“…the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end.” Daniel 6:26
There is a theme which runs throughout the Scriptures which is essential to grasp if the believer would be stedfast in his faith. It is that of the Sovereign dominion or rule of God. The concept of His sovereignty begins, and is demonstrated so gloriously at the creation of the world. He was absolutely sovereign in wisdom, power, design, and love and goodness, revealed in every aspect of bringing about His creation. It was in His wisdom that all was created, designed by Him, brought to into being by His power and authority. All of creation leading up to the Fall of man was under His sovereign control. There was harmony, peace, blessing, fruitfulness, and the unsurpassed, and unfathomable greatness of His glory revealed, from the most microscopic form of life, to that of all creatures on the face of the earth, and finally in man, the very pinnacle of His creation. Even after the Fall, when man became self-oriented, and blinded by the god of this world, God in His sovereignty continued to exert His dominion and authority over the affairs of men, and the nations. Man would plan his own way, but the answer would come from God, for ultimately, He would determine that which would occur on this earth.
It is at this point, with the sinfulness of man so prevalent on earth, that God would reveal His sovereign power and authority in the matter of Redemption, as well as creation. Revealing His glory to all men everywhere through the creation, He would begin to manifest that glory in the calling of many to Himself, bringing them by His redemptive power through to a saving knowledge of Himself. It would be through the preaching, and teaching of the gospel, with its soul-saving truths, that His power would be revealed in the hearts of men. Eventually, Christ by His Spirit, would sovereignly come to dwell in the hearts of men, specifically those who would be born of His Spirit. At that point, the blindness of sin as a result of the Fall, would give way to revelation and light in the knowledge of God in Christ again. The issue of God’s power and authority would again surface as a dominant theme in Scripture, to be grasped and believed in by all believers in some way or another. His sovereignty for the believer became a bedrock truth of the believer’s security in God, in Christ, regardless of changing circumstances, even in the face of life and death. God became to the believer the God of all circumstances in his life, for all things would work together for good in the life of the believer, fulfilling the purpose for which he was brought to faith, and salvation. Regardless of the mountains that might move, or the seas that would crash upon the shore, the winds that would blow, or the spiritual oppositin to everything that is good by God’s enemy and ours, God would still in His wisdom and grace, direct all circumstances for good in the life of the believer. For as Samuel B. Rutherford wrote, “He purposeth a crop.” He begins the work, and will finish it. He is not only the Author of all true faith, but the Beginning and the Ending of “all things” good, and every circumstance, which would be used of Him to bring about the coming of His kingdom on earth, and His will done here. How then does this apply to the believer?
The believer who has understood that true faith means the true and full surrender of all that he is and has to God, is the only one who can accept God’s sovereign rule in his life. He alone can grasp that what he sees, feels, experiences, is known fully by the Lord of his life, and that He will glorify His name by the power working within.
Dear Father, Accomplish Thy perfect will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.