The Most Disputed Attribute

His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” Daniel 4:34-35 (NIV)

I had a Christian friend whose oldest brother served with the Marine Corps in the Battle of Saipan in 1944. My friend said this brother, who was raised in a conservative Christian family, returned home saying he could no longer believe in God, as he could not give devotion to a being who would allow the horrors he witnessed in that 24 day battle against the Japanese. If God did not cause what he saw, then He allowed it. My friend said he never heard his brother recant his rejection and that was the bone of contention he picked with God until his death at age 95. As with many I have heard this from, it seems most of God’s sovereign will and actions become a stumbling block to an outraged sense that God is a god of cruelty and injustice.

The question of why God allows suffering remains something to which not even the most perceptive Christian minds can offer a satisfying answer. Why does God allow such terrible things? If His attributes include all power (omnipotence) and eternal knowledge (omniscience) then He knew before creating Adam and Eve that they would choose disobedience that would bring upon the earth the chaos it finds itself in today. And why does it seem an uncaring God just stepped back and let the suffering begin?

The fundamental question revolves around the attribute of God’s full authority (Sovereignty), and why He allowed evil and suffering in the first place? I wish I had an easy answer, but even Scripture does not fully explain it.

Remember, the first attribute God wants to be known for is His holiness. That holy perfection means everything He does is perfect. That is a very difficult notion to accept. Considering human freewill puts God’s sovereign responses in a whole different light. Allowing us to make our own choices does not make Him responsible for an outcome that avoids their consequences, but in His Sovereign Will He might intercede to make them less consequential in the long-term. Most often we miss understanding the outcome as God knew it would be. As the Supreme Universal Being He would have every right to make any self-determining judgment He pleases.

Whatever the result we can never fully understand why God allows certain things. Paul assures us that all things work to our highest good according to what He has purposed (Romans 8:28).

This is a most difficult idea to trust especially when He sovereignly acts in ways that go against our suppositions. It has been my experience that when I do not understand God’s ways I have to cling to God’s worth-that He is good in His holiness-even when times are not.

By allowing Adam to bring sin and death into the world (Romans 5:12), even God did not escape the costs of His own sovereign choices. He paid the ultimate price as the consequence of mankind’s rebellion. That suffering came in offering up His sinless Eternal Son (John 17:5) as the only acceptable way, to return us to fellowship with Himself. It was God’s omniscience and compassion that already had planned redemption before the beginning of time (Titus 1:2). Why did He ordain a plan of redemption before it was needed, putting His own Son on that hideous altar of sacrifice?

God in His sovereignty did not have to redeem Creation. He spoke it into being out of nothing by the word of His mouth and could have as easily spoken it out of existence and started over. However, knowing the cost to Himself beforehand He had already chosen to sacrifice what was most precious to Him to save it (Revelation 13:8), suffering the unimaginable pain of seeing His Innocent Son tortured and executed as a criminal to its completion.

Is God sovereign or savage? Humanity were the savages for we killed the One He sent to redeem us, but in His sovereign power and will God was witnessed by many raising Christ from the dead (Luke 24:50-52, Acts 1:3-9). The Father exalted Him to the highest place of authority, power, and glory (Acts 2:24).

The only thing that grants us any kind of understanding is learning and studying God’s character and attributes. Our understanding is as limited as what God can impart to our imperfect understanding. As Paul said, we currently see only the dimmest images of eternal things as though looking in a dark mirror; but then one day we shall see it clearly (1^st Corinthians 13:12).

The Sovereignty of God is perhaps the most disputed and abused of His attributes. Many use it as an excuse to reject and attack the One in whom their image is shaped (Genesis 1:26). If Jehovah is an evil despot, then, yes, he would be a savage god. If He is the Sovereign I AM who exists in perfect holiness, then that would make Him the right and righteous God who Judges in complete and independent perfection.

Job spoke of God saying He is sovereign and unchangeable and who can turn Him back? What He desires, that He does (Job 23:13). Who can point the finger and demand of Him “What have you done?” If He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe we can only bow in respect to His sovereignty and wise judgments in all matters, while experiencing in that great and holy perfection perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3, John 14:27).

Maranatha

Ken