What does it mean that God is sovereign?
To say that God is sovereign is to say three things at once — and the writers on stempublishing.com bring out each of them with remarkable clarity.
1. Sovereignty means God has title over all things
J. G. Bellett draws this out from Numbers 1–4, where God commands Moses to number Israel — an act of ownership:
J. G. BellettHe had title to take their number, for they were all His own. Had He not had a right to them, had He not prospects in them, He would not have counted their sum, as is said of His divine title in another part of His dominions, "He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names." This is the expression of His sovereignty amid the heavenly hosts.
And yet this sovereign Lord is not distant. He draws as near as possible while remaining God:
The nearest possible place He would take to His people, dwelling in their very midst, and going before them... But still, He was God. He was the Sanctifier, and they but the sanctified. And this could never be foregone, nor allowed to want its abiding and most jealous witness, for a single hour.
Bellett's response is worship:
How all this commends itself to our souls! We bow with delight to these claims of the Lord. We rejoice to know that He dwells in light, that no man can approach unto, and that Him no man has seen, though He, who is in His bosom, has declared Him.
2. Sovereignty means God acts according to His own will
F. B. Hole points to what he calls the finest confession of divine sovereignty ever uttered — and it came from the lips of Nebuchadnezzar, the man in whom human sovereignty reached its peak:
F. B. HoleIt would be difficult to find a finer confession of the sovereignty of God than that made by Nebuchadnezzar, the great Gentile monarch in whom human sovereignty reached its highest expression. He said, "He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say to Him, What doest Thou?" (Dan. 4:35).
Hole insists this is not one side of a debatable question but one of two pillars that must be held together:
From the beginning of Scripture history, two great facts, forming the basis of all God's dealings with men, have been apparent. First, God is absolutely sovereign. Second, man is an intelligent creature with moral faculties and responsible to his Creator.
3. Sovereignty is supremely displayed in grace
This is the distinctive emphasis across all these writings. Norman Anderson, expounding Romans 9, shows that God's promises are themselves sovereign acts:
Norman AndersonThe Seed, was born according to Promise, and promise is Sovereign, being entirely dependent for its implementation upon the Promiser.
And that mercy comes not from human merit but from God alone:
Mercy is sovereignly bestowed without any question of deserts.
F. B. Hole explains why sovereignty in grace is necessary — because man's ruin is total. In Romans 3 the word "none" appears three times, closing every avenue of self-recovery:
F. B. HoleThis word, "NONE," thrice repeated, closes every avenue of deliverance if man is just left to himself. God must intervene. In other words, God must exercise His sovereign action on a man's behalf. He must work by His Spirit in the hearts of men if any are to seek after Him and His salvation.
In his article on quickening, Hole puts it still more starkly:
Once these solemn facts lay hold of us, we realize that our only hope is in God taking the initiative with us in His sovereign mercy. We are quite well able to take the initiative in evil, but as regards all that is of God we are dead; and hence all movement must spring from Him.
Anderson draws out a further distinction: in judgment God is righteous, but in blessing He is sovereign. The vessels of mercy are prepared by God; the vessels of wrath have fitted themselves:
Vessels of wrath have fitted themselves for wrath, while vessels of mercy will forever be indebted to Him for preparing them for glory.
And Morrish's Bible Dictionary captures the deepest spring of it all in a single sentence:
Morrish's Bible DictionaryLove is the sovereign spring of activity in God.
Where sovereignty meets the limit of our understanding
Hole is careful to say that sovereignty does not resolve into a tidy system. It must be held alongside human responsibility, and the tension is by design:
If any would say to us, If God in His electing mercy is pleased to save this one and that one, why should He not elect and save all? — we have no answer to give. What lies behind His decisions is not revealed to us, who are but His creatures; but He has revealed Himself to us in Christ, and so we are sure that what He decides is right, and ultimately all will see how right it has been.
And rather than resolving the tension intellectually, Hole urges a practical response:
Instead of seeking to probe into the secret of the Divine decisions and acts, which are beyond us, let us more diligently and fervently publish abroad the Gospel, since He has revealed that through this He is pleased to save those that believe, as the result of the work of the Spirit of God in their hearts.
In short: God's sovereignty means He has full title over all creation, acts according to His own will with none to call Him to account, and displays that sovereignty most gloriously not in power alone but in grace — taking the initiative in mercy toward those who could never seek Him on their own, moved by love as the sovereign spring of all His activity.