Providence

Stephen R. Lawhead:

     He saw his own world as one minute fleck against the darkness, and knew that his life, and the lives of every man who had ever lived, was but a single faltering step in the Great Dance of Heaven.

     The Dance flowed and ebbed according to the will of the Maker, and all moved with him as he moved. There was not a solitary figure in the Dance that was not in his plan—from the seemingly random shuttling of atoms colliding with one another through the limitless reaches of empty night, to the aimless scrabblings of an insect in the dust, to the directionless meandering of a river of molten iron on a world no human eye would ever see—all was embraced, upheld, encompassed by the Great Dance.

(Stephen R. Lawhead, Dream Thief, [Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1993], p. 355.)

A. A. Hodge:

…in his relation to the universe he is at once immanent and transcendent. Above all, and freely acting upon all from without. Within all, and acting through the whole and every part from within in the exercise of all his perfections, and according to the laws and modes of action he has established for his creatures, sustaining and governing them, and all their actions.

(Archibald Alexander Hodge, Outlines of Theology: Rewritten and Enlarged, [New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1878], p. 65.)

A. A. Hodge:

     2d. Hence it follows with equal certainty that the providence of God must be universal. It must comprehend in its grasp equally every agent and every event without the least discontinuity or exception. One event is never in any degree more providential than any other event. There prevails a very unintelligent and really irreligious habit among many true Christians of passing unnoticed the evidence of God’s presence in the ordinary course of nature, and of recognizing it on the occasion of some event specially involving their supposed interests, as if it were special and unusual. They will say of some sudden, scarcely-hoped-for deliverance from danger, “Why, I think I may venture to say it was really providential.” But would it have been any the less providential if they had been destroyed and not delivered? Would it have been any the less providential if they had not been in jeopardy at all and had needed no deliverance? The great Dr. Witherspoon lived at a country-seat called Tusculum, on Rocky Hill, two miles north of Princeton. One day a man rushed into his presence crying, “Dr. Witherspoon, help me to thank God for his wonderful providence. My horse ran away, my buggy was dashed to pieces on the rocks, and behold! I am unharmed.” The good doctor laughed benevolently at the inconsistent, halfway character of the man’s religion. “Why,” he answered, “I know a providence a thousand times better than that of yours. I have driven down that rocky road to Princeton hundreds of times and my horse never ran away and my buggy was never dashed to pieces.” Undoubtedly, the deliverance was providential, but just as much so also were the uneventful rides of the college president. God is in the atom just as really and effectually as in the planet. He is in the unobserved sighing of the wind in the wilderness as in the earthquake which overthrows a city full of living men, and his infinite wisdom and power are as much concerned in the one event as in the other.

     There is a distinction to be observed between God’s natural providence, which is universal and ordinary, and his supernatural providence, which is occasional and special. His natural providence is equally in every thing and event, but his grace and his supernatural intervention are in one event and not in another, at one time and not at another. It is proper, therefore, to distinguish his natural providence as general, and his grace or his supernatural providence as special. But it is essential to understand that in the ordinary sense of providence relating to the course of events in our natural lives the common distinction between general and special providence is unintelligent and irreligious. All God’s providence is at the same time both general and special, and general because it is special, and special because it is general. It is general because it reaches by continuous action equally every element of the world and every event. It is special for the same reason, because, reaching equally to every particular, it reaches universally to all particulars and to their entire sum. That which controls every link controls the whole chain. That which controls the movement of every atom controls the whole world. That which controls the thought and volition of every man controls the entire course of human history. God does not come down from above upon the course of our lives in spots. His whole infinite being dwells everlastingly in each atom and each spirit. He is universally in all things, because he is ever equally in each thing. In every grain of sand, in every drop of water, in every pulse of air, in every flower that blows, in every infant soul, in every human thought and will and act, in the equable flow of natural law, in the great catastrophe of exploding worlds or of nations brought to judgment, in the fall of Adam, in the giving of the law on Sinai, in the redemption of man on Calvary, in the mission of the Holy Ghost, in the resurrection of the dead and in the eternal judgment,—however heterogeneous these agents and events in themselves, however incommensurate their significance to us, and however various is the method of the divine operation in them severally, yet in them all the one Jehovah is equally present with his absolute perfections and in his supreme potency. Events may be infinitely different in their significance as well as in their importance to us, yet the truly religious mind finds equally in all things, even the least significant and the least important, the presence and supreme control and the benevolent administration of our heavenly Father.

(Archibald Alexander Hodge, Popular Lectures on Theological Themes, [Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1887], pp. 38-41.)

A. A. Hodge:

     III. It is no less certain that, whatever be the ultimate method of God’s exercise of his energy in providence, it must necessarily be in a manner perfectly congruous to the nature of his creatures upon which and through which he works, and with the laws of their action. It is impossible to believe that the all-perfect Creator of all things will in his subsequent control of their action violate the properties with which he has endowed them or the laws he has imposed upon them. The Scriptures everywhere and constantly take for granted the principles of “natural realism” which correspond to the instinctive judgments and the spoken and written languages of all men. Material and spiritual beings are real entities. They have real, substantial, objective existence. Although they are ever dependent upon their First Cause, they are nevertheless real active agents and causes. God has endowed them each and severally, according to their respective kinds, with their essential properties and powers of action, which, as far as we know, never change or fail. We trace an absolutely unbroken continuity in the action of these second causes through the entire history of the world and of mankind. These elements, thus originally endowed with unchangeable properties, act and react with invariable uniformity under the same conditions; and as the conditions change they act differently, but always in a way uniformly related to the conditions under which they act. As, therefore, the general adjustments or groupings of second causes under which they act are for the most part uniform from age to age, and change only locally and slowly, the uniformity of action which results gives origin to what are called “laws of nature,” which continue absolutely uniform as long as the adjustments or groupings of these causes remain unchanged. It is obvious that we apply this only to the world of matter and to certain spheres of the natural actions of spirits. The spirit of men in certain spheres of action is confessedly endowed with the divine power of originating and directing its own action independently of its external environment. But in the sphere of purely natural causes men never seek to attain their ends by violating the “laws of nature.” On the contrary, they seek by science to attain a definite knowledge of those laws under all varieties of condition, and then they so apply this knowledge, by varying the conditions under which the natural causes act, that the very laws of nature themselves, thus directed, work out their purposes for them. Thus steam and electricity in the hands of men obey the “laws of nature” as implicitly as they do when nature is left to itself, only the same causes naturally produce different effects under changed conditions.

     Now, men of pure science, habitually confining their attention to the uniformities of nature’s action under the uniform conditions existing, regard the habit of religious men in ascribing results to the action of a personal agent having personal aims in view, and special reference to human characters and necessities, as irrational and superstitious. And hence, on the other hand, many unintelligent religious men regard the point of view of men of science as essentially irreligious. But it is obvious that these contrasted views of the course of events in the natural world are not mutually contradictory, but supplementary. They are the two equally true and real sides of the one system of objects. If even men comparatively ignorant and impotent can so wonderfully make the powers and laws of nature subservient to their own purposes without violating them, why cannot God at least do the same? Nay, why, since God’s knowledge and power are alike absolutely limitless, should not the whole of nature be as plastic to his will as the air in the organs of a great musician who articulates it into a fit expression of every thought and passion of his soaring soul. The reason that this analogy is not immediately conclusive to every mind is, that when man arranges the conditions so as to render the action of nature subservient to his purpose you can always trace his trail, see the visible marks of his interfering agency, while the course of nature flows on with mathematical precision of physical action, without the least trace of a providential interference ab extra. But it is forgotten that while man is always locally outside his work, and acts upon all elements from without, and in succession, a part at a time, God is simultaneously present and active within every ultimate element. His impulse is therefore through, not outside of, their own spontaneities. His control is neither partial nor successive, but simultaneously in the entire universe, thus co-ordinating all adjustments and all reactions in the execution of one plan and in the current of one issue.

     There are two extreme tendencies to which different persons are inclined when regarding the course of events in the world, each of which is evidently false when exclusively indulged, but both of which together, when combined, lead to the true attitude which every Christian should cultivate: the view of the mere naturalist, in which the supernatural is altogether merged in the natural, and, conversely, the view of the pantheist, in which the natural is altogether merged in the supernatural. And these apparently opposite extremes virtually come to the same thing, because they both equally exclude a personal God and human freedom, and maintain a naturalistic fatalism. But both present a side of the one truth. The natural is the fixed and regulated method which the personal heavenly Father has laid down for his own guidance; the supernatural does neither exclude nor supersede the natural, but it is the self-revelation of the heavenly Father, who works through natural law, as the personal Agent who, having ordained law, uses it to accomplish his spiritual purposes. The universe has a personal basis. The laws of nature are the methods self-ordained of a personal Agent. The true scientists are the sons of God, who were not created for the laws of nature, but the laws of nature for them.

     After the Charleston earthquake the Christian preachers endeavored to enforce upon their hearers the scriptural lessons of the event viewed as a divine dispensation. The visiting scientists are represented as having scoffed contemptuously, maintaining that the preachers should have confined themselves to an exposition of the laws of nature and drawn comfort from the proven exceptional character of such experiences. These men of mere science may have been able and useful in their narrow specialty, but they were certainly very absurd philosophers. They were perfectly right in confining their own investigations to the scientific aspects of the phenomena, and the preachers had an equal authority in calling the attention of the Christian people to the aspect which the light of the inspired Scriptures, when thrown upon the providential facts, presented. We say, advisedly, that the preachers’ authority in the premises is limited to the application of the light of the inspired Scriptures to the current facts. They have no right to assume the role of prophets, as too many are at times inclined to do; and no man not the subject of plenary inspiration should dare to explain the ultimate divine purpose in any particular event or its relation to human guilt. The Master himself said, “Suppose ye that those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell were sinners above all men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4, 5).

(Archibald Alexander Hodge, Popular Lectures on Theological Themes, [Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1887], pp. 43-47.)

Eugene H. Peterson:

God is equally present and active in the history recorded in the Scriptures and the history recorded in our contemporary textbooks. Biblical history deals with the same historical materials as European, African, Asian, and American history. When the name of God is left out of the history of, say, the Exploration of the Amazon, God is not left out; he is still as present and involved as in the history of the Crossing of the Jordan. History is history, biblical history and modern history alike.

(Eugene H. Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology, [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2005], p. 140.)

R. B. Kuiper:

     How very poor a showing many a Fundamentalist has made in an argument with a Modernist! This, I fear, is not accidental. The Fundamentalists do not value sufficiently a broad liberal education as the foundation of theological training. Every once in a while a Fundamentalist betrays his ignorance of the distinction between mechanical and organic inspiration and fails to do justice to the human element in the writing of the Scriptures. How wary many Fundamentalists are of admitting that God frequently employs natural means in performing miracles, in themselves supernatural. 

(R. B. Kuiper, As to Being Reformed: Second Edition, [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1926], p. 78.)

Sir Francis Bacon:

     That notwithstanding God hath rested and ceased from Creating since the first Sabbath, yet, nevertheless, he doth accomplish and fulfil his Divine Will in all Things, great and small, singular and general; as fully and exactly by Providence, as he could by Miracle and new Creation, though his Working be not immediate and direct, but by Compass; not violating Nature, which is his own Law upon the Creature.

(Francis Bacon, A Confession of Faith, [London: W. Owen, 1757], p. 17.)

N. T. Wright:

On the other hand, the eighteenth-century idea of a ‘miracle’ envisaged a ‘God’ who was a remote, detached Being, who normally kept his hands clean from involvement with the space-time universe, but just occasionally used to ‘intervene’. That is a total travesty of the biblical picture. If saying you believe in miracles commits you to that kind of picture of God, then it would be better for a Christian to refuse.

     But what if the God who made the world has remained active within the world? What if the word ‘God’ itself might refer, not to this distant, remote, occasionally-intervening Being, but to a God who breathed with the breath of the world? What if this God, as the Old Testament says, feeds the young ravens when they call out, not (presumably) by dropping food ‘miraculously’ from the sky, but by being active within his creation, within ‘instinct’ and hidden motivations? When the Bible says that God commanded Adam and Eve to ‘be fruitful and multiply’, and gave them tasks to perform in relation to his creation, did this mean that he barked a command at them from a distance, or put up notices in Eden telling them what to do? Of course not. He put into their inmost beings, as creatures made to reflect his image into his world, a deep desire for one another, and a deep longing to create and nurture order and beauty within creation. This is a very different picture from the eighteenth-century one; it is much more Biblical, and at the same time (I think) much more believable. It puts the question of ‘God’ acting within the world into quite a different dimension.

(N. T. Wright, Who Was Jesus? [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1993], p. 81.)

Charles Hodge:

He is immanent in the world. He sustains and guides all causes. He works constantly through them, with them, and without them. As in the operations of writing or speaking there is with us the union and combined action of mechanical, chemical, and vital forces, controlled by the presiding power of mind; and as the mind, while thus guiding the operations of the body, constantly exercises its creative energy of thought, so God, as immanent in the world, constantly guides all the operations of second causes, and at the same time exercises uninterruptedly his creative energy. Life is not the product of physical causes. We know not that its origin is in any case due to any cause other than the immediate power of God. If life be the peculiar attribute of immaterial substance, it may be produced agreeably to a fixed plan by the creative energy of God whenever the conditions are present under which He has purposed it should begin to be. The organization of a seed, or of the embryo of an animal, so far as it consists of matter, may be due to the operation of material causes guided by the providential agency of God, while the vital principle itself is due to his creative power.

(Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology: Volume II, [London and Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1872], p. 74.)

Charles Hodge:

In the first place, there are events therefore due to the ordinary operations of second causes, as upheld and guided by God. To this class belong the common processes of nature; the growth of plants and animals, the orderly movements of the heavenly bodies; and the more unusual occurrences, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and violent agitations and revolutions in human societies. In the second place, there are events due to the influences of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of men, such as regeneration, sanctification, spiritual illumination, etc. Thirdly, there are events which belong to neither of these classes, and whose distinguishing characteristics are, First, that they take place in the external world, i.e., in the sphere of the observation of the senses; and Secondly, that they are produced or caused by the simple volition of God, without the intervention of any subordinate cause. To this class belongs the original act of creation, in which all coöperation of second causes was impossible. To the same class belong all events truly miraculous. A miracle, therefore, may be defined to be an event, in the external world, brought about by the immediate efficiency, or simple volition of God.

(Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology: Volume I, [London and Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1871], p. 618.)

Charles Hodge: (The Laws of Nature)

     The chief question is, In what relation does God stand to these laws? The answer to that question, as drawn from the Bible, is, First, that He is their author. He endowed matter with these forces, and ordained that they should be uniform. Secondly, He is independent of them. He can change, annihilate, or suspend them at pleasure. He can operate with them or without them. “The Reign of Law” must not be made to extend over Him who made the laws. Thirdly, As the stability of the universe, and the welfare, and even the existence of organized creatures, depend on the uniformity of the laws of nature, God never does disregard them except for the accomplishment of some high purpose. He, in the ordinary operations of his Providence, operates with and through the laws which He has ordained. He governs the material, as well as the moral world by law.

(Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology: Volume I, [London and Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1871], p. 607.)

Cf. Nancey Murphy:

     So it is a mistake to think that the laws, once “created,” are immutable; they merely reflect God’s ordinary way of working, and they can be suspended on occasion for some higher purpose. The important point for present purposes is that to assume that an event is an act of God only if it cannot be explained by natural laws is a degenerate view of divine action by Hodge’s standards. God works in the regular processes just as much as in miraculous interventions.

(Nancey Murphy, “Science, Divine Action, and the Intelligent Design Movement: A Defense of Theistic Evolution;” In: Intelligent Design: William A. Dembski & Michael Ruse in Dialogue, ed. Robert B. Stewart, [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007], p. 157.)

Note: See further: Nancey C. Murphy, Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy set the Theological Agenda, [Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2007], Pt. 1, Ch. 3 “Immanence or Intervention: How Does God Act in the World,” pp. 62-82.

A. H. Strong:

     B. Alternative and Preferable Definition.—A miracle is an event in nature, so extraordinary in itself and so coinciding with the prophecy or command of a religious teacher or leader, as fully to warrant the conviction, on the part of those who witness it, that God has wrought it with the design of certifying that this teacher or leader has been commissioned by him.

     This definition has certain marked advantages as compared with the preliminary definition given above:—(a) It recognizes the immanence of God and his immediate agency in nature, instead of assuming an antithesis between the laws of nature and the will of God. (b) It regards the miracle as simply an extraordinary act of that same God who is already present in all natural operations and who in them is revealing his general plan. (c) It holds that natural law, as the method of God’s regular activity, in no way precludes unique exertions of his power when these will best secure his purpose in creation. (d) It leaves it possible that all miracles may have their natural explanations and may hereafter be traced to natural causes, while both miracles and their natural causes may be only names for the one and self-same will of God. (e) It reconciles the claims of both science and religion: of science, by permitting any possible or probable physical antecedents of the miracle; of religion, by maintaining that these very antecedents together with the miracle itself are to be interpreted as signs of God’s special commission to him under whose teaching or leadership the miracle is wrought.

(Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology: A Compendium and Commonplace Book Designed for the Use of Theological Students: Three Volumes in One, [Philadelphia: The Griffith & Rowland Press, 1912], pp. 118-119.)

A. H. Strong:

     An event in nature may be caused by an agent in nature yet above nature. This is evident from the following considerations:

     (a) Lower forces and laws in nature are frequently counteracted and transcended by the higher (as mechanical forces and laws by chemical, and chemical by vital), while yet the lower forces and laws are not suspended or annihilated, but are merged in the higher, and made to assist in accomplishing purposes to which they are altogether unequal when left to themselves.

     …(b) The human will acts upon its physical organism, and so upon nature, and produces results which nature left to herself never could accomplish, while yet no law of nature is suspended or violated. Gravitation still operates upon the axe, even while man holds it at the surface of the water—for the axe still has weight (cf. 2 K. 6:5-7).

(Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology: A Compendium and Commonplace Book Designed for the Use of Theological Students: Three Volumes in One, [Philadelphia: The Griffith & Rowland Press, 1912], p. 121.)

A. H. Strong:

     (d) What the human will, considered as a supernatural force, and what the chemical and vital forces of nature itself, are demonstrably able to accomplish, cannot be regarded as beyond the power of God, so long as God dwells in and controls the universe. If man’s will can act directly upon matter in his own physical organism, God’s will can work immediately upon the system which he has created and which he sustains. In other words, if there be a God, and if he be a personal being, miracles are possible. The impossibility of miracles can be maintained only upon principles of atheism or pantheism.

(Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology: A Compendium and Commonplace Book Designed for the Use of Theological Students: Three Volumes in One, [Philadelphia: The Griffith & Rowland Press, 1912], p. 122.)

Cf. Nancey Murphy:

     Strong intends to avoid the objectionable aspects of interventionism by emphasizing God’s immanence. It is not that God’s action itself is a force among forces in the universe, but rather that God’s will directs the forces of the universe, bringing about higher levels of reality and also extraordinary events.

(Nancey C. Murphy, Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy set the Theological Agenda, [Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2007], p. 76.)

James Iverach:

…creation is continuous. …everything is as it is through the continuous power of God; every law, every being, every relation of being are determined by Him, and He is the Power by which all things exist. I believe in the immanence of God in the world, and I do not believe that He comes forth merely at a crisis, as Mr. Wallace supposes. Apart from the Divine action man would not have been, or have an existence; but apart from the Divine action nothing else would have an existence.

(James Iverach, Christianity and Evolution, [London Hodder and Stoughton, 1894], pp. 175-176.)

Cf. B. B. Warfield:

Some lack of general philosophical acumen must be suspected, when it is not fully understood that teleology is in no way inconsistent with—is rather necessarily involved in—a complete system of natural causation. Every teleological system implies a complete “causo-mechanical” explanation as its instrument.

(B. B. Warfield, “Reviews of Recent Literature: Apologetical Theology;” In: The Princeton Theological Review: Volume VI: 1908, [Princeton: The Princeton University Press, 1908], p. 649.)

Note: See further: Concurrence (Concursus) — Primary and Secondary Causes.

καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν ~ Soli Deo Gloria

Compatibilism, A Biblical Defense

D. A. Carson:

I shall begin by articulating two truths, both of which are demonstrably taught or exemplified again and again in the Bible:

1. God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never functions in Scripture to reduce human responsibility.

2. Human beings are responsible creatures—that is, they choose, they believe, they disobey, they respond, and there is moral significance in their choices; but human responsibility never functions in Scripture to diminish God’s sovereignty or to make God absolutely contingent.

     My argument is that both propositions are taught and exemplified in the Bible. Part of our problem is believing that both are true. We tend to use one to diminish the other; we tend to emphasize one at the expense of the other. But responsible reading of the Scripture prohibits such reductionism.

(D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers, [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006], p. 148.) Preview.

Note: See further: Compatibilism — God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility.

Note: See further: The Sovereignty of God.

The Death of Christ. 

God’s Sovereignty.

Acts 4:27-28 (NASB95) — For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

Acts 2:22-23 (NASB95) — “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

Isaiah 53:10 (NASB95) — But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

Acts 3:18 (NASB95) — But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

Cf.

Matthew 26:54 (NASB95) — How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must [δεῖ] happen this way?”

Mark 8:31 (NASB95) — And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must [δεῖ] suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Matthew 16:21 (NASB95) — From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must [δεῖ] go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.

Luke 9:22 (NASB95) — saying, “The Son of Man must [δεῖ] suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”

John 19:36 (NASB95) — For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN.”

Human Volition.

Acts 2:36 (NASB95) — Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

John 19:15-16 (NASB95) — So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. (Cf. Mark 15:13; Luke 23:21-25.)

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Mark 14:21 (NASB95) — For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

Luke 22:22 (NASB95) — For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”

Matthew 18:7 (NASB95) — “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

Cf.

John 19:24 (NASB95) — So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.”

Abraham.

God’s Sovereignty.

Genesis 24:35 (NASB95) — The LORD has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become rich; and He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys.

Human Volition.

Genesis 12:15-16 (NASB95) — Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

Jacob and Laben.

God’s Sovereignty.

Genesis 31:7-9 (NASB95) — Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me. If he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped. Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

Human Volition.

Genesis 30:31-33 (NASB95) — So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. “So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”

The Selling of Joseph Into Slavery.

God’s Sovereignty.

Genesis 45:5-8 (NASB95) — Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Psalm 105:17 (NASB95) — He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

Human Volition.

Genesis 37:27-28 (NASB95) — Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Genesis 50:15-17 (NASB95) — When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Genesis 50:19-20 (NASB95) — But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

Joseph and His Brothers.

God’s Sovereignty.

Genesis 42:28 (NASB95) — Then he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

Human Volition.

Genesis 42:25 (NASB95) — Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.

Joseph’s Success.

God’s Sovereignty.

Genesis 39:3 (NASB95) — Now his master saw that the LORD was with him and how the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.

Genesis 39:21, 23 (NASB95) — But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. …The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper.

Human Volition.

Genesis 39:2 (NASB95) — The LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

Genesis 39:22 (NASB95) — The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Genesis 49:24 (NASB95) — But his bow remained firm, And his arms were agile, From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),

Israel In Egypt.

God’s Sovereignty.

Psalm 105:23-26 (NASB95) — Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries. He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants. He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He had chosen.

Human Volition.

Exodus 1:13-14 (NASB95) — The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.

The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart.

God’s Sovereignty.

Exodus 4:21 (NASB95) — The LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 

Exodus 7:3 (NASB95) — But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 14:4, 17 (NASB95) — Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” And they did so. ...As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.

Exodus 9:12 (NASB95) — And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses. 

Exodus 10:1, 20, 27 (NASB95) — Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, ...But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go. ...But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.

Exodus 11:10 (NASB95) — Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

Exodus 14:8 (NASB95) — The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly.

Romans 9:17-18 (NASB95) — For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

Exodus 9:16 (NASB95) — But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.

Human Volition.

Exodus 3:19-20 (NASB95) — But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.

Exodus 8:15, 32 (NASB95) — But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said. …But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

Exodus 9:27 (NASB95) — Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time; the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.

Exodus 9:34 (NASB95) — But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

1 Samuel 6:6 (NASB95) — Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, did they not allow the people to go, and they departed?

Softening the Hearts of the Egyptians.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Exodus 3:21-22 (NASB95) — I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Exodus 11:3 (NASB95) — The LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

Exodus 12:35-36 (NASB95) — Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

The Woodsman.

God’s Sovereignty.

Exodus 21:12-13 (NASB95) — “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.

Human Volition.

Deuteronomy 19:4-5 (NASB95) — “Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously—as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live;

Penalties of Disobedience.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Leviticus 26:16-17, 36 (NASB95) — I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. …As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall. (Cf. Leviticus 26:14-46; regarding “fear” cf. Genesis 34:30; 35:5.)

Cf.

Deuteronomy 28:28 (NASB95) — The LORD will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; (Cf. Deuteronomy 28:15-68.) 

Job.

God’s Sovereignty.

Job 1:21 (NASB95) — He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Job 42:11 (NASB95) — Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold.

Job 1:11-12 (NASB95) — But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:4-7 (NASB95) — Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” So the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

Job 2:10 (NASB95) — But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Cf. James 5:11.)

Human Volition.

Job 1:14-15 (NASB95) — a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Job 1:17 (NASB95) — While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Abimelech and the Men of Shechem.

God’s Sovereignty.

Judges 9:23-24 (NASB95) — Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

Human Volition.

Judges 9:25 (NASB95) — The men of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who might pass by them along the road; and it was told to Abimelech.

Gideon.

God’s Sovereignty.

Judges 7:22 (NASB95) — When they blew 300 trumpets, the LORD set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

Human Volition.

Judges 7:20-21 (NASB95) — When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” Each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled.

Captain Naaman.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

2 Kings 5:1 (NASB95) — Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper.

David and Saul.

God’s Sovereignty.

1 Samuel 16:14-16 (NASB95) — Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. Let our lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.”

1 Samuel 18:10 (NASB95) — Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and a spear was in Saul’s hand.

1 Samuel 19:9 (NASB95) — Now there was an evil spirit from the LORD on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand.

Human Volition.

1 Samuel 19:10 (NASB95) — Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, so that he stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

1 Samuel 18:11 (NASB95) — Saul hurled the spear for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David escaped from his presence twice.

Saul’s Death.

God’s Sovereignty.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 (NASB95) — So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, and did not inquire of the LORD. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

Human Volition.

1 Chronicles 10:4-6 (NASB95) — Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised will come and abuse me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword and fell on it. When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died. Thus Saul died with his three sons, and all those of his house died together.

David and Abigail.

God’s Sovereignty.

1 Samuel 25:32 (NASB95) — Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me,

Human Volition.

1 Samuel 25:18 (NASB95) — Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

David and Uriah.

God’s Sovereignty.

2 Samuel 12:11-12 (NASB95) — Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’”

Human Volition.

2 Samuel 16:21-22 (NASB95) — Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.” So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

David and Shimei.

God’s Sovereignty.

2 Samuel 16:9-11 (NASB95) — Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over now and cut off his head.” But the king said, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the LORD has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son who came out from me seeks my life; how much more now this Benjamite? Let him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him.

Human Volition.

2 Samuel 16:5-8 (NASB95) — When King David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out cursing continually as he came. He threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David; and all the people and all the mighty men were at his right hand and at his left. Thus Shimei said when he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and worthless fellow! The LORD has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!”

Absalom.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

2 Samuel 17:14 (NASB95) — Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring calamity on Absalom.

David’s Numbering of the Israelites.

God’s Sovereignty.

2 Samuel 24:1 (NASB95) — Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

1 Chronicles 21:1 (NASB95) — Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.

Human Volition.

2 Samuel 24:10 (NASB95) — Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

Solomon.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

1 Kings 11:14, 21 (NASB95) — Then the LORD raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in Edom. …But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away, that I may go to my own country.”

1 Kings 11:23-24 (NASB95) — God also raised up another adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. He gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, after David slew them of Zobah; and they went to Damascus and stayed there, and reigned in Damascus.

1 Kings 11:31 (NASB95) — He said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes

False Prophets.

God’s Sovereignty.

1 Kings 22:20-23, 34-35 (NASB95) — The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The LORD said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’ Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.” …Now a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and take me out of the fight; for I am severely wounded.” The battle raged that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot in front of the Arameans, and died at evening, and the blood from the wound ran into the bottom of the chariot.

2 Chronicles 18:20-22 (NASB95) — Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘How?’ “He said, ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and prevail also. Go and do so.’ “Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of these your prophets, for the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.”

Ezekiel 14:9 (NASB95) — “But if the prophet is prevailed upon [פָּתָה - pâthâh] to speak a word, it is I, the LORD, who have prevailed upon [פָּתָה - pâthâh] that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

A more accurate translation:

Eze 14:9 (ESV) —And if the prophet is deceived [פָּתָה - pâthâh] and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived [פָּתָה - pâthâh] that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. (Cf. NASB20, KJV, NLT, ASV, HNV, RSV, DRB, VUL, WEB, YLT, NIV, CSB, BBE, NRSV, NRSVCE, CEB, NABRE, NAB, CEV, etc.)

Cf.

Job 12:16 (NASB95) — “With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him.

Job 12:16 (ESV) — With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

Human Volition.

2 Peter 2:1 (NASB95) — But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 (NASB95) — ‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

2 Timothy 4:3 (NASB95) — For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

Assyria.

God’s Sovereignty.

Isaiah 10:5-7 (NASB95) — Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets. Yet it does not so intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations. 

Human Volition.

Isaiah 10:12-17 (NASB95) — So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.” For he has said, “By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, For I have understanding; And I removed the boundaries of the peoples And plundered their treasures, And like a mighty man I brought down their inhabitants, And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest, And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth; And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped.” Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? That would be like a club wielding those who lift it, Or like a rod lifting him who is not wood. Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

The Worthless Shepherd.

God’s Sovereignty.

Zechariah 11:15-16 (NASB95) — The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. 

Human Volition.

Zechariah 11:17 (NASB95) — “Woe to the worthless shepherd Who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered And his right eye will be blind.”

Babylon.

God’s Sovereignty.

Jeremiah 25:9 (NASB95) — behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 

Cf.

Jeremiah 1:15 (NASB95) — For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD; “and they will come and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah.

Jeremiah 7:14 (NASB95) — therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

Jeremiah 27:6 (NASB95) — Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him.

Human Volition.

Jeremiah 25:12 (NASB95) — ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Isaiah 13:5 (NASB95) — They are coming from a far country, From the farthest horizons, The LORD and His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land.

Isaiah 13:17, 19 (NASB95) — Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. …And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 50:24-25 (NASB95) — “I set a snare for you and you were also caught, O Babylon, While you yourself were not aware; You have been found and also seized Because you have engaged in conflict with the LORD.” The LORD has opened His armory And has brought forth the weapons of His indignation, For it is a work of the Lord GOD of hosts In the land of the Chaldeans.

Jeremiah 51:11 (NASB95) — Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple.

Habakkuk 1:6 (NASB95) — “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

Eli’s Sons.

God’s Sovereignty.

1 Samuel 2:23-25 (NASB95) — He said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the LORD’S people circulating. If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death.

Human Volition.

1 Samuel 2:22 (NASB95) — Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

Samson.

God’s Sovereignty.

Judges 14:3-4 (NASB95) — Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.” However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

Human Volition.

Judges 14:1-2 (NASB95) — Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. So he came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” 

Jonah.

God’s Sovereignty.

Jonah 2:3 (NASB95) — “For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.

Human Volition.

Jonah 1:15 (NASB95) — So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.

King Rehoboam.

God’s Sovereignty.

1 Kings 12:15 (NASB95) — So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from the LORD, that He might establish His word, which the LORD spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Human Volition.

1 Kings 12:8, 14 (NASB95) — But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him. …and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”

War.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Isaiah 5:26 (NASB95) — He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation, And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

Isaiah 7:18, 20 (NASB95) — In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. …In that day the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

King Sihon.

God’s Sovereignty.

Deuteronomy 2:30 (NASB95) — But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today.

Human Volition.

Deuteronomy 2:32 (NASB95) — “Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz.

The Conquest.

God’s Sovereignty.

Joshua 11:20 (NASB95) — For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Human Volition.

Joshua 11:19 (NASB95) — There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord.

God’s Sovereignty.

2 Chronicles 13:15-16 (NASB95) — Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, then it was that God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. When the sons of Israel fled before Judah, God gave them into their hand.

Human Volition.

2 Chronicles 13:13-14 (NASB95) — But Jeroboam had set an ambush to come from the rear, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them. When Judah turned around, behold, they were attacked both front and rear; so they cried to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets. 

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

1 Samuel 14:6, 15, 20-23 (NASB95) — Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few.” ...And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders trembled, and the earth quaked so that it became a great trembling. ...Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and came to the battle; and behold, every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion. Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines previously, who went up with them all around in the camp, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. When all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, even they also pursued them closely in the battle. So the LORD delivered Israel that day, and the battle spread beyond Beth-aven.

1 Kings 20:28-29 (NASB95) — Then a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because the Arameans have said, “The LORD is a god of the mountains, but He is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’” So they camped one over against the other seven days. And on the seventh day the battle was joined, and the sons of Israel killed of the Arameans 100,000 foot soldiers in one day.

Judges 3:8, 12 (NASB95) — Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. …Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

Judges 6:1 (NASB95) — Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian seven years.

Zechariah 12:4 (NASB95) — “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

King Cyrus.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Ezra 1:1-2 (NASB95) — Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Ezra 6:22 (NASB95) — And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had caused them to rejoice, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Ezra 7:27-28 (NASB95) — Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

2 Chronicles 36:22 (NASB95) — Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah—the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

Isaiah 44:28 (NASB95) — “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”

Israel.

God’s Sovereignty.

Isaiah 63:17 (NASB95) — Why, O LORD, do You cause us to stray from Your ways And harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

Human Volition.

Isaiah 63:10 (NASB95) — But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.

Invitation to the Passover.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

2 Chronicles 30:10-12 (NASB95) — So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD.

The God-Man.

Sovereignty and Volition.

Mark 1:12 (NASB95) — Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.

Matthew 4:1 (NASB95) — Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil

The Bread of Life.

God’s Sovereignty.

John 6:37 (NASB95) — All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

John 6:44-45 (NASB95) — No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

Human Volition.

John 6:35 (NASB95) — Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

John 6:47 (NASB95) — Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

John 6:51 (NASB95) — I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Judas.

God’s Sovereignty.

Acts 1:16 (NASB95) — “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

John 17:12 (NASB95) — While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

John 6:70 (NASB95) — Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”

John 13:10-11 (NASB95) — Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Human Volition.

Matthew 26:16 (NASB95) — From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus. (Cf. Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6; John 13:27 .)

The Parable of the Dinner and the Parable of the Marriage Feast.

God’s Sovereignty.

Luke 14:23 (NASB95) — And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

Human Volition.

Matthew 22:9 (NASB95) — Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’

Lydia.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Acts 16:14 (NASB95) — A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

Evangelism.

God’s Sovereignty.

Acts 18:9-10 (NASB95) — And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

Human Volition.

Acts 18:13 (NASB95) — saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”

Titus.

God’s Sovereignty.

2 Corinthians 8:16 (NASB95) — But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus.

Human Volition.

2 Corinthians 8:17 (NASB95) — For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord.

Good Works.

God’s Sovereignty.

Philippians 2:13 (NASB95) — for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Hebrews 13:21 (NASB95) — equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Human Volition.

Philippians 2:12 (NASB95) — So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

1 Corinthians 15:10 (NASB95) — But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Ephesians 2:10 (NASB95) — For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Paul.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Acts 21:14 (NASB95) — And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”

Cf.

Acts 9:15 (NASB95) — But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

Timothy.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

2 Timothy 2:7 (NASB95) — Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Judgment.

God’s Sovereignty.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 (NASB95) — For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,

Human Volition.

2 Thessalonians 2:12 (NASB95) — in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

1 Peter 2:7-8 (NASB95) — This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed [τίθημι]. 

1 Thessalonians 5:9 (NASB95) — For God has not destined [τίθημι] us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Jude 1:4 (NASB95) — For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Cf.

Jeremiah 20:7 (NASB95) — O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.

Jeremiah 13:12-13 (NASB95) — “Therefore you are to speak this word to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jug is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’ then say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings that sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness!

Isaiah 19:14 (NASB95) — The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

Ezekiel 20:25 (NASB95) — I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;

Cf.

Psalm 119:36 (NASB95) — Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain.

Psalm 141:4 (NASB95) — Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

The Beast.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Revelation 17:17 (NASB95) — For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

The Horseman.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Revelation 6:4 (NASB95) — And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

Shipwreck.

God’s Sovereignty.

Acts 27:22-24 (NASB95) — Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’

Human Volition.

Acts 27:30-32 (NASB95) — But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

Seeing and Hearing.

God’s Sovereignty.

John 12:39-40 (NASB95) — For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.”

Mark 4:10-12 (NASB95) — As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”

Isaiah 6:9-10 (NASB95) — He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Isaiah 44:18 (NASB95) — They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.

Romans 11:7-10 (NASB95) — What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. “LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.”

Psalm 69:22-23 (NASB95) — May their table before them become a snare; And when they are in peace, may it become a trap. May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their loins shake continually.

2 Corinthians 3:14 (NASB95) — But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

Matthew 11:25 (NASB95) — At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

Romans 11:25 (NASB95) — For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

Isaiah 29:14 (NASB95) — Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

Human Volition.

Matthew 13:14-15 (NASB95) — In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’

God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition.

Isaiah 29:9-10, 13 (NASB95) — Be delayed and wait, Blind yourselves and be blind; They become drunk, but not with wine, They stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers. …Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

Luke 9:45 (NASB95) — But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.

Cf.

God’s Sovereignty.

Deuteronomy 29:2-4 (NASB95) — And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.

Human Volition.

Deuteronomy 29:18-20 (NASB95) — so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven.

Cf.

God’s Sovereignty.

Deuteronomy 30:6 (NASB95) — “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

Human Volition.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NASB95) — I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Faith.

God’s Sovereignty.

Ephesians 2:8 (NASB95) — For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Philippians 1:29 (NASB95) — For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

Acts 13:48 (NASB95) — When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Romans 12:3 (NASB95) — For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Acts 3:16 (NASB95) — And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

2 Peter 1:1 (NASB95) — Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

Hebrews 12:2 (NASB95) — fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Timothy 1:14 (NASB95) — and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

Acts 18:27 (NASB95) — And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace,

1 Corinthians 12:3 (NASB95) — Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 1:16 (NASB95) — to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, (Cf. Heb 12:1-2.)

Cf. John 3:3; 6:37, 44, 65; Acts 14:27 (this could be read either way); 16:14; Luke 17:5; Hebrews 12:2; Col. 2:12; 1 Cor 12:9.

Human Volition.

Genesis 15:6 (NASB95) — Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Matthew 9:22 (NASB95) — But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.

Luke 17:19 (NASB95) — And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 18:42 (NASB95) — And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.”

Matthew 8:13 (NASB95) — And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.

Matthew 15:28 (NASB95) — Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. (Cf. Luke 7:50; 17:19; Mark 5:34; 10:52; etc.)

Repentance.

God’s Sovereignty.

Acts 11:18 (NASB95) — When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

2 Timothy 2:25 (NASB95) — with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

Acts 5:31 (NASB95) — He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

2 Corinthians 7:9-10 (NASB95) — I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Romans 2:4 (NASB95) — Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Cf. Acts 16:14.

Human Volition.

Jeremiah 31:19 (NASB95) — ‘For after I turned back, I repented; And after I was instructed, I smote on my thigh; I was ashamed and also humiliated Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

Zechariah 1:6 (NASB95) — But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘As the LORD of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’”’”

Acts 19:4 (NASB95) — Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

Matthew 12:41 (NASB95) — The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Cf. Luk 11:32.)

The Perseverance/Preservation of the Saints.

God’s Sovereignty.

2 Timothy 1:12 (NASB95) — For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Psalm 121:3 (NASB95) — He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.

Psalm 97:10 (NASB95) — Hate evil, you who love the LORD, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 37:28 (NASB95) — For the LORD loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

Psalm 145:20 (NASB95) — The LORD keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.

Hebrews 7:25 (NASB95) — Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Philippians 1:6 (NASB95) — For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:38-39 (NASB95) — For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:28-30 (NASB95) — And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

John 10:27-30 (NASB95) — My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 6:37-40, 45 (NASB95) — All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” …It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

Jude 1:24-25 (NASB95) — Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jeremiah 32:40 (NASB95) — I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.

Romans 15:5 (NASB95) — Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,

1 Corinthians 1:8 (NASB95) — who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 2:8 (NASB95) — Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NASB95) — Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

2 Timothy 4:18 (NASB95) — The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 1:23 (NASB95) — for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

Romans 5:3-5 (NASB95) — And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 11:29 (NASB95) — for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Human Volition.

1 John 2:19 (NASB95) — They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.

2 Peter 1:10 (NASB95) — Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB95) — Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

2 Timothy 2:19 (NASB95) — Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”

Colossians 1:22 (NASB95) — yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

Hebrews 3:14 (NASB95) — For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

Hebrews 3:6 (NASB95) — but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν ~ Soli Deo Gloria