God’s Sovereignty and Human Freedom
God is sovereign over the universe and human affairs. Divine sovereignty and human freedom co-exist.
I really like the statement in Daniel 4:35: “All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does what He wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can hold back His hand or say to Him, ‘What have you done?'”
Also, while you’re in Daniel, see Daniel 5:26-28 and read the “inscriptions interpretation.”
God’s rulership is the exercise of His will. The exercise of God’s will by God is: He decides, or per-determines, whatever He wants to happen. His will precedes and rules all that occurs. God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. There is no existence apart from God—no habitation where God has not caused it. Nothing in creation can thwart God’s will. No power exists apart from God’s will. God’s will is absolute. God is absolute.
Be sure to reference the following verses, which contain the various realities (or spectrums) over which God reigns: Isaiah 45:6,7; Exodus 4:11; Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6,7; Ecclesiastes 7:13,14; Lamentations 3:37,38.
God’s will is fulfilled (Ephesians 1:11). What God in Scripture has joined, let no one attempt to separate.
Freedom is our human heritage, our spiritual heritage, and our national heritage. The perpetuation of our human, spiritual, and national liberty demands respect for human authority, divine authority, and national authority. Liberty requires personal integrity of all citizens—believers and unbelievers. As each citizen chooses to obey or disobey God’s laws of establishment, each citizen creates his or her own integrity or own dishonor, success or failure, happiness or misery, reward or loss of reward based on the justice of God.
Freedom cannot exist without authority. Freedom without proper authority becomes anarchy, in which no one is free; but authority without freedom is tyranny. The one factor that sustains human freedom is the integrity of man, the first category of truth is divine establishment, and humility is the link. The human virtue of voluntary obedience to authority ties liberty together with authority. Human humility is a basic virtue. Love and respect are the supreme Christian virtues. Humility adjusts our attitudes to the realities of life. Without humility, man is unteachable, therefore humility is the foundation of all virtues and wisdom.