The Sovereignty of God
Can God do whatever He wants?
It’s a fair question, and it’s a question that most Christians have asked at one time or another. We're curious about God, and we find the idea of unlimited anything a little hard to fathom, and in the case of unlimited power, even a little uncomfortable.
We like God to operate a bit like a machine, where you put in one action and get the exact equivalent action out every single time.
A bit like a vending machine where you put in your quarter, push the number two button, and out pops a Kit-Kat bar.
We tend to define God in our own terms and write His Character in our own image, but that’s always a mistake. God doesn’t fit into a nice little box of doctrine, and it certainly cannot be said of Him, “I know God and this isn’t what He would do,” concerning anything He has not directly told us about His character.
In fact, much of the book of Job is dedicated to three men who thought they knew God and how His thought process worked, and God had this to say to them, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me [what is] right, as My servant Job [has].” - Job 42:7 NKJV
It’s easy to forget that God is God and we are not, and Christians in general forget to take God and His word seriously. He’s not a genie in a bottle, and He has free will that doesn’t play according to our rules or even the rules He has given us.
So I ask again, can God do whatever He wants?
We are given quite a few examples of times God did something different than what we would expect Him to do, and we're going to take a look at those examples in this post. There are many lessons to be drawn from these particular examples, but they all have one thing in common.
We'll see what this is by the time we finish, and our first example is the story of Balaam.
Balaam
Balaam is a diviner or soothsayer, depending on your translation, and he lives in the land of Aram.
Numbers 22:7 NKJV — So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak.
Joshua 13:22 NKJV - The children of Israel also killed with the sword Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer, among those who were killed by them.
The Hebrew word used here is קֶסֶם or qasam, which is never used positively in the Bible. In fact, Israel is commanded to kill and have nothing to do with those who practice such things!
Deuteronomy 18:9 NKJV — “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.
Deuteronomy 18:10 NKJV — “There shall not be found among you [anyone] who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, [or one] who practices witchcraft, [or] a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
Deuteronomy 18:11 NKJV — “or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
Deuteronomy 18:14 NKJV — “For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.
A diviner is someone who uses various omens to try to learn the will of the gods and who serves many gods. In the case of Balaam, he may even recognize the One True God, but he does not serve Him exclusively.
Ezekiel 21:21 NKJV — “For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks at the liver.
In the case of Balaam, he was in the business of giving blessings and cursings for money.
Numbers 22:6 NKJV — “Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they [are] too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless [is] blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
So Balak sends messengers to Balaam to try to get him to come down and curse the people of Israel, but what Balak didn't count on is the fact that Balaam also acknowledged the One True God and wouldn't be able to say whatever he wanted.
Numbers 22:5 NKJV - Then he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which [is] near the River in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying: "Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me!
The place where Balaam lived was about a four-day journey from Moab, near the land of Aram, next to the Euphrates River. The travel time alone takes up 12 days for the whole story, so this whole thing is pretty condensed. Anyway, the messengers arrive, and Balaam prepares to hear the word of Yahowah.
Numbers 22:9 NKJV - Then God came to Balaam and said, "Who [are] these men with you?"
Here we have a man, not an Israelite, a diviner for hire, dwelling in another country, and God comes and speaks with him. That alone is contrary to our doctrine and what we would think God would do, but that's not the end of the story.
The men return to the king of Moab, and he ups his price and sends them again.
Balaam had already been told no, but he asks God again anyway, and this time God tells him he can go, but something wasn't quite right.
Numbers 22:20 NKJV - And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men come to call you, rise [and] go with them; but only the word which I speak to you--that you shall do."
Numbers 22:21 NKJV - So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.
Balaam’s way, we are told, was corrupted. We’ll see later that even after leaving the Moabites, at some point, he returned and told the King of Moab how to turn God against the Israelites.
Joshua 13:22 NKJV - The children of Israel also killed with the sword Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer, among those who were killed by them.
His name is a warning clear into the New Testament, as well, the definitive villain of the Old Testament. He's the only man from outside of the camp who singlehandedly came the closest to destroying Israel, so it makes sense that he would be despised throughout its history.
Revelation 2:14 NKJV - "But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
Numbers 31:16 NKJV - "Look, these [women] caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
According to God, Balaam wanted to curse Israel the whole time, but God would not listen to him, and that’s why Balaam blessed Israel three times.
Joshua 24:10 NKJV - 'But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand.
However, as we have seen, he figured out a way around God to get Him to bring His wrath on Israel and destroy them Himself because of their falling away.
So our first singularity of this story is the fact that God delivered His words through a man like this. The number one villain of the Old Testament is someone through whom God chose to speak.
Most of us would say that’s out of character with God, He would never do that, etc., and the other group of people would rush to the conclusion that there’s nothing wrong with gay pastors, unconverted elders, etc.
The second singularity of this story is when Balaam is on his way to Balak on his donkey, and an angel stands in front of him, which only his donkey can see, and she lies down. Balaam beats her, whereupon God opens her mouth, and she speaks.
Numbers 22:28 NKJV - Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"
Numbers 22:29 NKJV - And Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!"
Numbers 22:30 NKJV - So the donkey said to Balaam, "[Am] I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since [I became] yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?" And he said, "No."
God uses a donkey to deliver His message, again, something most of us would say does not belong to the character of God, but on the other side I think there would be far fewer people running out to get wisdom from the mouth of a donkey or make one their pastor, though many of the so-called “pastors” have much in common with one.
In the story of Balaam, we have two actions by God that we would deem to be out of character for Him, and majorly so. We’ll look at the lesson we can draw from this after we look at a few more examples.
Dreamers
The next examples we are going to look at are a category rather than specific characters, though I’ll mention a few things about each person as we go. We tend to think of God coming to someone in a dream to speak with them, or even giving them a prophetic dream, as something He reserves for His most special servants, and usually it is. However, we do have some exceptions in the Bible and more than one.
The first person is Abimelech, a pagan king of Gerar, and Abraham has come to sojourn in his land, and because his wife Sarah was very beautiful, he fears Abimelech will kill him to take her. So, Abraham tells Sarah to tell everyone she is his sister, which turns out to be a half-truth.
Upon hearing that this gorgeous woman is single, Abimelech takes her into his house, the first step to marrying her, but before he sleeps with her, God intervenes.
Genesis 20:3 NKJV - But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, "Indeed you [are] a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she [is] a man's wife."
Genesis 20:4 NKJV - But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, "Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?
Genesis 20:5 NKJV - "Did he not say to me, 'She [is] my sister'? And she, even she herself said, 'He [is] my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this."
Genesis 20:6 NKJV - And God said to him in a dream, "Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
Genesis 20:7 NKJV - "Now therefore, restore the man's wife; for he [is] a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore [her], know that you shall surely die, you and all who [are] yours."
God appears to this pagan king in a night vision and tells him to leave Sarah alone. I daresay most of us have never had a visit from God in the night, though most of us probably desire such a thing, but here a pagan king gets to meet and speak with God.
Interesting.
Our next example is Laban, Jacob's father-in-law.
Jacob worked for him for many years and then fled, taking all of his own flocks and herds, his four wives, his children, and everything else he owned. He heads for the border while Laban is away on business, but having so many animals, his progress is quite slow.
Laban returns home to find Jacob gone, and he gets quite angry, especially since someone stole his household gods.
Yes, Laban was a pagan.
Anyway, he and his men mount up and go in pursuit of Jacob, and being on horseback, they soon catch up. The night before they are about to overtake Jacob and his household, God once again intervenes by appearing to a pagan in a dream.
Genesis 31:24 NKJV - But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, "Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad."
As a result of this dream, Laban does not harm Jacob or his family, and after eating a meal together, he sends them on their merry way.
These next examples are going to be brief, and they are a different type of dream in that God does not make a direct appearance, but He sends a prophetic dream instead.
Pharoah:
Genesis 41:1 NKJV - Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.
Genesis 41:25 NKJV - Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh [are] one; God has shown Pharaoh what He [is] about to do:
The Midianite:
Judges 7:13 NKJV - And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, "I have had a dream: [To my] surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed."
Judges 7:14 NKJV - Then his companion answered and said, "This [is] nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp."
Nebuchadnezzar:
Daniel 2:1 NKJV - Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was [so] troubled that his sleep left him.
Daniel 2:28 NKJV - "But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these:
Daniel 4:5 NKJV - I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
Daniel 4:9 NKJV - "Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God [is] in you, and no secret troubles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation.
Daniel 4:10 NKJV - "These [were] the visions of my head [while] on my bed: I was looking, and behold, A tree in the midst of the earth, And its height was great.
Pilate’s Wife:
Matthew 27:19:
Matthew 27:19 NKJV - While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him."
Here we have four clear examples of God doing something we consider contrary to His nature and the way He works, in that He is giving prophetic dreams to people who do not worship Him, or even really acknowledge Him as the One True God.
None of these people converted, and none of them entered into a covenant with God or were put into religious positions of authority as a result of these interactions with God, yet God still gave them dreams of prophecy or directly appeared to them.
He uses these wicked men directly as His tools to accomplish His will without their conversion, again, something we would assert is contrary to the nature of God.
These next examples we’ll look at show just that, and again, we’ll go through them rather quickly. We’ve already looked at one, Nebuchadnezzar, but there are a few others as well.
Tools of God
God uses various men in positions of authority to accomplish His will, pagan men, and He even calls them His servants at times. Is this an endorsement of the pagan practices these men engaged in, or an endorsement for us to set up pagan men as our teachers?
Of course not.
As we’ll see in the end, there’s a different reason we are given these examples, and probably more than one.
Nebuchadnezzar:
Jeremiah 27:6 NKJV - 'And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.
Jeremiah 27:7 NKJV - 'So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.
Cyrus:
Isaiah 44:28 NKJV - Who says of Cyrus, '[He is] My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." '
Isaiah 45:1 NKJV - "Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held--To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut:
Isaiah 45:4 NKJV - For Jacob My servant's sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me.
Assyria:
Isaiah 10:5 NKJV - "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
Isaiah 10:6 NKJV - I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Babylon:
Jeremiah 51:20 NKJV - "You [are] My battle-ax [and] weapons of war: For with you I will break the nation in pieces; With you I will destroy kingdoms;
God uses pagan kings and nations as His instruments of punishment and to accomplish His will. He used Cyrus to facilitate the construction of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple in preparation for the advent of Jesus, our Messiah. Pagan kings were His servants, something I think a lot of us would declare outside of God’s nature.
However, we are told that:
Proverbs 21:1 NKJV - The king's heart [is] in the hand of the LORD, [Like] the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
And also that:
Daniel 2:21 NKJV - And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.
God does do these things, and He does use whoever He needs to to accomplish His purpose and His will, which brings us to our next set of examples, female prophets in the Bible.
Female Prophets
There are really only two that bear discussing because we are only given two direct examples in the whole Bible of women God used to deliver His prophetic word. We have other vague inferences that we're given, but we aren't given any specifics or the details of what God said.
Deborah was a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, and she judged Israel underneath a palm tree. The sons of Israel would come up to her for judgment, essentially the same function as a modern-day judge, except without the formalities of the courtroom. She was not leading Israel or any such thing, and there's something else most people have probably missed about her.
Deuteronomy 1:13 NKJV — ‘Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’
These are the qualifications for judges, and notice judges are specifically to be men. You'll probably notice that Deborah was not a man, which begs the question, how did she get to be a judge in the first place?
There are five judges that the text explicitly says were raised up by God, and Deborah is not one of them. We aren't told how Deborah came to be a judge, exactly, but we do know the process for how judges came to be in the position of judge.
Deuteronomy 16:18 NKJV - "You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
The Sons of Israel would typically select their judges, and that’s what happens with Deborah, even if not officially. The Sons of Israel come up to her for judgement.
Judges 4:4 NKJV — Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
Judges 4:5 NKJV — And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
The five explicitly raised up are:
Othniel
Ehud
Gideon
Jephthah
Samson
All of the other men (and one woman) mentioned seemed to be people who were already in place that God utilized to accomplish His purpose. The book of Judges was a time of famous disobedience and every man doing what was right in his own eyes. They did not submit to God, and they turned wholeheartedly away from Him many times.
Judges 2:10 NKJV - When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.
Judges 2:11 NKJV - Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals;
Judges 2:12 NKJV - and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from [among] the gods of the people who [were] all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger.
Judges 2:13 NKJV - They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
It's a book that records one moral failure after another, and the story of Deborah is no different.
Judges is a book of warning for what happens when people do what is right in their own eyes, not a book to establish standards from.
Deborah is evidence of a time when God worked through irregular arrangements because Israel had abandoned His established order.
The absence of any decent men is manifested in the simple fact that there was a female judge, contrary to God's instructions. With those five exceptions, it was always the people who selected their own judges, and Deborah was just such a one.
Judges 5:7 NKJV - Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel.
That verse alone describes an absence of men standing up to do their job, and instead, a woman takes over the role of judging, at least in her area, because there were supposed to be judges in every city.
All that being said, God did choose to speak through her, but even then, He did not use her to deliver Israel; rather, He had her call a man named Barak and used him to deliver Israel instead. Barak is the best man available, which apparently isn't saying much since he refuses to go to battle unless this woman is with him. You can read more about Deborah here and here.
Judges 4:6 NKJV — Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy [troops] at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
Judges 4:7 NKJV — ‘and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
Judges 4:8 NKJV — And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
We have here a puzzling occurrence since a female judge and prophetess is contrary to God's instructions, and God seems to endorse such a thing. Again, we find something that seems to be outside the revealed pattern God gave us to follow and what we think He would do, and we are not told why He would do such a thing.
We are seemingly left in the dark, but it's not as dark as it might seem, and we'll presently shine some light on the matter.
The next woman we'll look at is a prophetess named Huldah, who lived at the same time as Jeremiah in Jerusalem. This, like the time of Deborah, is a time of great moral failing. The book of the law has been absent for quite some time, and the priests have failed in their duty to teach it.
2 Kings 22:8 NKJV — Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
They take this book of the law to King Josiah and read it to him, and he rips his clothes in anguish and instructs them to go seek an answer from God regarding the words in this book because they have not been following it.
The priest agrees, and some of the other men go with him. Right there, we have something queer about the whole situation. Hilkiah should have been able to inquire of the Lord himself without needing to go through anyone else because he was a priest!
Jeremiah was quite active at this time, and you'd think he'd be the logical choice out of everyone they could choose to go to for inquiring of the Lord, but they don't go to him either. We aren't told why, but we can speculate that perhaps the reason they did not is that they didn't like Jeremiah's prophecies.
He was constantly prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem, which was not popular, so being human, perhaps they thought they could get a more favorable answer from someone else. So instead of Jeremiah, they chose to go to a woman named Huldah.
2 Kings 22:14 NKJV — So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her.
Again, God chooses to deliver His words through a woman (though remember they sought her out. She wasn't in public), and again it is contrary to what he has revealed to us. There are approximately 40 male prophets in the Bible, depending on how you count, which is a lot of prophets.
We have others hinted at, but these are the ones explicitly named and their prophecies recorded.
In contrast, in the entire Bible, there are only two women named who have their prophecies recorded!
Naturally, especially with the instructions God has given us, this seems to be pretty out of line with what God would do. Or is it?
Another unusual occurrence is the story of Jonah, which anyone who has ever heard of the Bible is familiar with.
Jonah
Jonah was a prophet God sent to Ninevah to warn them of the coming destruction He was about to bring on them, except he refused. Jonah tried to run from God by boat, which resulted in him getting an extended stay vacation in the belly of a large fish.
After the fish spits him out (and a beautiful prayer), he goes to Ninevah to warn them of the coming destruction, and the people actually believe him, from the smallest to the greatest of them. They put on sackcloth, ashes, and proclaim a fast, even for the animals!
The king himself commands this fast, and he ends his proclamation by saying: “Who can tell [if] God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” - Jonah 3:9 NKJV
Now, for those of us who know God, we know that once He has spoken a thing, it’s going to happen, right?
Well, not exactly.
If God were only a God of justice, then yes, it would not matter what these people did; God would have destroyed them.
If people turn back and repent, God will relent.
We see this concept repeated throughout the entire Old Testament as some of the most wicked men turn their hearts to God, and He relents the destruction He told them He was going to bring on them.
The reason God warns people of what’s coming is so they have a chance to change their minds and turn back from their wickedness.
Prophecy exists for repentance, so we can see what is coming as a result of our wicked actions and turn back to God. God is not a God of justice only, but also of lovingkindness and mercy. He has standards which He will enforce, but He will also have mercy if we repent.
Anyway, God sees the people of Ninevah repenting on a city-wide scale, and He relents. This grinds Jonah’s gears, however, and he gets really mad because he wanted to see the city destroyed.
Jonah 4:1 NKJV - But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
Jonah 4:2 NKJV - So he prayed to the LORD, and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You [are] a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Jonah 4:3 NKJV - "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for [it is] better for me to die than to live!"
Jonah knew God’s character, and he knew if the people repented, God would relent! He knew this, and he didn’t want to see this city saved alive because they were the enemies of Israel.
God simply asks: "[Is it] right for you to be angry?"
So, Jonah goes and sits on a hill, has a supernatural plant grow up to give him shade, then has a supernatural worm eat the plant, and he grieves for the plant. God did all of this, and this was the lesson He had for Jonah.
Jonah 4:10 NKJV - But the LORD said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
Jonah 4:11 NKJV - "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left--and much livestock?"
Is not Ninevah worth far more than a plant?
That’s where our story of Jonah ends, and the lesson is clear. God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and destroy whom He will destroy. Also, people are worth more than plants (or animals, for that matter. Sorry PETA).
The Point
What do all of these examples have in common, and why were these examples recorded for us in the first place?
We didn’t need to know that a pagan King had a dream direct from God, or that a female prophet once existed, or that God had mercy on an entire nation when they repented.
Unless we did.
Unless these examples communicate something so vitally important about the character of God that we would be lacking something vital to our relationship with Him without them.
Every example here is of God doing something different than what we would expect Him to do. None of us can say, “I know God, and that’s not what He would do!” because we have a clear example of Him doing it.
Some of these even violate the very rules of operation that He has given us. Exceptions to the rules, we might call them.
Here’s my takeaway: these examples exist to remind us God is sovereign and He can do whatever He wishes, and He does not have to conform to our ideas of who He is. He can bring about His will in whatever manner He chooses, and sometimes that’s going to be contrary to who we think God is.
All of these examples are clear instances of God using His sovereignty to bring about His perfect will. He is not bound by the same rules of operation we are because He is God and we are not.
I don’t think we can remind ourselves of that too often because we seem to forget this rather quickly.
He is God, and we are not.
Isaiah 55:7 NKJV - Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:8 NKJV - "For My thoughts [are] not your thoughts, Nor [are] your ways My ways," says the LORD.
Isaiah 55:9 NKJV - "For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
We forget this to our own peril.
Job had to learn this the hard way in his trials when he tried to question God and say, “What have you done?”
Daniel 4:35 NKJV - All the inhabitants of the earth [are] reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And [among] the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?"
God can make people to be whoever He wants them to be, and He can set whatever roles He wants to set.
Isaiah 45:9 NKJV - "Woe to him who strives with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork [say], 'He has no hands'?
Isaiah 45:10 NKJV - Woe to him who says to [his] father, 'What are you begetting?' Or to the woman, 'What have you brought forth?' "
Isaiah 45:11 NKJV - Thus says the LORD, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.
Isaiah 45:12 NKJV - I have made the earth, And created man on it. I--My hands--stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded.
Isaiah 45:13 NKJV - I have raised him up in righteousness, And I will direct all his ways; He shall build My city And let My exiles go free, Not for price nor reward," Says the LORD of hosts.
There’s one more story to illustrate this point of God’s sovereignty, and it’s the story of Cornelius. Cornelius was a gentile to whom God sent Peter to preach the Good News. It took a vision to get Peter to go there, and even once he gets there, he’s still not sure, so God needs to do something to show He has chosen these people.
Acts 10:44 NKJV - While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.
Acts 10:45 NKJV - And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
Acts 10:46 NKJV - For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered,
These men had not yet been baptized, and they had not yet had hands laid on them for the receipt of the Holy Spirit. That comes immediately after.
Acts 10:47 NKJV - "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we [have]?"
Acts 10:48 NKJV - And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.
These were baptized after they received God’s spirit, which brings up an age-old debate among Christians as a result of this story. Is baptism really necessary?
Here are the instructions we are given:
Acts 2:38 NKJV - Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Those are the operating instructions we have been given, which tell us, yes, it’s necessary. So what of Cornelius?
This is where we intersect back with all of the other examples we’ve looked at in this post, because this one illustrates more clearly than the others something astounding.
God can make exceptions.
The secret things belong to God, and He can do as He wishes. We have been given something else, however.
Deuteronomy 29:29 LSV The things hidden [belong] to our God YHWH, and the things revealed [belong] to us and to our sons for all time, to do all the words of this law.”
We, however, must operate on what has been revealed to us, which is the direct instructions we have been given. God can make exceptions in whatever way He so chooses, but we are not God.
We have to operate on what has been revealed, and the exceptions God chooses to make do not change the law He has given us to operate by!
Isaiah 45:7 NKJV - I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these [things].'
Amos 3:6 NKJV - If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done [it]?
Ecclesiastes 7:14 NKJV - In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing [that will come] after him.
Just because God does something does not mean it’s something we are supposed to copy. We have been given direct instructions, and those are what we operate off of.
God only sent His Holy Spirit before baptism to this one group of people, and this exception does not change the direct instructions we have been given. God can make an exception like this, but it is not in our authority to decide when exceptions like this will be made.
When we start trying to make exceptions ourselves, we are questioning God’s judgment just as surely as Job did. “We don’t think what you’re doing here is correct, God, so we’re going to do it this way.”
What arrogance!
What foolishness!
God’s exceptions are not our rules!
You’ll notice people only go off of the exceptions they want to go off of as well.
You’ll see women hastening to reject authority and become pastors based on the exceptions of Deborah and Huldah, but you don’t ever see a congregation hastening to set up a donkey as their pastor because of the exception of Balaam’s ass.
God can make any exception He wants because He is sovereign.
Sovereign:
1. Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a sovereign ruler of the universe.
2. Supreme; superior to all others; chief. God is the sovereign good of all who love and obey him.
3. Supremely efficacious; superior to all others; predominant; effectual; as a sovereign remedy.
4. Supreme; pertaining to the first magistrate of a nation; as sovereign authority.
SOVEREIGN, noun suv'eran.
1. A supreme lord or ruler; one who possesses the highest authority without control. Some earthly princes, kings and emperors are sovereigns in their dominions.
No one controls or judges God, which makes Him the possessor of the highest authority without answering to anyone else. We, however, are never sovereign, because each one of us, no matter how powerful, answers to God.
We cannot make one hair of our head black or white, so how can we decide when exceptions to the Sovereign Being of the Universe’s law are going to be made?
Men have made well-meaning exceptions throughout Scripture, and they are usually for the worse. God has given us strict operating instructions, and He expects us to live by them.
Uzzah saw the ark about to fall off the cart and put out his hand to steady it, but God had given strict instructions regarding the ark (Numbers 4:15), and even though Uzzah meant well, God struck him down.
2 Samuel 6:6 NKJV - And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out [his hand] to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.
2 Samuel 6:7 NKJV - Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for [his] error; and he died there by the ark of God.
Saul thought the battle would begin before Samuel could get there, and he made a judgment call to make the offerings himself, deciding this moment could be an exception.
1 Samuel 13:12 NKJV - "then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering."
1 Samuel 13:13 NKJV - And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
1 Samuel 13:14 NKJV - "But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him [to be] commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."
Aaron’s sons decided to offer incense the way they thought was right, and God struck them down for it.
Leviticus 10:1 NKJV - Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.
Leviticus 10:2 NKJV - So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
Jereboam feared the people would rejoin with Judah if they went up to keep the Feast every year, so he rearranged things so they wouldn’t have to. Once he did this, Israel never returned to the worship of God. He erased the true system of worship, and Israel had nothing to guide them back to the true Way.
1 Kings 12:28 NKJV - Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!"
1 Kings 12:29 NKJV - And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1 Kings 12:32 NKJV - Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that [was] in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made.
1 Kings 12:33 NKJV - So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.
We find out later that it wasn’t just the Feast of Tabernacles that got moved, it was the whole calendar, even the weekly Sabbath!
Isaiah 1:13 NKJV - Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies--I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
Isaiah 1:14 NKJV - Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing [them].
This section of Isaiah was written to Judah at a time when they had followed after Israel to do wickedly and corrupt the system of worship, and it wasn’t until Hezekiah that festival worship was restored. They were doing something, but they were not the Feasts of God, the way He had ordained them.
Well-meaning intentions led to the destruction of two nations and God’s people as a whole.
Achan hid treasure that God said not to hide, and 36 of his brothers fell in battle as a result (Joshua 7:1–26).
A man reasoned in his heart and decided it would be okay to gather sticks on the Sabbath, perhaps reasoning it to be “necessary” work, and ended up being stoned as a result (Numbers 15:32–36).
The pattern in Scripture is Man says: “This situation is different,” or “My motives are good,” or “This is more practical,” or “I know God,” or even “someone has to do it” as an excuse to break God’s law and thereby create exceptions they do not have the authority to create.
Our feelings do not change the law!
God has revealed His law to us, and our job is to obey it, not create exceptions. We do not get to add to it, only God does (Deuteronomy 12:32).
One of the best verses for us to keep in mind on this topic is in 1st Samuel. Samuel is addressing Saul right after he had made the unlawful offerings, and his words are a stark reminder for each of us.
1 Samuel 15:22 NKJV - So Samuel said: "Has the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, [And] to heed than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:23 NKJV - For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from [being] king."
God does what He needs to do to accomplish His will, even to the point of sending lying spirits to prophets to get kings to do His bidding and receive their punishment (1 Kings 22:21), but He has the authority to do that.
As a sidenote, God does not change in regard to His promises to us. While we have seen that God can make exceptions where He wills, we can count on Him not to change where His promises are concerned.
What does change is the relationship of man with Him and their obedience to Him. His law, however, is set and will not change, and neither does His word (Deuteronomy 7:9; Jeremiah 18:7–10; Ezekiel 18:21–24).
The law does not change in its moral authority or divine origin, even when God alters administration or judgment
The prophet Balaam said these very words as God made him bless Israel in Numbers 21: "God [is] not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
So what do we take away from what we’ve looked at today?
Can God do whatever He wants?
Psalm 115:3 NKJV - But our God [is] in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
Yes, yes, He can. Our job is not to judge God; rather, our job is very simple.
When we see exceptions that God makes in the Bible, we only have to remember one verse:
Deuteronomy 29:29 LSV The things hidden [belong] to our God YHWH, and the things revealed [belong] to us and to our sons for all time, to do all the words of this law.”
Comments
Post a Comment