The Glorious Freedom of God

“…I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)

The above is one of the most controversial passages in the Bible yet is the foremost expression by God of His freedom to be God (Exodus 33:19), having the right and ability to do whatever He pleases, whenever He pleases, however He pleases, neither dependent upon nor accountable to anyone or anything in His creation (Psalm 135:5-6). Theologians refer to this as the divine prerogative. This prerogative is essentially what the serpent (the devil) offered Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when he lyingly convinced them that by eating of the fruit which God had expressly forbidden, they would become like God (Genesis 3:1-5).

This Godlike freedom of our having the right and ability to do whatever we please, whenever we please, however we please, neither dependent upon nor accountable to anyone, particularly God, is the covetous desire of every descendent of Adam, as we all have believed and embraced the devil’s lie regarding God and His sovereign right to freely rule over our lives and the totality of His creation.  In desiring to assert our will over God’s, we like the devil have brought ourselves under the wrath and judgement of the holy God who created us and all other things for His glory (Isaiah 43:7) (Romans 3:23) (Romans 1:18-25) (Isaiah 14:12-15).  Thus Ephesians 2:1-10 and Romans 9:15 reveal that the only way of escaping God’s judgement is by a sovereign act of divine mercy and grace.

I used the term sovereign above as an adjective to describe God’s supreme, absolute, unlimited, unrestricted, unrestrained, unbounded freedom and ability to rule over His creation, particularly mankind, according to the wise council of His will for His glory and the eternal joy of His people, those who are the grateful recipients of His mercy as it is provided through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:11-14) (Ephesians 2:4-7).

Various dictionaries define the term sovereign or sovereignty as supreme in power, superior in position, independent of/unhindered by any outside influence. It describes one who has the absolute freedom, power and authority to act as they choose or will, even exercising authority over the will and purposes of others.

The word “sovereign” or “sovereignty”, like the word “trinity”, does not occur in the Bible, although the title LORD is used to represent it (Isaiah 45:5-7).  This is God’s world (Psalm 24:1-3) and the Bible reveals that nothing happens in His world unless God has ordained that it happen; nothing is ever outside of His absolute (sovereign) control (Lamentations 3:37-38).  This includes all that occurs in nature including the weather, the behavior of the animals and growth of crops; all natural and technological catastrophes from earthquakes to plane crashes (Amos 3:6); all sickness and disease; all political machinations of the nations and their rulers (Psalm 47:8); all wars and insurrections (Revelation 6:3-4); and all that occurs from the day of our birth to the day of our death (Psalm 139:1-24) including our eternal destiny (1 Peter 2:7-9).  All of this is under the wise and absolute control of a good and righteous and Holy God, who is working out all things that occur in this world according to the wise counsel of His will for the ultimate and eternal good of all who love Him, of all who are submitted to His purpose for their life (Romans 8:28).

 Theologians and Christian thinkers of past and present generations have had much to say regarding the freedom of God.  Joel Beeke, President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids Michigan writes, “God is free and independent of any force outside of Himself to accomplish His purposes; that He knows the end from the beginning; that He creates, sustains, governs and directs all things, and that His marvelous design (for human flourishing and happiness in Him) will be fully and perfectly manifest at the end of the age.”

The late R.C. Sproul, founder of Ligonier Ministries, wisely remarked, “There is not one random molecule that exists and operates apart from God’s purpose for it.”

Our good friend from ages past, Jonathan Edwards, writes “The sovereignty of God is his absolute freedom, independent right of disposing (ordering the destinies) of all creatures according to His own pleasure.”

Reformed theologian and prime minister of the Netherlands in the early 20^th Century, Abraham Kuyper wrote, “There is not a square inch in the domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry Mine.”

Another commentator describes God’s sovereignty as God’s personal and wise superintending of the glorious universe He created, ruling over all of the nations and people of the earth as well as the angels both holy and fallen – ordaining – directing – controlling – all that comes to pass in this world to fulfill His good and glorious purpose in creation, namely the Glory of God in the happiness of man (Psalm 32:11) (Psalm 115:3).

Sounds like a wonderfully glorious and comforting doctrine to me, that the one who is Holy –  perfectly righteous/just, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, infinitely good – the one whose name and nature is love, is in absolute control of all that exists and particularly all that concerns me in my pursuit of my peace, my present and eternal  joy in Him such that nothing can ever separate me from His love (Psalm 138:8) (Isaiah 6:1-3) (1 John 4:16) (Romans 8:35-39).

However, this is not the perspective of everyone. The idea or concept of sovereignty – of a single ruler who has absolute power and authority to order and ordain all that comes to pass, is welcome by very few in what the Bible refers to as this present evil world (Galatians 1:4).

Christian author and theologian John Piper, in his podcast Ask Pastor John, noted that mankind is naturally hostile toward any doctrine that emphasizes God’s absolute supremacy in all things – that He is the ultimate source of all that is good, most importantly our salvation (James 1:16-17) (Revelation 7:9-12).

There is of course much written in the Bible affirming the sovereignty of God.  It is so because without a correct and comprehensive understanding of the sovereignty of God we cannot know God – nor can we fully embrace and submit to Jesus as our Lord, trust in His word, rest in His promises nor enjoy our lives as citizens of the Kingdom of God while we are in this world or in the world to come if there is anything that can interfere with His plans and purposes.  All of His prophecies, all of His great and precious promises are dependent upon God having the freedom to do all that is necessary to bring them to pass (Daniel 4:34-35) (2 Peter 1:2-4) (Joshua 23:14).

So, we will look more closely at the Biblical doctrine of God’s absolute freedom in all things, and the glory of it in upcoming posts.

Grace and Peace ×