24 Bible Passages about God’s Sovereignty
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What does it mean that God is sovereign? We find a helpful definition in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647):
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them. (“Of God, and of the Holy Trinity,” WCF 2.2)
Here are 24 Bible passages about the sovereignty of God (all Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version):
God has sovereign dominion over all.
1. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28)
2. Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3; see also Psalm 135:6)
3. The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)
4. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)
God is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), and omnipresent (present everywhere).
5. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. (Psalm 147:5)
6. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. (Isaiah 40:28-29)
7. “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)
8. But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
Nothing happens unless God permits it.
9. And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. (Job 1:12; see also Job 2:4-6)
10. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33)
God makes use of our plans to fulfill his purposes.
11. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:20)
12. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. (Proverbs 16:4)
13. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)
14. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
God acts according to his will, not according to human opinions of fairness.
15. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)
16. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. (Ephesians 1:11)
17. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. (Romans 9:18)
18. Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? (Romans 9:21)
God’s purposes will stand.
19. “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)
20. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21)
21. The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.” (Isaiah 14:24)
God alone is to be worshipped, served, and obeyed.
22. Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (Matthew 4:10)
23. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:13-16)
24. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13)
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