The Sovereignty of God (by George Addair)

What great timing God has!! :-)

Yesterday, a friend of mine forwarded a link to an excellent, thought-provoking article written by George Addair called “The Sovereignty of God”. The article is posted on the God’s Truth for Today website.

I say God has great timing because this article nicely complements my recent post and reply to David Flowers entitled “God Will Have His Perfect Way” .

The one statement in Addair’s article that struck me the most was his statement saying:

“The trend of the centuries has consistently been that of

the exaltation of man and the abasement of God.”

Wow! Isn’t that the truth?!! Mankind cannot wrap its finite mind around the GRANDNESS of God, so in order to make Him more understandable to ourselves we make Him out to be smaller and weaker than His true nature. When we do that, He becomes more understandable and manageable to us, but we also end up containing Him in “Man-Made Theological Boxes” with pretty paper wrappings and bows.

Addair’s article is split into the following headings:

Introduction

I. Human Reasoning

II. Sovereignty Defined

III. Sovereignty in Creation

IV. Sovereignty in Action

V. Recognition of God’s Sovereignty

VI. Foreknowledge

I’ll give a few glimpses here of some of Addair’s article:

“To think that this work will be approved by the general public is a foolish expectation. The trend of the centuries has consistently been that of the exaltation of man and the abasement of God. The intensive research for this study seems to indicate that this trend has been due to the inability of men to reconcile the free will of man with the sovereignty of God. Consequently, scholars seem to have been sidetracked into thinking that God has neglected His universe, by choice of course. They feel that the Creator has delegated His rule and authority to the use or abuse of the creature. They have reduced God and His Divine office to the extent that multitudes of people now have only a superficial conception of Him. And it logically follows that a superficial view of God and His holiness always results in a superficial view of sin and its consequences in addition to a shallow view of the work of Christ. This in a small way explains the steady departure from the shelter of truth into the bitterness of ignorance.”

***

“No one will challenge the fact that the twentieth century has demonstrated an intellectual revolution in almost every field of learning. New fields of science are being established more rapidly than the most ardent scholar can manage to efficiently investigate. Even the basic tools such as reading and arithmetic are being made obsolete by more modern and complex approaches. Whether we like it or not, this trend is gaining speed and only the imagination can visualize what lies ahead for the coming generations.”

“Strangely enough however, the world of religionists is almost totally united in an attempt to prevent any progress in the understanding of spiritual matters. It seems unimportant to them that we have better methods of translation and interpretation than at any time in the past centuries. We have more manuscript copies, more concordances, more textbooks, and the accumulation of centuries of scholarship at our disposal. There are textbooks available today which enable the layman to probe the depths of biblical research in excess of what the best educated men of a few years ago could manage in a complete lifetime. And yet, the average church member feels there is more virtue in clinging to the views propagated by the scholars of many centuries ago than to investigate the claims of a modern day teacher. This is particularly true when the modern day teacher proclaims something that is contrary to orthodox views. This dominating attitude of the nominal churches is nothing more than one of the many facets of "religious superstition".”

***

“By the Sovereignty of God, we mean the supremacy of God. We mean His Kingship and Headship. It literally means, "the Godhood of God". To declare that God is sovereign is to declare that He is God. It is to declare "That He is the most high, doing according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest thou?" (Daniel 4:35).”

“To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He "is the Mighty, the possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist his will" (Psalm 115:3).”

“To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is "The governor among the nations" (Psalm 22:28). He sets up kingdoms, overthrows empires, and determines the course of dynasties as pleaseth Him best.”

“To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is "The only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of Lords" (1 Timothy 6:15).”

“Such a God is revealed in the pages of the Sacred Scriptures. However, God is not described as such in modern times…”

“God cannot fail. He is not to be pitied but to be praised. It is often said that, "God is doing His best to save mankind". If this be so, then He will succeed. To say that God is trying to save all people and then to proclaim that all will not be saved is to admit that God has failed. This in itself implies that God is not all powerful nor is He perfect. To say that Satan is preventing many from being saved is to indicate that Satan is accomplishing that which God cannot do, that Satan is more successful and powerful than God. To say that the stubbornness of man prevents him from being saved is to say that man has thwarted the will and efforts of God. God cannot fail. He cannot begin a project without seeing it completed. He cannot design a plan only to have it defeated by some other agency whether it be natural man or supernatural Satan. He cannot, even in the smallest sense, realize failure in that which lie attempts to do.”

“To declare that sin entered the Garden of Eden and caught God by surprise is to dethrone God. This is to reduce him to the level of finite man Then, to declare that sinful man has the power and ability to defeat God's plan of salvation and reconciliation is to exalt man to the place where he can checkmate God. God is absolute, irresistible, and infinite. He governs all the universe as He pleases. He has the right as Creator to mold the clay into whatsoever shape He desires. He is under no rule or law outside His own nature. He is a law unto Himself. He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to anyone. Sovereignty is characteristic of the whole being of God.”

***

“This brief treatment of the subject is adequate to reveal that a full recognition of the Sovereignty of God will take the spotlight off man and place it upon God.”

***

The truth is that man likes to esteem himself above God and above God’s power and sovereignty. It is part of our fallible human nature that we are always trying to be as great or as powerful as God. That is how the serpent enticed Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. This article will hopefully help anyone rethink that faulty mentality.

Read Addair’s article for yourself and see what you think.

For GOD’s glory and exaltation alone…