Subject: Why does Satan believe he can win? |
Bible Note: Dear Brother Tim, Very good point. I really appreciate your help in clarifying this important doctrine. There is, indeed, incredible misunderstanding of the sovereignty of God. I fully agree with you that sovereignty of God does not rule out human freedom nor does it rule out His employment of secondary causes. At least, it doesn't if it is a Biblical definition! How could these things be excluded... after all, He has decreed them! Doug Wilson put it this way, "At the same time, this does not make God the master puppeteer. What He foreordained was a world full of free choices. He not only ordained that a man would be in the ice cream store choosing one of thirty-one flavors, He also decreed which flavor would be chosen. But this is not all; He ordained that the cookie dough ice cream would be chosen by this man freely. God ordains non-coercively. This makes no sense to some people, but how many basic doctrines do make sense? We do not understand how God made Jupiter from nothing any more than how He determined my actions today without annihilating me. But He does. Remember, the point being made here is not that divine sovereignty is merely consistent with secondary freedom, but rather is that which establishes it." Jonathan Edwards wrote in a much earlier time, "The Sovereignty of God is the stumbling block on which thousands fall and perish; and if we go contending with God about His sovereignty it will be our eternal ruin. It is absolutely necessary that we should submit to God as an absolute sovereign, and the sovereign of our souls; as one who may have mercy on whom He will have mercy and harden whom He will." John Wesley wrote, "Chance has no share in the government of the world. The Lord reigns, and disposes all things, strongly and sweetly, for the good of them that love Him." I also very much appreciate A. W. Tozer. He was a wonderful writer. His book on "The Attributes of God" was one of the first that I read on this topic. He wrote, "God’s sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation, and to be sovereign God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and absolutely free. The reasons are these: "Were there even one datum of knowledge, however small, unknown to God, His rule would break down at that point. To be Lord over all the creation, He must possess all knowledge. And were God lacking one infinitesimal modicum of power, that lack would end His reign and undo His kingdom; that one stray atom of power would belong to someone else and God would be a limited ruler and hence not sovereign. "Furthermore, His sovereignty requires that He be absolutely free, which means simply that He must be free to do whatever He wills to do anywhere at any time to carry out His eternal purpose in every single detail without interference. Were He less than free He must be less than sovereign." Thank you, again, Brother Tim, for your post. In Him, Doc |