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God is not at a distance from history, uninvolved and on the periphery, an interested spectator or distant 'first cause;' rather he is governing all things by his providence and wisdom.
People treat God's sovereignty as a matter of controversy, but in Scripture it is a matter of worship.
When we speak of God's presence, we are not, of course, speaking of a physical presence, for God is incorporeal. What we mean, rather, is that he is able to act on and in the creation and to evaluate authoritatively all that is happening in the creation. Since God controls and evaluates all things, he is therefore present everywhere, as present as an incorporeal being can be. But in this chapter, we are interested in something more than mere presence. For God is not only present in the world; he is covenantally present. He is with his creatures to bless and to judge in terms of the standards of his covenant.Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Kindle Locations 1778-1783). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.
For since His will can have for its object nothing but good, it cannot will evil as evil, but as terminated on the permission of that which is good. God, therefore, properly does not will sin to be done, but only wills to permit it.
There is a circularity here I do not doubt. I am defending the Bible by the Bible. Circularity of a kind is unavoidable when one seeks to defend an ultimate standard of truth, for one's defense must itself be accountable to that standard.The Doctrine of the Word of God
The Sabbath belongs to the Lord alone and not to any man. But in Mark 2: 28, Jesus claims lordship over it. Clearly, this use of kyrios is a claim to deity. The Sabbath is God's dwelling in time, the temple his dwelling in space. As with the Sabbath, Jesus is greater than the temple, the dwelling place of God (Matt. 12: 6). It is his house, as the Sabbath is his day (Matt. 21: 12– 13).Systematic Theology
The Sabbath day in the OT was the day that belonged especially to the Lord. It is "a Sabbath to the LORD your God" (Ex. 20: 10). But Jesus declares that the Sabbath belongs to him: "So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2: 28). Jesus is the head of the covenant, a role that only Yahweh could play.Systematic Theology
The Two Kingdoms view maintains that the kingdom came in Jesus and will come again in Jesus' return, but that it is confined to the church in the period between Jesus' two advents. That view goes against the passages cited above. Clearly, the kingdom has in fact deeply affected human culture over the centuries: in the sciences, the arts, the treatment of orphans and widows, education, and every other area of importance to human beings.Systematic Theology
It should be evident from our study so far that Scripture speaks of only one kingdom of God. That kingdom is the historical program of God coming to overcome his enemies, to redeem his people, and to bring his lordship to bear on all areas of created reality. There is no "secular kingdom," no kingdom ruled only by natural law and not by Scripture. All people, all institutions, all spheres of human life have a responsibility to hear God's Word, to respond to it obediently, and to accept the renewal of God's grace.Systematic Theology
Students are welcome at such schools to study historical and contemporary theology, and to relate these to auxiliary disciplines such as philosophy and literary criticism. But they are not taught to seek ways of applying Scripture for the edification of God's people. Rather, professors encourage each student to be "up to date" with the current academic discussion and to make "original contributions" to that discussion, out of his autonomous reasoning. So when the theologian finishes his graduate work and moves to a teaching position, even if he is personally evangelical in his convictions, he often writes and teaches as he was encouraged to do in graduate school: academic comparisons and contrasts between this thinker and that, minimal interaction with Scripture itself.Systematic Theology
We need theology in addition to Scripture because God has authorized teaching in the church, and because we need that teaching to mature in the faith.
In the preaching of the kingdom, law and gospel come together. The coming of the kingdom is the coming of a King to enforce his law on a disobedient world, that is, to enforce his covenant against covenant-breakers. But the King who comes is full of love and forgiveness. So his coming is good news, gospel, not only because he judges the wicked, but because he brings redemption, forgiveness, and reward to his redeemed people.
Nothing is disobedient to Him. Hence not even the mosquito has its sharp sting and musical hum without God's wisdom, knowledge, and foresight.
Given that God does not actually grow weary so as to need literal rest, the celebratory rest might have easily occurred after three days, or after two, of even after one... It seems obvious to me that God intended the six-plus-one pattern for man's edification and imitation.The Doctrine of the Christian Life, 532
Our times are in God's hand. Whether they be prosperous times or calamitous times, it is He who has determined them.
No revolving world, no shining of star, no storm, no creature moves, no actions of men, no errands of angels, no deeds of Devil—nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass otherwise than God has eternally purposed.
But now the question arises, Why has God demanded of man that which he is incapable of performing? The first answer is, Because God refuses to lower His standard to the level of our sinful infirmities.
If God is not sovereign, then God is not God.
All Christians believe in divine sovereignty. On our feet we may have arguments about it, but on our knees we are all agreed.
To know that nothing happens in God's world apart from God's will may frighten the godless, but it stabilizes the saints.
There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God's sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience
the trichotomist view that sin shuts down the spirit and that redemption reawakens it is without biblical basis. Further, it contradicts the biblical emphasis that the whole person is fallen into sin (e.g., Gen. 6:5) and needs the deliverance of Christ. Redemption is not a rearrangement of human faculties, putting one of them on top of the others. Plato imagined something like this, but it is not a biblical view. Rather, redemption turns the whole person, including all aspects of his personality, from hating God to loving him. Salvation, as Cornelius Van Til used to say, is ethical, not metaphysical.Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Kindle Locations 21024-21026). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.
These passages do not make precise distinctions between these terms-certainly not precise enough to define metaphysical components of human existence. Scripture typically uses "spirit" and "soul" interchangeably.Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Kindle Locations 21024-21026). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.
prayer changes things. Or to put it more theologically, God ordains prayer as a means to change history. There are things that happen because of prayer, and things that do not happen because of no prayer. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God says that if his people will humble themselves and pray, then he will forgive their sin and heal their land. In Luke 11:9-10, Jesus says that he who seeks, finds. And James 4:2 says that if we don't have things we need, it is because we do not ask. Prayer really does work.Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Kindle Locations 26957-26961). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.
prayer is a means of fellowship with our heavenly Father - In Luke 11:9-13, Jesus says that prayer is like a child's going to his earthly father. Cf. Matt. 6:9. The child wants something, and the father is eager to give. But the father does not give until the child asks. Any of us who are parents understand the dynamic here. We want to give good things to our children, but even more, we want a good relationship with them. Our heavenly Father wants the same. He does not want to be a kind of machine that dispenses goods, but to really be our Father, a real person.Systematic Theology
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