This is our final post in this series. Look for our first post next week on, What the Bible Says About Christ.
In this article, we are going to complete our study of the doctrine that is often called theology proper, and that has to do with the doctrine of who God is, the Trinity, and the attributes of God. I will address the theme of the providence of God because it runs throughout the pages of Scripture and has profound implications for the way we actually live.
It is my conviction that Scripture gives us truths; and when we systematically look at what the Bible says, from Genesis to Revelation, we come up with a picture of theology. This theology is not just for our heads, but it is applicable to our daily lives; it is not theoretical; it is intensely practical, as I hope you will see tonight. It also has a bearing on how you can trust God; how you view evil; and are there really any ‘chance’ events that occur in our lives.
I want to begin by saying this is not deism, or that God is just not above whole thing as the One who just got it all started; it also not a situation where we have pantheism, where all things are God. Rather, it is a picture where God has authority over the world. He is not a part of the created order, but He interacts and works in the created order; and there is a connection between God and the world. The fact is that this is not by fate; nor is it by chance. It is not a random world, nor is a fatalistic world. In Scripture we see it is a world in which God is sovereign and yet we are still responsible, moral agents who really do make choices that are real and not just as puppets or robots.
I am going to be arguing that the best way to deal with this is to sustain a tension between these two elements: how it will be possible for God to be in control of things; and yet at the same time for us to have genuine responsibility. I want you to think of God as being continually involved in all created things. He is involved in such a way that He keeps them existing; and He maintains the properties by which he creates them. This is what I mean by the idea of God’s providence; when it comes to the idea of preservation.
Now, having created the world, we also see that God preserves the world; and the way He preserves the world is that He sustains all created things and maintains them. In Hebrews 1:3 it tells us that Christ upholds the universe; and the Greek word used there, ‘phero’, means that He ‘carries’ it or ‘bears’ it. Therefore, there is a purposeful control over the created order. In Colossians 1:17 this is even stronger and it says that Christ “…is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” If He were to remove that preserving power, all of the created order would disband. He is One who sustains it and holds it together.
In addition, 2 Peter 3:7 says, “…the present heaven and earth are being…kept for the day of judgment.” He holds them, preserves them, and sustains them. In Acts 17:28, we see: “In Him we live and move and exist.” Apart from Him, then, we would not be sustained. In other words, not only did God speak the cosmos into reality, but He also holds it, sustains it, and preserves it in all places.
So, we see a rich and robust portrait in Scripture of God’s sovereignty and control and authority over all things. He continues to sustain the universe in such a way that it acts in predictable ways. This doctrine of God creating, not a multi-verse, but a universe, a world that works together, yet God is still involved in sustaining it, means that it is something that provides a context for scientific experimentation; a reality that it is not something to be worshiped—the world—but there is order and purpose and intelligent design; and thus science helps us discern patterns in nature as well as predictable events.