God's sovereign power over all of his creation and over every one of his creatures is one of the grandest themes throughout the entire Bible. We love to celebrate this magnificent reality over and over on the podcast. So often it may be a little daunting for newcomers to the theme.

For someone looking for a primer into this grand reality, what are the basics of God's sovereignty? It's a great question from a listener named Steven, who writes us from China. "Hello, Pastor John, and thank you for this podcast. Can you explain to me the sovereignty of God in a very simple way?

What are the big themes to see and grasp and understand first? I don't know where to start." Pastor John, what would you say to Steven? Well, I like to make every effort to keep things clear and simple, and I think one of the reasons we don't speak with much clarity sometimes is that we don't start with definitions.

So that's where I like to start on almost every conversation I have is let's make sure we know what we're talking about. So let me propose some definitions, and then we'll test them with the Bible, and then we'll end with maybe what he's asking, what are some of the big issues surrounding it?

So as an adjective, sovereign, when we say God is sovereign, we mean powerful and authoritative to the extent of being able to override all other powers and authorities. So that's my effort at a definition. Nothing can successfully stop any act or any event or design or purpose which God intends to certainly bring about.

That's my definition. Is it biblical? That's the question, because what I think really doesn't matter if it's a reflection of what the Bible says. It matters a lot. So nothing, I'm arguing, nothing can thwart, stop His purposes. Job 42.2, when all is said and done, Job says, "I know that you can do all things, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted." I think that's just about the best definition of sovereignty in the Bible.

Daniel 4.35, "He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What are you doing?'" Or positively, that's—nobody can stop it. Here's the positive way of saying that He will accomplish all His will.

Isaiah 46.9, "I am God, and there is none like Me, saying," so you hear what God says about His godness, "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose." So there's nothing that He purposes that He does not accomplish. Nothing can stop Him, and He does it all.

Or Ephesians 1.11, one of the most sweeping statements of sovereignty in the Bible, "He works all things according to the counsel of His will." So whatever happens, it accords with the counsel of God's will. Then you can test those general statements about God's sovereignty with lots and lots—I'm working on a book on this, so there's hundreds of places I could have gone—so lots of examples of kinds of details that the Bible talks about.

Like He's sovereign over random events, seemingly random events. Like Proverbs 6.33, "The lot," or the dice, "are cast in the lap, but every decision is from the Lord." Something as random as rolling dice or casting a lot. Or sovereign over nature, Psalm 135.6, "Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

He it is who makes clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain, who brings forth wind from its storehouses." Or Matthew 8.27, Jesus, "Even winds and sea obey Jesus." So winds and sea, they do His bidding. Sovereign over animals, Matthew 10.29, "Not one sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your Father." I think that's Jesus' way of reaching for the most minute, seemingly insignificant thing in the world, is a little bird dropping out of a tree in the midst of some jungle somewhere that nobody knows about but Him, and He decides when it will fall.

Or over nations at the other end of magnitude, 2 Chronicles 26, "You rule over the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you." So no nation does anything that God does not purpose. Or Psalm 33.10, "The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands." I love these sentences! The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart, to all generations. Or over every single human decision. Proverbs 16.1, "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue"—that is, what actually happens—"is from the Lord." Or Proverbs 16.9, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." So we have all kinds of thinking that we do, but in the end, the Lord decides.

Proverbs 19.21, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Or Proverbs 21.1, "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wills." Or Genesis 50.20, this sentence ought to be written like a banner over every evil and sin that's ever committed.

"As for you," Joseph says to his brothers who sold him into slavery, "as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it." So the very same thing—evil in your intention, the same event—good. God meant it for good to bring about many people that they should be kept alive as they are today.

And then you could go to Psalm 115.3 and just overall, "Our God is in the heavens. He does all that He pleases." So my answer is, yes, it is biblical to say that God is sovereign and to mean by that that He has such power and such authority that nothing can successfully stop any act or purpose which God intends to certainly bring about.

Now Stephen asked, "What are the big things to see and grasp?" So let me just mention two, two big things. Number one, the sovereignty of God is governed by His wisdom. "Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments!

How inscrutable are His ways!" Romans 11.33. Everything that is unsearchable and inscrutable to us is governed by the deepest divine wisdom. God never does anything or allows anything whimsically that is as meaningless or random or without an infinitely wise purpose. That's huge. That is a big thing that we must come to terms with when we think about God's sovereignty.

And here's the other one. His sovereignty is governed by His justice and His mercy. Isaiah 30.18, "The Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for Him." Or Romans 9.14, "Is there then injustice on God's part? By no means!" God never, never wrongs anyone. All that He does is righteous and just.

But even justice is not the final and highest aim of God's wisdom. The ultimate aim is that He be glorified for His mercy, His grace toward undeserving rebels. He sovereignly planned and accomplished salvation for sinners by the death of His Son so that—now, this is a quote from Romans 15.9—so that the nations would glorify God for His mercy.

Or as Ephesians 1.6 says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace." So those, it seems to me, are the big things to grasp about God's sovereignty. Number one, it is unstoppable power and authority over all things, including the human will. And two, it is all in accord with infinite wisdom, infinite justice, infinite mercy through Jesus Christ.

Wonderful. Yeah, I cannot wait for that book on sovereignty, which you began in 2018, and will be completing this summer, Lord willing. We'll talk more about that project later. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to the podcast. To find our archives, to read transcripts of our past episodes, or to send us a question of your own, go to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

While does Jesus condemn the comforts of the middle-class American life? Some texts suggest so, particularly Luke chapter 6. This is one of those really important questions we get all the time. Next time, we'll look at the woe texts as they relate to our lives today. I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

We'll see you on Wednesday.