Sermon # 33 - God Is Sovereign Series

We read in Jonah 3:9, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” (ESV)

The one who said these words in the verse mentioned above, was the King of Nineveh, which makes it truly astounding. Let me give you a background which led to this response by the king of Nineveh. The Prophet Jonah was sent by God with the message that the city of Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days, because of their evil ways, and increasing wickedness. All the people of that city, and the king himself repented, and realized that they needed to change their ways. They willingly accepted the word of the prophet, and fully believed the word that was preached. This was the response of the people, the king and even the livestock all of whom took a fast, the people and their king put on sackcloth, and they sat down in ashes, as a sign of true repentance and penitence before God.

It was at this point that the king declared the above mentioned words, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish” as recorded in Jonah 3:9. In spite of the fact that the people and the king believed in God’s word, repented and made all the necessary changes, the king was still hopeful that the Lord would look down with favor, and relent from His fierce anger. It was not as though the king could be sure of God’s move, but rather hoped that God would hold back His anger. The king did all that he could, and yet he couldn’t be sure of God’s response.

This clearly portrays the sovereignty of God over all of His creation. No one can counsel God, but when we turn back to Him, the Lord in His mercy could shower His grace and favor on us. This kind of a perspective can be had only by those who understand who God really is. There are many who are presumptuous, and brazen enough to say that they can order the hand of God to do anything for them. While on the one hand we have faith and firmness of our belief in God, on the other hand, we need to understand God’s sovereignty, and realize that He is Almighty, awesome, and reigns as King over all. Often we forget this truth, but let us see what the prophet Isaiah says about God in the verse below.

We read in Isaiah 46:9-10, “Remember what happened long ago. Remember, I am God and there is no other God. There is no other like me. "In the beginning, I told you what would happen in the end. A long time ago, I told you things that have not happened yet. When I plan something, it happens. I do whatever I want to do.” (ERV)

These are astounding facts about God. As human beings we know our past, and some things about the present, but we can never know what the future holds. God on the other hand can tell us everything from the beginning to the end. The Lord will fulfill everything that He plans, and desires to do. Oftentimes, man forgets who he is, and speaks about God in a careless way. Also there is a trend where many are blatant to declare that God said something, when in reality God did not do so. We should therefore be cautious to comprehend who God is, and also to realize that God is worthy of all our honor, and is high above all else.

We will try to study and understand what happened to those who comprehended the sovereignty of God in their lives.

Three men who understood the sovereignty of God

We read in Daniel 3:17, “If you throw us into the hot furnace, the God we serve can save us. And if he wants to, he can save us from your power.” (ERV)

Some of the young men from Israel were taken captives to Babylon, which was ruled by King Nebuchadnezzar. This king made a huge statue of gold, and passed a decree that everyone in that province should worship the golden image. There were three young men who were so zealous for the Lord that they declared that they would not bow down to the image, even if it meant being cast into the fiery furnace. When the king heard this news that these young men were defiant to his edict, he was so enraged that he ordered that these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be thrown into the blazing furnace. The above mentioned verse was the response of these young men to the King’s orders. By so doing these men were asserting that the God they worshipped was the Almighty God who could deliver them from the hands of the king, and the deadly fiery furnace.