The Sovereign Will of God

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 55:1-13
New Testament Reading: Romans 9:14-28 

“The Sovereign Will of God”
Isaiah 45:1-13

   When someone speaks of the “Sovereign Will of God,” the tendency is for the hearers to become divided into two camps:

• God’s absolute sovereignty – God is in charge of the affairs of the world – He already knows who will be saved or lost – my actions or lack of actions is not going to change it.
• Man’s absolute free-will – Man is a free-agent – God has no control over the attitudes and actions of man – man can decide to become a Christian by his expressed faith alone, without the aid of the Holy Spirit.

According to Ephesians 1, John 15:16, and 1^{st John} 4:19, while not violating our free will, God the Father chose us to be His children before the foundation of the world and redeemed us from our sins through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus. 

• How to understand the sovereign will of God:
  • Trust in the Lord in all our ways, and lean not upon our understanding – Proverbs 3:5-6
  • Make every life decision according to God’s perfect will, as revealed in the Scripture – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  • Worship God and praise Him for His sovereignty over the affairs and events of our lives – Romans 8:28
• How God’s sovereignty is applied in a political election:
  • Christians have the responsibility to select the most moral candidates, who promise to provide the most ethical government of the people and who will use their position of influence to advance the kingdom of God – Exodus 18:21
  • Christians must give God absolute freedom to select the candidate whom He knows will accomplish the specific assignment needed, to advance His kingdom and fulfill His plan for man’s redemption – Daniel 2:20-21
• How God’s sovereignty was revealed in presidential election of 2024:
  • Seeing the world was on the precipice of the New World Order, and America was the last nation resisting it, God raised up a leader who would stand against globalism, for the time for the Tribulation has not come.
  • Seeing America in desperate need of revival, God raised up a leader to rid our nation of its political corruption, release the church from its political suppression, restore our culture to its moral foundation, and unleash a mighty movement of God that would have eternal ramifications for millions of people worldwide.
  • Seeing the nation of Israel being abandoned by many nations, God raised up a leader who respects Israel and use the power of his position to support Israel.

1. God’s Power to Affect History – Isaiah 45:1-4 – Vs. 3 – “That thou may know that I, the Lord, am the God of Israel.”

   Nearly 150 years before Cyrus was born, God declared through the prophet Isaiah that a man named Cyrus would release His people from captivity and allow them to return to Israel and rebuild the city and the Temple.

• When this prophecy was given, Jerusalem was safe and prosperous; the people had no thought of being taken captive by another nation.
• 100 years later, God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to conquer Jerusalem and take the Israelites captive for 70 years.
• In His sovereignty, God had already determined the name of the man whom He would raise up at the right time to set His people free and allow them to return to Jerusalem.
• That man was Cyrus the Great – a pagan – a heathen king God anointed as His instrument to carry out His will.
• God was informing His people that He was not only the God of Israel, but also God over all the earth and that He would use whomever He chose as His instrument to accomplish His perfect will.

2. God’s Power to Direct History – Isaiah 45:5-13 – Vs. 13 – “He will build My city and let My exiles go free, without any payment or reward, says the Lord of hosts.”

   God said He would do five things through Cyrus:

• He would give Cyrus his name, which meant “throne.”
• He would anoint Cyrus with power – he was the only Gentile king to whom God gave the title of “anointed.”
• He would take Cyrus by the right hand – a sign of God’s favor upon a man who never recognized God as God.
• He would make Cyrus victorious over his enemies.
• He would give Cyrus the spoils of victory by showing him where the defeated kings buried their treasure.

   God said He would do these things for Cyrus so the world would know:

• That God was the God of the world and not just Israel.
• That God has the power to accomplish things through those who do not know Him, much less worship Him.
• That God is sovereign over all, in all and through all.
• That everything happens in the world according to God’s sovereign will.

3. God’s Power to Select His Servants – Isaiah 45: 9- “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker. Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands?’”

   While no one can say “this is that” before it happens, many prophecy watchers believe Donald Trump falls into that unique category of individuals who, like Cyrus, are raised up by the sovereign will of God to accomplish a specific mission at a particular time in history.

• The more recent individuals in that group would include Margaret Thatcher, George Patton, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Robert Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.
• While these individuals never expressed the God’s “saving grace” in the ecclesiastical language, they manifested God’s “common grace” through their convictions and strengths, which were needed for that moment in history.
• Whether the 47^th President of the United States of America will be the one God raises up and anoints for such a time as this, as He did with Cyrus in Isaiah 45, is known only in the counsel of our Sovereign God.
• We can only pray for him, and do our best to support him.