Few things in my fifty years of ministry have been more gratifying than to see the purposeful, all-wise, absolute sovereignty of God, which we call “providence,” move from being a stumbling block to faith to being a faith-sustaining, sanity-preserving rock of refuge for ordinary Christians passing through hellish circumstances.

For example, a quote from one of our missionaries, who at that time was in China:

In December 1987, my father died unexpectedly at age 63. . . . I was plunged into a journey of several months, struggling to understand what had happened. I was at Bethlehem, but new to the teaching, and apparently missing many of the distinctives. . . .

Fast forward to 1992. We had been in China for a year and returned home to have our first child. As you remember, she lived one day and died in our arms. It was then [that the teaching of God’s providence] came home to roost. God had not turned us loose to some natural events, but in his divine mercy had seen fit to give us a child, and through the process of taking her from us, work in us a honing and sanctifying unlike anything we had ever known. . . .

Thanks to the foundation . . . laid in my life through our years at Bethlehem, I was now able to embrace, and understand, such verses as “The Lord [gives], and the Lord [takes] away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

There was another missionary couple who went out from us to the Middle East. Not long after, they traveled to Turkey to have their first child. He too died. They came home, and their first Sunday back was the Sunday that we sang Matt Redman’s song “Blessed Be Your Name” for the first time. I was in the front row, as usual, and they were off to my right, so I could see them.

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering.
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be your name.

You give and take away.
You give and take away.
My heart will choose to say,
Lord, blessed be your name.

Their empty hands were open in front of them. And I thought, “This is worth living for.”

Here’s another letter from a young woman who tells me of her uterine cancer:

I came to Bethlehem ten years ago. I had been a believer for only a few years. Within a few weeks of attending, I begin to hear you’re teaching on God’s sovereignty in salvation, and it was the weirdest thing I had ever heard. It sounded archaic and un-American, and later I realized it truly was archaic and un-American, but genuinely biblical. Eventually, by the awesome weight of Scriptural evidence, I was compelled to adopt the Reformed perspective on God’s sovereignty.

Little did I know that the hunger to understand God’s nature and his ways over the last ten years was graciously given to fortify me for this year’s surprise cancer diagnosis. Of course, the news that I had a life-threatening illness, and the realization that I would not be able to have children, was horribly painful, but the powerful assistance that comes from the truth amazed me. Theology can be so practical. It does wonders for anxiety and self-pity and despair.

I’m so glad God ordained my conversion to Reformed theology prior to ordaining my cancer. I know he is immeasurably strong and thoroughly in charge and one hundred percent on my side, even when he sends painful circumstances. Was it Spurgeon that said, “I will kiss the waves that dash me upon the Rock of Ages”?

The reason for lingering over these several testimonies, brothers, is to communicate a certain tone in which I want you to hear what I say. The reality of God’s all-governing, all-pervasive, purposeful sovereignty (providence) is controversial. From now until the day you see Jesus, there will be people who turn red in the face and speak angry words against you if you give the slightest hint that you believe it was God who took their child or their spouse. From now until the end of history, there will be scholars and pundits who write articles and essays and books describing the God of Jonathan Edwards as a moral monster.

Your job, when those things happen to you in your ministry, is not to return evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but to absorb the slander and the abuse, hand it over to God, and patiently minister to those in need.

I bear witness, brothers, some of those adversaries will do a complete one-eighty and love you someday. Don’t go online with guns blazing. This is not the kind of doctrine that should be handled that way. It is the great design of Providence to be the ballast in your peoples’ boats that keep them from capsizing in the waves of suffering. That’s the spirit in which I want you to hear this message, and that’s the spirit I think you should have when you speak of God’s absolute, purposeful sovereignty — of God’s providence.

So, let’s approach providence this way:

• First, let’s say just a few more words about the meaning of “providence.”
• Second, since the focus of this conference is on truth, and this is a message on “the triumph of truth through providence,” let’s identify some of the glorious promises of God, whose truth will not triumph without the providence of God.
• Third, let’s look at some of the realities that threaten to defeat those promises, and how providence overcomes those threats and guarantees the triumph of those promises.

So: (1) clarify the definition, (2) identify some of God’s promises about our glorious future, and (3) show how providence secures those promises.

1. Providence’s Definition

What is God’s providence? The word providence doesn’t occur in the Bible, so if we are going to use it, we need to forge a definition from realities in the Bible, not from the use of the word itself. The short definition that I use is “God’s purposeful sovereignty.” Sovereignty and providence aren’t identical. “Sovereignty” means that God can do, and does do, whatever he pleases. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). That’s sovereignty.

But the word sovereignty does not carry in itself any idea of design or purpose, just power and authority. “Providence” implies purposefulness. Buried in the etymology of the word providence is the word provide, which is formed from two Latin words: pro and videre — “to see toward,” or the unusual English idiom “to see to.”

As in: God saw to it that there would be a ram in the thicket to take Isaac’s place. He saw to it that Joseph would be sold into slavery. He saw to it that his Son would be killed. This way of talking implies purposefulness. He doesn’t act only in sovereign power. He acts according to plan, to wisdom — he acts in purposeful sovereignty. That is what I mean by “providence.” God sees to everything purposefully.

One more clarification on the meaning of providence, namely, on its extent. I use the terms all-governing and all-pervasive to describe the extent. We will see this from the Bible as we go forward, but what I mean is that this purposeful sovereignty governs everything in the universe, from the most insignificant bird-fall (Matthew 10:29), to the movement of stars (Isaiah 40:26), to the murder of his Son (Acts 4:27–28). It includes the moral and immoral acts of every soul. Neither Satan at his hellish worst, nor human beings at their redeemed best, ever act in a way contrary to God’s ultimate, all-embracing, all-wise plan — his providence.

2. Providence’s Role in God’s Promises

What are some of the promises of God that capture this ultimate purpose, whose truth would not triumph without the providence of God? I’ll mention three.

The Promise of Gospel Reach

First, the promise that the gospel of Jesus Christ will successfully penetrate all the peoples of the world, gathering into Christ all of God’s ransomed elect: “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). It is promised. It is going to happen. The gospel will reach all the peoples of the world. World missions cannot be stopped.

And as it reaches all the peoples of the world, the gospel will succeed in gathering all the ransomed into Christ. Revelation 5:9–10: “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

The risen, sovereign Christ promises to gather his flock. John 10:16: “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” “I must . . . I will . . . I will.” That’s the promise. It cannot fail.

The Promise of Glorification

A second promise: All of these ransomed elect, the bride of Christ, will be sanctified, glorified, and made perfectly beautiful for the eternal enjoyment of her divine Husband. Romans 8:30: “Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” The promise of the glorification of God’s predestined, called, justified people is as good as done. They will be glorified, that is, made splendid and beautiful for Christ.

Ephesians 5:25–27: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her . . . so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Christ did not die to set in motion a failed marriage. She will be blameless and beautiful.

“The promise of the glorification of God’s predestined, called, justified people is as good as done.”

First Thessalonians 5:23–24: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Or Philippians 1:6: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” It is promised. It will happen. She will be beautiful, perfectly beautiful, for the mutual enjoyment of bride and Bridegroom.

The Promise of God-Centered Pleasure

Third promise: This beauty of the bride will consist essentially in the sinless echo of Christ’s excellencies, his preciousness, reverberating back to him in the all-satisfying pleasures that his people find in him forever and ever. Isaiah 55:12–13:

You shall go out in joy
     and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
     shall break forth into singing,
     and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
     instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
     an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

What shall make a name for the Lord? What is it in the new creation that will magnify the worth of the Lord forever? All creation, especially the bride, goes out in joy and breaks forth in singing. Isaiah 35:10: “The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

And what is the center and focus and source of that joy? Revelation 21:3–4:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

God is their joy. The center, the focus, the source. Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This is the end of the story. This is the ultimate purpose of God’s all-wise providence. “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory” (Isaiah 43:6–7).

And how will the infinite worth and beauty and greatness and preciousness of God’s glory be on display in this new world? It will enter God’s people and awaken in them undreamed-of pleasures, which will echo back to him, and to all the universe, that God is an all-satisfying treasure. It’s a promise. That’s going to happen.

The nations will be reached, the elect will be gathered in, and they will be made beautiful for the enjoyment of Christ, as they echo back his excellencies in the everlasting pleasures that they find in him.

But none of that is going to happen without the omnipotent exercise of the providence of God. Why? Because there are massive threats or obstacles standing in the way of God’s ultimate purpose. We turn to our third main point.

3. Threats to God’s Promises — and How Truth Triumphs

Now we look at some of the realities that threaten to defeat those promises, and how God’s providence overcomes those threats and guarantees the triumph of truth. But let’s say it a little differently: the providence of God doesn’t just overcome the threats and obstacles to the triumph of God’s promises; it actually makes the threats and obstacles serve the triumph of those promises.

I take that to be the meaning of Romans 8:35–37: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered’—” There they are, the obstacles threatening to nullify the promises of God. To which the apostle Paul says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” I take “more than conquerors” to mean that God doesn’t just prevent the threats from sabotaging his purposes; he does more, and makes them serve his purposes.

So, the banner flying over Joseph’s brothers’ sin of selling him into slavery flies over every sin and threat to God’s purposes. Genesis 50:20: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Not “used” it for good, but “meant” it — planned it, designed it — for the good of his people. So it is with every obstacle and every threat. So it is with every evil from the fall of Lucifer to the lake of fire.

Now, to name a few.

The Threat of God’s Wrath

The greatest obstacle standing in the way of the final, glorious purpose of a beautiful, happy bride of Christ in the presence of an all-holy God is the wrath of God because of our sin. Nothing compares to the horrible, blazing barrier of God’s wrath between us and our everlasting happiness in him.

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). This is why we pour out our lives in the course of world missions. The greatest obstacle to the everlasting happiness of every culture, every people group on the planet, is the wrath of God.

One thing can remove this obstacle: the love of God, propitiating the wrath of God through the death of the Son of God to vindicate the glory of God. Romans 3:25: “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood.” But right here, at the most important point in redemptive history, at the most horrible, sinful point in history, the providence of God is in total control, without which there would be no salvation. Acts 4:27–28:

Truly in this city [Jerusalem] 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 plan had predestined to take place.

Herod, Pilate, mobs, soldiers — you thought you were threatening and destroying the saving purposes of God. No. You were fulfilling them. In God’s providence you were doing whatever God’s hand and God’s plan had predestined to take place. “You meant it for evil. God meant it for good.”

The Threat of Satan and Sin

So now, the ransom for Christ’s bride is paid, the sins are covered, the condemnation is endured and past, the justice is satisfied, the impeding wrath is removed. But for the bride to enjoy all of this purchase, she must hear and believe (Romans 10:14–17). And Satan, in concert with human depravity, will do everything in their power (Satan and sin’s power) to keep that from happening.

Satan and sin conspire to turn kings and governors — the ones who make laws and break laws that hinder the spread of the gospel. “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you . . . and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake” (Luke 21:12). And what does that mean for the spread of the gospel? “The kings of the earth . . . and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed. . . . He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision” (Psalm 2:2–4).

Why? Because “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 4:32). “He removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21). When they are in place, they act according to his plan: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will” (Proverbs 21:1).

Do you think, O king of Assyria, because you destroy my people, that you are not a hatchet in my hand?

Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
     or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
     or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! (Isaiah 10:15)

No. When Satan and sin conspire to raise up kings and governors against the mission of God, they cannot succeed. They simply find themselves to be advancing his ultimate purpose. “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

The Threat of Disaster

But what about disease, like missionary kids in intensive care? What about freak accidents that take two missionaries from driving over a cliff, or a whole family of five wiped out on their way to the mission field? What about imprisonment and murder?

Disease? We have a sovereign Lord in heaven, to whom all authority is given. He rebuked fevers (Luke 4:39), cleansed lepers with a touch (Luke 5:13), opened the eyes of the blind (Matthew 9:29), made the deaf hear and the mute speak and the lame walk (Mark 7:34–35; Matthew 11:5). He raised the dead (Luke 7:14), and all the powers of hell obeyed him (Mark 1:27). And he “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

To be sure, Satan strikes with sickness (Luke 13:16). But he is on a leash. He cannot act contrary to God’s decisive plan. God can step in at any moment. And what he permits Satan to do, he wills to permit. He plans to permit. He doesn’t permit on the spur of the moment. He plans his permissions, and planned permission is providence. This is why Job 2:7 says, “Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores.”

But Job, three verses later, says, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” To which the inspired author comments, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). Indeed, the writer speaks his final word over the whole book in Job 42:11: “[Job’s family] showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.” And Paul called his painful thorn in the flesh “a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Corinthians 12:7). How it must gall Satan to be made the means of Christian holiness. “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

And yes, Satan throws into prison (Revelation 2:10). Satan kills Christians (Revelation 2:10). Satan orchestrates freak accidents (John 8:44; 12:31). But from God’s standpoint, there are no accidents — freak or otherwise.

James 4:15 tells us how to speak of random events: “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” If the Lord wills, we live. If the Lord wills, we die. We are immortal until our work is done. And while we live, James says, “this or that” will happen to us if God wills. From man’s viewpoint it can feel like “random this, random that.” But not with God. “If the Lord wills, this or that happens,” no matter how freakish it looks to us.

And if Satan and the enemies of God rub their hands together in triumph when a Christian witness languishes and dies, let them hear this word from Revelation 12:11: “They have conquered [the accuser, the serpent] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” The death of a Christian is not Satan’s victory. All of heaven knows it, and we need to teach our people to know it.

The Threat of Shipwreck

Glance briefly at one last threat to God’s plan. God’s ultimate purposes would fail if Satan’s blinding power over the depraved human heart were sovereign. If he could hold God’s elect in the blindness of spiritual death, or if he could deceive the Christian elect and cause them to turn away from the path of holiness and make shipwreck of their faith, God’s purposes would fail.

Neither Satan nor man is sovereign, either in the blindness of unbelievers or the fragile perseverance of Christian faith. God is. And over the new birth of every blood-bought sinner fly the words, “[God] made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5). And over the miracle of every glory-seeing and glory-savoring Christian flies the banner, “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

At the end of every person’s life, for those who have persevered in faith, fought the good fight, finished the race, flies the banner, “Now to him who has kept me from stumbling and presented me blameless before the presence of his glory 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” (see Jude 24–25).

Providence Will Stand

I conclude that the truth of God, the promises of God, triumph.

• The gospel of Jesus Christ will successfully penetrate all the peoples of the world, and will gather into Christ all of God’s ransomed elect.
• All of these ransomed, the bride of Christ, will be sanctified, glorified, and made perfectly beautiful for the eternal enjoyment of her divine Husband.
• This beauty of the bride will be the sinless echo of Christ’s excellencies, his preciousness, reverberating back in the all-satisfying pleasures that his people find in him forever and ever.

These truths, these realities, cannot fail, because God’s providence is his all-governing, all-pervasive, purposeful sovereignty, or, as he himself says, in Isaiah 46:10, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”