By Matthew Pruitt
I form light and create darkness, I make well- being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7 ESV)
Notice that Isaiah 45:7 is not in the past tense? It doesn’t say, “I formed light and created darkness, I made well-being and created calamity…” He still does those things today. God is active and working in his creation today. He did not just set creation in motion thousands of years ago and then let it run it’s course.
Job said “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21 ESV)
Speaking of Jesus the writer of Hebrews wrote, “ . . . you (God) have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.” (Hebrews 2:7-8 ESV) It says he left nothing outside his control; all things are subject to him.
Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3 ESV) He is upholding the universe now. If at anytime Jesus ceases to uphold the universe it will cease to exist.
Look at what the Psalmist says about the rain: You (God) visit the earth and water it . . . (Psalms 65:9 ESV) Does that sound like God has left creation to run its own course?
Is God Boastful? I think so… very much so. Obviously you can’t say God is vain; that just doesn’t make since. But boastful, oh yes, because he is the only one who can truly boast. I mean he is God after all; he is the creator of all things (Genesis 1:1). Take a look at these scriptures:
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God… (Exodus 20:5 ESV)
I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God. (Isaiah 45:5 ESV)
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:11 ESV)
I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. (Exodus 6:7 ESV)
You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 11:10 ESV)
Those are just a few of the scriptures about God being jealous for his own glory. In reading the Old Testament you will notice that theme repeated over and over and over.
Does God ever take a risk? When it’s a sure thing there is no risk. The bible makes it clear that God is holding all the cards and always has. God does all things according to the counsel of his will; including the election of his saints. Consider the following scriptures:
…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him… (Ephesians 1:4 ESV)
And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. (Mark 13:20 ESV)
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:19 ESV)
. . .everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 13:8 ESV) If there are people whose names have not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb then it stands to reason that there are people whose name have been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. Who wrote them there? God
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 ESV)
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. . . . (Deuteronomy 7:7-8 ESV)
The fact is God chose. And he did it before Adam, Eve, you, me, or anyone else did anything good or bad or before anyone had the opportunity to accept or deny His love. God has never “taken a risk.” He does everything according the counsel of his eternal purpose (Ephesians 1:5, 9, 11; 3:11). The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33 ESV)
The bible loudly proclaims the glory of our heavenly father!
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:28-31 ESV)