Isaiah 6: 1-5
Over the years you have heard me talk about the Sovereignty of God
Maybe you have thought to yourself:
“Ok Pastor David, what’s so great about the Sovereignty of God”?
Now it’s time to answer the question:
Ok, let me begin
1a ‘I saw the Lord’
The word ‘Lord’, is an English word, and is used 6, 887 times in the Bible (New Living Translation)
The Old Testament was not written in English, it was written in Hebrew
What Isaiah actually said was, 1a ‘I saw YHWH’
YHWH is the sacred Name of God (Tetragrammaton)
The Hebrew people refused to speak the sacred name of God
So, they substituted the name YHWH with the name ‘Adonai’
‘Adonai’, in Hebrew, means God is Sovereign
Isaiah was saying 1a ‘I saw the Sovereign God’
“Yeah but, Pastor David, what’s the big deal about that”?
Uh uh, let me continue
The best New Testament single verse (in my opinion) description of the Sovereignty of God is
Romans 11: 36 ‘For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.’
Based on this verse we can define the Sovereignty of God like this:
God is the Creator of everything (‘everything comes from Him’) and controls everything for His purposes and for His glory (‘and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.’)
Isaiah said 1a ‘I saw the Lord’ – the Sovereign God
So, here’s a question; who exactly did Isaiah see?
He can’t have seen the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit, who is God, is invisible
Acts 5: 3-4 ‘…You lied to the Holy Spirit…You weren’t lying to us but to God!’
He can’t have seen the Father, who is God, because, like the Holy Spirit, the Father is invisible too
John 1: 18 ‘No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us’
John 4: 23-24 ‘But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.’
Isaiah must have seen Jesus – the Sovereign God!
Colossians 1: 15 ‘Christ is the visible image of the invisible God’
Jude 1: 4 ‘…Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.’
Here are a few examples of God’s Sovereignty in action:
1/ God sovereignly created everything and everything exists by His power and is intended for His glory
Revelation 4: 11 “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, and they exist because You created what You pleased.”
2/ God sovereignly guides human history causing it to exist by His power and intended for His glory
Acts 17: 26-28a ‘From one man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God…For in Him we live and move and exist’.
3/ God sovereignly chose Israel (His Old Testament People) to exist by His power and intended for His glory
Beginning with Abraham
Genesis 12: 1-3 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Deuteronomy 7: 6 ’for you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure’
Sadly, Israel rejected the Lord.
The Lord has (temporarily) rejected Israel and given their special ‘calling’, to glorify Him, to the Gentiles – that’s us!
Matthew 21: 43 ‘So I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you (Israel). It will be given to people who do what God wants in His kingdom’ (English Revised Version)
4/ God sovereignly chooses us for salvation to exist by His power and intended for His glory
Jesus described our salvation like this:
John 6: 37-39 ‘those the Father has given Me will come to Me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent Me, not to do My own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those He has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.’
John 6: 44 ‘No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day’.
John 6: 65b ‘people can’t come to Me unless the Father gives them to Me.’
Here’s a few examples:
Acts 13: 48b ‘and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers’.
Acts 16: 14b ‘As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying’
The great Apostle Paul described our salvation like this:
2 Timothy 2: 10 ‘I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen’
Romans 9: 18-24
22 ‘…destined for destruction’
23 ‘…prepared in advance for glory.’
24 ‘we are among those whom He selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles’
Ephesians 1: 4-5
Ephesians 1: 11b ‘He chose us in advance…-14
“What’s so great about the Sovereignty of God”?
Romans 11: 36 ‘For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.’
revdotdavid 