Sermon 1: The Sovereignty of God over the Nations
in the Books of Jeremiah and Isaiah

David H. Linden, November, 2020
   

This is a parallel paper, designed to support this sermon and add in details which do not appear in the sermon. My hope is that you will follow the added biblical texts supplied here.

Coming later, if the Lord wills:
Sermon 2: The Sovereignty of God over the Nations in the Book of Daniel
Sermon 3: The Sovereignty of God over the Nations in the Book of Revelation

Jeremiah 27:5-8  It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.

6  Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.

7  All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

8  But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the LORD, until I have consumed it by his hand.

This text before us is one of many that show a similar thing. Here God speaks as God. He announces his decision and calls for those nations to accept his word and submit to it.

The words in these verses are from God. They do not come through a committee; God is not granted authority by anyone, and he does not clear his words with anyone. He speaks as the Sovereign Lord over all creation and all people. God thinks he is God, and he thinks that way because he is.

His words are addressed to other nations (27:3). Representatives of five nations were in town at the time when Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord to inform them of events to come very soon. God is not the God of Israel only but of all nations.

The news was surely not welcome. There is also a very good chance that Jeremiah was not believed. God feels no obligation to please people. These five nations have their own gods, and the real God did not recognize them. Plus those gods were helpless to do anything about God’s intentions. What Jeremiah said was true whether they believed it or not.

The specific news was that a king from far off in Babylon would come and take over their land and people. The one way to survive this was to accept that God said it would come. To submit to God’s decision was to live; to resist was to die. (See 27:11.) Our Lord is never embarrassed to call for obedience and to warn of terrible consequences if we refuse. He has not changed. He still sovereignly reserves vengeance as his alone.

The King of Babylon was God’s servant. God was in charge and Nebuchadnezzar was on a mission to implement God’s decision.

The reason this alien king had such power was that God had given it to him. God is not elected; he does not receive authority from the citizens of his kingdom or from anyone in his creation, whether angels, demons, or men. When he chooses he allows power to anyone good or bad, including the devil himself. Nebuchadnezzar did not apply for it; God simply set him up as an unchallenged ruler. That foreign king had no idea where his success had come from. It was a major lesson Nebuchadnezzar had to learn in time. We read of that in Daniel.

The Lord does not waver about his rights concerning the earth, and all living things on it. He does what he pleases with his creation:I give it to whomever it seems right to me.  So he can speak of all the earth this way: “Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. Here we have sovereignty pure and simple. The God of Israel is the God of the Gentiles also (Romans 3:29).

The Lord made this creation and thus it is his, completely his.The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein …” (Psalm 24:1). Sovereignty and ownership go together. If someone walks into your home and moves your possessions around, you ask him, “Who do you think you are?” Or, “Who gave you the right to come in here?” We live in God’s world. There is no lien on his property, so we must remember 1 Corinthians 4:7: “What do you have that you did not receive?”

All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. (27:7).

The power God gives to humans is very limited, limited in time – in this case to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s son and grandson. Through that king, God’s judgment came on Judah and Jerusalem and the nations around. But back home in Babylon, his nation will be punished for their sins too, and God had other nations who would gladly be his “servants” to take Babylon down. That great city came down in one day.

False prophets were assuring people that holy dishes taken from the Temple would come back to Jerusalem. Jeremiah said “Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the LORD’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you.” (27:16). Instead, the opposite was true; dishes remaining in the Temple “shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” God did not merely know what would happen, he made it happen.

Prediction and Certainty

There is much prediction in Jeremiah 27 and all the prophets. Some think prophecy is simply prediction. Not so. The prophets always spoke of their own day with a message to be obeyed immediately. Men can make predictions, and they might guess right!  What is so different about the Lord is that he makes all his predictions come true. He says:

  • I made the earth
  • I have given these lands to Nebuchadnezzar
  • I will punish those who resist my decision
  • The dishes shall remain there (in Babylon) until the day when I visit them
  • Then I will bring them back.
  • I am going to deal with Nebuchadnezzar.
  • And I will bring my people back.

In Jeremiah’s day God used nations as his agents; in the Second Coming, though God will give his angels a role (Matthew 13:41, 42), otherwise he will act directly (2Thessalonians 1:7-9). In all cases God does what he says he will do, and he alone decides what that will be.

What is the sovereignty of the Lord?

Our God made the world and us because he decided to. He had no obligation to do so. He created angels and some sinned, but he chose to elect some angels so that they would not sin (1 Timothy 5:21). That was his will. No angel who sinned was or ever will be forgiven. He made man, and man sinned. God decided to save some. In the end it will be a very great number. He chose whom he would save. He set up Nebuchadnezzar and took him down. Everything that is, and everything that happens and will happen has been decided in the mind of God “according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). God’s sovereignty is supported by his power and wisdom. Sovereignty is his right to do whatever he chooses.

Thus he said in 27:5, I give it to whomever it seems right to me.” In chapter 49, “I will appoint … whomever I choose.” In Psalm 115, “He does all that he pleases.” In Isaiah 14, “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand …”

Isaiah 10 is a classic passage on the sovereignty of God. It is one of the first that we turn to to show God’s sovereignty over the nations. For me it is a treasure because in my teenage years I learned through this chapter that the Lord uses nations, which have no motive to do God’s will, yet they become instruments by which he accomplishes it.

Isaiah 10:5  Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!  6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Assyria was sent by the Lord to discipline his wayward people, in a sense commanded even. That wicked nation was only doing what it wanted to do, and God channeled their greed and cruelty to bring his punishment on Judah and Jerusalem.

7  But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;

The king of Assyria had no idea or motive to act on behalf of the Lord. He had only his own murderous agenda.

8 for [the King of Assyria] says: “Are not my commanders all kings?  9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?  10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,  11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?” 

He acted in proud self-confidence, thinking his military victories were his own, and that no god could stop him. He had defeated lands with what he thought were greater gods than the gods of Israel and Jerusalem. So he thought no god could stop him from taking Jerusalem. He was to find out swiftly and in terror that the God in the House of the Lord is real. “Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!” (Isaiah 37:23). “…The LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

12  When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

First the Lord would chasten godless Judah and Jerusalem, then the Lord would deal with the arrogance of the king.

10:13  For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.  14 My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.”

He thought his victories were entirely his own, battles as easy as collecting eggs.

Isaiah 10:15  Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

Who really cuts the wood, the axe of the man using it?  Assyria was the axe; the Lord was using his Assyria-axe for his purpose, while Assyria was acting for its purpose. God’s action was righteous, while Assyria’s was sinful. For that sin, the wicked nation would be severely punished. There is no Assyria in the United Nations today.

10:16  Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.  17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.  18 The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.  19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.

In Isaiah 36, 37  we have a fuller account of Assyria’s downfall. “And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies”  (Isaiah 37:36).

What we learn from God’s sovereign rule over Assyria: God may use a nation, any nation, as his tool to accomplish his purpose, even while that nation is pursuing its own goal. Such a nation may be totally unaware of the hidden purpose of God. Yet, for its sinfulness, it too will be punished just as surely as the nations it was pounding were punished.

Isaiah 14:24-27:   The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.”

This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

More about Babylon in the end of Jeremiah

50:8,9   The Lord will stir up great nations against her.

50:23,24  Babylon the hammer (of the Lord) is defeated. Babylon had opposed the Lord.

50:44,45  I will appoint over her (Babylon) whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?  Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans.

51:20,29   You (Babylon) are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; … the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

Other Old Testament nations and peoples

Exodus 14:17, 18  Pharaoh, the king of Egypt at the Red Sea: “And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Jeremiah 49:19,20  Edom:  “And I will appoint over her (Edom) whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?  Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman …”

Jeremiah 49:38  Elam:  And I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:11  The Medes, the chief group who attacked and destroyed Babylon:

The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.

Cyrus the Persian

In the years after Babylon was eliminated another powerful king emerged, named by the Lord many years before he was born, when God said:

“I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself … who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’ … who says of [the Persian king] Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”

The Lord has shown in his word that he has so often used different nations over many centuries to accomplish his will, that these examples support the teaching that this is a uniform policy of God’s sovereign providence.  This helps us to understand our time.

Concerning all nations and individuals:

 “The nations are like a drop from a bucket …” (Isaiah 40:15)

 “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” (Proverbs 21:1).  If you believe in Christ, it is only because God chose to turn your heart to your Savior. The same God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” shone in your heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Matthew 28:18  And Jesus … said … “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

James 1:18  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

God’s Sovereign Grace to Sinners:

God decided to create the universe and everything in it. He was under no obligation to do so. He created angels and elected a vast number of them; the others he passed over; they chose to rebel. This served God’s purpose. One wicked angel tempted our first parents. They succumbed; they sinned. No angels have ever been forgiven and none ever will be, but God chose sovereignly to show his grace to a humanity he would save out of the old. When grace is sovereign, it is not owed. When grace is grace, it is not owed. God’s grace to man can only occur in the face of sin. He chose to send his Son to become the new Adam in the place of the old one. Thus Christ became one of us to fulfill the promise to Abraham that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  So our Lord Jesus Christ obeyed God perfectly for us, and died for our sins. All who believe receive free righteousness and full forgiveness. But this blessing can only be received by receiving Christ. This we would never do; it is so contrary to our anti-God nature, but the Father chose to call us to Christ and chose to open our eyes. He decided to save us, and we couldn’t stop him. Our eternal gratitude has begun already. 1

Tools of the Lord in the New Testament, used to accomplish his purpose:

Satan, Judas and Pilate.   Satan entered into Judas (John 13:27). Jesus said about Judas: “Behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” (Luke 22:21,22). The Lord said to Pilate: “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”

God’s Sovereign use of Satan:

The devil knew that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross would save God’s elect, and that he could not prevent the resurrection, so why did he enter Judas and why did he stir up the passions of the Jewish leaders against Jesus? My conclusion (not stated in Scripture) is that Satan’s passionate hatred of God and his Christ was so consuming that the serpent could not forego the opportunity to strike at Christ to bring him down. 2  This terrible rebellion of the Great Enemy was sovereignly used by God against Satan and his evil kingdom. Christ’s sacrifice, which happened through Satan’s influence, became Satan’s suicide and the crumbling of his kingdom. God sovereignly used his enemy to accomplish his good purpose. As a result the powerful salvation of the Lord has set us free from his grip. The devil can hold us no longer.

We are saved by the cross of Christ. Judas betrayed; the religious leaders pleaded for crucifixion; and Gentile Rome complied. To accomplish his purpose and display his patience and kindness, God sovereignly used many wicked hands. 3 He had done it before with the kings of Assyria and Babylon, and he did it again! One quite unexpected way for the Lord to glorify himself is to take over everything his enemy does to make it fulfil His purpose, often without his enemies even knowing it.

So the Apostle Paul explained that though he was a blaspheming opponent of God, the sovereign grace of God overflowed for him with the faith and love the Lord brought into his sinful heart (1 Timothy 1: 13,14). Thus the great persecutor became an example of sovereign grace.  God is so gracious he might even save his enemy, forgive him, and make him an apostle.

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[1]   Romans 15:8;  Genesis 12:3,  1 Timothy 5:21;  Acts 2, Colossians 1:13;  1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4.

[2] Genesis 3:15

[3]  John 19:6; John 13:27; Psalm 2:1-3;  Acts 2:23

1 Chronicles 29:10-13:   “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

The assertion of God’s absolute sovereignty in creation, providence and grace is basic to biblical belief and biblical praise. The vision of God on the throne – that is, ruling – recurs; 4 and we are constantly told in explicit terms that the Lord (Yahweh) reigns as king, exercising dominion over great and tiny things alike. 5  God’s dominion is total: he wills as he chooses and carries out all that he wills, and none can stay his hand or thwart his plans ~ J. I. Packer

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[4]  1 Kings 22:19; Isaiah 6:1;Ezekiel 1:26; Daniel 7:9; Revelation 4:2; Psalm 11:4; Psalm 45:6; Psalm 47:8-9;   Hebrews 12:2; Revelation 3:21.

[5]  Exodus 15:18; Psalm 47; Psalm 93; Psalm 96:10; Psalm  97;Psalm  99:1-5; Psalm 146:10; Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 24:23; Daniel 4:34-35; Daniel 5:21-28; Daniel 6:26; Matthew 10:29-31.

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

Titus 2:1 (ESV)