The Universal Kingdom

Transcript

GRM 991
12/02/2007
The Universal Kingdom
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


We're studying I Corinthians 15 together and we are looking at some matters related to I Corinthians 15, but move us beyond the immediate focus of this chapter. In our previous study we looked at the matter of the resurrections of scripture, because I Corinthians 15 is about resurrection, the resurrection of the body.

I want to look with you today at the matter of the kingdom. In I Corinthians 15:24 in the context of talking about coming resurrection following the resurrection of Christ, we are told, then comes the end when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and authority. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. And in the context of I Corinthians 15 we are talking about a coming kingdom that will be established on the earth at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. But there is another kingdom talked about in the Bible and I want to focus our attention today on that. Then in our coming studies we will talk about the kingdom of prophecy that is yet to come.

The Bible indicates that there is a present kingdom, there has been through history, and that God is the King and He is sovereign and rules over all. I'm going to be drawing this material that I'm going to share with you today from a portion of Alva J. McClain's book called The Greatness of the Kingdom. And I would recommend that book to you, it is an extensive work on the kingdom, probably the finest work on the kingdom that is available to us. It runs over 500 pages, so some of you have read it, some of you have studied it, some of you have taught it. It's a fine work and you may want to have it as part of your library even if you don't read it from cover to cover. You can find yourself reading in it and profit from it. But I'll be taking the material I share with you from his work.

When we talk about a kingdom we will include three things—a ruler, a realm to be ruled and then the actual reigning or ruling in the kingdom. In other words you could have a ruler but he is not exercising his rule at the time, he's not reigning over a region. But we talk about the kingdom, we're talking about a king who has a territory or realm over which he is exercising his rule or reign. When we talk about the kingdom of God we're talking about God's rule over His creation. We often think and talk of the coming kingdom, and that is the focus of a large portion of both the Old and New Testament, but there is another kingdom or another aspect of the kingdom, however you want to look at it, that we need to be aware of to avoid confusion. McClain divides the kingdoms as the universal kingdom of God and the mediatorial kingdom of God, the mediatorial kingdom referring to the kingdom that is mediated by a sovereign. For example, the coming kingdom will be mediated by the rule of Jesus Christ as God's representative in reigning. We'll talk about the universal kingdom today and this is distinct and separate in the sense that it has always existed. The coming mediatorial kingdom, the phase of the mediatorial kingdom we'll be concerned with, will not occur until Christ comes and sets up His kingdom on the earth.

I want to look at some of the characteristics of the universal kingdom of God. It is His sovereignty over all creation by virtue of the fact He is the Creator. We'll find that this kingdom was in existence in the Old Testament and it encompasses everything in heaven on earth and in hell. It involves a control over all events, no matter how small or how large. And it includes everyone. It includes the devil, it includes the demons, it includes believers, it includes unbelievers. It includes the living and the dead. It is a sovereign kingdom over all. So I'm going to walk with you through some of these characteristics of the universal kingdom, and I'm going to just list them as I draw them from McClain's book, The Greatness of the Kingdom, and then we'll look at some scriptures that draw attention to this particular aspect of the universal kingdom. Now keep in mind, we're talking about the universal kingdom that has always existed. It involves God exercising rule or reign over all creation.

So the first characteristic of this universal kingdom is that it exists without interruption throughout all time. It exists without interruption throughout all time. Earthly kingdoms come and go, no matter what. The nation Israel had a king, now that king is in history but there is no king today. But God's kingdom continues. Other nations of the world have come and gone. Assyria rose to power and fell from power, Babylon rose to power and fell from power, Rome rose to power and fell from power. God's kingdom continues.

Go to Psalm 145, we'll be in Psalms several times. And I'm just going to pick out the verses generally without going into the context, otherwise we would not get very far along. Verse 13, your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, your dominion endures throughout all generations. So you see the simple statement that God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, it is a kingdom that knows no end. It endures throughout all generations. People come and go, kingdoms come and go. The kingdom of God endures without end.

Back up to Psalm 29. This sovereignty of God includes all aspects of creation. It includes nature as well as human beings. So in Psalm 29 the psalmist, David in this psalm, shows the sovereignty of God over creation. So all that happens in nature is a result of His action. Look at verse 3, the voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thunders. You see He is sovereign over the thunder. It's not Mother Nature thunders, it's not the laws of nature bring about thunder, but the God of glory thunders. The lightning, verse 7, the voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire. The picture, these are a result of God's activity. This is not superstition, this is not myth and fable of the gods breathing fire. This is the sovereign God, king of creation, acting even through what we would call the forces of nature. They respond to His instructions, His direction. This involves animals giving birth. Verse 9, the voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve. Now we'll get into some of these matters at a later point, but what we want to note here is God's rule and reign and control is over all aspects of nature. He is directly involved and He is sovereign over it. It happens at His determination. Look at verse 10, the Lord sat as king at the flood, yes the Lord sits as king forever. He is king forever. When the flood came on the earth, He sat on His throne. He was ruling. In other words, He brought that about. It was His activity. Just like these other activities, they are a result of His sitting as king forever and determining what happens in His realm, the realm over which He rules, which is part of having a kingdom. That includes all the activities of nature—little things that we might not pay much attention to like thunder and lightning. But He is the one who brings it about.

Turn over to Jeremiah 10. And in Jeremiah 10 Jeremiah is talking about the futility, the emptiness, the worthlessness of all gods except the one true, living God. Verse 2, don't learn the way of the nations, don't be terrified by the signs of the heavens, horoscopes and all of that silliness, although the nations are terrified by them. The customs of the people are delusions, they make their own gods, they create them. Some of them carve them out of wood and overlay them with silver and gold. And then you have to nail them down so they don't fall over, verse 4. They are like a scarecrow, verse 5, in a cucumber field. They can't speak, they have to be carried, they can't walk. Don't fear them, they can't do any harm, they can't do any good. They are worthless. They are not gods at all, they are pieces of wood, they are pieces of stone, they are figments of men's imagination. They don't bring about good, they don't bring about evil. They are worthless, they are powerless.

But come down to verse 10, but the Lord is the true God, He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes and the nations cannot endure His indignation. He is the sovereign King. So He is God, He is King, He rules. And He does do harm and He does good. At His wrath the earth quakes and the nations cannot endure His indignation. The gods, small “g,” of the nations can't do good or bad. They can't harm you, they can't help you. But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God, the everlasting King. And He can bring about harm and destruction and He can bring about blessing and goodness. So His throne exists, He's the everlasting King. There is no break in this.

Go to Lamentations. Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations and he is mourning, he is lamenting. The Babylonians came and brought devastation on the nation, the southern kingdom, Judah, carried it into captivity. And it has been a fierce destruction. The city is burned, the land ravished, so that the people are left starving. The women and children, indescribable deeds have been done to them. Jeremiah is overwhelmed, filled with mourning and grief for what has happened to his people. And yet in the midst of this note what he says in Lamentations 5:19, you, oh Lord, rule forever. Your throne is from generation to generation. You'd think he would be in despair and now the Babylonians rule. No, you, oh Lord, rule forever. Your throne is from generation to generation. There is no question or doubt even in this misery that God is still sovereign, He still reigns, He still is on the throne. In that sense nothing has changed in the ultimate perspective. It is His purposes being accomplished. True, as Jeremiah says in this context, they are experiencing His anger, His wrath, but it's not really the Babylonians, it is God acting. And the Babylonians are His instruments, but God is acting. His rule is forever, His throne is from generation to generation. Pick up the point in these verses, it is without interruption, there is no break. He is the everlasting King. He sits as King forever, He has an everlasting kingdom. Those verses we looked at. So the first characteristic of what we're calling the universal kingdom of God, it exists without interruption, without break, throughout all time.

The second characteristic of the universal kingdom is it includes all that exists in space and time, all creation is included in this—angelic creation, human creation, nature, whatever. Nothing lies outside, so we say for a kingdom you have a ruler and you have a realm and the realm over which God is king is everything—everyone, everything. It includes all that exists, in heaven and on earth and in hell.

Go back to Jeremiah 10:6, there is none like you, oh Lord. You are great and great is your name in might. Who would not fear you, oh King of the nations? You see, that's His role. There are earthly kingdoms, but there is one who is the king of the nations. Jeremiah is writing this as the kingdom of Israel is coming to an end. The Babylonians rule sovereign, but God is still King of the nations.

Turn back to Daniel 4. This is tremendously important for us to understand and grasp and appreciate today, and particularly as God's people. It puts everything going on in our life personally and individually, in our own little world, and in our nation and around the whole earth. In Daniel you are still in the same time period, basically, as Jeremiah was writing about. Daniel follows up on what Jeremiah has done, as Jeremiah writes about the coming Babylonian captivity and then the actual captivity. Daniel was one of those carried away to Babylon as a captive. The Babylonians deports all but the poorest of the people from the land and relocated them and took certain key people to the occupied places, if you will, of importance, even though they are a conquered people in the kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar is a mighty king. Remember in Daniel 2 as Daniel unfolds the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, who saw the empires of the world in the picture of an image, starting with a head of gold, down through legs and feet of iron and then iron mixed with clay. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon is the head of gold, that splendid empire. And Nebuchadnezzar was filled with pride over his empire. He was a godless man, he was a fierce man. You know what happened to the last king of Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel? Because he did not submit immediately to Nebuchadnezzar, when Nebuchadnezzar finally captured him, he brought him before him, he had all his family, his children brought before him and had his children executed before his eyes. Then he had the king's eyes put out. He didn't kill the king because he wanted him to live with the final thing that he saw on this earth was the horrible execution of his own family and his own children. Tells you something about the character of Nebuchadnezzar. Not a nice man. Read Lamentations and see the kind of devastation he brought with his troops to the people that he conquered.

And now he walks through splendid Babylon and he is filled with pride at all he had done, all he had accomplished. And God intervenes. And the message to be learned from the vision that God gave him, Daniel communicates. And basically what it is, Nebuchadnezzar, great king, head of gold, is going to be reduced to insanity and live like and animal eating the grass of the field for seven years. Daniel 4:16, let his mind be changed from that of a man, let a beast's mind be given to him. But seven periods of time pass over him, seven years. This sentence is by decree of the angelic watchers, the decision of the command of the holy ones in order that the living may know, now note this, that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men. It is repeated three times. The end of verse 25, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. The end of verse 32, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. The end of verse 26, it is heaven that rules. So the statement of verse 31, sovereignty has been removed from you. You see that emphasis throughout this section. Nebuchadnezzar is the greatest king on earth. You understand God reigns, God rules, God is sovereign. Nebuchadnezzar with all his splendor, with all his majesty, with all his power is there by the appointment of God and can be removed when God says the word. Sovereignty has been removed from you, and Nebuchadnezzar is reduced from being the mightiest sovereign to being no better than an ox in the field eating grass. That's God's sovereignty over all in His realm. That includes Nebuchadnezzar. So you don't want to lose perspective on who reigns.

Back up Daniel 2:19 ff. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Daniel blessed the God of heaven and Daniel said, let the names of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs, He removes kings and establishes kings, He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. You see it includes everything. Nebuchadnezzar is a godless man, but God put him on the throne. He is sovereign, He changes times and epochs. His kingdom includes all that exists.

Come back to Daniel 4, we have to read about Nebuchadnezzar. After seven years of insanity God restores his mind and Nebuchadnezzar has learned a lesson—there is one true and living God, all must submit to Him. Verse 34, at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven. My reason returned to me, I blessed the Most High, praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, His kingdom endures from generation to generation. Nebuchadnezzar has learned something—kingdoms comes and go, kings come and go, but the dominion of the living God goes on, it is everlasting. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will and the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. And no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have you done? Nebuchadnezzar has been greatly humbled, he realizes I can't even question the living God. But for the grace of God Nebuchadnezzar would be insane and spend the rest of his days eating grass like an animal. And you can't question Him, you can't challenge Him. Verse 37, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven. For all His works are true and His ways just and He is able to humble those who walk in pride. The King of heaven is the One who rules in the realm of mankind, and it's His purposes that are being accomplished.

Back up to Psalms 103. Remember we're talking about this universal kingdom includes all that exists in space and time, it includes all creation. Now keep that in mind. You know, we're reading about Nebuchadnezzar and many things went in to what took place and we read some of the devastation his armies accomplished in bringing about his great victories. But you understand in it all the sovereign God is in control. That is why it is demeaning to the God of heaven, it is a disgrace that we have Christians fretting and fussing that we have to get the vote out, and we have to be sure we get the person, and what is going to happen to our country if so-and-so gets voted in. I'm not saying you shouldn't vote, you can exercise your responsibility. But you understand, when all is said and done, your vote won't be the determining factor. The God of heaven will determine who rules and that is determined by Him whether it is in a democracy or it's in a monarchy or it's in any other kind of government. You know who determines—the sovereign God. I'm not saying we don't exercise responsibility and function, but this idea of Christians saying, what are we going to do? We have to get the vote out, we have to do this, we have to that, we have to ........... And then we fuss and fret, now we have these people in. What are we going to do? You understand godless Nebuchadnezzar ruled at the appointment of God. And Nebuchadnezzar who brought such grief to Jeremiah the prophet that he wrote the Lamentations of Jeremiah, ruled because God set him on the throne. There are no mistakes that happen anywhere in God's realm, which includes all. So this is not just historical truth. We look at it and say, isn't that interesting? It's more than interesting, it's an overwhelming truth that shapes all of my life because the universal kingdom includes all that exists in time and space. Every single creature, every single happening happens under His sovereign authority and control.

Let's read Psalm 103:19, the Lord has established His throne in the heavens, His sovereignty rules over all. That just says it all—He rules over all. That includes hell. Matthew 25:41, at the judgment of the sheep and goats at the Second Coming of Christ, Jesus says to the wicked, depart from Me cursed ones into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Who prepared it? The God who rules over all, He has prepared an eternal hell for the devil and his angels and all their followers. The devil doesn't rule over hell. Hell won't be a place of confusion and turmoil because the eternal God reigns over hell. It will be a place of ordered suffering, and the devil will be part of the sufferers, because God reigns in hell. He reigns over all creation.

Just jot down Amos 9:2, I'll read it to you. Though they dig into Sheol, from there will My hand take them. Though they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. You can't escape God in hell, you can't escape from God in heaven. He reigns over all. People think, I'll go to hell and be with my friends, and I won't be bothered by Christians, I won't have to put up with what they say about God. You understand, God reigns in hell, God reigns in heaven. You can't escape Him in hell, you can't escape Him in heaven. When we say He reigns over all, He reigns over all—heaven, earth, hell, God is sovereign. So the universal kingdom of God includes everything in space and time, which is another way of saying everything in creation.

Come back to I Chronicles. We're studying the history of Israel and we've just done the section covered in I Chronicles 29, as David transfers the kingdom to his son, Solomon. Verse 10, so David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly. David said, blessed are you, oh Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, oh Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. You get a sense that David is overwhelmed, I just have to keep piling up these words, how I express it. Yours, oh Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. Indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth. Yours is the dominion, oh Lord, and you exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you, you rule over all. In your hand is power and might, it lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. As David passes the kingdom to his son, he understands ultimately it's God's authority that brings this about, not his. He's had great victories, he's established a kingdom, but David hasn't lost sight of the fact it was the sovereign God who brought about all these victories. And it is the sovereign God who has determined that my son Solomon will now assume the throne, because everything in the heavens and on earth is under His authority. He has dominion as head over all. So the universal kingdom includes everything in creation, everything in space and time.

A third characteristic of this universal kingdom, divine control is usually exercised providentially. By providence we mean by second causes. An example used was when God wanted to part the Red Sea and have Israel walk through on dry land as He brought about the exodus, He brought a great and strong wind that blew and blew and blew. The waters are set back and the land is dried out. Well somebody just observing that would say, well, the wind blew. Now God could have spoken the word, the seas would have stood up and the land would have been dry. He could have done it in a fraction of a second, but He chose to use the wind to blow until the land was dry and Israel could walk. That's an act of God's providence—using secondary means. People talk about Mother Nature, we had a terrible storm and you can never tell what Mother Nature is going to do—thunder and lightning and wind ........... Well we read that in Psalm 29, _________________ the thunder and the lightning, we talked about the wind that blows the trees down and so on. That's not Mother Nature, that's God at work. But see it is providential, He is using secondary causes. So people look at that and they see what they would think is just the forces of nature at work. Well we can determine how thunderstorms arise and what brings about thunder and lightning. And we can talk about what brings a hurricane or tornado or strong winds and why they are blowing. But the scripture says that's God at work, using secondary causes. He's working providentially. This is an important area because it impacts every area of our lives, as God works what we call through secondary means. We read and emphasized because I wanted you to remember it for this point, Psalm 29:3, the God of glory thunders. Well it's God being involved, He is working through what we might say a secondary cause.

Turn to Isaiah 10. There are so many examples of this. The whole book of Esther in the Old Testament is an example of that. Remember in the book of Esther, God preserving the nation Israel. Esther becomes queen and then one night the king can't sleep. A lot of people have sleepless nights, that's no big deal. But the king couldn't sleep so he asked one of his slaves to bring one of the historical records of his kingdom and read it to him because he always gets bored by that stuff and it puts him to sleep. But it so happens the slave starts to read from a section that talks about Mordecai. So the king decides, did we ever honor Mordecai? The search the records and say, no. So he says we have to honor Mordecai. And you know the story ends up, the nation Israel is preserved from planned destruction. Why? The king couldn't sleep that night. And that's not the start of the story, just pick it up there. So why couldn't the king sleep that night? He had pizza before he went to bed, couldn't sleep. Who knows? Maybe he took a long nap in the afternoon and now he can't get to sleep. No, providence. Well a lot of people have sleepless nights. You know who's behind it. Isn't it interesting, the king decides, read me from the records. Well, just happenstance, it just happened. And then it just happened they not only were reading the record, but the exact point in the record that he needed to hear. That's God's providence, He's in control of all these seeming ordinary details of life.

Look at Isaiah 10. Here is about Assyria, we're back before Daniel and Jeremiah, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom, the northern ten tribes. Isaiah is writing about the the king of Assyria that will be an instrument in God's hand in bringing judgment on the nation Israel for their unfaithfulness. And note how he describes the king of Assyria. Verse 5, woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation. Come down to verse 15, is the ax to boast itself over the one who chops with it? He goes on through here and describes Assyria and the king of Assyria as a staff in his hand or a rod that He's going to use to inflict punishment. As an ax like it's used to chop down a tree, he also calls it a saw. What's his point? The mighty nation Israel, a fearsome empire that brought about trembling fear in the people that they opposed, a devastating people. They used to impale thousands of people on pointed stakes around a city they were going to besiege, just to put fear, this is what happens to anybody who opposes us. You know what God says Assyria is? They're just an instrument in my hand I'm using to get a task done. I want to punish Israel for their sin, I decided to use Assyria to punish Israel. They are not more than an ax would be in the hand of someone who is chopping down a tree. An ax is nothing, just an instrument being used. You look at one of the mightiest empires the world has known and God says, they're nothing, they are a tool in my hand to do my job, bring punishment on Israel. And then they are going to be punished because they didn't know and didn't respond like they were just a tool. That's why verse 15 asks the question, is the ax to boast itself over the one who chops with it? So now Assyria is walking around boasting about their power, their might, what they did. Now God says, I have to punish you for your wickedness.

But what's the point? You see God. If you read the history of this, people have written on the history although in just one of the books, a thick book, and it's just on the history of Assyria. But historians don't necessarily see the hand of God in it. They see what? Well here is what happened in the natural flow of events and as one empire gets stronger another empire gets weaker and pretty soon this empire dominates. And then over time it gets weaker and another comes. And they can write it just from “history.” But we know from scripture there is a King over all history and it is His purposes that are being accomplished in the empires of the world. Doesn't matter whether you're talking about Assyria, doesn't matter whether you're talking about Babylon, doesn't matter whether you're talking about Egypt, doesn't matter whether you're talking about Israel, doesn't matter whether you're talking about the United States, doesn't matter whether you're talking about Saudi Arabia. Doesn't matter. You understand, He is king over all, and He works providentially. In our country, in our democracy we vote. And people say, we didn't get out the vote so we didn't .................. Well, those are the means. For the Assyrians they used warfare to establish their empire, and a king might become king by intrigue and by murdering this person and getting ............. Who is in control of it all? God. He is sovereign. Who will the next President be? Only God knows, but God does know, you know. Are you going to vote? Well if I vote He may use my vote for the accomplishing of His purposes. But you know what? My vote may not vote in the next President. You know why? God may have a different selection than I do. So He will use all the activities of normal life, He acts providentially in His universal kingdom. But men are still held accountable for not recognizing Him as Assyria is here.

Turn over to Isaiah 44. This is an awesome passage, you see God's control, providential control, in that if you read the history of this you could read historically how ultimately Cyrus, king of the Persians, came to power. But hundreds of years before the event we read Isaiah 44:28. Verse 24 reminds you that He is the creator of all things. Verse 24, I am the Lord, the maker of all things. By virtue of that He is the King over all creation. Verse 28, it is I who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. He will perform all my desire. Because after the Assyrian captivity and after the Babylonian captivity, there is going to come a king on the scene, his name will be Cyrus, and he's going to give instructions for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Chapter 45 verse 1, thus says the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed, whom I have taken by the hand to subdue nations before him, to loose the loins of kings, to open doors before him so the gates will not be shut. And jump down, the last statement of verse 4, though you have not known Me.

You know what? Cyrus' parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, they haven't even come on the scene. Nobody has given thought to a baby boy who would be named Cyrus, who would become king of an empire. But God has. And there will be a series of events, we would call them providence, God working through secondary causes, where empires will come and go. Assyria will come and go, Babylon will come and go. And before we know it we will have the Persian empire come. Lo and behold there will be a king called Cyrus. And you know what he will specify? That the Jews can go back and they can rebuild their city. And you know what? He will be a man who doesn't know the Lord. Well why would he send the Jews back? Well you know it just so happens that that was the policy of this king. He allowed conquered people to return to their own land and reestablish the worship of their own gods. You know why? Not because he believed in the God of Israel, he did the same for every nation. He wanted all the gods, whoever they were, wherever they were to support him. So he didn't believe anymore in the God of Israel than he did in the god of any other nation. He believed in them all, and superstitious man that he was, he thought it would be good that he treated all the gods favorably because then all the gods would align behind him. So he's not a man who knows the Lord. But God says He takes him by the hand. I've anointed him, and He does it through all the events of what we call providence.

Now do we believe that? Do you believe that? Then why do Christians get caught up in these kinds of activities. What are we going to do if so-and-so gets in. Can you imagine living in a country with that individual as President? Oh, what will happen to our country? Nothing that God isn't sovereignly in control of. I mean we want to tell people about the greatness of our God and He is sovereign over all and they see born again Christians fussing and fretting and trying to get the vote out. Because if we don't do something, the country is going to hell in a handbasket. It's going to hell and it comes under the judgment of God, but you understand God is sovereignly in control. There has never been a President that wasn't divinely appointed, never been a king that hasn't been divinely appointed, never been a ruler in a country........... All those countries that have intrigue and leaders come and go, come and go. Who keeps that country in instability? The King of the nations, He is sovereign.

Proverbs 16:33, the lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. __________________________ in detail. Flip a coin into the air, heads or tails. Doesn't matter. Matters to the Sovereign of the universe. The lot is cast into the lap, its every decision is from the Lord. I don't know about that. Well, what if you get arrested sometime and it's by a kind of government that is unfavorable to Christians, and they say, we either execute you or turn you free. Call it, heads or tails. All of a sudden it becomes important, doesn't it. Oh, Lord, bring that coin down on its head, bring that coin down tails. It matters. You realize all the big things, they happen out of little details. Sometimes you read a history book or watch a history program and they'll start out how a person who became so prominent had such obscure beginnings. And they would never have come to power if this little thing back here hadn't .......... Who is in control of all this? You know what that means? The little details of your life, my life are under the sovereign control of the One who rules. Now don't get carried away and say, you mean God causes all sin. God uses sin for the accomplishing of His purposes. But God never sins, He never causes people to sin, He is never tempted by sin. James 1. But He works in such a sovereign way that my mind cannot grasp, quite frankly, that every detail down to the smallest matter is under His sovereign control. And it happens according to His purpose.

So the king of Assyria wanted to wreak havoc and devastation on Israel, God didn't make the king of Assyria do what he didn't want to do. He used his sinful desires to the accomplishing of His purposes. That's all. Now you can mark this out to the finest detail of whether you're going to have chili or chicken noodle soup in a little bit. And then you multiply that out by billions of people, and how many trillions upon trillions of little decisions go on. And then we have to move out of the people, remember all the activities of nature, where the wind is blowing and how much it is blowing. And what animal is having a baby, and what sparrow is falling from the sky. All of a sudden I have a God who is too great for my finite mind to even begin to comprehend and grasp. And you have peanut minds running around saying there is no God, I have evidence. And there stupidity is evidence that there is a sovereign God who rules over all.

Nothing. So why do I fret? Well, if I had only eaten healthier I wouldn't have gotten that disease. I'm not saying you shouldn't eat healthy, I'm saying God is in control. God doesn't cause me to be passive, I have responsibility, I have accountability. Every single creature does, but when I've done what I can, it's in the Lord's hands. He rules over all. Otherwise we're always fretting and fussing, why does this happen, why does that happen, why should it happen this way. Who is in charge? Remember what Nebuchadnezzar learned? No one can say to him, what have you done. I wouldn't say it, but I think it, and you know He judges the thoughts and intents of my heart and mind. So God usually in His universal kingdom works providentially. So the forces of nature as the world sees it, we see it as the hand of God. We see it as unfortunate, the hand of God, no accidents. No accidents. I'm glad. I sit and say, if only we had done this, if we had only not gone that route, if we had only not drive but taken a plane, if we had only not taken a plane but walked, if we had only ............... You know, God is sovereign. I can rest secure in that sovereignty, I don't control events, He does. And I am encouraged and comforted with that.

It also needs to be noted, a fourth point, that sometimes God exercises His control by direct means. We're not saying that God can never intervene directly. And He does, sometimes He has done that. The exodus from Egypt, He brought Israel out by signs, wonders and miracles. He wanted to display and manifest Himself in a way that would be more clear and more evident and make man more accountable. Jesus' earthly ministry and the miracles He did, certain times through history He has intervened in miraculous ways which simply reveal who He is.

One more point we're going to take and we'll do it quickly. The universal kingdom always exists efficaciously, regardless of the attitude of its subjects. Efficaciously means what? It works, it's effective, it always is effective, regardless of the attitude of its subjects. In other words, God's reign always accomplishes His purposes, even in the life and activities of satan himself. So whether we're talking about unfallen angels in heaven, believers, God's children, they all obey God. Let me read you some statements from the Psalms by believers. Psalm 44:4, you are my King, oh God. Psalm 74:12, God is my King from of old. Psalm 84:3, my King and my God. We go on, of course we expect believers, the angels of heaven to acknowledge God as their King and do His bidding. But you understand the devil, the demons, unredeemed people, they also are subjects in this kingdom and do the will of the King, even in their rebelling against Him. We saw that with the king of Assyria in Isaiah. Psalm 103:19, the Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all. Psalm 47:2, for the Lord Most High is to be feared, a great King over all the earth. Psalm 47:8, God reigns over the nations and sits on His holy throne. Psalm 75:4-7, everyone and everything is part of this kingdom. You don't become part of this kingdom by activity. Remember Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, unless you are born again you'll never see the kingdom of God. He wasn't talking about the universal kingdom. Everybody is already part of the universal kingdom. You don't become part of this kingdom by an action, by being part of creation you are part of the kingdom. There is nothing in the created existence that is not under the sovereign authority and rule of the King. This is His realm—nature, animals, people, angels, all are under His control and authority. When man sins, the king of Assyria raised up by God to exercise judgment, but he doesn't do it in the context of wanting to honor the living and true God in submission to the King of kings, God brings him into judgment for it. Did He make the king of Assyria destroy Israel when the king of Assyria didn't want to? No. He simply used the sinful desires of the king of Assyria to accomplish His purposes. Did He make Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians do what they didn't want to do when they conquered and devastated Judah? No. He used their sinful desires to accomplish His purposes. Nebuchadnezzar came to understand that.

So it is throughout. His kingdom reigns over all effectively, efficaciously. It accomplishes its purposes. What a great comfort. You understand as God's child you are privileged to have the window open to everything going on in the world. I know what's behind it, God is working a plan in accomplishing His purposes. I don't know why this would happen to my family. I don't know why, either, but I know who is behind it. Yes, but that was so sinful and wrong. There can't be any good in it. It was sinful and wrong, but you understand, nothing happens in the realm of the king that He has not determined to happen to use for the accomplishing of His purposes. Can I make this all mesh together in one, clear ............... My finite mind doesn't, but I know it's true. What a comfort, what assurance. In the tragedies of life, in the blessings of life, in the confusion of the world, there is no confusion. My God reigns.

I was watching an interview on TV on the news the other night, a person saying, our country is coming apart. Maybe it is. You know what? It's under the control of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the One who is sovereign over all, the One whose purposes are being accomplished. If He is determined that this nation and this empire will disintegrate, you know what? Good-bye. Another empire will ............. So be it. Should I wring my hands as though God was no longer on the throne? We understand He is the King over all. We do understand that, don't we? Do we live in light of that? Do we watch the news in light of that? Do we deal with the details of our lives in light of that? We must, or it is a denial and a rejection of the truth that our God, the Kind of all has revealed.

One more thing needs to be said. Every single person is part of this kingdom. You may be in rebellion against the King, but even your rebellion will be used for the accomplishing of His purposes. You cannot win, and it's an awesome thing. You are a subject of this King in His universal kingdom. Your obedience is demanded and required and disobedience will be punished in an eternal hell over which He is sovereign. There are no options in that sense. Everyone and everything is part of this kingdom. You have either willingly submitted to the King, as ultimately Nebuchadnezzar did, or you in your rebellion against Him will have to pay the consequences.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, that you are sovereign. You rule and reign over all, you are the King of the nations, the King of the earth. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, there is no end to your rule, there is no limit to it. You reign in heaven, you reign on earth, you reign in hell. You reign over every human being, you reign over every animal, you reign over nature. Your reign is complete and absolute. And Lord, that is a great comfort. We thank you for your salvation. We thank you that you have provided a Savior to pay the penalty for our sins by His own death. You've raised Him from the dead and some day He will come and establish a kingdom on this earth. May we as your people live in light of the truth of your Word, that there is no cause to fear, to fret, to worry because you are sovereign and you are working all things for the good of your people and your own glory. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.