Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Theme · theological

Sovereignty of God

From the opening declaration 'In the beginning God created,' sovereignty is the backdrop of the entire biblical narrative. God hardens Pharaoh's heart to display his power, raises up and casts down kings, and uses even pagan empires as instruments of his purposes. Joseph summarizes it: 'You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.' Daniel sees four kingdoms rise and fall, all under the Ancient of Days. Paul's argument about the potter and the clay in Romans 9 pushes sovereignty to its sharpest edge, while Revelation assures that the Lamb who was slain holds the scroll of history.

Passages expressing this theme

  • 1Chr 29:11 — Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exa
  • 1Tim 6:15 — Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
  • 2Chr 20:6 — And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withs
  • Acts 17:26 — And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
  • Dan 2:21 — And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
  • Dan 4:35 — And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto h
  • Eph 1:11 — In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
  • Isa 40:22 — It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
  • Isa 45:5 — I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
  • Isa 46:10 — Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
  • Job 42:2 — I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
  • Matt 10:29 — Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
  • Prov 16:9 — A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
  • Prov 19:21 — There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
  • Prov 21:1 — The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
  • Ps 22:28 — For the kingdom is the LORD’s: and he is the governor among the nations.
  • Ps 47:2 — For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
  • Ps 93:1 — The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
  • Ps 103:19 — The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
  • Ps 115:3 — But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
  • Ps 135:6 — Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
  • Rev 1:8 — I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
  • Rev 19:6 — And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
  • Rom 8:28 — And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
  • Rom 9:20 — Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?