Understanding God - 21

Fellow partakers of God’s grace,

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus. With love and prayers, we bring to you the concluding part of our series on “Understanding God”. So far, we have considered the Person and attributes of God, the make-up of the Godhead and the attendant distribution of roles. This led to a focus on “The Sovereignty of God”.

In continuation of our series on “Understanding God”, we have been exploring “The Sovereignty of God”. So far, we have explored the basis and extent of God’s sovereignty, which led us to a consideration of “The Place of Satan”, “Understanding Tribulation” and “The Place of Creation”.

More recently, we began to consider the pillars upon which God’s sovereignty is hinged, namely foreknowledge, election and predestination. Not only have we explored foreknowledge and election, we have been considering predestination. In particular, we have highlighted the role of predestination in salvation, conformity to the image of Christ, Christian service and the works of the believer. In this study, we are highlighting four more areas that are governed by predestination.

5. The rise and fall of nations, and their leaders. The Bible teaches that God “changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings and setteth up kings” (Dan.2:21). He ordained the rise and subsequent fall of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. On the night that both Babylon and her king fell, He sent “the fingers of a man’s hand” to signify the doom of both king and kingdom. And it came to pass (see Dan.5:5-31, Rom.13:1).

6. Formation of nation states from among different groups of men that live upon the earth. Let us consider Acts 17:24-27, which is relevant, not only in relation to the point being made, but also to the two remaining points.: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us.”

Indeed He has “made of one blood all nations of men.” From the very beginning, it was God’s plan for man to multiply, populate the earth and be distributed as families, groups and nations all over the earth (Gen.1:28, 9:1, 12;11). In Genesis 11, we see “the whole earth” speaking one language, journeying together, dwelling together in Shinar and even coming together to fulfil a common ambition. The Lord put an end to all that, confusing their language and scattering them “abroad upon the face of all the earth” (vs.1, 2,7-9). That, in part, was His was His way of telling man that His original purpose had not changed. His statement to Rebecca confirms this: “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels…” (Gen.25:23). From one womb, God produced two sons, and from two sons, He produced two nations; not one.

7. The timing of the manifestation of different generations of men on the earth. Indeed, He has determined for men “the times before appointed.” Our God is a God of order, releasing men unto the earth in their generations, one batch after the other. The fact that we are them “upon whom the ends of the world are come” is not an accident (1 Cor.10:11). In this case, the ordering of things is similar to that of a relay race, in which one group of athletes hands over the baton to another group of athletes.

8. The boundaries of men’s habitation. This includes towns or villages of origin, nationality, the location and relocation of men. While acknowledging that there are aspects that we are in no position influence, we must ensure that, as we make our choices, we do not move ourselves beyond the frontiers of God’s purpose. A man’s location is one of the packages included in the treasure house of God’s will. However, in practical terms, even though He has ‘laid the tracks,’ He never forces you to run the ‘train’ (or your life) on it. Yet we know the consequences of a train running off the tracks.

As we may confirm from Acts 17:28, the wisdom by which God orders the nationality, the timing of manifestation and the location of men goes a long way in determining the opportunities that they have to “seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him.” The implication is that, the less committed a man is to his responsibility in this divine order, the less likely he is to feel after the Lord, and find Him. Conversely, the more committed a man is to his responsibility, the more likely he is to feel after the Lord, and find Him. (Concluded).
 

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