# “The orb of Jesus’ sovereignty” by D.A. Carson

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2015/03/02/the-orb-of-jesus-sovereignty-by-d-a-carson/
- Published: 2015-03-02T15:00:04-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“What would you have chosen to describe God’s power? When you think of God’s sovereignty,
to what does your mind turn?

I confess I am inclined to think of God’s power in creation. He speaks, and worlds
leap into being. He designs the water molecule, with its remarkable atomic structure
that ensures greater density is achieved at four degrees Centigrade than at the 
freezing point, so that lakes and rivers freeze not from the bottom up but from 
the top down, providing a blanket of ice with water underneath so that fish can 
survive.

I think of God calculating the mathematics of quarks, with half-lives in billionths
of a second. I think of God designing each star and upholding the universe by His
powerful word. I think of the pleasure he takes in the woodpecker, with its specially
designed tailfeathers that enable it to peck with such force. I marvel at a God 
who creates emus and cheetahs and the duck-billed platypus. His power extends beyond
the limits of our imagination.

But that is not what Paul turns to. After all, for an omnipotent God there cannot
be degrees of difficulty. There is no one act that is ‘most powerful.’ Paul does
not hunt for the most powerful or the most difficult displays of God’s power, since
such categories are essentially meaningless. Rather, he hunts for the most glorious,
the most revealing. As a result, he focuses on three events.

_Paul mentions the power exerted when Christ was raised from death._ The power that
Christians must experience is like the power God exerted in Christ ‘when He raised
Him from the dead’ (1:20). Paul thinks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here
is the undoing of death, the destruction of sin; Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits
of the mighty resurrection that will mock the death of death and inaugurate a new
heaven and a new earth. Small wonder Paul elsewhere declares that he wants to know
Christ and the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10).

_Paul describes the power displayed in the exalted Christ._ The power that Christians
must experience is like the power God exerted in Christ ‘when He … seated Him at
His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and
dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also
in the one to come’ (1:20–21). There are levels of authority of which we know very
little, demonic powers and seraphic powers, not only in this world but in the heavenlies(
see Col. 1:16). But over all of them is Christ Jesus, elevated to the Father’s right
hand in consequence of His obedience to death and His victorious resurrection (see
Phil. 2:6–11).

Indeed, this vision controls part of the line of argument in chapter 2. There Paul
says that although we were dead in our trespasses and sins and were by nature objects
of wrath (2:1), nevertheless because of His great love for us, God, ‘who is rich
in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.… [
and] raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ
Jesus’ (2:4–6). Of course, in one sense I’m still here, not there. But because God
views me as ‘in Christ,’ and Christ is seated with His Father in the heavenlies,
therefore God views me as there in principle. That is my destination; that is where
I properly belong, because of God’s great love for me. That is why my Canadian citizenship
can never be more than secondary: I’m already a citizen of the new Jerusalem, and
I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies.

_Paul declares the power exercised by Christ over everything—for the church_. ‘God
placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for
the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every
way’ (1:22–23). All of God’s sovereignty is mediated through Christ (see 1 Cor. 
15:27; Ps. 110:1), and all of this sovereign power is for the good of the church.
Christ is the head over everything: that is, He exercises authority over everything.
But this ‘head’ metaphor takes a sudden shift when the ‘body’ is introduced. Although
Christ is the head over everything, He is in particular the head of the church, 
which is His body. He is ideally placed to ensure that all of His sovereignty is
exercised for His people’s good.

Not a drop of rain can fall outside the orb of Jesus’ sovereignty. All our days—
our health, our illnesses, our joys, our victories, our tears, our prayers, and 
the answers to our prayers—fall within the sweep of the sovereignty of One who wears
a human face, a thorn-shadowed face. All of God’s sovereignty is mediated through
One who was crucified on my behalf.”

–D.A. Carson, [_A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0801025699?tag=toletaupanre-20)(
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1992), 178-180. Carson is commenting on Ephesians
1:3-23.

More quotes from [D.A. Carson](https://tollelege.net/category/da-carson/) · More
on [Paul](https://tollelege.net/category/paul/)