“What a father is for his family, what an educator is for the young, what a commander is for the army, what a king is for his people—all that and much more God is in a totally original way for his creatures.
Not just one but all His attributes come to expression in the world and therefore need to be honored by us.
Now ‘kingship’ for one is a glorious divine institution as well. It not only confers on a people a unity symbolized in a person, but as a hereditary kingship it also assumes the character of originality, loftiness, independence, and constancy.
In all this it is a beautiful—albeit a weak—image of the kingship of God.
All sovereignty on earth is derivative, temporary, and limited, and in the case of abuse, more a curse than a blessing. But God is king in the absolute and true sense.
The government of the universe is not democratic, nor aristocratic, nor republican, nor constitutional, but monarchical. To God belongs the one undivided legislative, judicial, and executive power.
His sovereignty is original, eternal, unlimited, abundant in blessing. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:6). His royal realm is the whole of the universe.
His are the heavens and the earth (Exod. 19:5; Ps. 8:1; 103:19; 148:13). He possesses all the nations (Ps. 22:28; 47:8–9; 96:10; Jer. 10:7; Mal. 1:14) and is supreme in all the earth (Ps. 47:2, 7; 83:18; 97:9).
He is king forever (Ps. 29:10; 1 Tim. 1:17); no opposition stands a chance against Him (Ps. 93:3–4).
His kingdom will surely come (Matt. 6:10; 1 Cor. 15:24; Rev. 12:10); His glory will be revealed and His name feared from the rising of the sun to its going down (Isa. 40:5; 59:19); He will be king over the entire earth (Zech. 14:9).
Also, in this government God deals with each thing according to its kind. God rules over all things conformably to their nature. Consequently, that rule of God is variously represented in Scripture and described with various names.
By his rule He upholds the world and establishes it so that it will not be moved (Ps. 93:1).
He ordains the light and the darkness (Ps. 104:19–20), commands the rain and withholds it (Gen. 7:4; 8:2; Job 26:8; 38:22ff.), gives snow and hoarfrost and ice (Ps. 147:16), rebukes and stills the sea (Nah. 1:4; Ps. 65:7; 107:29), sends curses and destruction (Deut. 28:15ff.).
All things fulfill His command (Ps. 148:8). With equally sovereign power and majesty He rules in the world of rational creatures.
He rules among the Gentiles and possesses all nations (Ps. 22:28; 82:8). He deems the nations as emptiness and less than nothing (Isa. 40:17), deals with the inhabitants of the earth according to His will (Dan. 4:35), and directs the hearts and thoughts of all (Prov. 21:1).”
–Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, vol. 2, Ed. John Bolt, and trans. John Vriend, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 615–616.
