God is sovereign and yet human beings are responsible and held accountable for what they do. Paul discussed this in Romans chapter 9 and concluded his discussion with a statement about faith that suggests the intersection between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is the act of placing one’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul stated about Israel’s unbelief:
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:30-33)
The Scripture that Paul quoted is from Isaiah 28:16 and was also quoted by Peter in his first letter, which was addressed “To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion” (1 Peter 1:1). This Scripture is also referenced in Psalm 118:22, which is about God’s steadfast love enduring forever. Peter talked about believers being living stones, a holy people that belong to God, “who were called out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Peter said:
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:1-5)
Speaking of the Dispersion of the Jews, the LORD told Jeremiah that he would restore Israel. He said, “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their land that I gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15). The purpose of the Dispersion was to put an end to Israel’s idolatry (Jeremiah 16:19-20). God said, “Therefore, behold, I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD” (Jeremiah 16:21).
God’s power is signified by an open hand which represents his authority or right of possession (H3027). Speaking of the children of Abraham and of Jacob whom he would redeem, God said they were “the work of my hands” (Isaiah 29:23). God used the demonstration of a potter reworking clay to illustrate his sovereignty to the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah 18:1-11 states:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’”
The people of Judah did not listen to God and were taken into captivity (Jeremiah 39:1-10). Jeremiah prophesied their response to God’s warning when he stated, “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart’” (Jeremiah 18:12).
God’s sovereignty counteracts the stubbornness of an evil heart by placing the person into a position of submission. The Babylonians ruthless treatment of the Jews made them realize that they needed God’s protection and could not prevail against their enemies without his help. The book of Hebrews contains several warnings about trying to circumvent God’s sovereignty. Hebrews 2:1-3 states, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” A second warning deals directly with the problem of the stubbornness of an evil heart. It states, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:12-14).
Paul tells us in Romans 14:11-12 that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and that each one of us will give an account of himself to God. God’s sovereignty makes it necessary for us to conform our will to his because eventually, every knee will have to bow to his authority and have to accept his rulership over our lives. Isaiah 46:8-13 states:
“Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from righteousness:
I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel my glory.”
God is able to declare the end from the beginning and when he says he will do something, we can be certain that it will happen. That is why salvation is not a gamble or something that we have to worry about. God said, “my salvation will not delay” (Isaiah 46:13). What that means for unbelievers and for those who are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin is that today salvation is available to them, but God’s gift of salvation may not be available tomorrow because ample warning has already been given to everyone. Hebrews 3:15-19 states, “As it is said, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” God is not turning people away or trying to keep certain people out of heaven. People are not getting saved because they have stubborn hearts and don’t want to submit themselves to God’s sovereignty.
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