CHAPTER 5
OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
PROVIDENCE
James P. Boyce [Founder of the Sothern Baptist Theological Seminary] | Providence is … allied to predestination or purpose … The purpose of God is his predetermined plan as to what shall be done in his creation by himself or by others. … Providence is the actual doing, or permitting the things thus purposed, securing the ends thus designed. The purpose … is formed in eternity; the providential acts are performed in time.
John L. Dagg [Author of the first Southern Baptist Manual (Systematic) Theology] | … God is not far from us. He did not, on making the world, leave it to itself, or commit it into other hands; but it is an object of his constant care, and his hand is concerned in all its movements. Whether we look on the right hand, or on the left, we can see where he doth work; and in the display of his wisdom, power, and goodness, which at every moment meets our eyes, we find continued incitements to adore and love. God’s care of his creation, is termed Providence; and includes Preservation and Government. … We can as little understand the act of Providence, as that of creation; but we know that both are acts of God, implying both his will and power. … The objects of God’s Providence are all created things, animate and inanimate, rational and irrational.
Wayne Grudem [Baptist Theologian and Professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School] | We … define God’s providence as follows: God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purpose.
Norman Geisler [Former seminary professor for forty-six years, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in NC and author or coauthor of more than sixty books and hundreds of articles] | The word providence comes from the Latin pro and video, meaning foresight, and by that a careful arrangement prepared before hand for the accomplishment of predetermined ends (A.A. Hodge, OT, 258).
C. D. Cole [Independent Baptist Theologian] | Providence may be defined as God’s government of His creation.
Thomas Watson [Puritan writer] | … What are God’s work of providence? … God’s work of providence are the acts of his most holy, wise, and powerful government of creatures, and of their actions.
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God the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, 1 from the greatest even to the least, 2 by His most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will; to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy. 3
1 Heb. 1:3 | And He [vv. 1-2 - God’s Son] is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds [margin lit. – upholding] all things by the word of His power. …
John MacArthur | Upholds: The universe and everything in it is constantly sustained by the Son’s powerfully effective word (Col. 1:17). The term also conveys the concept of movement or progress – the Son of God directs all things toward the consummation of all things according [1 Cor. 15:22-28] to God’s sovereign purpose. …
Job 38:[4], 11 | [Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?] and I said, thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop? [cf. vv. 38:1-42:2].
The passage of Job 38:1-42:2, should humble every one of us who would think that he/she is well versed in the knowledge of Scripture and understanding of God. How would you fare if you are called on to give an accounting before God? Probably no better than Job, Ch. 42:3 | Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know [ESV].
Isa. 46:[9b], 10-11 | [… I am God and there is no one like Me,] declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.
Ps. 135:6 | Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.
NOTE: Both of these passages declare that God is sovereign and that He does as He has
planned/purposed and accomplishes whatever He pleases to do. [cf. Rom. 9:17-24]
2 Matt. 10:29-31 | Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. [NKJ]
John MacArthur | Jesus was teaching that God providentially controls the timing and circumstances of such insignificant events as the death of a sparrow. Even the number of hairs on our heads is controlled by His sovereign will (v. 30). In other words, divine providence governs even the smallest details and even the most mundane matters. These are powerful affirmations of the sovereignty of God.
3 Eph. 1:11 | … we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.
ESV Study Bible: notes | God had planned it from all eternity. By definition God is sovereign, directing all things freely according to his royal counsel. … God’s predestination give his people tremendous comfort, for they know all who come to Christ do so through God’s enabling grace and appointment. … every single event that occurs is … predestined by God (2263).
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Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly; 4 so that there is not anything befalls any by chance, or without His providence; 5 yet by the same providence He ordered them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. 6
Immutably – unchangeable / infallibly – w/o error
4 Acts 2:23 | this Man [Jesus the Nazarene – v. 22], delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
2 Timothy 1:8-9 | Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord … but join … in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 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 …
John MacArthur – From all eternity | The same Gk. phrase appears in Titus 1:2. The destiny of God’s chosen was determined and sealed from eternity past (Jn 17:24; cf. Eph 1:4-5; Php 1:29; 1 Pe 1:2). [1845]
5 Prov. 16:33 | The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. [cf. Acts 1:20b-26; 2:14 - The selecting of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot]
6 Gen. 8:22 | While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
God destroyed the old earth through the use of the flood waters, i.e. a second cause – so it is still done today.
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God, in his ordinary providence makes use of means, 7 yet is free to work without, 8 above, 9 and against them 10 at His pleasure.
.. Ordinary Providence – not every act of God is a miracle. All matters of life are in submission to His sovereignty. Often the Lord will bring about His providential purpose by using what looks like just ordinary means to us. However, these means (though to us seem just ordinary) are all found in the purview of God’s sovereignty.
Genesis 45:4-8 | … Joseph said to his brothers, Please come closer to me. I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. … God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
7 Acts 27:31, [42-43], 44 | Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved. … [The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump over board first and make for the land,] and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And it so happened that they were brought safely to land.
Romans 8:28 | … we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
John MacArthur | In His providence. God orchestrates every event in life – even suffering, temptation, and sin – to accomplish both our temporal and eternal benefit … [NASB notes: 1676].
Isa. 55:10-11 | For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, and giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty [void – NKJ/KJV]; but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. [ESV]
Romans 10:8b-10, 13-15, 17 | … The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. … for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?
Just as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things! … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ [God – NKJ/KJV].
8 Hosea 1:7 | But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.
9 Rom. 4:19-21 | Without becoming weak in faith he [v. 16 - Abraham] contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. [cf. Hebrews 11:8-12].
10 Dan. 3:27 | The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the kings most high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their heads singed, not were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of the fire even come upon them.
.. Proof Points: 8, 9, & 10 – All demonstrate that God who often uses ordinary means (Ordinary Providence) through His providential workings is not bound to them.
All matters of life are in submission to His sovereignty. Often the Lord will bring about and demonstrate His providential purpose by using means that are considered out of the realm of ordinary measures.
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The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in His providence, that His determinate counsel extends itself even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions both of angels and men;11 and that not by a bare permission, which also He most wisely and powerfully boundeth [binds], and otherwise ordereth [orders] and governeth [governs],12 in a manifold dispensation to His most holy ends;13 yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts proceedeth [proceeds] only from the creatures, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.14
11 Rom. 11:32-34 | For God has shut up all [context - Jew and Gentile] in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. Oh, the depths of the riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?
J. Vernon McGee | This section is pure praise and is no argument at all, yet it is the greatest argument of all. If we do not understand the why of God’s dealings with Israel, with the Gentiles, and with ourselves, it is not because there is not a good and sufficient reason. The difficulty is with our inability to comprehend the wisdom and ways of God. … God is doing what is best for us. We may not understand the things that happen to us, but we must believe that it is for our good that God allows them. We are like children, and we cannot understand God’s ways. Our circumstances may not always seem to be good, but they come from the “depth of the riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God.” God says to us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). Oh, how we need to recognize this fact.
2 Sam. 24:1 | Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, Go number Israel and Judah.
1 Chron. 21:1 | Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.
.. Incited David
John MacArthur | The inciting of David to conduct a census was a punishment on Israel from the Lord for some unspecified sins. Perhaps sins of pride and ambition had led him [David] to increase the size of his army unnecessarily and place heavy burdens of support on the people. Whatever the sin, it is clear God was dissatisfied with David’s motives, goals, and actions and brought judgment.
.. Moved David
John Macarthur | Second Samuel 24:1 reports that “the anger of the Lord burned against Israel,” and this “incited” David to take the census. This apparent discrepancy is resolved understanding that God sovereignly and permissively uses Satan to achieve His purposes. … Neither God nor Satan forced David to sin (cf. James 1:13-15), but God allowed Satan to tempt David and he chose to sin. [cf. Job:1:6-22; 2:1-10]
12 2 Kings 19:28 | Because of your [Sennacherib, king of Assyria – v. 20] raging against Me, and because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose, and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came. | cf. Context: vv. 20-28, 32-36]
Ps. 76:10 | For the wrath of man shall praise You; with a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself.
.. Bare (Permission) – 1a. lacking a natural, usual, or appropriate covering, 1b. lacking clothing, 1c. unarmed; 2. Open to view: exposed; 3a. unfinished or scantily supplied, 3b. destitute (e.g. of all safeguards); 4a. having nothing left over or added (e.g. necessities of life), … 4c. devoid of amplification or adornment.
NOTE: God in His “almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness … manifested … in His providence” does not need nor is He lacking in for anyone’s or anything’s permission to act. Why, because He is sovereign!
13 Gen. 50:[19]-20 | As for you [Joseph’s brothers – vv. 18-19] you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
John MacArthur | Joseph’s wise, theological answer has gone down in history as the classic statement of God’s sovereignty over the affairs of men.
Isa. 10:[5], 6-7, 12 | [Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands my fury!] Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think, but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few … When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the kings of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. [ESV]
ESV Study Notes – “he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think” | God uses human evil for his own just purpose, but He does not need humans to intend their cooperation. Events unfold through human intentions but also, more deeply, through the divine intention (cf. Luke 22:22; Acts 2:22-23; 4:27-28). … Assyrian evil is used by God – “When the Lord has finished all his work” – but [Assyria] is still held accountable by God, down to the very thoughts of the Assyrian king’s heart and the look in his eyes. God will punish Assyria, which fell in 612 B.C. [cf. Romans 9:14-24].
1 John 2:16 | For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but from the world.
NOTE: God does not cause us to sin, He is not the author of sin, and he is not the approver of sin. We sin because we wantonly and freely desire to in our fleshly nature which is in bondage to sin and at enmity with God (Romans 8:7) – cf. Romans 7:14-25.
James 1:13-17 | Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
Yet despite all of this –
. Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly? | Genesis 18:25.
. Our answer will be an emphatic – Yes!
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The most wise, righteous, and gracious God does often times leave for a season His own children to manifold temptations and the corruptions of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled; and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself; and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for other just and holy ends.15 So that whatsoever befalls any of His elect is by His appointment, for His glory, and their good.16
15 2 Chron. 32:[24], 25-26, 31 | [In those days – {cf. chapter context vv. 20-23} – Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign {cf. 2 Kings 20:1-11}.] Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah. … Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.
God tested Hezekiah to know all that was in his heart –
Believer’s in Christ need to understand that though God does not tempt us to sin [cf. James 1:12-16], He does in His providence allow various trials for the testing of our faith [cf. James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7].
1 Peter 1:6-7 | In this [vv. 3-5, salvation in Christ Jesus] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved [m. notes - distressed] by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. [NKJ]
2 Cor. 12:7-9 | Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations [context vv. 12:1-10], for this reason to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me – to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Proverbs 16:18 | Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty [spirit before stumbling.
. Haughty – showing great distain for/over others.
Rom. 8:28 | And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
. Most likely the one verse of Scripture that accurately defines the providence of God over His creation. [cf. Genesis 45:4-8 | the reason Joseph was in Egypt]
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As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as the righteous judge, for former sin does blind and harden; 17 from them He not only withholds His grace, whereby they might have been
enlightened in their understanding, and wrought upon their hearts; 18 but sometimes also withdraws the gifts which they had, 19 and exposes them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin; 20 and withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan, 21 whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, under those means which God uses for the softening of others. 22
God, … the righteous judge, for former sin does blind and harden –
17 Rom. 1:24-26, [27]-28 | Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, [and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.] And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper [cf. 2 Timothy 3;1-7 | … always learning … unable to come to the truth].
John MacArthur | God gave them over | because man abandoned God, God abandoned men – He gave them over. It is that divine abandonment and its consequences that Paul develops in verses 24-32, the most sobering and fearful passage in the entire epistle.
.. gave … over | Gk. – paredoken – Strong # 3860, aorist active verb – means: to give over from one’s hand to someone or something. Here in Romans 1:24 it is of God’s judicial act of handing someone over to suffer the consequences of his wrongdoing.
Rom. 11:7-8 | What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.
Matthew 13:3a, 10-11, 13-14a | [Jesus] spoke many things to them in parables … And the disciples came and said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables? Jesus answered them, To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. … Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled [cf. Isaiah 6:9].
18 Deut. 29:4 | Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.
Matthew Henry | The hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of God.
Matthew 11:23-27 | And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you. At that time Jesus said, I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants [babes – NKJ/KJV]. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things that have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. [cf. context: vv. 20-27].
J. Vernon McGee | Until God opens the eyes and ears of men and women, they cannot hear the gospel. … they can hear the words, but they cannot hear the gospel with understanding.
1 Corinthians 2:14 | The natural man does not accept [receive – KJV/NKJ] the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly [foolishness – KJV/NKJ] to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. [ESV]
19 Matt. 13:[10]-12 | [… the disciples came and said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables? Jesus answered them, To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.] For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
John MacArthur | For whoever [believers] has … to him shall more be given – The person who accepts the true light (John 1:9) will receive still further light as he grows in obedience and maturity in the Lord. … But the fate of the unbeliever is just the opposite. Because of his unbelief, he does not have salvation, and therefore even what light of God’s truth he has shall be taken away from Him. Many thousands of people heard Jesus teach and saw Him perform miraculous signs as evidence of His divine messiahship; but most of them did not recognize Him as Lord or receive Him as Savior. They were exposed to God incarnate, and yet they rejected Him – either by direct opposition or by indifferent neglect. … The longer a person rejects the knowledge of God he has, whether much or little, the less of God’s truth he will understand. Willful human rejection leads to divine judicial rejection. When a man says no to God, God says no to that persons. God confirms men in their stubbornness, and binds them with their own chains of unbelief.
20 Deut. 2:30 | … Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and make his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hands, as he is today.
2 Kings 8:12-13 | Hazael said, Why does my lord weep? Then he answered, Because I know the evil you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up. Then Hazael, But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.
NOTE: Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. In these passages God raised up these two men. God knew what evil they were capable of and what evil they would do. In God’s providence He brought about the circumstances and allowed these men, by their own actions, to display their depraved minds and hearts in dealing with Israel.
Sihon – Refuse Israel passage through his land and instead attacks them. God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into Israel’s hands.
Hazael – The atrocities that this man was going to bring upon Israel caused the prophet Elisha to mourn and weep. Hazael attempted to say that he would not stoop that low like a dog and carry out such evil. But God knew his heart and in His providence raised up this warrior (soon to be the king of Syria) who understood the art of warfare upon one’s enemies during that era.
Such Providence is difficult to understand. But God is sovereign in all of His ways. – Your argument is with Him.
Romans 9:17-23 | For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will? On the contrary, who are you O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, Why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called not from Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
Proof Points 21 and 22 are viewed together –
21 Ps. 81:11-12 | … My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.
2 Thess. 2:[8-9], 10-12 | [... that lawless one … the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,] and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false [margin - the lie], in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
22 Exod. 8:15, 32 | … when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. … Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, he did not let the people go.
Isa. 6:9-10 | He said, Go and tell this people: keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand. Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears are dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.
1 Pet. 2:7-8 | This precious value, then is, for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
Isaiah 55:8-9 | For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are you ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways. And My thoughts than your thoughts. [NKJ]
Note: God is sovereign in His Providence! – We cannot always explain why God does the things the way He does. Actually it is not our place to question Him, but simply to do His bidding [cf. – Eccl. 12:13-14; Daniel 4:34b-35 | … He does according to His will in the [host] of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can restrain His hand or say to Him, What have You done?
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As the providence of God does in general reach to all creatures, so after a more special manner it takes care of His church, and disposes of all things to the good thereof.23
23 1 Tim. 4:10 | For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially believers.
Amos 9:8-9 | Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob, declares the Lord. For behold, I am commanding, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground.
Isa. 43:3-5 [context vv. 1-7] | For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, Your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other people in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, I will gather you from the west.
Ephesians 5:25-27 | … Christ … loved … the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or winkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
CLOSING THOT:
The Providence of God –
Romans 11:32-36
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him?
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. [KJV]
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