To God Be the Glory because He Decreed It
God’s grace toward His chosen people is made known to us in the Bible (Eph 2:8–9). The Holy Spirit not only revealed God’s gracious dealings toward His elect, but He illumines them for us when we read or listen to the Bible being preached to us (1 Pet 2:9). We learn of so great a salvation, that is, our inheritance reserved for us in heaven (Heb 1:14; 1 Pet 1:4).
In contrast, God has prepared His wrath for the reprobate (Rom 1:18–32; 9:22). In doing this, God reveals the attributes of righteousness and justice. Thus, both the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath are products of what God has decreed from eternity; for He predestined some to adoption as sons (Eph 1:5), while reprobating the rest of humanity. Romans Chapter 9 assures us that God, in His sovereignty, has every right to do with His own creation whatever He wills.
The natural man protests against the doctrines of God’s sovereignty and eternal decrees because he himself wants to be in control of his or her own destiny. Man wants his own will, not God’s will to be done. So, man operates under the delusion that God is not God. He imagines that his own autonomous free will is the determining factor in his or her life. This man has decided to let Jesus save him…or not.
It never occurs to the natural man that God has a predetermined plan from eternity (Acts 2:23), whereby all things must come to pass just as God has ordained them in His eternal counsel, according to His eternal good pleasure (Is 42:9).
For the Christian, these are delightful doctrines. God is in control. He has a plan. He has the power to execute His plan. He has told us that His plans make full provision for our good in this life and in life in the world to come. Our God is eternal (Dt 33:27), all-wise, and whose free will must be done. He wills and He does with divine initiative. He is never thwarted, never frustrated. Every event is administered by God with precision detail. Every decision is from the Lord (Prv 16:33).
The operation of sinners is included in God’s plan. Men, who love darkness, perform their evil deeds under God’s watchful eye (Jn 3:19). Man is warned that his sins must be judged and punished (Gen 2:17; Rom 6:23). Man cannot help himself…he sins even though he knows that he will be dealt with by the omnipresent, omnipotent God who is there with accumulated wrath against accumulated sins. Judgment may be immediate or it may be delayed, but it surely will be executed because God’s Word tells us so (1 Tim 5:24).
Man is a slave to sin (Rom 6:6). Stated another way, he is an addict. Sin controls the natural man. He does whatever he thinks will give him pleasure (Jn 3:19; 2 Tim 3:4). Sin is a deceiver, however (Heb 3:13). Instead of pleasure, sin brings pain and confusion. It steals hope and causes suffering. God is not the author of sin; but He does determine how sin will be met with consequences. God is glorified no matter how He disposes of each person’s sin. He may pay (death of Christ); or they may pay (eternal punishment in fiery hell).
God’s eternal counsel reveals His good pleasure. When God decrees everything, it reveals His predetermined plan (Acts 2:23). His plan is perfectly wise. God perfectly executes His plan, in what is known as the providence of God. His is, of course, a perfect execution. Thus, God’s will is performed in the manner of His choosing; and we learn the will of God from the Word of God, the Bible.
In studying the Bible, we witness the truth of what God has revealed, being played out in our lives and in the world. The Christian learns of God’s sovereignty in salvation. Having received the Holy Spirit, the believer learns why he or she actually believes in God, in Christ, and the doctrines that reveal God’s nature.
This is all God’s story (Heb 12:2); and each soul conceived by God will surely perform his or her role, as designed and decreed. This is an offense to the reprobate; but their protest only affirms that they are doing exactly what God made them for in such a time and place as this place and time. This is a delight for the redeemed of the Lord because he or she knows what it means to be an object of God’s mercy.
The heralded news is a joy and a comfort because God has not left His chosen ones as orphans (Jn 14:18). He has adopted us and sent the token of His love (2 Cor 5:5), by sending the Spirit of adoption into our hearts (Rom 8:15, 23).
So, then, we must live in light of the truth regarding the one, true, and living God (Gal 2:20). We must never be ashamed of the eternal decrees and sovereignty of God. As objects of God’s mercy and grace, we joyfully bear witness of these doctrines (Acts 1:8; 2 Tim 4:2). We do so because God has decreed that we do.
In summary, God had a definite plan before creation…for the whole of creation. He Himself is revealed in the working out of His decreed will. God’s divine attributes are in view every day. Things happen everywhere, every day, and nothing that happens operates apart from God’s decree. God does not fail in anything. Does the world seem out of control? God is in control. Does evil seem to prevail? Nothing, even evil, functions apart from God using it as a means to an end (Prv 16:4).
In conclusion, nothing is conditioned on man or creature, so that God must react. God interacts; but all of it is from Him, through Him, and to Him (Rom 11:36). For this reason, we were made by Him to praise and glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who warrant all the glory (1 Cor 10:31), having done all the work (Is 26:12), according to the will of God decreed from eternity.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
September 25, 2024