Sovereignty and Free Will

 

 

Concerning Sovereignty

There is only One,

History has its Emperors and kings

But they are long gone.

 

Pseudo sovereignty

Meaning a mere pretense

But never having ultimate control

Whatever their intent.

 

The Emperors of Rome

And the great kings of Israel:

They all suffered irreversible defeat

In their final battle.

 

The Presidents of today

And Prime Ministers as well

Are destined to lose their life battle

After their spell.

 

Death is appointed

For both great and small

And when death dials our number,

None can stall.

 

Pseudo sovereignty

Is all that we have got

And whether Emperor or pauper,

Death is our lot.

 

God is the only Sovereign

And there’s not another,

Don’t you dare consider the devil:

That deceptive usurper.

 

 

 

Now man has free will

Given to him by God

Meaning he has limited choice,

That is all.

 

He is not sovereign

And this is so very clear

For he lives for a period of time

And then disappears.

 

Man may choose

Whether to live or die

And this must be seen in two ways:

One being suicide.

 

Or he can remain dead

In his trespasses and sins

And refuse the gift of salvation

God offers to him.

 

Man can choose to work

Or idle away all day,

He can choose to become muted

Or have a say.

 

He can choose a job

And build a nice career

Or be a recluse and from people

Stay clear.

 

He can have a family,

I mean of his own

Or having been born into a family,

He can go off alone.

 

 

 

A Myriad choices

Are available to all

But understand choice is unlimited

Only to God.

 

God sets the limit

On the choices of man

And we can accept or reject Him

If we so plan.

 

BUT

 

There are consequences

To the choices we make

And these can be very heart wrenching

Like here of late.

 

 

 

Choices by our leaders

And important others

That put harsh measures in place

And cause great bother.

 

Nations against Nations

In skirmishes and war

Choosing weapons of destruction

To show their power.

 

Taking another’s resources

By sheer brute force:

The animals’ survival of the fittest

Now man’s recourse.

 

Changing their gender

As though this is possible

And then actually agitating for it,

Though reprehensible. 

 

Man is not a robot

But then, neither is God

And because He is the I AM that I AM

He is sovereign of all.

 

 

 

Creating Adam and Eve

God gave them a rule:

It was His way or the other way;

They could choose.

 

Think of a world

Without restrictive choice:

Wherein are no rules or regulations:

No regulating voice.

 

No reason, no empathy,

Just all is civil anarchy!

Surely God did not create the world

For this to be.

 

Hence a Sovereign voice

With ultimate control

That can limit the despicably wicked

And put evil on hold.

 

Thus, the reason for death

And the limit imposed,

I AM that I AM is the only Sovereignty

And none other comes close.

 

We can do as we like

But not for as long as we like

For Almighty God is in ultimate control

And will set things right.

 

Free will is limited

And this is without doubt

So, to rulers of countries and nations,

So is your clout.

 

Stewart Russell © November 10, 2025

 

Decreeing and Declaring

 

 

Decreeing and Declaring:

Whose roles are these two?

To best answer this question

We must get a biblical view.

 

49 times in the KJV 

You will find the word decree

And this word in all its usage

Speaks to authority.

 

95 times in the KJV

You’ll find the word declare:

77 times in the Old Testament;

In the New it 18 times appear.

 

It can mean to propagate

Or even to explain

And though subtly different,

These basically mean the same.

 

 

Decree on the other hand

You’ll find in the NT one time,

Caesar Augustus unwittingly fell in line

With what was in God’s mind.

 

He sent out the decree

That all the world be taxed

And thus, the need for a census

To be guided by the facts.

 

Before this God had decreed

That the Messiah would come

And it coincided with Caesar’s census

Within the Roman kingdom.

 

Kings by law decree

What must be in their domain,

Such decrees are for a time

And only while they reign.

 

God’s decrees are eternal

And not subjected to change,

Declaring the end at the beginning;

God has infinite range.  

There is much that we declare

That does not come to pass

And even when it does

It will not eternally last.

 

But when we declare God’s Word

We declare God’s decree,

Sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ

For the whole world to see.

 

Suspended on a rugged cross

At Mount Calvary,

In him alone is man’s salvation:

That’s the heavenly decree.

 

Declare the Gospel of salvation

Propagate this royal decree!

That whosoever believes in Christ

Shall be saved eternally.

 

Stewart Russell © August 20, 2021

 

God with Man

 

 

Yonder in cattle stall

Lay a baby most fair,

God with man has come to dwell

Among the cattle there.

 

The shepherds as invited

Kneel before his bed,

A crude manger for his body

And dried hay for his head.

 

The animals low in tandem

Sometimes in unison too,

No harmony could be detected

But they never knew.

 

Wise men would visit later

But for now only shepherds came,

Having been told by the angels

In a glorious refrain.

 

 

Glory to God in the highest

And on earth, peace!

Meanwhile the wise men were noting

A peculiar star in the east.

 

When they finally saw him

The baby Jesus, I mean,

He was then resting in a house

This was not the manger scene.

 

I wonder what it was really like

To have been present at his birth,

What a wonder that must have been!

“God has come to earth.”

 

Today I remind my readers

It can be a dream come true,

For the Holy Spirit has come to dwell

In persons like me and you.

 

 

No, not in a manger stall

But in temples as we are,

So we can be near and dear to him

Just like the wise men that came from afar.

 

What a privilege for the highest

And the lowest of all the earth!

We can be one in Christ Jesus

On account of the “new birth”.

 

To be “born again”, as Jesus said,

In his discourse with Nicodemus,

Today that can be you and me

By simply accepting Jesus.

 

There is room for the simple shepherd

And for kings and wise men too,

God’s great gift was sent to all

And if you are a skeptic, even you.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

 

More than a Collection of Books Volume 2

2^nd Kings continues along this track

And shows the spiritual decline of the leaders,

It chronicles the miraculous ministry of Elisha

And the captivity of Israel and of Judah.

1Chronicles starts out with the genealogies

From Adam to Abraham and Abraham to Israel,

Its focus is spiritual rather than historical

While appearing to repeat 1^st and 2^nd Samuel.

2Chronicles continues from 1^st Chronicles

With a coverage similar to 1^st and 2^nd Kings,

Of Judah’s nineteen kings seven were good

None of Israel’s twenty rulers for God ever stood.

In Ezra is the account of King Cyrus’ decree

To build a house for God at Jerusalem

Fulfilling the utterance of Jeremiah’s prophecy

Of the return of the exiles from Babylon.

Nehemiah highlights the rebuilding of the wall

And the registration of Jerusalem’s population,

The religion of Jerusalem is revitalized

As it undergoes a complete reformation.

Esther highlights an historic segment of the Jews

Found no where else in all of Scripture,

Her coming to the kingdom for God’s unique purpose

Improve the Jews’ lot and radically change the picture.

Job presents a tutorial in patient endurance

As he contends with his friends about his affliction,

Ignorant of God’s permission for Satan to test him

The experience gave him a Divine education.

The Psalms are often called the Psalms of David

But only seventy-three are considered Davidic,

The book may be divided into classifications

Which include History, Prophecy and the Messianic.

Proverbs differentiates between wisdom and folly,

It distinguishes the fool from the wise,

Its wise sayings came from God through Solomon

And such wise counsel we should never despise.

Ecclesiastes highlights the many vanities of life

And supplies instruction for living under the sun,

The foolish have their way and so too the wise

But the wise will be the victor when life’s day is done.

The Song of Solomon is the most exquisite song

And its refrain resounds with the theme of love,

It is said to represent Christ’s love for his church

Though preceding the time of his coming from above.

Stewart Russell © 2017