Sermon Tone Analysis

*Sovereignty 5.*

We have been looking at the subject of the sovereignty of God *[P]*.

So often we look at things from man’s perspective; it’s natural because, after all, we are men, living here on earth.

We have an earthly perspective, rational and reasoned.

We trace things back by their mechanistic cause, to try and work out how it will affect us.

We tend to look at things from the tail’s perspective because we are earth bound creatures.

But if we look at the other side of the coin, from God’s viewpoint, then we will have a totally different perspective.

You can’t see both sides of the coin at the same time, but if you turn the coin over you see the Sovereign, the One who is head over all.

From God’s perspective you see His complete and total sovereignty over all.

What do I mean by the sovereignty of God?

That He rules, that He is in control, that He does as He wishes.

Because God is God He does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases; His great concern is the accomplishment of His own pleasure and the promotion of His own glory.

He is the Supreme Being, and therefore Sovereign of the universe.

He does what He wishes, how He wishes, when He wishes, the way He wishes and He doesn’t have to ask your opinion.

We have looked at יְהוָה’s absolute control over inanimate things: *[P]* things on earth *[P]*, land, sea and air; things on earth, also things in the heavens *[P]*, from the inconceivably massive *[P]* down to the tiniest of seemingly random events.

Then last time we started to look at יְהוָה’s control over life.

*[P]* He is the Originator of all life, in Him was LIFE – we looked at plant life *[P]* – this time, as you may have anticipated, I am going to look at יְהוָה’s sovereignty over animal life *[P]*.

Each time, you may have noticed, I have started with Genesis chapter 1, and this time is no different.

You see, God’s sovereignty stems back to His creation – if you* make *something, then it is yours to decide and use as you choose.

That right of *choice*, is essential to sovereignty.

So let’s turn again to Genesis chapter one.

[*Genesis 1:20-25*/ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of *living creatures*, and let birds fly over the earth across the face of the vaulted dome of heaven.

So God created the great sea creatures and every *living creature* that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kind, and every bird with wings according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth* living creatures* according to their kind: cattle and moving things, and wild animals according to their kind.”

And it was so.

So God made wild animals according to their kind and the cattle according to their kind, and every creeping thing of the earth according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good./]

Seven times it says “/according to its kind/”.

God created different /kinds/ of animals.

It is salutary having a daughter who is interested in creepy crawlies – we get all these books out of the library with fantastic photos.

You might think that insects are pretty small and insignificant but there is an absolutely incredible variety of bugs that God has made, each with special features that enable it to do as it was designed to – incredible design features in the tiniest of frames.

Hannah is now a keen budding ornithologist – and so now I have learnt about birds – again an absolutely incredible number of kinds, a wealth of variety, “/kinds/” that God has made.

If it were just mere functionality you could have got by with maybe half a dozen designs.

He made them “/according to their kind/” – created different, separate and distinct.

What does evolution tell us? – that all stemmed from one original single celled organism.

It is almost as if the Bible anticipated what evolution was going to say in categorically stating they were all created as distinct kinds from the beginning.

God made them ALL, He made them distinct, He made them for a purpose and He controls them.

He is sovereign over them.

Now, the word that we read three times “/living creatures/” is the Hebrew word נֶפֶשׁ, translated “life” in (Gen 1:30) – the “life” of the flesh is in the blood – it is the same word – it is also translated “soul”.

Animals are נֶפֶשׁ, they have a soul but they do not have a spirit.

Unlike plants, they have a will; but they do not have a conscience for which they are accountable.

For God to control them He has to direct their will.

So let’s look at animal life.

You see יְהוָה’s sovereignty over them very early on: [*Genesis 2:19*/ And out of the ground יְהוָה God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and He brought each to the man to see what he would call it.

And whatever the man called that living creature (נֶפֶשׁ) was its name./]

*[P]* יְהוָה gave man dominion over the animals, and so man named them.

So there is Adam whom יְהוָה had made; He had already made all the animals, they were off doing their own thing; then יְהוָה brought the animals to the man.

Did this actually literally happen?

The Bible says it did - then that means God had control over them – He directed them to come to Adam.

Have you ever tried to herd sheep?

It’s OK for Murray – but they don’t go where you want them to!

And they are domesticated!

What about, lions, elephants?

They all came because יְהוָה is in sovereign control over them.

Well, you might say, that was before the fall when everything was perfect.

*[P]* But in Genesis 6:19,20 יְהוָה told Noah to have two of every kind of animal into the ark that He had told him to build.

Then in [*Genesis 7:14-16*/ All the living creatures (נֶפֶשׁ) according to their kind, and all the domesticated animals according to their kind, and all the creatures that creep upon the earth according to their kind, all the birds according to their kind, every winged creature.

And they came to Noah to the ark, two of each, from every living thing in which was the breath of life.

And those that came, male and female, of every living thing, came as God had commanded him.

And יְהוָה shut the door behind him./]

He brought 2 of every kind to Noah - Noah didn't have to search for them, they came - not flocks, just 2, a male and female except for the clean animals.

Why did they come?

God sent them; it says that “/God commanded them/” - God controls them.

יְהוָה is in control!

*[P]* He is sovereign.

*[P]* He did the same in Egypt, remember?

He summoned frogs, gnats, flies, locusts.

Later He summoned huge numbers of Quail.

Was it natural swarming?

No, it happened directly at God's command.

[*Psalm 105:34*/ He spoke and there came locusts and young locusts without number./]

It happened at יְהוָה’s command.

יְהוָה is in control!

*[P]* He is sovereign.

*[P]* Later on, when Israel was in the Promised Land, they turned away from God, and יְהוָה raised up the Philistines as their enemy.

In the course of battle the Ark of the Covenant got captured.

Plagues came upon the Philistines so they decided to return it.

You remember the story: the Philistines put the ark on a cart pulled by two cows.

Now these cows had never had a yoke on them, they would not want to pull a cart.

Furthermore, they were both suckling calves.

The deck was stacked – naturally the cows would want to return to their bellowing young, go their separate ways.

If they went to Beth-Shemesh, to the Israelite town, it just had to be יְהוָה, and the Philistines knew it.

[*1 Samuel 6:9*/ You must watch; if it goes up by the way of its territory to Beth Shemesh, He has caused this great disaster to come on us.

But if not, then we will know His hand has not struck us; it was by chance that this happened to us./]

What happened?

[*1 Samuel 6:12*/ The cows went straight on the way on the road to Beth-Shemesh, on the one main road, lowing as they went.

They did not turn aside to the right or to the left, and the rulers of the Philistines were walking after them up to the border of Beth-Shemesh./]

The Philistines knew it was יְהוָה!

That He was in sovereign control – His sovereign control over animals demonstrated to them that it was indeed God’s hand at work that had caused the trouble that they had suffered.

יְהוָה is in control!

*[P]* He is sovereign.

*[P] *A bit later on in Israel’s history – again they had turned away from God and He withheld the rain – there was a drought, food was scarce – but יְהוָה looked after His servant Elijah.

He commanded ravens to feed Elijah [*1 Kings 17:2-6*/ Then the word of יְהוָה came to him, saying, “Go from this place and turn to the east; you must hide yourself in the Wadi Kerith which faces the Jordan.

It shall be that you shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the crows to sustain you there.”

So he went and did according to the word of יְהוָה.

He went and stayed in the Wadi Kerith which faces the Jordan.

The crows were bringing bread and meat in the morning for him and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi./]