Thinking on Ephesians 1:11-12 Part 2

"In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory."

-Ephesians 1:11-12. (ESV)

"according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will"

A couple nights ago, I was out with some friends, and we were discussing the sovereignty of God. When you discuss God's control over the world, the topic can get kind of mind-boggling.

Are you familiar with supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism? Well those words seemed to dominate our discussion. The more I study who God is, the more joy it brings my soul to study how great and powerful He is.

I remember walking out to my car after the discussion thinking, WOW! God is so much bigger than I can comprehend.

There are a lot of Christians out there today that would have you believe that God is not in total control of His creation.

Now, I'd like to splice this passage up and talk about 2 topics.

1. God's Sovereignty over Salvation

2. God's Sovereignty over Creation.

Let's begin with God's Sovereignty over Creation in today's blog. I know not everyone agrees with my view of things, but regardless if you agree with me or not, please note that I take my thoughts from Scripture.

I believe that God is sovereign over EVERYTHING in creation. I don't believe there is anything out of God's control. In fact, I think that God's sovereignty goes much further than simply being sovereign, I believe that he also maintains the properties of all that He created. In other words, He is actively involved in creation.

The Scripture passage where we see this is Hebrews 1:3 which says, "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power."

The Greek word for upholds in this verse is the word  pheron (φέρων) which is commonly used in the New Testament for carrying something from one place to another. You can check this out by looking up Luke 5:18, John 2:8, and 2 Tim. 4:13. My point is that Jesus carries the universe in the palm of his hand, and just to reinforce the idea here, The writer of Hebrews uses the "present participle" which carries the idea that Jesus continually carries the universe. Jesus is actively involved in all of creation.

Okay, that's enough GREEK for one blog, well maybe just a little more. You can go over to Col. 1:17 and also see that God "holds all things together in Christ."

Charles Spurgeon put it this way, "I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes - that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens - that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses...the fall of sere leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche."

Now lets go back to our text...Eph. 1:11 which says that Christ "works all things according to the counsel of his will." The Greek word for works is energountos (ἐνεργοῦντος) which can be translated accomplishes or brings about. You could say that although God may not be directly causing everything to happen, you can still say he is the "directive cause" behind all that takes place.

What's the difference? Think of it this way...I am the director of admissions of a Bible College. While I don't make every decision directly in my office, I do direct my employees to act and make the decisions they do. This is a terribly fine line, and a difficult doctrine to understand in light of so many bad things that happen in life.

What about all the evil in the world? Is God the author of evil?  These are great questions, and as I take my beliefs from Scripture about God's sovereignty, I want to do the same thing with how evil fits into God's plan. So, we will have tackle that subject in subsequent posts.

Let me end by saying the following...The Christian can take great comfort in the fact that God is sovereign the universe he created. It gives me comfort to know that nature does not have free will to change at any moment.

Jesus specifically tells us in Matthew 6 to rest in the sovereignty of God over creation. Jesus tells us the way to battle anxiousness in your life is to rest in the sovereignty of God. Jesus specifically tells us that we can't add a "single hour to the span of our life." Scripture also tells us in Psalm 139:16 that every day of our life was "formed...before there was yet one of them."

Jesus wants us to rest in the fact that He is taking care of us. We may not know or understand all that is happening and why, but Jesus says, Don't worry, I am actively bringing about and upholding this world. You have nothing to worry about because I am your God and you are my child.

Rest in his sovereignty! Be Edified!