GOD’S WORKS OF PROVIDENCE
Westminster
Shorter Catechism 11
Quest. What
are God’s works of providence?
Ans. God’s works of providence are, His most holy, wise, and powerful
preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.
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In Acts 17:28 the Apostle makes the profound statement, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” We live in God, we move in God, and we have our being in God. Our life is dependent upon God. Our movement is dependent upon God. And our is-ness is dependent upon God. In a word, everything about us, the time and place of our birth, our actions, every sneeze we sneeze, every breath we take, our very being and existence, and all creation is under God’s sovereign control. We are dependent upon God.
Preserving
When we
think of preserving something we tend to think of pickling it or maybe
freezing it. In the old days before refrigeration, they used to salt meat to
preserve it. Nowadays as well as pickling and freezing we’ve also got into the
habit of just adding a bunch of chemicals to the food to preserve it. We call
these additives “preservatives.”
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Now then,
would it be true to say that fallen men accuse God of not doing a very good job
of preserving His creation? Fallen man sees in history, and when looks around
the planet, death and decay. “So how then…”, says fallen man, “How then can God
be preserving the universe and all its creatures?” Fallen man sees only chaos
and blind forces directing history and creation when he looks around. God is invisible
to him. Therefore, fallen man does not see the invisible hand of God at work.
But what does fallen man think is holding the universe together? Crazy Glue?
Gaffer tape?
But even
sadder than the plight of fallen man is the plight of some Christians today.
Some Christians think that God has handed over control of the universe to the
Devil! They, too, consider history and look around at the world today and
conclude that it’s chaotic. Therefore, it seems that God is invisible to them
also! They, too, do not see the invisible hand of our God at work. But we have
to keep reminding ourselves of what God says to fallen man, “‘For My thoughts
are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD” (Isa. 55:8).
When
fallen man considers creation and the death and decay in it, he can’t help but
think to himself, “If God is in control, He has a strange way of showing
it!” So, how can we say that God is preserving His creation when things in
His creation die? How can we say that when, according to the 2nd Law
of Thermodynamics, entropy, Creation itself is dying? But is all creation dying
and decaying, and slowly grinding to a halt? Will there come a day, if things
keep going the way they are, when the universe will have used up all its energy
and become a “flat line” because of entropy? Well, let me reassure you that God
is still preserving His creation. How He does it is His business.
Could I
suggest a better way to God for preserving His universe rather than allowing
death and decay? Maybe! But then again, His thoughts are not my thoughts.
Therefore, though I perhaps might not understand how God is preserving His
creation, surely, I must concede that He is preserving it, even though I might
not understand it? Therefore, I must conclude that death and decay in creation
are part of God’s preservation.
So, does
this mean to suggest that paradoxically things must die in order to be
preserved? Well, I ask you, why then did Jesus Christ die if it wasn’t to
preserve God’s creation? “For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son…” But you might ask, What about all those creatures that have
become extinct? Aren’t they lost forever? And what about all those books that
were lost in the fire in the Great Library of Alexandria? What about all those
great paintings, and great works of art, that have perished through the ages.
Well, I ask you, is God able to preserve or not? Do you think because something
has burned in a fire God cannot restore it? Do you think because
something has decayed in the ground that God cannot restore it? Of course He
can. But will He? That is the question. Will He? We know that God can restore
the years the locusts have eaten. For the LORD blessed the latter days
of Job more than his beginning.
Now, the
proof that God is able to restore is in the raising of Jesus Christ, isn’t it?
Did God preserve Jesus Christ even in death? Of course He did. Christ’s human
body didn’t even see any decay while He was dead. But here’s something I don’t
want you to miss, because a lot of what we’re looking at is answered by it. Did
God receive back His own Son from the dead or just some replacement? Jesus went
to great lengths to demonstrate to His disciples that it was He and not
another. He invited Thomas to put His fingers in the nail prints and so forth. So,
God, in the raising of Jesus from the dead, halted and reversed the death and
decay process.
And does
not all creation now belong to the Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ? But what
about those creatures that have become extinct? Are they not part of ALL
creation? What about all the books, the paintings, the works of art? Are they
not part of all creation? And what about you and me? Are we not part of all
creation? Is God able to raise us from the dead? But what if your body becomes
dust and is scattered to the four winds?
Do you
see what I’m driving at? Either God is able to preserve all creation as opposed
to just SOME of it or He is not able. Which do you think? All of it? Me too!
Therefore, where in the Bible does it say that any created thing is ever lost
for all eternity?
Now, I
know what you’re thinking. What about the Devil? What about the demons? What
about the non-elect? What about all their works? Well, the truth of the matter
is that none of these will have any part in the LORD’s restored and renewed and
everlasting creation. And don’t forget, God is even right now preserving them
for the Day of Judgment. E.g., “And the angels who did not keep their proper
domain, but left their own habitation, He has reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness for the judgment of the great day…” (Jude 6).
So, don’t
think for a moment that anything has disappeared forever just because it has
changed its chemical composition, i.e., has become dead or decayed into powder,
even dust. If God is able to reconstitute the human body, then a book or a
picture or a work of art, or even a sparrow can be restored (though see
Ecclesiastes 3:21). Yes, this old creation will be purged by fire on the last
day. But out of those flames, like the mythical rising phoenix, comes “…the new
heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13).
The
rising phoenix is a myth, but the new heavens and earth are for real. They are
as real as the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, Creation’s Redeemer. “Eye
has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things
which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
The
Psalmist in Psalm 145:17ff. says, “The LORD is righteous in all His
ways, gracious in all His works. The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to
all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of those who fear
Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. The LORD preserves all
who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.”
The LORD preserves all who love Him. Have not Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob been preserved by God as Jesus says? Then God truly is the God of the living, and all things live and move and have their being in Him.
Governing
To govern
is to rule or direct by right or authority. It is also to influence or guide or
control actions. God governs all His creatures and all their actions.
This, of course, is an anathema to the non-Christian. He’s still operating
under the old Covenant of Works (or “Covenant of Life” as it’s sometimes
called).
Under the
Covenant of Works Adam, as man’s Covenant or Federal Head, or Covenant
Representative before God, declared autonomy from God by eating the forbidden
fruit. Hence every unregenerate child of Adam detests the very notion of God’s
absolute sovereignty over all creation. However, having said that, there
are many in the Covenant Community who also think this way. They detest with a
passion the orthodox confessions of the Church after its Reformation. They
still cling to the faulty idea of the autonomy of man in the universe. But as
the Reformed Confessions state, as summarized in Westminster Shorter Catechism
11, God governs all His creatures and all their actions.
Think
about it, if God didn’t govern or rule all His creatures and their actions,
then how could He preserve His universe? How could He be sure that some thing
or being would not thwart whatever plan He had? Indeed, this is the belief of
many who follow the teaching of Dispensationalism. But the Calvinist,
i.e., the consistently Reformed Christian, believes that if the Bible says God
is Sovereign in all things, then God is Sovereign in all things in all
places and at all times!
Is Jesus
Christ the Lord of lords and the King of kings? Or is He just the Lord of some
lords and the King of some kings? Well, is Almighty God all mighty over all
things or just some things? Is He Governor over all creatures and all their
actions? Or is He just Governor over some creatures and some of their actions?
Do you
see what I’m driving at? If there is any part of creation that is not under the
government of God, then that part of creation is independent of God. It is autonomous.
But David the Psalmist says of the LORD in Psalm 103:19, “The LORD has
established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.” And
the writer to the Hebrews informs us that God upholds “ALL THINGS by the Word
of His Power” (Heb. 1:3). And Jesus says of God in Matthew 10 that not
even one little sparrow falls to the ground without the Father’s will!
He is
sovereign right down to the number of hairs we have on our heads – that’s
sovereignty! But what about those rebellious creatures such as demons and
unregenerate men? What about the Devil? How can we say that God governs
him and his actions and them and their actions? This is one of those places
where some people become undone. This is one of those places where sound
theology can begin to unravel. So, let’s be careful here. So again, let me
remind you what the LORD says, “The LORD is righteous in all His ways,
gracious in all His works” (Psa. 145:17). God then, is not the Author of sin.
He does not make any moral creature sin. For He is righteous in ALL His ways.
So, what
are we to make of sin and evil in God’s Creation? If God governs all His
creatures and all their actions, how do we account for sin? Well, first off, we
all should agree to let God be God and govern the way He wants to govern! We’re
told that God governs righteously. Therefore, God doesn’t sin when He governs.
Right, if
I tell you to bring me a hammer and some nails knowing full well that you will
not, does that mean I have made you to disobey me? The LORD says, “Get
me a hammer and some nails.” “No!” says you. Who’s sinning you or God? You!
Now, would the LORD be sinning if He knew beforehand that you would disobey?
No. Why? Because you are the one who has been commanded to do an action,
and, because you are the one who is refusing to do it, therefore, it is you
who are sinning, not the LORD.
But is
the LORD sinning by withholding from you the knowledge of the fact that He
knows that you will refuse to do what He has told you to do? Of course, the
LORD is not sinning. He’s especially not sinning since He’s warned you of the
dire consequences of your disobeying Him. So, the choice is all yours to obey
or disobey. This was something of the case for Adam, Man’s Covenant
Representative, before the Fall. But - and here’s where you need to put on
your thinking cap - the LORD from all eternity had purposed or foreordained that
Man, at a predetermined point in time, would bring Him a hammer and some nails.
The fact is that God governed all His creatures and all their actions towards
that end. God in His holy and wise counsel purposed therefore, or with
intention permitted, Adam to disobey Him. And it was through this disobedience
that Man would do what God had predetermined, which was that Man would bring
the Lord a hammer and some nails – and that Man would use them to nail the LORD
of glory to a tree!
You might
think that this is all a bit strange that God would go to such great lengths to
accomplish His great plan. But again, remember what He says, “For My thoughts
are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD” (Isa. 55:8).
So, is
God the Author of sin by determining the Fall of Man in the Garden for His own
glory? Of course He isn’t. It was Man that sinned. The Fall of Man was all part
of God working His purposes out. Louis Berkhof offers us some help here where
he says, “The decree of God with reference to sin is usually called a
permissive decree. It renders the future sinful act absolutely certain, but
this does not mean that God will by His own act bring it to pass. God decreed
not to hinder the sinful act of the creature’s self-determination, but
nevertheless to regulate and control its result…”[1]
In a
nutshell, God permissively decreed for Man to put to death the Son of Man. The
Son of Man, Jesus Christ, is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
(Rev. 13:8b). Therefore, God permissively decreed that Man in time would put to
death His only begotten Son.
So, does
this mean that men didn’t sin when they brought the hammer and nails to the
Lord and used them to pin Him to a cross? Of course, Man sinned by doing this
even though it was what God purposely permitted or permissively decreed for
them to do! As Peter puts it, “Him, being delivered by the determined counsel
and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and
put to death...” (Acts 2:23).
God had
predetermined, even in eternity past for the good of Man. But Man in
space and time did it out of rebelliousness against God. So, either way, God’s
secret will was done! Man brought the Lord His hammer and nails. However, like
the brothers of Joseph, Man meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. The
question that remains is why? Answer? “For God so loved the world…” He did it
because He loves His creation. He did it in order to preserve His
creation forever.
Jesus
Christ had to die in order to preserve God’s creation from everlasting
destruction. Jesus Christ died as Substitute not only for you and me but also
for ALL creation, (those foreordained for everlasting destruction excepted of
course). So, this means that the death and decay of creation has been/will be
reversed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This
means that the curse God put on creation on account of Adam’s sin has been/will
be lifted in Jesus Christ. It means that the 2nd Law of
Thermodynamics, i.e., entropy, need not apply for a job in the New Creation.
Entropy has been reversed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ! In Him ALL
things are new. Therefore, ALL creation is not grinding to a halt. ALL creation
is not on an irreversible downward spiral into destruction!
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Don’t we
know that by having Man nail His Son to a tree God has in principle set
creation free from its bondage? Haven’t we learned from Christ’s death that
death is one of God’s ways of preserving? We refrigerate things, we used to
salt things, and we add chemicals to preserve things. We pickle things, but
we’ve seen that God kills things, even His creatures, even His own creation, to
preserve them and it.
The only
way that this makes any sense to us is when we look at the birth, life, death,
resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ the Son of God/Son of Man. If you
look to Adam, Man’s Covenant Representative, you will see the death and decay
of yourself and creation. But if you look to Jesus Christ, the new Adam, the
Christian’s new Covenant Representative, you will see life and regeneration of
yourself and creation. Therefore, keep on looking unto Jesus the Author and
Finisher of our faith.
For Jesus said after His resurrection that ALL authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. Therefore, this means that He is now powerfully preserving all His creatures and all their actions. As Paul says to the Colossians, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over ALL creation … ALL things were created through Him and FOR Him. And He is before ALL things and in Him ALL things consist” (Col. 1:15;16b-17).
Conclusion
We can
rest assured that Jesus will do a good job of preserving and governing His
creation. We can rest assured that His great enemy, the Devil, will have no
victory whatsoever over Jesus. And we can rest assured that Jesus Christ is
able to restore what the locusts have eaten. We can rest assured that of the
increase of Christ’s government and peace there will be no end. Those who are
in Christ have a wonderful future ahead of them.
We’ve
looked all too briefly at God’s Works of Providence. And we’ve seen but
a glimpse that, God’s works of providence are, His most holy, wise, and
powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.
[1] Louis Berkhof, Manual of Christian Doctrine,
(Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan,1933, reprinted November 1989), 86.
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