By the decree of God is meant His purpose or determination
with regard to future events. It means that things come to
pass according to a Divine purpose rather than by a fixed
natural law or blind fate or capricious chance. To deny the
decrees or foreordination of God is practically to dethrone
Him. It puts Him on the sidelines as an interested but helpless
spectator to what is going on.
“A universe without decrees would be as irrational and
appalling as would be an express train driving on in the
darkness without headlight or engineer, and with no certainty
that the next moment it might not plunge into the abyss” (A. J.
Gordon).
“Plan and purpose as we may, the plans and purposes will
turn only to the final end which God has predetermined”
(Henry).
“We give thanks to God for blessings which come to us
through the free actions of others, but if God has not purposed
these blessings, we owe thanks to others and not to God” (A.
H. Strong).
“The Scriptures make mention of the decrees of God in many
passages and under a variety of terms. The word ‘decree’ is
found in Ps. 2:7: “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath
said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten
thee.” In Eph. 3:11 we read of His ‘eternal
purpose’:”According to the eternal purpose which he purposed
in Christ Jesus our Lord”; In Acts 2:23 ‘determinate counsel
and foreknowledge’:”Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain”; In Eph. 1:9 of his
‘good pleasure’:”Having made known unto us the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath
purposed in himself.” God’s decrees are called His ‘counsel’ to
signify they are consummately wise. “Counsel is mine, and
sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength” (Peter
8:14). They are called God’s ‘will’ to show He was under no
control, but acted according to His own pleasure. “Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph.
1:5). When a man’s will is the rule of his conduct; it is usually
capricious and unreasonable; but wisdom is always
associated with ‘will’ in the Divine proceedings, and,
accordingly, God’s decrees are said to be the ‘counsel of His
own will” (A. W. Pink).
“Victor Hugo, recognizing the overruling divine hand, said,
‘Waterloo was God.’ God in the exercise of His infinite wisdom
and power, so personally directs and controls the free actions
of men as to determine all things in accordance with His
eternal purpose” (E. H. Bancroft).
POSITIVE AND PERMISSIVE DECREES
All things were not decreed in the same sense. Sinful acts of
men were not decreed in the same sense as were righteous
acts. God is the efficient cause of all that is good, while evil is
only permitted and directed and overruled for His glory. The
sinful acts of men which God decreed permissively will
certainly be done, but in doing them men are giving
expression to their own inherent depravity. “Surely the wrath
of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou
restrain” (Ps. 76:10). The good deeds of men are decreed
efficiently, which means that God works in them “For it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure” (Php 2:13).
“Careless seems the great avenger;
History’s pages but record
One death grapple in the darkness,
Twixt old systems and the Word.
Truth forever on the scaffold;
Wrong forever on the throne;
But that scaffold sways the Future;
And, behind the dim unknown
Standeth God, within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.”
—Lowell.
GOD’S SECRET AND REVEALED WILL
The decrees of God belong to His secret will; the commands
of God belong to His revealed will. “The secret things belong
unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all
the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29). God’s secret will is the
rule of His actions; His revealed will is the rule of our actions.
God’s secret will embraces all things; His revealed will
embraces all we ought to do. The secret will of God is His
program, according to which all things come to pass; His
revealed will gives us our program according to which we are
to work.
The decrees of God are not addressed to men, and have
nothing to do with human responsibility. It may be that God
has decreed a poor crop year, but that is no reason for failure
to plant and cultivate. God may have decreed a famine, but
that does not justify idleness. God may have decreed the
death of the writer this year, but that does not keep him from
regarding the laws of health and safety. God decreed the
death of His Son, but that did not make it the duty of men to
crucify Him.
GOD’S DECREES AND FREE AGENCY
God’s decrees determine the free actions of men, that is, the
decree makes their actions certain but not a necessity. God’s
decrees are not executed by compelling man’s will, therefore
they are not inconsistent with man’s freedom. “For of a truth
against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both
Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27,28).
God’s decree made the death of Christ certain, but it laid no
necessity upon any man. None of the men were compelled to
do the foul deed. In crucifying the Lord of glory they were
giving free expression to their thoughts and feelings toward
Him. They were fulfilling the Scriptures, and executing God’s
eternal purpose, without knowing it: “Which none of the
princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). “I speak not
of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture
may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up
his heel against me” (John 13:18). “But they cried out, Away
with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them,
Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We
have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).
GOD’S DECREES ARE ETERNAL
If God has any purpose concerning the happenings of the
universe it must, of necessity, be eternal. To deny this is to
suppose some unforeseen event that made it necessary for
God to change His purpose. All of God’s purposes were
formed in wisdom, and since he has power to execute them,
there is no reason for any change. “Known unto God are all
his works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there
is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure:” (Isa. 46:9,10).
PRACTICAL VALUE OF THE DOCTRINE
It magnifies God in His wisdom, power, and sovereignty. It
puts Him on the throne where He should be and is ever and
always. There are no crises with God, no perplexing problems
to ponder, no forces beyond His control. He moves with
majestic step toward the consummation of His eternal
purpose in Christ to the praise of His glory.
The believer is humbled at the sight of such a great God, and
his soul is bowed in adoring wonder and worship. It will save
the believer from undue familiarity with God in prayer and
other acts of devotion. Some men pray as if God were on their
level; to them He is not the August Being the Scriptures
represent Him to be. Much of the poetry and other literature
coming out of this war is too irreverent and merely represents
God as a sort of comrade in arms. But the Scriptures say that
“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and
to be had in reverence of all them that are about him” (Ps.
89:7).
“This doctrine is one of those advanced teachings of Scripture
which requires for its understanding a matured mind and a
deep experience. The beginner in the Christian life may not
see its value or even its truth, but with increasing years it will
become a staff to lean upon. In times of affliction, obloquy,
and persecution, the church has found in the decrees of God,
and in the prophecies in which these decrees are published,
her strong consolation. It is only upon the basis of the decrees
that we can believe: “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28) or pray: “Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”
(Matt. 6:10).” A. H. Strong.
“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.
THE DECREES OF GOD