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COLLEGE OF PTC BAHIRDAR

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Old testament historical book and

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wisdom literature Assignment.

Submitted to Endale Tefera

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Submitted by Temesgen Molla
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The sovereignty of God in Job
Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty:
for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art
exalted as Head above all" (1 Chron. 29:11). The Sovereignty of God is an expression that once
was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme
frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts, and
gave virility and stability to Christian character. But, today, to make mention of God's
Sovereignty is, in many quarters, to speak in an unknown tongue. Were we to announce from
the average pulpit that the subject of our discourse would be the Sovereignty of God, it would
sound very much as though we had borrowed a phrase from one of the dead languages. Alas!
that it should be so. Alas! that the doctrine which is the key to history, the interpreter of
Providence, the warp and woof of Scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology should be
so sadly neglected and so little understood. The Sovereignty of God What do we mean by this
expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the godhood of God. To say
that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare
that He is the Most

High, doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth,
so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou? (Dan. 4:35). To say that God
is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and
earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will (Psa. 115:3).
To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is "The Governor among the nations" (Psa.
22:28), setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as
pleaseth Him best. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the "Only Potentate, the
King of kings, and Lord of lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). Such is the God of the Bible.

Remember: Sin is not always the cause of suffering, suffering has no meaning outside of a
sovereign God, and the Sovereign God of the Bible is protector, redeemer, and restorer of his
people. God is in control even in the midst of suffering.

The book of Job’s point is to address God’s sovereignty (control) in light of suffering. This is
done through a poetic presentation of conversations between Job and his friends culminating in
God himself speaking to Job. These conversations are often referred to as “cycles” by
commentators and scholars as each person gets to speak. Is God in control? Why do we suffer?
These questions (and ones like them) are important ones to ask. The book of Job forces a
believer in the sovereign God of the Bible to consider these things rightly—in other words, in
light of that sovereign God. From the perspective of knowing all about God, that is with regard
to the totality of his attributes, this is a valid point. There are those who lopsidedly enthuse and
promote the sovereignty of God more than His other characteristics. They make right belief
here to be a bench‐mark in terms of qualifying for Christian fellowship. Yet we have already
seen that God’s attribute of holiness is of fundamental importance, even in terms of frequency
of mention in the Bible. So from the outset we will readily confess to God being holy and
righteous and good in His sovereignty. From the perspective of both the sovereignty of God and
human responsibility, those who are eager to promote the former can, at the same time, be
negligent in the promotion of the latter. There can be, in telling a sinner that salvation is a work
of sovereign grace, a neglect in pressing home the invitation and responsibility to believe, even
as the Bible does.

The sovereignty of God is of far‐reaching importance insofar as other doctrines and activities
are concerned. God and man Is man autonomous in relation to God, that is independent,
especially in terms of his having free will that God will not influence? Or does God have full
authority over man that includes his sinful intellect, will, emotions, and ultimate destiny?
Salvation Is it a cooperative, bilateral work between God and man that is especially reliant on
a human faith decision? Or is it a totally sovereign, unilateral work of God upon man, dead in
trespasses and sins that grants repentance and faith, indeed salvation in total? Sanctification
Is Christian growth a collaborative work that maintains a decision for salvation by means of
ongoing obedience? Or is it a collaborative work between the Christian and his keeping Savior
that results in a secure salvation? Church life and growth Does God have no hands but our
hands so that the building of local churches depends on energetic human activity and astute
methodology? Or does God build and add to His church in conjunction with faithful, biblically
directed human labor? Witnessing Is it man campaigning for a dependent God, employing
proven formulas, so as to capture decisions and hence souls, like scalps? Or is it God declaring
his saving power, through man, in such a manner that His effectual gospel is glorified? The
sovereignty of God is especially fundamental insofar as the practical manifestation of the
Christian life is concerned. Omnipotence is his [God’s] physical power, whereby he is able to do
what he will; dominion is his moral power, whereby it is lawful for him to do what he will.
Among men, strength and authority are two distinct things. A subject may be a giant, and
stronger than his prince. . . . As God is Lord, he hath a right to enact; as he is almighty, he hath a
power to execute. His strength is the executive power belonging to his dominion. In regard to
his sovereignty, he hath a right to command all creatures; in regard to his almightiness, he hath
power to make his commands be obeyed, or to punish men for the violation of them. His power
is that whereby he hath a right to subdue all creatures under him. One of the most difficult
aspects of the book of Job is that God never really answers Job’s pointed questions about his
suffering. It is true that God restores Job’s fortunes and gives him another family with whom to
live out his days, and God does rebukes Job’s friends because they “have not spoken the truth
about me” (Job 42:7 CSB). But the closest God comes to answering Job’s inquiry is in the
chapters-long questioning that is designed not to satisfy Job’s frustration but rather to
demonstrate God’s sovereignty. God lobs question after question at Job, ultimately
overpowering his angry protestations of innocence to the point that Job simply states, This final
poem in the book of Job, along with God’s whirlwind responses that come before it, is the key
to reading Job theologically. For even now the human temptation is to err on one side or
another of the book of Job. Like Job, we may protest our innocence in the face of unjust
suffering. And like Job we also may be fully right in that we have done nothing to deserve the
suffering we are experiencing. On the other hand, we my respond like Job’s friends and hang on
with all of our might to a theological construct (e.g., retribution theology) that neatly explains
our suffering. In both cases we would be wrong, though, for Job teaches us that the role of
humans in this life is to recognize our limited understanding, limited insight, limited wisdom,
limited power, limited everything, really, and in that recognition we are to, as the author of
Ecclesiastes tells us, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of
mankind” (Eccl 12:13 ESV). Suffering, then, becomes one more way for humans to acknowledge
our deep-seated need for God, for we cannot and do not understand, but it turns out, neither
do we have to. There, God is calling created beings before him and interrogating them. Satan is
one such underling. (1:6-7; 2:1) Satan and God are not equals. No, God is the Sovereign, and
Satan is his subject. Wherever Satan roams, and whatever Satan does, he is under the watchful
governance of God and is limited by God’s sovereign wisdom and power. (1:12; 2:6) Clearly,
Satan only exists and influences this world because God allows him such liberty. Satan is God’s
little devil, and when God is weary of his wickedness, God is going to banish him to the Lake of
Fire. God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto
himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving
any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; he is the
alone foundation of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things; and hath
most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever
himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest; his knowledge is infinite,
infallible, and independent upon the creature; so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain.
He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from
angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is
pleased to require of them. 1 God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of
his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby
neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the
liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. Although God
knows whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions; yet hath he not
decreed any thing because he foresaw it as future, as that which would come to pass, upon
such conditions. God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct dispose, and govern
all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy
providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of
his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.
Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to
pass immutably and infallibly, yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out
according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. God, in
his ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against
them, at his pleasure. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of
God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first Fall,
and all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined
with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a
manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only
from the creature, and not from God; who being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be
the author or approver of sin. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that
it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil. What
if you still don’t get it? What if you still cannot figure out how our free will interacts with God’s
free will? Well, welcome to the club. I do not understand the Trinity. I do not understand the
Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ, and I do not fully understand the divine-human relationship.
But this I know. Satan has a free will and he makes decisions everyday based upon that which
he desires. Sinners have free will and they make damnable decisions everyday based upon what
they prefer. I have a free will, and for many years I made decisions based upon my depraved
nature. But then one day I freely chose Jesus Christ to be my Savior and Lord after he freely
chose me first and regenerated me. So while I understand the concept of free will, I am most
thankful for God who has the most free will. Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases
him. The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all
their depths. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with
the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to
him: “What have you done?” What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to
Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For
the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my
power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy
on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will
say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O
man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make
me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some
pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his
wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath– prepared
for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his
mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— God is sovereign over Satan. God is sovereign
over sinners. God is sovereign over storms. God is sovereign over suffering. God is sovereign
over salvation. He does not ask the Christian to be his defense attorney. He sovereignly
commands him to trust in him, suffer righteously, encourage others to call upon him and be
saved, and then die and enjoy eternal glory. God is sovereign over Satan. God is sovereign over
sinners. God is sovereign over storms. God is sovereign over suffering. God is sovereign over
salvation. He does not ask the Christian to be his defense attorney. He sovereignly commands
him to trust in him, suffer righteously, encourage others to call upon him and be saved, and
then die and enjoy eternal glory. God is Sovereign in the exercise of His love. Ah! that is a hard
saying, who then can receive it? It is written, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him
from Heaven" (John 3:27). When we say that God

is Sovereign in the exercise of His love, we mean that He loves whom He chooses. God does not
love everybody*; if He did, He would love the Devil. Why does not God love the Devil? Because
there is nothing in him to love; because there is nothing in him to attract the heart of God. Nor
is there anything to attract God's love in any of the fallen sons of Adam, for all of them are, by
nature, "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). If then there is nothing in any member of the human race
to attract God's love,[1] and if,

notwithstanding, He does love some, then it necessarily follows that the cause of His love must
be found in Himself, which is only another way of saying that the exercise of God's love towards
the fallen sons of men is according to His own good pleasure. In the final analysis, the exercise
of God's love must he traced back to His Sovereignty or, otherwise, He would love by rule; and
if He loved by rule, then is He under a law of love, and if He is under a law of love then is He not
supreme, but is Himself ruled by law. "But," it may be asked, "Surely you do not deny that God
loves the entire human family?" We reply, it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. If then God loved Jacob and hated Esau, and that before they were born or had done
either good or evil, then the reason for His love was not

in them, but in Himself. That the exercise of God's love is according to His own Sovereign
pleasure is also clear from the language of Ephesians 1:3-5, where we read, "Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His
will." It was "in love" that God the Father predestined His chosen ones unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to Himself, "according"-according to what? According to some
excellency He discovered in them? No. What then? According to what He foresaw they would
become? No; mark carefully the inspired answer-"According to the good pleasure of His will."
We are not unmindful of the fact that men have invented the distinction between That the
exercise of God's love is according to His own Sovereign pleasure is also clear from the language
where we read, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in
love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself
according to the good pleasure of His will." It was "in love" that God the Father predestined His
chosen ones unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, "according"-according to
what? According to some excellency He discovered in them? No. What then? According to what
He foresaw they would become? No; mark carefully the inspired answer-"According to the
good pleasure of His will." God is Sovereign in the exercise of His grace. This of necessity, for
grace is favor shown to the undeserving, yea, to the Hell-deserving. Grace is the antithesis of
justice. Justice demands the impartial enforcement of law. Justice requires that each shall
receive his legitimate due, neither more nor less. Justice bestows no favors and is no respecter
of persons.

Justice, as such, shows no pity and knows no mercy. But after justice has been fully satisfied,
grace flows forth. Divine grace is not exercised at the expense of justice, but "grace reigns
through righteousness and if grace "reigns," then is grace Sovereign. Grace has been defined as
the unmerited favor of God and if unmerited, then none can claim it as their inalienable right. If
grace is unearned and undeserved, then none are entitled to it. If grace is a gift, then none can
demand it. Therefore, as salvation is by grace, the free gift of God, then He bestows it on whom
He pleases. Because salvation is by grace, the very chief of sinners is not beyond the reach of
Divine mercy. Because salvation is by grace, boasting is excluded and God gets all the glory. The
Sovereign exercise of grace is illustrated on nearly every page of

Scripture. The Gentiles are left to walk in their own ways while Israel becomes the covenant
people of Jehovah. Ishmael the firstborn is cast out comparatively unblest, while Isaac the son
of his parents' old age is made the child of promise. Esau the generous-hearted and forgiving-
spirited is denied the blessing, though he sought it carefully with tears, while the worm Jacob
receives the inheritance and is fashioned into a vessel of honor. So in the New Testament
Divine Truth is hidden from the wise and prudent, but is revealed to babes. The Pharisees and
Sadducees are left to go their own way, while publicans and harlots are drawn by the cords of
love.

In a remarkable manner Divine grace was exercised at the time of the Saviour's birth. The
incarnation of God's Son was one of the greatest events in the history of the universe, and yet
its actual occurrence was not made known to all mankind; instead, it was specially revealed to
the Bethlehem shepherds and wise men of the East. And this was prophetic and indicative of
the entire course of this dispensation, for even today Christ is not made known to all. It would
have been an easy matter for God to have sent a company of angels to every nation and to
have announced the birth of His Son. But He did not. God could have readily attracted the
attention of all mankind to the "star"; but He did not. Why? Because God is Sovereign and
dispenses His favors as He pleases. Note particularly the two classes to whom the birth of the
Saviour was made known, namely, the most unlikely classes-illiterate shepherds and heathen
from a far country. No angel stood before the Sanhedrin and announced the advent of Israel's
Messiah! No "star" appeared unto the scribes and lawyers as they, in their pride and self-
righteousness, searched the Scriptures! They searched diligently to find out where He should be
born, and yet it was not made known to them when He was actually come. What a display of
Divine Sovereignty-the illiterate shepherds singled out for peculiar honor, and the learned and
eminent passed by! And why was the birth of the Saviour revealed to these foreigners, and not
to those in whose midst He was born? See in this a wonderful foreshadowing of God's dealings
with our race throughout the entire Christian dispensation-Sovereign in the exercise of His
grace, bestowing His favors on whom He pleases, often on the most unlikely and unworthy. It
has been pointed out to us that God's Sovereignty was signally displayed in His choice of the
place where His Son was born. Not to Greece or Italy did the Lord of Glory come, but to the
insignificant land of Palestine! Not in Jerusalem-the royal city-was Immanuel born, but in
Bethlehem, which was "little among the thousands (of towns and villages) And it was in
despised Nazareth that He grew up!! Truly, God's ways are not ours.

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