While not wishing to go into a long monologue, I am saddened by the lack of care concerning such passages of Scripture as Ephesians 1-2, Romans 9-11, and John 6, just to name a few. Any time a discussion of sovereignty or depravity or election comes up, it's like some people immediately give up with the excuse: "It's a deep thing of God. He just wants us to live for Him." I would say yes to both statements. They are deep things of God, and He wants us to live for His glory. However, He's given us something called the Bible. And in the Bible, such things are talked about with the express purpose of enabling us to live for His glory.
Part One: Sovereignty
"Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins." (Isaiah 40:1-2)
"Comfort My people," He says. Isaiah will go on to comfort Israel with the thought that man is just grass that God blows on and we wither (6-8), that God rewards and cares for His own (9-11), that He is in need of nothing from man in any way, and anything man has is from God (12-17), that He is sovereignly in control of all things (18-26), and as such, we may trust in His promises (27-31). So what is Isaiah really told to comfort the people with? The whole chapter is about God's sufficiency in Himself, and His need for nothing. This is what should comfort the Israelite, and I daresay the saint. That God rules and reigns and needs nothing I can provide Him is a stunning thought. In fact, anything I do offer only comes from Him. This gives me the strength to wake up in the morning with great and exceeding joy. He will not be thwarted! The nations are like a speck of dust on the scale, they are nothing before Him! And if the Almighty Sovereign God of Isaiah 40 is for me, who can be against me? Who? Who indeed! It's a ludicrous thought. Paul has this in mind in Romans 8:31.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
There is much to say about predestination/election from that verse, but in this limited entry, I seek to highlight the sovereignty aspect only. "He is always full and overflowingly energetic for the sake of His people who seek their happiness in Him," says John Piper. That God is utterly sovereign was also Job's confession and joy, even though God had allowed many evil things to befall Job. Never was Satan permitted to go further than God allowed. In other words, what I'm saying is, and what I believe the Bible is saying is, God's absolute sovereignty may be a deep thing, but it is the foundation of our living a life for Him. We neglect it at great peril for our joy and faith. If God didn't want us to dwell on His absolute sovereignty, then He wouldn't have comforted Israel with it in Isaiah 40, and Paul wouldn't have used the same passage to express his delight in God in Romans 11. Theology is practical because the Bible is practical.
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