The Glory of Christ in God's Sovereignty

I had the great privilege of attending the 2009 Resolved conference this past weekend and sitting under some great men of God who are being used mightly in His hand to refine men and women in the Truth. What a joy it was to learn vital and fundamental Truths from humble men like these. I HIGHLY recommend you check out the messages on resolved.org if you get the chance, you will be blessed. I was overwhelmed with the Truths I was hearing; yet there is one specific thing that stuck out to me that I felt compelled to share with all of you in prayer that it would encourage you, spur you on and make you fall more in love with the Savior of the universe...that being the glory of God IN ALL things...including sin!

God never ceases to amaze me. I find it so amazing that whenever He is trying to teach me some Truth or to refine me in something He doesn't just bring it from one source, but from all around. Recently I have been reading through the Old Testament and I have been able to see more of the glory of God through the disobedience of the nation of Israel; coupled with that I just finished Piper's book "Spectacular Sins" which definitely showed how God providentially ordains even the evil in this world. Last night Piper spoke on this very thing...God's Sovereignty OVER Sin in regards to the fall of Lucifer and the demons and Adam and man. Do you realize that EVERYTIME God does something to you, nudges you, bumps you, stirs your circumstances so to speak, He is doing a million things?? Everything relates to everything BECAUSE God is in control of everything. God is an infinitely purposeful and powerful Savior.

There is a Truth in Scripture that we seem to not be able to get around, some sort of tension that is somewhat of a mystery that we in our finiteness cannot comprehend, that is the sovereignty of God and the responsiblity of man. We come to verses in Scripture like 2 Chronicles 18:22 which reads ""So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you."" and we go WHAT?! God is somehow connected with this evil??! How can it be?! Yet God in His grandiose and His perfection has made it quite clear as to the reality of His sovereignty and He answers our question of how and why in Colossians 1:16:

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."

That means that everything , yes everything including Satan, including evil, EVERYTHING was made BY Him and FOR Him. Do you realize that even before He made anything, including Satan and the fallen angels he already had thought about the prospect of their fall of rebellion? Piper likes to use the word "ordain" when it comes to God and evil or sin and he does a good job at defining it as either a) causing something directly or b) permitting something with infinite knowledge of what will come...in other words HE IS IN CHARGE! Do you realize that God could stop it, but He doesn't? Look at this in Revelation 13:8, "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." The key here is realizing that God here is talking about the book, the book of life, the book with the names of everyone for whom Christ died for had been written from the foundation of the world!! That means that BEFORE you and I were ever created, before the world was created, BEFORE Adam fell, the plan of redemption had already been established!! How incredible of a thought is that??! That blows my mind. 2 Timothy 1:9 reads, "(HE) who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity...", the unmerited grace we receive in Christ was granted to us in eternity past!! The entire story was written before the creation of time, and space and everything since...God IS sovereign and working it all together.

But why you might ask? Why would God "ordain" something like this? Why would He want to see a fallen creation end up like this, why would he want Lucifer and his demons to have power on earth? Why? Back in Colossians we read that everything, EVERYTHING, was made by Him and FOR Him...your answer then is FOR THE GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST. God is orchestrating it all so that He can make much of Christ. Fallen creatures in need of a Savior and the perfection of the cross and redemptive history put more of God's greatness and glory on display! Jesus Christ is magnified in such a profound way through this. You see the universe, the everything is about the cross of Jesus Christ on which He bled and died for the sins of those whom He called. The perfection of a creation that came by the power of God's words; the perfection of a fall that was orchestrated perfectly to display God's greatness; the perfection of the god-man living on this earth, and righteously, fulfilling everything we could not; the perfection of the death in which His perfect blood was spilled out for the sins of millions; the perfection of the wrath of God satisfied completely through His own crushing of His only Son, the perfection of the risen King; the perfection of the power of grace in which God calls unclean, filthy, depraved sinners to Himself and in an instant cleanses them of all inquity as they throw themselves facedown on the mercy of Christ; and the perfection of the end of a story to come in which evil will be cast out forever and a risen Christ will reign victoriously forevermore...it is all but for the glory of God and it will forevermore be the song we sing!

And the CRUCIAL Truth in all of this is realizing that this Truth of the sovereignty of God over evil, over all wickedness and the decree of His Will to crush His Son is vital to the purity of the Gospel...without it you cannot have salvation.