Luke 17:34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN GOD'S ACTING AS A SOVEREIGN. 1. His acting as a sovereign implies that He always acts after the counsel of His own will, without consulting the will, or pleasure, or counsel of any other being. 2. His acting as a sovereign implies that He always acts not only without the counsel, but without the control, of any created beings. II. IN WHAT RESPECTS HE ACTS AS A SOVEREIGN IN TAKING AWAY THE LIVES OF MEN. Here it may be observed — 1. That He acts as a sovereign in respect to appointing the time of every one's death. 2. God acts as a sovereign in determining not only the time, but the place of every one's death. 3. God acts as a sovereign in respect to the means of death. 4. God acts as a sovereign in regard to the circumstances of death. He takes one, and leaves another, under the very same circumstances. He takes one, and leaves another, according to the order in which He has been pleased to place their names in death's commission, regardless of all exterior circumstances or distinctions. 5. God acts as a sovereign in calling men out of the world, whether they are willing or unwilling to leave it. 6. God displays His awful sovereignty by calling men out of time into eternity, whether they are prepared or not prepared to go to their long home. III. WHY GOD ACTS AS A SOVEREIGN IN THIS VERY IMPORTANT CASE. Several plain and pertinent reasons may be mentioned. 1. Because He has an independent right to act as a sovereign in taking away the lives of men. He is the former of their bodies, and Father of their spirits. In Him they live, and move, and have their being. 2. God acts as a sovereign in the article of death, because He only knows when and where to put a period to human life. 3. Another reason why God disposes of the lives of men as a sovereign, in all those respects which have been mentioned, is because He is under indispensable moral obligations to dispose of His own creatures in the wisest and best manner. Application: 1. If God acts as a sovereign in taking away the lives of men, then the aged have great reason of gratitude for the continuance of life. 2. If God acts as a sovereign in taking away the lives of men, then they ought to maintain a constant and realizing sense that their lives are uncertain. 3. If God acts as a sovereign in taking away the lives of men, then they ought to avoid every mode of conduct which tends to stupify their minds, and create an insensibility to the uncertainty of life. 4. If God acts as a sovereign in taking away the lives of men, then it is not strange that He causes so many sudden and unexpected deaths. 5. It appears from what has been said that there is a solid foundation for the most cordial and unreserved submission under the heaviest bereavements. They come from the hand and heart of a holy, wise, and benevolent Sovereign, who has a right to take one, and leave another, and who never afflicts willingly, or grieves the children of men. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. |
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