God is sovereign. He is sovereign over nations and rulers - sovereign over the devil and demonic forces - sovereign over trials and temptations - sovereign over natural disasters and moral atrocities - sovereign over disease and death.
He is supremely great. Not only that, He is absolutely good. There is no doubt.
And yet, we experience evil - difficulties - trouble - sin.
At times in Scripture, God prevents sin. At other times He permits it. Limits it.
But in all of this He never sins Himself. He never directly causes sin and never once in the Bible is He blamed for it. God is not stained by evil in any way. He is holy -- even when He uses sin.
Everything that is good is under His sovereignty. Everything that is good is morally attributed to Him. Everything that is evil is also under His sovereignty. But nothing that is evil is morally attributed to Him.
God is sovereign over sin but we are responsible for sin. So a couple of weeks ago, was God sovereign over what was happening when a gunman entered an elementary school and shot so many kindergartners? Yes, He was sovereign. At the same time, the gunman was entirely responsible for what he sinfully chose to do.
Evil is real - God is great - and God is good.
Where does that leave us?
We know that God is present in the middle of evil. Where else in all of history do you see an indescribably good Creator taking on Himself the payment due evil creatures? What love ... what mercy ... what goodness.
Out of that goodness God ordained the murder of His own Son as the means for our salvation.
And there it is again ... the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man in the death of Jesus. Is God sovereign over Christ's crucifixion? Certainly. But who is responsible? We are.
God took the very worst thing that has ever happened in the history of the world (the death of His Son) and turned it into the very best thing that has ever happened in the history of the world (our salvation).
Evil is real - God is great and God is good.
And be blessed.
He is supremely great. Not only that, He is absolutely good. There is no doubt.
And yet, we experience evil - difficulties - trouble - sin.
At times in Scripture, God prevents sin. At other times He permits it. Limits it.
But in all of this He never sins Himself. He never directly causes sin and never once in the Bible is He blamed for it. God is not stained by evil in any way. He is holy -- even when He uses sin.
Everything that is good is under His sovereignty. Everything that is good is morally attributed to Him. Everything that is evil is also under His sovereignty. But nothing that is evil is morally attributed to Him.
God is sovereign over sin but we are responsible for sin. So a couple of weeks ago, was God sovereign over what was happening when a gunman entered an elementary school and shot so many kindergartners? Yes, He was sovereign. At the same time, the gunman was entirely responsible for what he sinfully chose to do.
Evil is real - God is great - and God is good.
Where does that leave us?
We know that God is present in the middle of evil. Where else in all of history do you see an indescribably good Creator taking on Himself the payment due evil creatures? What love ... what mercy ... what goodness.
Out of that goodness God ordained the murder of His own Son as the means for our salvation.
And there it is again ... the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man in the death of Jesus. Is God sovereign over Christ's crucifixion? Certainly. But who is responsible? We are.
God took the very worst thing that has ever happened in the history of the world (the death of His Son) and turned it into the very best thing that has ever happened in the history of the world (our salvation).
Evil is real - God is great and God is good.
And be blessed.
2 comments:
I've never exactly understood why God required blood and sacrifice by death for forgiveness. Is it so that we will understand the meaning of our sin? Why did sinless Jesus have to be tortured and crucified, so there would be a spilling of blood? Is it to make us see the depth of our depravity?
Anyway, I saw one of the Mother's whose daughter was killed in Newtown. She said she could picture all of those babies holding hands in Heaven. It's reassuring to know they were too young to accept Christ and they are there with Jesus.
I think of Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." It seems throughout History God has used death,bloodshed and pain so others might be saved. We can even make this personal by saying our own pain. It seems that is the only way we learn.
Post a Comment