Reverence for God — Sovereignty of God
Lin Hao
In the daytime, when gazing upon the heavens, we can see the bright blue sky, the rising sun and the rosy dawn. At night, sometimes the moon shines brightly, sometimes the crescent moon appears, and sometimes skies are full of stars, which are arranged and moving in their orbits in an orderly manner, without any disorder both in angles and in speeds. We can’t help but ask ourselves: How was the natural world formed? What mysteries does the infinite universe imply?
After believing in God, I’ve come to understand the truth of this mystery from God’s words. God says: “Mankind does not know who is the Sovereign of all things in the universe, much less does he know the beginning and future of mankind. Mankind merely lives, perforce, amidst this law. None can escape it and none can change it, for among all things and in the heavens there is but One from everlasting to everlasting who holds sovereignty over everything. He is the One who has never been beheld by man, the One whom mankind has never known, in whose existence mankind has never believed, yet He is the One who breathed the breath into mankind’s ancestors and gave life to mankind. He is the One who supplies and nourishes mankind for its existence, and guides mankind up to the present day. Moreover, He and He alone is whom mankind depends on for its survival. He holds sovereignty over all things and rules all living beings beneath the universe. He commands the four seasons, and it is He who calls forth wind, frost, snow, and rain. He gives mankind sunshine and brings the coming of night. It was He who laid out the heavens and earth, providing man with mountains, lakes and rivers and all the living things within them. His deed is everywhere, His power is everywhere, His wisdom is everywhere, and His authority is everywhere. Each of these laws and rules are the embodiment of His deed, and every one of them reveals His wisdom and authority. Who can exempt themselves from His sovereignty? And who can discharge themselves from His designs? All things exist beneath His gaze, and moreover, all things live beneath His sovereignty. His deed and His power leave mankind with no choice but to acknowledge the fact that He really does exist and holds sovereignty over all things” (“Man Can Only Be Saved Amidst the Management of God”).
It turns out the reason why the immense universe goes orderly, and all things can obtain an unending supply of life, is that God dominates and administers everything behind the scenes. Let’s think about it: Although the earth where we live is big, it is a small part of the solar system. Moreover, the solar system is a small part of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is a small part of the universe. The moon goes round the earth in a sub-circular orbit at 102 kilometers per second; the earth revolves round the sun at 29.8 kilometers per second; the sun and the nine planets including the earth orbit the center of the Galaxy … These celestial bodies, with a mass of million and billions of tons, are suspended in space. They revolve on their own axis and also around the sun. All are arranged in order, and move in their orderly orbits at their own speeds and angles, smoothly and accurately. If all things were not dominated and mobilized by God, would chaos not have resulted? Take each city on earth, for example: Even though there are traffic lights and traffic police at every road intersection, traffic accidents still happen frequently to all manner of vehicles and pedestrians — never mind the stars and the cosmos which are 1,000 times or 10,000 times as complicated as that. All of this cannot be separated from the sovereignty of God. Just as God’s word says, “When God saw that all that He had done and achieved was good, everything made by God was set by His words, which is to say that, when ‘God saw that it was good,’ all that He had made assumed a permanent form, was classed according to type, and was given a fixed position, purpose, and function, once and for all eternity. Moreover, their role among all things, and the journey that they must take during God’s management of all things, had already been ordained by God, and were immutable. This was the heavenly law given by the Creator to all things” (“God Himself, the Unique I”).
As soon as God uttered words from His mouth, all things assumed a form and began to function according to the laws established by God without the slightest error. In contrast, how about the things made by man? Can they work perfectly? Perhaps someone will say, “Aren’t artificial satellites launched into space?” But they can only revolve within a certain period, scope and along their orbits. Furthermore, they need to be repaired by man constantly. After being maintained for a period of time, they will ultimately become space debris. However, God created the earth, stars, moon, sun, and so on. How long have they orbited exactly? No one knows the precise time. Today, they still function precisely in the orbits and at the speed God set for them. This is the very embodiment of God’s authority.
Though man can learn some patterns of orbits among planets in the universe through science, it can never explain the sources of these laws, much less change these laws. For example, scientific knowledge shows that between the moon and the earth, the earth and the sun, there are gravitational force and centrifugal force, which are one of the major factors in maintaining the balance among planets. If there was only the gravitational force, the moon would be attracted to the earth and the earth to the sun, and then it would be impossible for all things to exist. The centrifugal force, however, is described as follows: When we whirl a small object on the end of a piece of string, the object won’t fall; if the string breaks, the object won’t move in the circle but fly away from our hand. In the universe, if there was only the centrifugal force, then the more the earth revolved, the further the earth would become away from the sun, and then it wouldn’t take long that all living beings on earth would freeze to death by the glacial temperature. Serious consequences can be caused by the mere unbalance of the centrifugal force and gravity, not to mention lacking one of the two. If the gravitational force was too large, the earth’s getting on to the sun would take shorter and the distance between them would also be diminished, with the result that the earth would be unable to bear the scorching heat of the sun. Conversely, if the centrifugal force was too large, the earth would become more and more distant from the sun. Similarly, the consequence would be terrible. From this we see that the native balance among the planets in the universe was entirely predestined by God when He created the world. And as such, all things and mankind can survive till today.
God predestined the positions of the planets in the universe and patterns of their orbits, as well as the earth as the home we mankind rely on for our survival. The earth’s surface is surrounded by a thick atmosphere and the oxygen content of the air is just right. What about other planets? The planets in the solar system nearer to the earth are Venus, Mars and the Moon. Neither Venus surrounded by burning gases nor Mars enveloped by cold carbon dioxide is suitable for our survival. Besides, the moon has no atmosphere at all. But on earth, there is not only suitable air for human and living creatures to breathe, but also suitable temperatures for all things to exist. It also boasts abundant resources and provides the material basis for multiplication for mankind and all sorts of living creatures. The earth is a rare treasure in the space. All these come from the wonderful creation of the Creator.
Let’s hear the voice of the Creator, “In the time before mankind appeared in the world, the Creator used His power and authority to create all things for mankind, and employed His unique methods to prepare a suitable living environment for mankind. All that He did was in preparation for mankind, who would soon receive His breath. Which is to say, in the time before mankind was created, the authority of God was shown forth in all creatures different from mankind, in things as great as the heavens, the lights, the seas, and the land, and in those as small as animals and birds, as well as in all sorts of insects and microorganisms, including various bacteria invisible to the naked eye. Each was given life by the words of the Creator, and each proliferated because of the words of the Creator, and each lived under the sovereignty of the Creator because of the words of the Creator” (“God Himself, the Unique I”).
Before creating mankind, God had known what we would need and already prepared all things necessary for our survival, such as the sunlight, air, water, and food, so that we can survive, thrive and reproduce in the world. Just imagine: If we leave God’s life supply, if we lose the most fundamental and ordinary things in our life, what course will we take? From ancient times to the present, in all our human wisdom, countless scientists have made researches, analyses, calculations and measurements day and night, but they have never been able to make any living creature. However, when mankind didn’t understand any of the mysteries concerning how all things multiply or function, hundreds of millions of species of living beings had been thriving and reproducing in this world. This is precisely God’s wonderful creation and the embodiment of His wisdom and authority. For instance, the alternation of the four seasons — When spring comes, all things revive; summer comes, flowers bloom; autumn comes, the crops are abundant; winter comes, everything stores up energy; in the great aspects, the galaxies, and the universe operate well; and in the small aspects, a seed on the earth can grow into a towering tree, and a piece of land can produce the sweets and bitters. These are all manifestations of the unique authority of the Creator, and it can’t be replaced or altered by anyone. Although unable to see the Creator with our own eyes, we can feel His existence and deeds and come to know His authority and sovereignty as long as we experience this world He created with our heart. In this way, how can we not fear God from the bottom of our heart?
Source: Walk in the Light
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