God is in Control 2
(week 19, 2007)
Olubi Johnson
In our article last week we saw that God is in control over lives of nations and individuals, not by violating our freewill in order to eradicate all acts of evil, but rather by intervening sovereignly at crucial points in time, to ultimately cause His kingdom or dominion to come and His will to be done on earth in spite of man’s disobedience and rebellion.
Why does God do this?
He does this because He loves man and the earth He created for us to inhabit. If God did not intervene at crucial points in time Satan, through the sin nature in man, would destroy the whole of mankind and the entire planet. This is especially true now since the advent of weapons of mass destruction: nuclear and biological.
John 10:10(NIV): 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
You must understand that Satan and his cohorts are very jealous of man because God gave man the earth that Satan and his demons had previously inhabited and had authority over. This was why God commanded Adam to replenish the earth: this means it had been depleted of its former inhabitants:
Ezekiel 28:12-16(NKJV): ‘Thus says the Lord GOD:
“You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, and you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
Genesis 1:26-28(NKJV): 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Observe that Satan was in Eden the garden of God and was the anointed cherub that covered the earth: he had spiritual dominion over the earth. However, he was cast out of the mountain of God.
So God has to maintain control in the earth by His showing us mercy sovereignly so Satan will not cause us to totally consume or destroy ourselves through the sin nature he put into us through the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden:
Romans 5:17-19(NIV): 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Psalms 119:64(NKJV): 64 The earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy; teach me Your statutes.
Psalms 145:9(NKJV): 9 The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.
Lamentation 3:22-23(NKJV): 22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
