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Is God Really In Control Everything?
by Samson Hutagalung

The Meaning of the Sovereignty of God

What do we mean the sovereignty of God? We mean as Christians and as Bible believing Christians, firstly, that God is sovereign in over control everything in this world. For this reason we who believe in Him are praying to Him. The Holy Spirit taught us through His word to know God who controls the whole world. Secondly, that it is God who initiates and provides truth for our salvation. We thank Him for His infinite wisdom and grace and we continue to pray that the Lord will convict the hearts of those who are in darkness of all their sins.

In the study of the sovereignty of God, we who are saved by His grace must be in humility to learn His truth. As we search the Scripture, we will encounter some mysteries in the Bible, but we must not destroy them, though the human mind has problems to understand them. The truth in the Bible is given by God that His people may study and understand them. This is to say that it is human’s responsibility to know and master His Word. On this regard, some people in this world may not agree to this truth. They may question how can human beings responsible for what they do in this world? Though God is sovereign and yet man is responsible in what they do. This is the mystery. It is as if a contradiction in this world but it will never be resolved and it will still be the mystery. We may call this as Paradox. Therefore when we read the Bible we are listening to the infinite God and we must accept what we see something as a contradiction in His word. In other word God is saying, “My sovereignty is your responsibility.” God is the King of the world who controls of everything but at the same time He is also the judge who will judge those who did not lift up to His will.

The Example of the Sovereignty of God

In Genesis 45:7-8 we read the sovereignty of God in the life of Joseph. “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” The background of this passage is that the brothers of Joseph hated Joseph while they were together with their father. At last they did the wicked thing to Joseph and sold him to the Ishmaelites and by the grace of God he was led to Egypt (Genesis 37:26-36). All the brothers of Joseph must be responsible to what they have done to Joseph. On the other hand God is in control everything. He knew what happened to Joseph and the hearts of all his brothers.

Despite of the evil deeds that Joseph’s brothers did to Joseph, God who is infinite and sovereign had changed evil to be good in the life of Joseph. As we see what Joseph said to his brothers when he finally revealed himself to them. Genesis 50:20 said, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” God had a plan for Joseph but his brothers were still responsible for what they had done. As Proverb 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” God is the one who directs every step of man.

Proverb 21:1 also said, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” The same thing also happened to the prophet Daniel when he said to Nabuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:17, “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”

During the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth, Jesus revealed the truth of the sovereignty of God. In Matthew 10:29-31 we read, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” In other words there is no any change in this world that which is not known by the Lord. We may say it is very hard to believe, yet we must believe it because God says so.

The sovereignty of God can also be seen in the life of those apostles in their boldness of testifying of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read in Acts 4:29-30, “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.” Why were the apostles of Jesus Christ able to say as such? The answer is found in Acts 4:27-28, “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” Thus they have confidence that the Lord would give them joy in all the traps of the enemies that Satan gave them. The Lord is in control of all the things happened in the life of the apostles as they obeyed what the Lord asked them to do.

In all the passages that we have seen, the apostle Paul gave us the summary of the sovereignty of God in Ephesians 1:11 saying, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” In this verse we can see everything is totally planed and controlled by God. Everything works according to His plan because He is a great king.

Man's Responsibility

The Teaching of Jesus Christ on Man's Responsibility

Having known all these truth, one may ask a question: if God controls everything, what is the use of human responsibility because God is the One who makes all decisions? To answer this question we need to understand that there is the opposite aspect of antinomy. In fact in Matthew 25 the Lord Jesus gives the overwhelming evidence to the effect that man is totally responsible to whatever they do. Matthew 25:1-13 we read the parables of the ten virgins. Five were irresponsible and lazy but the other five were ready in all time. Thus in Matthew 25:13 we see the conclusion of the word of the Lord that man must be responsible to what they are doing. “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

In the same chapter of Matthew 25 Jesus Christ gave another parable to depict of the great responsibility on what the people are doing. This is the parable of the talents. The great king went for the journey and left his servants and entrusted to them responsibility that they must do, otherwise they will be judged (Matthew 25:14-46). However when the king came back, he said these words to those who did their responsibilities, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21). On the other hand the king told to the wicked servant who did not do his responsibility in Matthew 25:26-29 saying, “His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” This is not to say that the king is unfair. Whatever the king says is absolutely right. Then the king continues to say the punishment of this wicked servant saying “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30).

In the same chapter we also find another great parable of judgement of the sheep and goats. All the people who do not believe in the Lord will be judged of how they respond to the message of the gospel of Christ. All the nations will be judged when Christ returns with His angels and He will separate the sheep from the goat. The sheep will be in His right and the goats will be in His left. And the Lord will say to those who are in His right, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, (why) For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:34-40). On the other hand the Lord said to the goats, the unbelieving world, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Mathew 25:41-46). Therefore we see that God is sovereign but man is totally responsible to what they do.

The Responsibility of Man for What He Does

The apostle Paul also gave the same statement in Romans 2:5 saying, “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” The wicked is doing the storing up for themselves. They are responsible for the wrath they will receive. As Paul continues to say, “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Romans 2:16). Everything we do will be known and totally examined and determined accordingly by God.

As being believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we need to understand another great responsibility that God will judge based on what we have done in life. Revelation 20:11-12 says, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” We notice in this verse the word “according to their works.” In this passage though God predestines everything in this world and yet we cannot find the statement that God will judge according to the predestination of God. Thus the Great White Throne is so horrible because everyone will be judged for what they have done. All unbelievers and those who think they have done good and favour to God in order to gain salvation will be judged. Man is not like animals but we are responsible to infinite, holy, just God. We will give our account to Him and those who have saved will be appeared in the Bhema, the judgement seat of Christ. In fact judgement will be begun from the house of God.

In Luke 22:21-22 we read the word of the Lord Jesus Christ to Judas Iscariot. When we think of the responsibility of man to God for what man has done during his short life on this earth, have we ever thought about Judas Iscariot’s responsibility for what he had done to the Lord Jesus Christ? As we read in this passage saying, “But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.  And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!” In this passage there is no question about the predestination of God. As Jesus says to Judas Iscariot, though everything is predestined “but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.” Therefore the Lord never said, “even though all are under my control yet you do not need to be responsible to what you do.” 

In the teaching of Jesus Christ we see the declaration that God elected, predestined and predetermined some to be His people and saved. As Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” In other word those who have been chosen automatically will come to Jesus.  How about those who are not chosen? Jesus does not mention that they will come. Therefore if we have fear and doubt we must come to Jesus. In John 6:39-40 we read, “And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” This is to say that though those whom God elects will definitely come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and yet our responsibility is to behold and to believe on Him. We need to do what we are supposed to do and the Lord will do what He has planed to do.

The Predestined Plan of God

In the Pentecost by the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter preached and mentioned to the Jews who killed and crucified the Lord Jesus Christ that what they had done outwardly God is glorified because everything God planned working accordingly (Acts 2). However the Jews who had done all things to the Lord Jesus Christ were also condemned for their part in fulfilling the wickedness that God fore-planed and foreordained as a context of crucifixion of His Son. They were in total guilt, and they knew what they had done. Thus when Peter preached Jesus Christ to them, they cried out and saying "what shall we do."

The Example of God's predestined Plan in Paul's Teaching

In Acts 27 we see the condition of Luke and Paul on the their way to Rome in the ship in the midst of the storm. After many days without food Paul said to them in Acts 27:21-26, “But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.” When the people in the ship heard the word of Paul, then they said to Paul, what shall we do then? But Paul convinced them if they followed what he said, they would be saved. However what happened to sailor who wanted to flee out from the ship? Paul said in Acts 27:30-31, “And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” This is to say that every person will be saved but if they do not obey him they will not be saved. As a result we find in verse 44, “And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.” God has predetermined that everybody will be saved but it is human’s responsibility to follow that it is said.

In 2 Timothy 2:10 Paul said, “Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes.” Based on this passage the question is raised, why should Paul endure all things in the preaching of the word of God if they were elect and would be saved, no matter what Paul did? In the ministry of Paul, he never stayed home and let God save the people. Paul was the man who knew the mind, plan and will of God. He was the greatest theologian who gave the answer to this question. “That they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10b). This is absolutely an antinomy. However we need to understand that, that is the kind of God we have namely the God who cannot be understood by the finite mind. Then we may conclude that Man is a responsible moral agent even though God is in control. Romans 9:18 says, “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”

The problem to many people is that how can the Lord be our king and yet He is our judge? The answer is found in Romans 9:20-23, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” The main key to understand this passage is what kind of clay is it that God makes vessel for His glory from? The answer is found in the book of Isaiah 64:8 which is the parable of the clay and potter, “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” What clays are we in the hand of the Lord? Isaiah 64:6-7 says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.” That is the kind of clay we are. Thus Isaiah continues to say, “Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people” (Isaiah 64:9). Our great God is totally incomprehensible to man, as in Isaiah 55 God challenged us when He said “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The Wrong Understanding on God's Sovereignty and Human's Responsibility

What will happen if the evangelists, missionaries and pastors focus only on human responsibility? As we know from the Bible that it is man’s responsibility to response to God’s message. Pastors, evangelists and missionaries are responsible to deliver that message. However in delivering the message, many people often tempt to do their best in order to get result. This is the great temptation to many pastors and evangelists. They often count the number of those who make decision to accept Christ on the basis of how many people raised their hands in the meeting. But the reality is that only God who can save the people. In fact only God can make people to show interest to the word of God. Thus we need to know that self-reliance in the Christian ministry is the disaster.

On the other hand it is also a temptation to us if we focus only on the divine Sovereignty of God. If people come to this conviction, usually occur after so many years they encounter that God is in control everything and finally they do not want to do their responsibility. They focus only on God that He will save those people whom He elects. However although God is in control everything but man is responsible to evangelise the people. This happens in many churches today. For example when William Carey wants to be a missionary, he informed his desire to his pastor but the pastor replied to him, “Sit down young man if the Lord pleases to save the heathen, He will do it without your helps, mind and approach.” One asked question to Spurgeon, “how do you reconcile the human responsibility and Divine Sovereignty? He said, “I will never try to reconcile this truth.” Although these two as if contradict to each other but it is not contradiction to God. He has everything under control.

Divine Sovereignty and Evangelism

Evangelism, mission and soul-winning is man’s work but the giving of faith is God’s work. God is the One who knows when certain person will be born and how long he will live. He knows whether or not that person will be saved. As Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” In other words, there are many things that God did not reveal to human beings and that is the secret things but all those things that have been revealed we are responsible to do and obey.

In Ephesians 1:5,9,11 we read the eternal plan of God which we will never know all these things, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” We never know all these but what we know we are responsible for the moral precepts that the Lord reveals in the Scriptures especially for His people. As 1 Thessalonians 4:3-9 said, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” We know what is the will of God on the vital matter of being separated from sin and walking in God’s way because it is written in the Holy Scriptures.

The apostle Paul said to the Christians in the church of Ephesus that they must do the will of God that has been given to them. Ephesians 5:17 said, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Those who are foolish will reject the word of God but those who are wise will obey and do the will of God. Then Paul continues to say how we should do the will of God in Ephesians 6:6-8 when he said, “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” The will of God is given to His people in order to please God and not merely to please man because the will of God will continue forever. As the apostle John wrote in his epistle in 1 John 2:17 saying, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

In Conclusion it is clear that the Sovereignty of God does not modify the duty of Evangelism. As Paul said in Romans 10:13-15, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” We are to evangelise the world because we are responsible to God to obey His commandments. Thus man is responsible to repent from his sins because God commanded every man to repent. The sovereignty of God never effected in any way in our responsibility in the area of evangelism. The sovereignty of God does not affect the faithful promise of God and the offer of Salvation to man. Man needs to repent. As John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” The truth is given to us that we must believe in the Lord Jesus. This is the only hope that we have. However we must make it clear that if someone believes in Jesus Christ it is because the Lord shows His sovereignty to him. Therefore we need to be prayerful in doing His precious will as His word shows to us.