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God’s Rights
Who gives God the right to first
create the human race and then to wipe it out by a flood?
“Then
the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the
earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had
made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The
LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the
face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and
to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (Gen. 6:5-7)
Who gives God the right to
determine that an entire group of people should be erased from
the earth, every man, woman, and child.
“Then Samuel said to Saul,
‘The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people,
over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the
LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek
for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on
the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and
strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do
not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child
and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” (1 Sam.
15:1-4)
Who gives God the right to
destroy one nation and then determine that another nation shall
take its place?
“He makes the nations great,
then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them
away. He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s
people and makes them wander in a pathless waste. They grope
in darkness with no light, and He makes them stagger like a
drunken man." (Job 12:23-25)
Who gives God the right to create
one person for one particular purpose and another for another
purpose?
“For the Scripture says to
Pharaoh, ‘For this
very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in
you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the
whole earth’.” (Rom. 9:17)
The writer is saying God could
have removed Pharaoh from the earth at any time. But He chose
to use him to show His power and to proclaim His name throughout
the earth. God chose to use Pharaoh to glorify Himself. Who
gives God the right to do this?
No created thing gives God the
right to do anything. As the sovereign planner and Creator of
all that is, He evidently assumes this right.
“So then He has mercy on whom
He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” (Rom. 9:18)
How could God both harden and at
the same time condemn the hardened?
“You will say to me then,
‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will.’ ”
(Rom. 9:19)
If God exercises His will upon
man then how could He still find fault? And who could resist
such a will? Paul does not attempt to rationalize an answer.
Paul just gives God the right to be God. That is all that he
could do!
“On the contrary, who are
you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will
not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will
it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay,
to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and
another for common use? What if God, although willing to
demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured
with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction? And He did so to make known the riches
of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared
beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called,
not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
(Rom. 9:18-24)
The word for “right” used here is
from the Greek word “excusion.” It speaks of authority!
The question is this: Does God, functioning as the Potter have
the right to make Himself known to His creation in the way that
He chooses? Does God have the privilege to be God?
God is Righteous
When we begin to think about it,
where did the idea of “right” originate? Who invented the
meaning of “right”? It began with God. God is the author of
righteousness. God alone established the guidelines of what is
right and what is wrong. He is the source of all righteousness
and justice.
"The Lord is righteous; the
Lord loves righteousness." (Psa. 11:7)
In fact, everything that God has
chosen to do on behalf of His creation is based upon His
standards of righteousness.
"The judgments of the LORD
are true and righteous altogether." (Psa. 19:9)
What a creature may think about
how his Creator chooses to make known the riches of His glory is
not the standard by which the Creator must work. God does not
have to surrender Himself in any way to the creature’s
expectation. God's righteousness and His justice stand as the
foundation upon which He has chosen to work.
“Righteousness and justice
are the foundation of Your throne: Lovingkindness and truth
go before You.” (Psa. 89:14)
"Righteousness and justice
are the foundation of His throne." (Psa. 97:2)
God can never do anything that is
not absolutely right and just according to His standard. He
has chosen to be fair with His creation, according to His
principles of fairness. If our human minds cannot make sense of
the ways that God has chosen to do this, there is a good reason.
God says through His prophet, Isaiah:
"My thoughts are not your
thoughts neither are My ways your ways, for as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do
not return there without watering the earth And making it
bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread
to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My
mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing
what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for
which I sent it.” (Isa. 55:8-9)
How high are the heavens above
the earth? I do not know! No creature has the mentality to go
there. We cannot think God’s thoughts or understand His ways.
We have no ability to make
reasonable
what God has chosen to do with
His creation. It is above us; it is beyond us! The only
thoughts that we can accurately think about God come to us from
Him through His word. And God has to open the eyes of our heart
for us to understand His word. His word says that the ways that
He has chosen to bring about His justice are beyond us.
"Oh the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who has
known the mind of the Lord and who has been His counselor?"
(Rom. 11:33-34)
The word "unsearchable" means
that a human being cannot plumb the depths of the ways that God
has chosen to carry out His judgments. God’s wisdom and
knowledge are to deep for us. We cannot search them out! Man
does not have the capacity to bring God down to the court of
human reason and put Him on trial. A human being cannot
validate the "fairness" of God’s will. Why? Because whatever
He wills
is fair.
It is fair and just simply because God wills it to be so. One
dare not think, "It is fair and just,
therefore
He wills it." Righteousness, like all of God’s attributes, comes
from the top down and not from the bottom up.
God’s Justice is Absolute
The Creator owes nothing to the
creature, not even the mercy that He has graciously chosen to
give. John MacArthur made this statement: “Divine justice is
an essential attribute of God whereby He is infinitely and
perfectly just in Himself, of Himself, for Himself, from
Himself, by Himself and none other.”
Who gives a Potter the right to
make the clay and then to fashion the clay in whatever way He
desires? No one gives Him the right!
“Woe to the one who quarrels
with his Maker—An earthenware vessel among the vessels of
earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you
doing?’ Or the thing you are making say,’ He has no hands?”
(Isa. 45:9)
The Creator reserves the
authority to do and not to have to explain what He has done.
That is the privilege of a Creator! So how could God be called
unfair or unjust when He sets the standard of what is fair and
just? How could it be unjust for Him to use His clay in a
manner that pleases Him? In fact, God would be well within His
right to create and then to totally destroy all that He had
created?
Man’s eternal salvation is not a
matter of justice anyway. If we received God’s justice, we
would all perish forever! Eternal life is a matter of grace and
only grace!
“Who
gave Him authority over the earth? And who has laid on Him
the whole world? If He should determine to do so, If He
should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, all
flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust."
(Job. 34:13-15)
“To declare
that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him.” (Psa. 92:15)
“Remember the former things
long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am
God, and there is no one like Me."
(Isa. 46:9)
“You thought I was just like
you!” (Psa. 50:21)
Making Known the Riches of His
Glory
"That He might make known the
riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy." Paul lets us know
that the Creator has the right to reveal the riches of His glory
in the way that He chooses. This is true simply because He is
the Creator. Whatever the Creator chooses to do with His
creation will be right and just because He has chosen to do it.
He is a just God! He cannot do anything that is not right.
“But now, O LORD, You are our
Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us
are the work of Your hand.” (Isa. 64:8)
“Your eyes saw my substance,
being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written,
the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of
them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How
great is the sum of them." (Psa.
139:16-17)
Donald Gray Barnhouse tells the
story of a young boy who loved his dog. The dog meant everything
to him. One day as he was opening the garage door he saw his
father shoot his dog! The boy screamed out in horror, “Dad, you
killed my dog! Dad, I hate you! You killed my dog!” The father
tried to explain to the boy but to no avail! Only when the boy
was older did he realize that a rabid dog had bitten his dog.
His dog had to be destroyed to save lives. The father did what
was right! But that right was not understood until much later.
The real issue before those who
have believed in Christ is this: Is God to be measured from the
standpoint of man’s fallen human standards or is He measured by
His own divine standards? If we measure God by human standards,
He would appear to be very unfair. But God will always be right
in everything that He has chosen to do.
"Let God be true and every
man a liar." (Rom. 3:4)
Some day God may explain to
believers His plan of grace. But even if He does not, He will
remain a righteous God!
Sources
New American Standard Bible
Dr. Donald G. Barnhouse
John MacArthur
A.T. Robertson Word Pictures
Bible Knowledge Commentary Old Testament
Chafer’s Systematic Theology
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