(86) The Purpose of God’s Sovereignty

There have been rulers down through history who exercised a high level of sovereign control over their people. Some have been quite maddening in their capricious, aimless and foolish decisions. In glaring contrast, God’s sovereign rule is not random, erratic, or whimsical. God’s sovereignty is purposeful and intentional. He has a definite, skillfully designed and targeted plan. We touched on God’s plans and purpose when we studied the immutability of God but it bears repeating and closer scrutiny.

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,

the purposes of his heart through all generations.

(Psalm 33:11 NIV)

Through the parallelism of Psalm 33:11, we see both the ancient and enduring nature of God’s purposes and plans. Scripture repeatedly speaks of God’s purposes and plans as existing and being initiated in eternity past. In fact, Paul refers to God’s plan for the Cross and the Church as being part of His “eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:11).” He describes this purpose more fully in chapter one.

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (9)He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him. . . . (11)also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will . . . (Ephesians 1:5,9,11 NAU)

The Cross and the Church are part of God’s plan and purpose decreed from before He created anything. It is all part of God’s kind intention or purpose for the redeemed. If the Cross and the Church are part of God’s plan and purpose from before creation, so also, the fall Satan and man and the entry of sin into His creation fits within God’s ultimate plan and purpose.

Before God created, there existed in the mind of God a purpose for all He would create and a plan for that creation to fulfill His purpose. Proverbs 16:4 states this clearly, “The LORD has made everything for his own purposes. (NLT)” In their classic commentary Carl Friedrich Keil, and Franz Delitzsch clarify what this verse is teaching us.

All is made by God for its purpose, that is, a purpose premeditated by Him, the world of things and of events stands under the law of a plan, which has in God its ground and its end.

God has a perfect, wise plan and purpose for His-story that He devised in eternity past. He set in motion from before creation and He is sovereignly steering or orchestrating that plan in time.

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. (Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV)

God states it very clearly. In fact, He links His identity as God to the truth that He has made the end of history known from the very beginning of history. Before there was any history or even creation, all of history was established in the mind of God. He declared much of His plan for history to man and states here that all He has purposed to do in time will in fact take place. God rules with a perfect, wise, eternal purpose and plan.
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Next: (87) The Pleasure of God’s Sovereignty