Chance and the Sovereignty of God

A God-Centered Approach to Probability and Random Events

Good News Publishers

Contents

THE BIBLE AS A SOURCE FOR KNOWLEDGE

What is chance? Can we know? How can we find out the truth about accidental events?

THE BIBLE AS A SOURCE

The Bible indicates that God is the ultimate source for knowledge. God knows all things, including everything that there is to know about chance. God's "understanding is unsearchable" (Isa. 40:28). Whatever we know, we know because God has made it known to us: "He who teaches man knowledge — the Lord — knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath" (Ps. 94:10–11).

God is the source of knowledge even of an ordinary sort (Isa. 28:24–29). He is present when we read a book or a page on the Internet, and he has given to the writers of books and Internet articles whatever abilities and sources that they use. He is also present in giving us memories and preserving them. I know from my memory and from my own eyesight what happened when my family escaped the near accident on our vacation. According to the Bible, such knowledge is a gift from God.

But some knowledge is not so ordinary. Can I know why my family escaped an accident? Why does one gambler win $50,000 and another lose? Is there a reason? Or is it just "chance" or "luck"? Is there no further explanation? And what do we mean by "chance" or "luck"? What is it, at a fundamental level?

God knows the answer to such questions. But we do not — unless God says something to us to explain and to give answers. The Bible claims to be God's own word: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). I believe that the Bible's claim is true. It does indeed give us God's instruction. So we can study the Bible to find answers to these questions. And when we do, we find that the Bible does have teaching about so-called "chance" events.

IS THE BIBLE RELIABLE?

But we live in a time of widespread skepticism. People doubt whether God exists. Or if they think there is a God, they doubt whether the Bible is really God's word. Many books have argued the case. We are not going to repeat all the arguments here, but we may briefly note two of them.

First, the Old Testament part of the Bible, written hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, contains prophecies about Christ's coming that were fulfilled in his earthly life. Christ was born in Bethlehem, just as it was prophesied 700 years beforehand in the prophecy of Micah (Mic. 5:2; compare Matt. 2:1–6). Jesus's crucifixion was prophesied 700 years beforehand in Isaiah 53. Jesus established God's reign of salvation during the time of the Roman Empire, just as Daniel had prophesied 600 years earlier (Dan. 2:44). Jesus's ministry was preceded by a forerunner, John the Baptist, just as the prophet Malachi had predicted 400 years earlier (Mal. 3:1; compare Mark 1:2–4).

Second, Jesus himself testifies to the divine authority of the Old Testament when he says,

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matt. 5:17–18)

We leave to other books the detailed arguments about the authority of the Bible. Here we are going to rely on it to instruct us about issues involving chance and chance events. If you are not yet convinced about God or the Bible, I would still invite you to read, because God may still be pleased to use his wisdom in the Bible to teach you both about him and about chance.

GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY

According to the Bible, God created the world and everything in it:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1)

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made my man. (Acts 17:24)

there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Cor. 8:6)

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Ps. 121:2)

God created heaven and earth long ago. What about his present involvement in the world? The philosophy called deism says that God created everything, but afterwards was uninvolved. He made the world as if he were winding a clock. After the clock is wound up, it runs "by itself," and the clockmaker — that is, God — does not need to attend to it.

But the Bible contradicts deism. It indicates that God continually sustains the world that he has made:

He [God the Son] upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Heb. 1:3)

In him [the Son] all things hold together. (Col. 1:17)

In him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)

In addition, Psalm 121:2 talks about "help" from the Lord in the present: "My help comes from the Lord." God's past work in creating the world, far from being an excuse for him to walk away, confirms and undergirds God's availability in the present. (See fig. 2.1.) He is active with his power and his help. Psalm 121:2 adds the reminder "who made heaven and earth" partly to back up the conviction that, in the present time as in the beginning, "my help comes from the Lord."

Other psalms make the same point:

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth. (Ps. 124:8)

May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth. (134:3)

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever; (146:5–6)

We can see a similar point in Isaiah 51:12–13:

I, I am he who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass,
and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the wrath of the oppressor?

Isaiah 51:12–13 says that the Lord made the heavens and the earth. Before and after this key claim, the passage gives practical comfort. Its says, "I, I am he who comforts you"; and it counsels God's people not to fear the power of man or the power of "the oppressor." Why do they not need to fear? Because God is more powerful — in fact, supremely powerful. The power exhibited when God created the world is still available for the comfort and protection of God's people today. Thus, biblical teaching on creation supports faith in God in the present. (See fig. 2.2.)

Psalm 121:2 and Isaiah 51:12–13 fit together with many other passages that confirm God's continued involvement with the world:

You [God] cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate. (Ps. 104:14)

From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. (104:13)

You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about. (104:20)

These [animals] all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground. (104:27–30)

For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders;
he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and rules to Israel. (147:13–19)

We also find summary statements that affirm God's universal control over what happens:

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all. (Ps. 103:19)

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. (Eph. 1:11)

Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come? (Lam. 3:37–38)

For his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, "What have you done?" (Dan. 4:34–35)

This universal control is called God's providence or his providential rule.

PROVIDENCE AND SCIENCE

How does God's rule over the world fit in with modern sciences? Sciences study regularities in the present order of the world. These regularities are the product of God's specification. For example, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). By speaking, God not only created the world but also continues to rule it. Note in other verses the key role of God's word:

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host. (Ps. 33:6)

He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. (147:15–18)

He upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Heb. 1:3)

Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come? (Lam. 3:37–38)

The Bible uses other kinds of descriptions as well, but the descriptions in terms of God's speech are particularly useful as we think about science. God's speech is the real law governing the world. Scientific theories approximate God's speech, and so in their theories scientists think God's thoughts after him. God planned the character of the entire universe. His thoughts about the world were in his mind even before he created it. Scientists are made in the image of God, and so their minds have the capability of imitating God's thoughts. They imitate God when they try to reconstruct the laws that originated in God's mind. There is no tension between God's providence and science, when we understand science in harmony with what the Bible says about God's speech.

GOD'S PLAN

The Bible also indicates that God's ongoing providential rule is in accord with a plan that he has already made. Ephesians 1:11 indicates that what happens is in accord with "the counsel of his will":

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

The events have "been predestined," that is, determined beforehand, indicating that God's plan is already in place. Isaiah makes a similar point about God's purposes as he proclaims the superiority of God to all idols:

for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, "My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,"
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it. (Isa. 46:9–11)

Ephesians 1:4 says that "he chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world," indicating that God's plan goes back to before the beginning of creation. These verses indicate the magnificence of God's power and wisdom; they also underscore the security of those who are chosen by God, because God's purposes for them will be accomplished.

PRACTICAL TRUST

God's providential rule has practical implications. As we saw from Psalm 121:2, we are meant to trust that he can come to help us. Similar language about trusting God occurs in other psalms:

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me? (Ps. 118:6)

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. (46:1–3)

The Bible indicates that our trust in God should extend to all areas of life. We should trust in matters of war:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright. (20:7–8)

We should trust when beset by enemies:

O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me. (25:2)

We should trust when we are afraid:

When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you. (56:3)

We should trust in him for the security of our lives:

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever. (125:1)

Psalm 62:8 sums it up: "Trust in him at all times, O people."

CHRIST'S CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION

General principles about God's faithfulness and control over the world fit together with many particular examples that the Bible records. The supreme example occurs in Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, which were prophesied in the Old Testament and predicted by Christ during his earthly life (Isa. 53:7–12; Matt. 16:21; 17:11, 22–23; 20:18–19; 21:39; 26:2, 24, 31–32, 45–46). What happened to Christ was "whatever your [God's] hand and your plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:28). God's commitment to us through Christ gives us security:

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:31–32)

The book of Romans indicates that since God is committed to people in this way through Christ, all things work for good for those who belong to Christ:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28)