God's Sovereignty Defined
The other day I listened to a guy who claimed sovereignty was only a temporary attribute of God. He accused those who emphasize God’s sovereignty of focusing on the temporal instead of the eternal. He went as far as saying it’s a denial of God’s omnipotence. That’s quite the claim! His argument centered around the fact that before creation, there was nothing for God to reign over, so that meant God wasn’t actually sovereign during that time. You might be thinking, is this really that important to consider or isn’t it just semantics? Omnipotence is still an awesome attribute. Here’s why it matters — God is unchanging and eternal. If He possessed changing attributes and some which were only temporal, then He would cease to be God. Also, when it comes to Him being sovereign over things like our salvation, Scripture tells us God already made this plan BEFORE the foundation of the world. Why would we want to claim this fact shows God’s unlimited power (omnipotence), but not His sovereignty? I don’t know how to square that with trying to give God the most glory we possibly can. Here are a few more A.W. Pink quotes to consider…
The knowledge that God has predestinated me unto eternal glory supplies an absolute guarantee that no efforts of Satan can possibly bring about my destruction, for if the great God be for me, who can be against me!
God is not working at random: the gospel has been sent forth on no uncertain mission: the final outcome in the conflict between good and evil has not been left indeterminate; how many are to be saved or lost depends not on the will of the creature. Everything was infallibly determined and immutably fixed by God from the beginning, and all that happens in time is but the accomplishment of what was ordained in eternity.
I hope you’ll take some time to think about this matter today. Could God have a temporary attribute? What would that mean for you and me? Why would we want to make God out to be less than He really is?