God Over All: Resting in His Supremacy – Pink #5
A.W. Pink’s book The Attributes of God is a classic work on the being and essence of God. Each month we’ll explore one chapter, summarize the main ideas, and discuss our favorite passages. Today we examine chapter five: The Supremacy of God.
Summary
This chapter emphasizes the absolute supremacy of God over all creation, contrasting the biblical view of God with the diminished, human-like concepts common in modern Christendom. It critiques the modern tendency to envision God as sentimental, weak, or reactive, whose will can be thwarted by human choices or Satan. Pink argues that such views reduce God to a powerless figure and ultimately amount to practical atheism, since a deity who cannot accomplish His purposes or enforce His will is no God at all.
In contrast, Scripture presents a God who reigns sovereignly, accomplishing all that He has purposed, ruling over the wills of men, nature, and history without challenge. His supremacy is evident in His control over events both miraculous and mundane, from parting seas to directing the hearts of kings. For believers, this truth provides profound comfort and assurance: our lives are not ruled by chance or fate but are lovingly governed by the Almighty, whose purposes cannot fail.
Pink says that the god who is taught in much of modern Christianity is altogether too small. That he doesn’t resemble the God of the bible, but is a fiction of human imagination and the carnal mind. He says that worship such a god our imagining is nothing more than atheism. I think it’s a sort of self idolatry, when we create a god in our image, imagining him as we want him to be, rather than worshipping Him as He truly is and has revealed Himself to be.
In the second section, Pink speaks of God’s supremacy and the distance between God as the Creator and the creation He has made. He writes:
Were all the denizens of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth to combine in revolt against Him, it would occasion Him no uneasiness…
Too often, I’m afraid, people think that Satan, or wicked rulers on the earth, have the power to oppose God, to hinder His plans. Such is not the case in the least. Pink quotes a number of verses, such as Proverbs 21.30
There is no wisdom or understanding
Or counsel against the LORD.
Pink goes on to highlight God’s supremacy over nature, citing texts concerning God parting the sea, making the sundial go backward, and causing an iron axe head to float.
He speaks of God’s supremacy over the hearts of men, restraining their enemies when they obeyed Him in worship.
For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. [Exodus 34.24]
God’s supremacy would protect their lands and their families as they obeyed Him.
Pink ends the chapter with this thought.
Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity, and is now ordered by the living and reigning God.
This He says, provides rest, comfort, peace, assurance, and strength to the believer.
Discussion
[1] How do people often imagine God to be like us, rather than as He really is?
- they imagine God as sentimental and easily swayed by emotions, assuming He reacts impulsively like humans rather than acting according to His unchanging principles
- they think of God as limited in power, as if His will can be resisted or His plans frustrated by human choices or by Satan
- they think that God is constantly adjusting His plans, responding to circumstances
[2] How does the absolute supremacy of God provide assurance, strength, and comfort to the believer?
- it provides comfort knowing that God rules over the hearts of kings and all men, ensuring that His purposes are always fulfilled
- it reminds us that our lives aren’t governed by chance or blind fate, but by the loving direction of our covenant God
- it gives us peace in trials when we remember that nothing can happen outside God’s control
- it strengthens our faith by assuring us that God’s promises are certain and can’t be thwarted by forces physical or spiritual
Defining Theology
When discussing theology, defining your terms is important. Brance and Lauren take a look at the theological term The infallibility of Scripture, define what it is, and discuss how it provides confidence for the believer and affects the way we interpret Scripture.
Resources Mentioned: