Calvin on the Sovereignty of God

I've been reading John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion this week in preparation for my Luther and Calvin exam (although honestly, the exam is really just an excuse for me to set aside time to go deep with God in some really weighty theology-- getting a good grade on the final is just sort of a bonus).  It has been an amazing, exhilarating read.  Theology should always lead to doxology, and Calvin's theology has definitely been doing that.  I sat around for about 5 hours today reading most of Book I, and chapters 16-18 especially had me practically shouting for joy at the indescribable grandeur of God.  Chapters 16-18 are about God's sovereignty and providence and His control over all events and times and creatures and people.  Below is an excerpt from Chapter 16 which rocked my socks off.  Expect more quotes tomorrow.

"God is deemed omnipotent, not because He can act though He may cease or be idle, or because by a general instinct He continues the order of nature previously appointed; but because, governing heaven and earth by His providence, He so overrules all things that nothing happens without His counsel... This is the solace of the faithful in their adversity, that everything which they endure is by the ordination and command of God, that they are under His hand... They can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority Satan with all his furies and engines is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends."

What is the result of this doctrine for our lives?  How does this change things?

"Once the light of divine providence has illumined the believer's soul, he is released and set free, not only from the extreme fear and anxiety which formerly oppressed him, but from all care.  This, I say, is his comfort, that his heavenly Father so embraces all things under His power, so governs them at will by His nod, so regulates them by His wisdom, that nothing takes place save according to His appointment; that received into His favor and entrusted to the care of His angels, neither fire nor water nor sword can do him harm, except insofar as God their master is pleased to permit."

What sweet, sweet Gospel truth this is!  I pray that you and I will more fully grasp this precious Biblical doctrine, and more fully live lives of God-glorifying assurance and peace in the light of the comfort it brings.

The Sovereignty of God and the Stock Market

In my moments of cynicism as a soon-to-be-graduated-and-married college senior, I often grimly marvel at my "luck" to be graduating into what economists are calling "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."  Oh goody.  So how does that affect my chances of landing a job next year?

I have to confess, my avid following of the economic news has been becoming something of a stumbling block to my faith.  When every day's headlines bring triple-digit stock declines, job losses in the hundreds of thousands, and toppling financial and corporate giants, it is easy for the recession to seem bigger than God in my mind.  I've been feeding my mind a steady diet of doubts, and I'm beginning to reap some of the fruit of that.  Not good.

So I'm directing my attention back to the solid rock of Christ and His Word and His promises.  Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ, and so if I want more faith I need to fill my heart with visions of the omnipotent, sovereign, unchangeable, gracious, faithful God of the Bible as revealed in His Word.  Verses like Isaiah 45:7, a timely reminder of God's sovereignty in the midst of economic meltdown:

"I form the light and create darkness,

     I bring prosperity and create disaster;

I, the LORD, do all these things."

God creates housing bubbles and economic booms and Great Depressions.  The stock market rises and falls as He wants it to rise and fall.  He decrees job losses and job gains.  God is sovereign over the economy.  Repeat that truth.  God is sovereign over the economy.  And by "sovereign," I don't just mean He has the power to control all events, but that He DOES.

Do you see that as good news?  I do.  Romans 8:28 is good news, and true, because God has the sovereign muscle to back it up.  "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good."  But the promise is deeper than that.  Verse 32 makes it clear that God doesn't just use every circumstance for good; He gives every circumstance for good.  "He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?"  Connect the "all things" in verse 28 to verse 32, and suddenly you have a very, very deep promise.  God gives all things, all circumstances to you for your good.  

Now that's a promise you can take to the bank.

The Holy Spirit

I came across this quote by Spurgeon today.  It makes me wonder why I even bother to post my own thoughts here... I should just post quotes like this, from men who have gone much deeper with God than I have even imagined.  There is so much wisdom and power here.  This quote is a great example of that.

"Let us ever remember that Christ on the cross is of no value to us, apart from the Holy Spirit in us.  In vain that blood is flowing, unless the finger of the Spirit applies the blood to our conscience; in vain is that garment of righteousness wrought out, unless the Holy Spirit wraps it around us and arrays us in its costly folds.  The river of life cannot quench our thirst, till the Spirit presents the goblet and lifts it to our lips.  All the things which are in the paradise of God could never be blissful to us, so long as we are dead souls-- and dead we are, until that heavenly wind comes and breathes upon us, that we may live.  We do not hesitate to say that we owe as much to God the Holy Spirit as we do to God the Son."

The Trinity

In my Through-the-Bible reading plan, I'm in the upper room discourse of John 13-17.  It's been about eight months since I was here last, and as always I'm blown away by how Scripture keeps coming alive no matter how many times you read it.  Sometimes it's the Gospel that really stands out; sometimes it's a specific promise; sometimes it's a certain command; sometimes it's glory; sometimes it's judgment.  This time, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me about the Trinity.

Yesterday I was at McDonald's reading John 14 (who says you can't read the Bible anywhere?) and verse 20 exploded with a megaton of relevance.  "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."  

At first glance, it's grammatically confusing.  But think about that statement for a minute.  The Father and the Son are so united that Jesus can literally say, "I am in my Father" and (a couple verses earlier) "The Father is in me."  That in itself is an indescribably glorious mystery, but Jesus extends that mystery to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us.  "You in me, and I in you."  Jesus here is inviting us into the life of the Trinity.  The eternal fellowship, love, glory, and joy between the Father and the Son and the Spirit has now been opened to us as well.  

That's why Darrel Johnson, in his great book "Experiencing The Trinity," writes, "I was brought into being by the Trinity to be a co-lover within the Trinity!  I was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ to become a co-lover with Him and His Father and His Spirit!"

We are co-heirs and co-lovers.  Amazing!