even as we gather we seem small, rather insignificant, sometimes it seems the world is winning but, Lord, You are the God who cannot lose, Your will cannot be frustrated. We are Your people, Your children, the sheep of Your pasture. You watch over us, You love us, You care for us. Even calamities, disasters, painful things have not come to us because You lost, You forgot us, but You are working Your purposes for us and glory is the ultimate end. May we be faithful to You whatever the circumstances. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.