In the previous article, God's sovereignty was defined in the context of who He is. That is, He is Creator so He is the sovereign over all creation. Along with the idea of sovereignty is the concept of a kingdom and hence, a kingdom rule. God is sovereign over an eternal kingdom (1 Chron. 29:11; Ps. 97:1; 103:19; 145:13 & etc) which has existed for all time as He sits on His throne in heaven. But there will be a future earthly kingdom which the Lord Jesus Christ will rule as King from His holy mountain (2 Sam. 7:12-16; 1 Tim. 4:1; & etc)! In this article the concept of prophecy is defined and related to His holy decrees.
Prophecy Defined
Simply put, prophecy is history written in advance. The word comes to the English from the Greek propheteia a compound of the preposition pro meaning before, and phemi meaning to make known, or to say. The idea is that God has spoken new truths through His spokesmen - the prophets. The Hebrew Old Testament is organized into three parts, the Torah (law), the Nebiym (prophets), and the Ketubim (writings). In the Hebrew a prophet nabiy' is "one who speaks for another," in their case God.
Speaking in general terms the word prophecy means a message from the Bible. Our entire Bible is prophecy, the authors speaking new revelation and recording it as a testimony for all time. This idea is recorded in phrases like "My word will stand forever." To think of the entire Bible as prophecy is strange because most prophets and their prophecy is classified in a particular category referred to as "forth-telling." This is God speaking through the prophet things which will come to pass. The general discourse of the prophet is, (1) warning – Israel you have sinned, turn away from your sin and return to Me. (2) Judgment - there is judgment coming because you refuse to listen to Me. (3) Perseverance - although you refuse to listen to Me. You will be judged. But, I will still deliver you from those who I will bring against you. (4) Eternal blessing - because I am God and I choose you, making an eternal promise to Abraham, I will make good on My promise to you and make you a part of the eternal kingdom, and everlasting life is given to those who believe.
Sovereignty Declared in God's Decrees
It is proper to say that each prophecy is a decree of God. Just as God spoke and the universe was created, even so, His spoken decrees establish the natural laws which are upheld and His will, whether known or not is spoken in the form, "thus sayith the Lord," and it will be done. Just as an earthly king declares his will and it becomes law, how much more, the King of kings, who declares, and it is written in books (e.g., "the book of the Wars of the Lord" Ex. 21:14; "the books of God" Dan. 7:10; "the scroll of seven seals" Rev. 5:1-5).
Webster defines a decree to be, "an ordinance or order issued by a person or body of persons in authority deciding what is to be done in a certain matter, or what is to take place; an edict; a decision; a command; as, the decree of the emperor." [1] In the Old Testament the word decree comes from several words. Firstly, dabar, which means, "word, or thing," has been translated as "decree" because God's word defines a decree. Another closely related word is me'amar, meaning commandment (lit. "from saying"). Others have to do with "to cut, decide" as a legal document (gazar), to interdict, or prohibition (‘esar), "to ordain, appoint" (chaqaq), "to decide: impling strict and severe justice" (charats), "discernment, judgment" (ta'am), "decree" (phitegam), and "to establish (qum). Note, however, the basic idea is "something spoken" by someone who has authority to see the thing through.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, "The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby for his own glory He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass." And as the late Dr. Shedd writes, "The divine decree is formed in eternity, but executed in time. There are sequences in the execution, but not in the formation of God's eternal purpose….The divine decree is a divine idea or thought, and it is peculiar to a divine thought that it is equal to the thing produced by it. This earthly globe was decreed from eternity, but it did not actually exist from eternity. It was from eternity a divine thought, but not a historical thing." [2]
Dr. Hodge writes after quoting this statement of the shorter catechism, "Agreeably to this statement: (1.) The end or final cause contemplated in all God's decrees, is his own glory. (2.) They are all reducible to one eternal purpose. (3.) They are free and sovereign, determined by the counsel of his own will. (4) They comprehend all events." [3] As can be seen, Dr. Hodge makes it clear that God's will, His power to accomplish His will, and the purpose of His will, is for His good pleasure and glory.
Dr. Strong in his classic Systematic Theology writes, "The Scriptures declare that all things are included in the divine decrees. They declare that special things and events are decreed; as, for example, (a) the stability of the physical universe; (b) the outward circumstances of nations; (c) the length of human life; (d) the mode of our death; (e) the free acts of men, both good and evil acts. They declare that God has decreed (a) the salvation of believers; (b) the establishment of Christ's kingdom; (c) the work of Christ and of his people in establishing it." [4]
It is common to speak of God's decree as singular. "The term divine decree is an attempt to gather up into one designation that to which the Scriptures refer by various designations – the divine purpose (Eph. 1:11), determinate counsel (Acts 2:23), foreknowledge (1 Pet. 1:2; cf. 1:20), election (1 Thess. 1:4), predestination (Rom. 8:30), the divine will (Eph 1:11), and the divine good pleasure (Eph. 1:9)…. When seeking to arrive at a right understanding of the doctrine of the divine decree, it is essential to distinguish decree from predestination and predestination from election and retribution. The divine decree embraces all that was or is future. Whatever was to transpire in time was decreed from eternity, whether good or evil, whether great or small, whether wrought directly by God or indirectly through agencies. The decree itself provided for the free actions of creatures and included what men are pleased to call accidents… The divine decree embraces the entire ongoing of the universe including things material and things immaterial." [5]
Notice the commonality between the Calvinistic reformer and the classic dispensationalist, Dr. Chafer in his classic work of Systematic Theology says, "No deductions concerning God could be more dishonoring or misleading than the supposition that He is not sovereign over His works, or that He is not working according to a plan articulates the dictation of infinite intelligence." [6] "When this issue [sovereignty] is reduced to its lowest dimensions, there remain but two general overtures: either (1) that God is sovereign and all that ever has existed or will exist is within His plan, or (2) that He is not sovereign and there is more or less in the universe which exists in defiance of His holy character and over which He has no authority." [7] "The Scriptures assert the never-failing sovereignty of God, and never more emphatically than when they predict the fast-approaching hour when sin shall be no more. Who, indeed, is determining the hour when sin shall cease? Is it to cease by mere caprice? Or does God sustain no more vital relation to its cessation than to foreknow that it will cease? Who maketh wars to cease? By whose power and authority will Satan be bound and confined to the abyss and finally cast into the lake of fire? Who prepared that lake of fire?" [8]
God's decrees are rooted in eternity past and His purpose is seen in the ordering of the succession of the ages. That God has a program of the ages is disclosed in many passages (cf. Deut. 30:1-10; Dan. 2:31-45; 7:1-28; 9:24-27; Hos. 3:4, 5; Mat. 23:37-25:46; Acts 15:13-18; Rom. 11:13-29; 2 Thes. 2:1-12; Rev. 2:1-22:31) It is clearly disclosed that there are ages past (Eph. 3:5; Col. 1:26), and present (Rom. 12:2; Gal. 1:4). But that there is an age, or ages, to come (Eph. 2:7; Heb. 6:5; note Eph. 1:10, where the future age is termed the dispensation – oikovomia – of the fullness – plaroma – of times – kaipos). [9]
Example from the Throne Room of Heaven
The reason why any event occurs, or, that it passes from the category of the possible into that of the actual, is that God has so decreed. This is seen, for example, in the scene from the throne room of heaven in Job chapter one. Nothing occurs outside the knowledge of God and even the spiritual realm must go before the throne room of God. Notice as Satan is seen presenting himself before God in the case of Job. It is God who says, "have you considered my servant Job (Job 1:8)?" Dr. Gill interprets, "Or, ‘hast thou put thine heart on my servant'; not in a way of love and affection to him, to do him any good or service, there being an original and implacable enmity in this old serpent to the seed of the woman; but rather his heart was set upon him in a way of desire to have him in his hands, to do him all the mischief he could, as the desire of his heart was toward Peter, Luke 22:31 but the sense of the question is, since thou sayest thou hast been walking up and down in the earth, hast thou not taken notice of Job, and cast an eye upon him, and wished in thine heart to have him in thine hands to do him hurt?" [10]
The workings of the throne room are again given to Daniel as he is given his vision in Daniel chapter seven. He sees a vision of the four beasts and the Ancient of Days as thrones were put in place (7:9), the court was seated, and the books opened. Then Daniel writes,
[1] Webster's Dictionary, unabridged Second Edition. 1979
[2] William Shedd, Dogmatic Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ:P&R Publishing, 2003), p. 311
[3] Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Hendrickson, 2003), Vol. 1, p. 535
[4] Augustus Strong, Systematic Theology (Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 1907), p. 355
[5] Ibid., p. 232
[6] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids:Kregel Publications, 1993), Vol. 1, p. 225
[7] Ibid., p. 226
[8] Ibid., p. 233
[9] Ibid., p. 253
[10] John Gill's Exposition on the Entire Bible, Online Bible Version 1.2.
