The Sovereignty of God

 

Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? --Lamentations 3:37

One of my favorite stories of faith is from a man identified only as "Brother Andrew."  In the early 1960s he felt impressed by God to smuggle copies of the Bible into Iron Curtain countries where communist leaders had outlawed it.  His book, God's Smuggler, recounts how Brother Andrew was able to sneak across international borders and past tight security.  Somehow, God blinded the eyes of the border guards, or distracted their attention, so that the Word of God could be read by underground Christians.

"Persecution," he said, "is an enemy the Church has met and mastered many times.  Indifference could prove to be a far more dangerous foe."  Christian persecution began with Christ Himself, but unless God allowed it, the will of men who meant evil toward Jesus would have been thwarted.  Let's turn to Scripture to see what I mean.

Plotting by deception

It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Him by stealth and kill Him, for they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people."  --Mark 14:1-2

The Jewish leaders had finally had enough.  They wanted to take Jesus into custody and have Him put to death.  However, they saw the large crowds that had gathered in Jerusalem for Passover celebration, and they feared riots in the streets if they arrested Him openly.  So they sought ways to sneak around and do it in the dark, quietly without raising a commotion.

The irony was that they were attempting to exert their will on a situation that God had firmly in His control.  One would think that their plan at this point would be to wait until after the Jewish holiday, and make their move when the crowds in Jerusalem disbursed.  God had other plans.  It was His will that Jesus be arrested, tried, and executed in a short time, so that the significance of the Passover would not be lost--Jesus would Himself become the Passover Lamb. 

Preparing for death

And while He was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over His head.  There were some who said to themselves indignantly, "Why was the ointment wasted like that?  For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor."  And they scolded her.  But Jesus said, "Leave her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a beautiful thing to me.  For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want you can do good for them.  But you will not always have Me.  She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for burial.  And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."  --Mark 14:3-9

Jesus knew He would be killed, and that the time was near.  If you are familiar with the crucifixion story, you know that because it was the Passover and the Sabbath, His followers were not able to properly prepare His body for burial, but had to go to the tomb with spices and ointments the day after the Sabbath (only to find the tomb empty--but that's another story.)  This is why Jesus said that by anointing His feet with sweet smelling perfume, she was doing the work that was normally done to a dead body prior to burial.  She was not just honoring Him with an expensive gift; she was not only glorifying Him by washing His feet and applying the sweet smelling ointment; she was actually preparing His body for burial.

God will work out His will in His time, and there is nothing we can do to stop it.  Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."  We often misinterpret this verse to say that all things work out for our good if we love God; that's not what it says.  God is in charge, and He works out all things for His own good (that is, the way He likes), and we who love God and are called to His purpose recognize this fact and run with it.  We can see the good that God does after the fact, and even though it seems to be for our benefit, it is only according to His sovereign will.  If we abide by His will, we will recognize that whatever He wills is best, whether it benefits us directly or not.

Penetrating the Darkness

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them.  And when they hard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.  And he sought an opportunity to betray Him.  --Mark 14:10-11

Both Matthew and John wrote in their accounts that Satan entered into the heart of Judas so that he would betray Jesus (see Luke 22:3 and John 13:2).  If this is true, then even Satan does not work by his own power and will.  God is all-powerful.  He is not subordinate to Satan, and Satan does not hold a station equal to or greater than God, no matter what the world looks like today. 

Remember that the Pharisees were afraid to arrest Jesus during the Passover celebration?  When Judas approached them, however, it was an opportunity they could not pass up.  Here was one of the twelve, one of Jesus' inner circle, willing to sell Him out to them.  Sure, they would go under cover of darkness, but they would conduct His trial and execution during the height of the Passover feast.  God's will above their own.  God's will above that of Satan.  God's will above that of yours or mine.

God penetrates the darkness of sin and sadness to bring us to Himself.  He will accomplish His will, whether it means overcoming our plans or even the plans of Satan, the prince of darkness.  He is King, the Lord over all.  Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

How then can we be complacent?  We must do the work of the ministry in order to be used by Him, lest the rocks and trees themselves cry out in praise (Luke 19:40).  He will work out His will, for He is sovereign.  His will above all.