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God has traditionally been seen as a king or monarch

• For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. Psalm 47:7
• God is the King. In him exists all legal authority. Orson Pratt
• God is unchanging in His love. He loves you. He has a plan for your life. Don’t let the newspaper headlines frighten you. God is still sovereign; He’s still on the throne. Billy Graham
• Praise, my soul, the King of heaven; to his feet thy tribute bring; ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, evermore his praises sing…. God, my King, thy might confessing, ever will I bless thy Name; day by day thy throne addressing, still will I thy praise proclaim…. All hail the power of Jesus name! Let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all!  Hymn
• We have in effect renounced our Worldly citizenship when we receive the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords, God of Heaven, Son of Righteousness and the Kingdom of Heaven into our hearts, and have made the Heavenly City our Home! David Berg
• The rights essential to happiness. . . . We claim them from a higher source – from the King of kings and Lord of all the earth. John Dickinson
• The Lord is our God, our judge, and our king, and He shall reign over us. John Taylor
• The kingdom of God is a crash-bang opera: the king is dramatic, demanding, and unavoidable. Alan Hirsch
• The God of this metaphor is a monarch, a divine monarch. He is addressed most often as lord. He is also called king and judge, master and warrior. He is viewed as powerful and mighty, as well as majestic and full of splendor. Flora A. Keshgegian
• The God of Israel is King of kings and Lord of lords… He know, and foreknows, all things, and his foreknowledge is foreordination; he, therefore, will have the last word, both in world history and in the destiny of every man; his kingdom and righteousness will triumph in the end, for neither men nor angels shall be able to thwart him. I. Packer
• The dominant imagery in Christianity has been monarchical. The classical picture employs royalist, triumphalist metaphors. depicting God as king, lord and patriarch who rules over and cares for the world and human beings. Sally McFague
• God as lord and master remains a sovereign, reigning over all, determining people’s lives and willing what happens to them. These images of God are embedded throughout the worship and hymnody of many Christian churches. God is ever being addressed as almighty and as king of glory. Prayers to God declare “your will be done.” Preachers proclaim God as the one directing our lives. Depictions of God as an absolute monarch, regal and majestic, as well as a mighty warrior, victorious in battle, have filled the prayers, music, art, and literature of churches for centuries. Flora A. Keshgegian
• God as lord is often pictured as seated upon a throne, ruling all and meting out justice. He reigns from above, over a tiered and hierarchical chical universe. Any monarch needs a court and God is no exception, so throngs of angels and archangels, the heavenly hosts surround the lord. This court may also include the chosen ones whom the lord has allowed into his presence, that is, those who enjoy heaven, an eternal paradise. Flora A. Keshgegian
• From every pulpit in the land it needs to be thundered forth that God still lives, that God still observes, … still reigns. Faith is now in the crucible, it is being tested by fire, and there is no fixed… resting place for the heart and mind but in the Throne of God. What is needed now, as never before, is a full, positive, constructive setting forth of the Godhood of God. Arthur W. Pink

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God is in charge and in total control

• A chief strength of this metaphor is affirmation of the power of God. God is almighty; God is in charge. Many people claim this as “blessed assurance;’ especially in times when evil seems to be winning out, when they are oppressed or in great need. In situations and times that people may feel powerless, the faith that there is a higher power, greater than themselves, can offer comfort, solace, and strength. Whether subject to a form of personal captivity, such as addiction, or political captivity, such as living under an oppressive regime or being the object of discrimination and terror, imagining God as more powerful than one’s captors and oppressors can support survival and even the ability to produce change. Flora A. Keshgegian
• A view of God as all powerful may also provide secure footing in a world that would otherwise seem to be ruled by chance and chaos. In the affirmation that nothing that happens is by chance or even by accident, that everything is God’s will, is the assurance that there is meaning and purpose to all of life. As meaning seeking creatures, we human beings want to hold on to a belief that life and all that happens in it has purpose. Especially in the face of great tragedy and harm, even if we cannot imagine and fathom the purpose, we may find solace in knowing that such purpose exists in the mind of God. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Another strength of this metaphor is just that reminder: our vision and knowledge is limited. We do not have God’s perspective on things. Our evaluative judgments are based on partial knowledge. We do not see the whole picture and so cannot be sure that our perspectives, let alone judgments, are true. Therefore, if we desire to act wisely, we would refrain from absolute pronouncements and judgments. Flora A. Keshgegian
• For those who relate to this metaphor for God, this affirmation is freeing and empowering. It releases them from carrying their burdens alone. It promises them that someone else, upon whom they may rely, is in charge. They are not vulnerable to chance and chaos. Ultimately, evil will be defeated and the powers of this world put in their place. Such assurances surely evoke praise, the primary mode of prayer to God the monarch. Flora A. Keshgegian
• God is in charge and will prevail. Who are we to question him? Further, God does not need to explain his actions to us, let alone offer any justification fication for them. It is we who are to obey God, not God who needs to answer to us in any way. We need to have faith that God is good and true to his promises to us. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Nothing is a surprise to God; nothing is a setback to His plans; nothing can thwart His purposes; and nothing is beyond His control. His sovereignty is absolute. Everything that happens is uniquely ordained by God. Sovereignty is a weighty thing to ascribe to the nature and character of God. Yet if He were not sovereign, He would not be God. The Bible is clear that God is in control of everything that happens. Joni Eareckson Tada
• God’s Providence controls the universe. It is present everywhere. Providence is the sovereign Logos of God, imprinting form on the unformed materiality of the world, making and fashioning all things. Matter could not have acquired an articulated structure were it not for the directing power of the Logos Who is the Image, Intellect, Wisdom, and Providence of God. Anthony the Great
• This is the essence of God’s sovereignty; His absolute independence to do as He pleases and His absolute control over the actions of all His creatures. No creature, person, or empire can either thwart His will or act outside the bounds of His will. Jerry Bridges
• Most Christians salute the sovereignty of God but believe in the sovereignty of man. C. Sproul
• God has power to create, or destroy, make, or unmake at his pleasure, to give life, or send death, to judge all, and to be judged nor accountable to none: to raise low things, and to make high things low at his pleasure, and to God are both soul and body due. King James I

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God as king is all powerful

• God the monarch is not just powerful and mighty, he is all powerful and almighty. Since God is beyond compare, whatever characterizes him is necessarily in the superlative mode. God cannot simply be powerful or comparatively more powerful. He must be the most powerful. Ultimately, all power is his. This is what the term omnipotent, used in reference to God, means. The other “omni” attributes of God are omnipresent and omniscient. Omnia is the Latin term for “all.” So God is all powerful, all present, and all knowing. Even though presence and knowing are distinct attributes, the point of all the “omnis” is to affirm God’s power. God is everywhere, always. God knows everything. Therefore, there is nowhere God is not and nothing that God does not know, throughout time and eternity. God is not limited or localized in any way. Flora A. Keshgegian
• God the monarch’s primary attributes include power and might, as well as majesty and splendor. Hymns depict this God and offer him praise. Flora A. Keshgegian
• God’s will functions in the superlative mode as well. Because God is all powerful, all present, and all knowing, God’s will is in total control, all directing and all determining. God’s will is absolute, not subject to influence or limitation. God is able to do whatever God wants. Nor does God have to answer to anyone or anything for his actions. God is not accountable other than to himself. Flora A. Keshgegian
• God’s will is also supreme. There is nothing beyond it. Anything other or less would be a compromise of God’s power, if not the very nature of God. Thus, God’s will is omnipotent, able to do and accomplish plish whatever it chooses. Flora A. Keshgegian
• In such a world the monarch rules absolutely. Everyone and everything thing are subordinate to him. They have to obey his will. They exist to serve him. Indeed, their very lives are dependent on him. In the ancient Near East, where Judaism and Christianity were birthed and grew, oriental potentates presided over kingdoms and empires. They commanded manded obedience and deference. All power and privilege was theirs, to mete out to others as they chose. Flora A. Keshgegian
• It is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do. King James I
• That which concerns the mystery of the King’s power is not lawful to be disputed; for that is to wade into the weakness of Princes, and to take away the mystical reverence that belongs unto them that sit in the throne of God. King James I

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God is absolute sovereign

• Sovereign: A supreme ruler, especially a monarch. Oxford Dictionary
• Sovereign: One that exercises supreme authority. Merriam Webster
• God is not harsh; He is holy. He is not selfish; He is sovereign. He is not unfeeling; He is all-knowing. Like David, we need to come to know Him, and respect Him; and, like David, we will love Him more. Beth Moore
• We must settle in our hearts that no matter what, God is sovereign. Beth Moore
• If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God. C. Sproul
• To the one who delights in the sovereignty of God the clouds not only have a ‘silver lining’ but they are silver all through, the darkness only serving to offset the light! Arthur W. Pink
• The sovereignty of God is the only foundation for worship in the midst of tragedy. David Platt
• Any conception of a god that is less than sovereign is an idol and no god at all. C. Sproul
• There is not one piece of cosmic dust that is outside the scope of God’s sovereign providence. C. Sproul
• I think to trust in the sovereignty of God does not excuse my personal responsibility. Just the opposite – it equips me to be personally responsible. Max Lucado
• God’s sovereignty is not in His right hand; God’s sovereignty is not in His intellect; God’s sovereignty is in His love. Henry Ward Beecher
• God is sovereign, that is He is the boss. He is in control. He is the supreme ruler of heaven and earth for all of eternity. He is Lord. We don’t make Him Lord. He is Lord. And joy comes when we acknowledge that He is Lord; we rest in His Lordship. We trust His sovereignty, and we surrender to it. That means that God has the right to give, and God has the right to take away. Nancy Leigh DeMoss
• If the God you believe in is not a sovereign God, then you really don’t believe in God. C. Sproul
• God is love (1 John 4:8, 16) and God is sovereign (Acts 4:24). Those biblical truths must define our response to every circumstance in life. David Jeremiah
• God’s sovereign will is not at the whim and mercy of our person and individual responses to it. C. Sproul
• I believe the sovereign God of the universe justifies us freely, and then we are called to run with him in sanctification. Matt Chandler
• We Recognize No Sovereign but God. John Adams
• The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God. Margaret Clarkson
• Because God is sovereign, He is able to answer. Because He is faithful to His promises, He will answer. Jerry Bridges
• God is sovereign. His grace cannot be tamed. Kent Hughes
• God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never mitigates human responsibility. A. Carson
• As children of a sovereign God, we are never victims of our circumstances. Charles Stanley
• A Heavenly Master governs all the world as Sovereign of the universe. We are astonished at Him by reason of His perfection, we honor Him and fall down before Him because of His unlimited power. From blind physical necessity, which is always and everywhere the same, no variety adhering to time and place could evolve, and all variety of created objects which represent order and life in the universe could happen only by the willful reasoning of its original Creator, Whom I call the Lord God. Isaac Newton
• To say that God’s sovereignty is limited by man’s freedom is to make man sovereign. C. Sproul

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God is lord of lords

• …we must all offer up a hymn of praise to the God… who is ‘Lord of lords’ (Deut. 10:17, Ps. 136:1, I Tim. 6:15, Rev. 17:14, 19:16)… Lordship is not simply a matter of being superior with respect to inferiors but a complete possession of all that is beautiful and good, and is furthermore a true and unshakable stability. Pope Dionysius
• God has a right to interrupt your life. He is Lord. When you accepted Him as Lord, you gave Him the right to help Himself to your life anytime He wants. Henry Blackaby
• He rules all things, not as the world soul but as the lord of all. Isaac Newton
• If God is the Creator of the entire universe, then it must follow that He is the Lord of the whole universe. No part of the world is outside of His lordship. That means that no part of my life must be outside of His lordship. C. Sproul
• He rules all things, not as the world soul but as the lord of all. And because of his dominion he is called Lord God Pantokrator”. For “god” is a relative word and has reference to servants, and godhood is the lordship of God, not over his own body “as is supposed by those for whom God is the world soul’, but over servants. Isaac Newton

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God exists externally from the world on a throne

• A throne is God’s purpose for you; a cross is God’s path for you; faith is God’s plan for you. Alan Redpath
• All of history is moving toward one great goal, the white-hot worship of God and his Son among all the peoples of the earth. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man…. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. John Piper
• Converting grace puts God on the throne, and the world at His footstool; Christ in the heart, and the world under His feet. Joseph Alleine
• God is still on His throne, we’re still on His ‘footstool,’ and there’s only a knee’s distance between! Jim Elliot
• God literally moves his throne from heaven. When this happens the church is building a chair, a seat, a place for God to come. Tommy Tenney
• In Fellowship; alone To God, with Faith, draw near, Approach His Courts, besiege His Throne With all the power of Prayer. Charles Wesley
• It is a throne of grace that God in Christ is represented to us upon; but yet is is a throne still whereon majesty and glory do reside, and God is always to be considered by us as on a throne. John Owen
• It is faith among men that holds the moral elements of society together, as it is faith in God that binds the world to his throne. William M. Evarts
• If you would have clear and irrefragable for a perpetual joy, a glory and a defense, the unwavering confidence, “I am Thy child,” go to God’s throne, and lie down at the foot of it, and let the first thought be, “My Father in heaven;” and that will brighten, that will establish, that will make omnipotent in your life, the witness of the Spirit that you are the child of God. Alexander MacLaren
• Men will allow God to be everywhere except on his Throne. Charles Spurgeon
• God, make us desperate, and grant us faith and boldness to approach Your throne and make our petitions known, knowing that in doing we link arms with Omnipotence and become instruments of Your eternal purposes being fulfilled on this earth. Nancy Leigh DeMoss
• Science is but a mere heap of facts, not a golden chain of truths, if we refuse to link it to the throne of God. Frances Power Cobbe
• The great soul that sits on the throne of the universe is not, never was, and never will be, in a hurry. Bill Vaughan
• Your life may have taken a detour, but God is still on the throne. He has brought you this far, and sooner or later, your peace will be restored. Joel Osteen

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…a throne in heaven

• His throne is the pulpit. He stands in Christ’s stead. His message is the Word of God. Around him are immortal souls. The Savior, unseen, is beside him. The Holy Spirit broods over the congregation. Angels gaze upon the scene, and heaven and hell await the issue. What associations and what vast responsibility! Matthew Simpson

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God as king is also seen as a judge

• When I stand before the throne of God, I shall be judged innocent. Klaus Barbie

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God is the ruler of the universe

• Under the blessings of Divine Providence… It becomes us, in humility, to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored. James K. Polk
• The sea hath no king but God alone. Dante Gabriel Rossetti

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God rules over our lives

• God will rule the lives of all those who will surrender themselves without reservation to Him. Mahatma Gandhi
• God does not rule by the consent of His subjects but by His sovereign authority. His reign extends over me whether I vote for Him or not. C. Sproul
• I believe God rules all by his divine providence and that the stars by his permission are instruments. William Lilly
• God either rules as sovereign in interpretation over all areas of life or none. Greg L. Bahnsen
• God is in control, and therefore in EVERYTHING I can give thanks – not because of the situation but because of the One who directs and rules over it. Kay Arthur
• There is a higher power, a higher influence, a God who rules and reigns and controls circumstances and situations that are beyond your area and realm of authority. D. Jakes
• We can each rest in the knowledge that God is sovereign over our life’s situation. No matter where we are today or what mistakes we’ve made in the past, He has given us everything we need to glorify Him right now. Joshua Harris
• If God and his grace do not rule us, sin and Satan will have possession of us. Matthew Henry

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God rules over the heart…

• God does not rule the world outwardly by gravitation and chemical affinity, but inwardly in the heart of man: as is your soul, so will the destiny be of the world in which you live and do. Egon Friedell
• God has two thrones, on in the highest heavens, the other in the lowliest heart. Dwight L. Moody
• God to be God must rule the heart and transform it. Mahatma Gandhi
• God does not rule the world outwardly by gravitation and chemical affinity, but inwardly in the heart of man: as is your soul, so will the destiny be of the world in which you live and do. Egon Friedell

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…and mind

• If our minds are stayed upon God, His peace will rule the affairs entertained by our minds. Woodrow M. Kroll

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The earth is God’s footstool

• He is not the soul of Nature, nor any part of Nature. He inhabits eternity: He dwells in a high and holy place: heaven is His throne, not his vehicle, earth is his footstool, not his vesture. One day he will dismantle both and make a new heaven and earth. He is not to be identified even with the ‘divine spark’ in man. He is ‘God and not man. S. Lewis
• Earth, thou great footstool of our God, who reigns on high; thou fruitful source of all our raiment, life, and food; our house, our parent, and our nurse. Isaac Watts

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God, the king, brings order

• Order is manifestly maintained in the universe… governed by the sovereign will of God. James Prescott Joule

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God’s rule is not tyranny

• Tyranny: Oppressive power. Merriam Webster
• The rule of God is not tyranny, for it does not partake of a political or governmental character — it is not a rule of authority. God is not a governor of the universe, for a governor rules over those of a like nature with himself, and exercises a political and judicial power, while God exercises a creative, a preserving, and a determinative power of an altogether different kind. If I am a servant of God, I am under no tyranny; for God does not govern, but supports, sustains, and directs me. William Batchelder Greene
• The one thing about God that’s so beautiful is He is omnipotent, and He is the Almighty. But He’s not a dictator. Smokey Robinson

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…for God as king is coupled with God as love and wisdom

• Although the sovereignty of God is universal and absolute, it is not the sovereignty of blind power. It is coupled with infinite wisdom, holiness and love. And this doctrine, when properly understood, is a most comforting and reassuring one. Who would not prefer to have his affairs in the hands of a God of infinite power, wisdom, holiness and love, rather than to have them left to fate, or chance, or irrevocable natural law, or to short-sighted and perverted self? Those who reject God’s sovereignty should consider what alternatives they have left. Loraine Boettner
• Although the sovereignty of God is universal and absolute, it is not the sovereignty of blind power. It is coupled with infinite wisdom, holiness and love. And this doctrine, when properly understood, is a most comforting and reassuring one. Who would not prefer to have his affairs in the hands of a God of infinite power, wisdom, holiness and love, rather than to have them left to fate, or chance, or irrevocable natural law, or to short-sighted and perverted self? Those who reject God’s sovereignty should consider what alternatives they have left. Loraine Boettner

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When God is king, our role is to follow God’s will

• In the beginning and in the end, in all the churches that view God as an almighty ruler and monarch, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, God’s will is the mark and measure of all that happens and all that the faithful are to be and do. “Your will be done” is the constant refrain of those faithful. Flora A. Keshgegian
• If God has already determined the course of our lives, then our job is to discern God’s will and then obey it or fulfill it. Depending on how much of our lives we understand as scripted by God, we will view the task of discernment and obedience in different ways. Flora A. Keshgegian
• What does God will? What does God intend, control, and determine? These are key questions that may occupy those who favor this metaphor for God. The answer is often that all of life, and what happens in it, is already designed and laid out by God. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Teach me, my God and king In all things thee to see And what I do in anything To do it as for thee. George Herbert
• We cannot enjoy peace in this world unless we are ready to yield to the will of God in respect of death. Our times are in His hand, at His sovereign disposal. We must accept that as best. John Owen

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When God is king, we cannot demand, only ask humbly

• Such petitioning and pleading reflect the truth that God as monarch and judge is the one with the power and authority to act, determine and decree. All we can do is ask, humbly. We cannot demand or even expect anything other than what God wills and gives. We may trust in God’s fairness and mercy, but we have no right, no position of power or privilege of our own from which to demand anything from God. Flora A. Keshgegian
• The other main form of prayer directed toward God the monarch is petition. In prayers of petition we ask God for things, for what we want and need, for ourselves, for others, and for the world. Petition is probably the most common form of prayer to God, and we will revisit it in succeeding chapters. In this metaphor for God, however, those who pray not only petition God for what they need and want, but they also plead with God. Since God is totally is charge, and God’s will rules and determines all, prayers involve such an element of plea. Flora A. Keshgegian

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When God is king, we can trust God is in control

• It is in those times of hopeless chaos when the sovereign hand of God is most likely to be seen. Thomas Chalmers
• The presence of hope in the invincible sovereignty of God drives out fear. John Piper
• When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you lay your head. Charles Spurgeon
• God is unchanging in His love. He loves you. He has a plan for your life. Don’t let the newspaper headlines frighten you. God is still sovereign; He’s still on the throne. Billy Graham
• What happens when we acknowledge the sovereignty and power of God without trusting in His goodness and faithfulness? A pitcher who saw God’s power behind his extremely unlikely rise to the big leagues wondered if, at any difficulty he encountered there, God might be taking his ability away. Michael Lewis
• Do all things without grumbling. Why? You have a sovereign God who is on your side, who works everything together for your good. John Piper
• Worry springs from not being convinced of a sovereign God’s absolute love for you. Worry disappears when you realize that God loves you unfailingly and will let nothing interrupt His plans for your good. D. Greear
• It is our confidence in the sovereign grace of God that gives us any hope of success in missions. Kevin DeYoung
• We have nothing to fear, because God is sovereign. David Platt

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If God is in complete control, we must allow God to govern…

• God doesn’t need our consent in order to govern us; He made us. R. C. Sproul
• God has called His creation to find satisfaction in a personal relationship with Him, and stop trying to manage the world by conforming it to our expectations, and to allow Him to govern His creation. He continues to say through an ancient Hebrew worship song, “Be still and know that I am God!” Charles R. Swindoll
• Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped. Benjamin Franklin
• I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? Benjamin Franklin
• Let me remind you that this is God’s universe, and He is doing things His way. You may think you have a better way, but you don’t have a universe to rule. J. Vernon McGee
• The longer I live the more convinced I become that God governs in the affairs of men. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance. Benjamin Franklin
• What discord should we bring into the universe if our prayers were all answered! Then we should govern the world, and not God. And do you think we should govern it better? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• You must also remember that the world has God to govern it, and He has not left it to our charity. The Lord God is its Governor and Maintainer, and in spite of these wine fanatics and cigar fanatics, and all sorts of marriage fanatics, it would go on. If all these persons were to die, it would go on none the worse. Swami Vivekananda

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…which means we can resign our job as general manager of the universe

• For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe. Larry Eisenberg
• I could imagine God saying to a lot of us, “Hey, I’m God, and you’re not. You’re not the general manager of the universe.” And the greatest stress reliever is take God seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously. Rick Warren
• If you want peace of mind I suggest you resign as general manager of the universe. Dan Millman
• Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you… Remember that the lives of others are not your business. They are their business. They are God’s busineess… Even your own life is not your business. It also is God’s Business. Leave it to God. Frederick Buechner

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When God is king, we must be obedient to God’s rules

• Obedience is our responsibility. The outcome is God’s responsibility. As we learn to trust him with our future, trust him with those we love, trust him as our provider, and trust his sovereign plan, that gives us the foundation to step out in faith. We can trust that he’ll always be faithful. Craig Groeschel
• To believe in God is to know that all the rules will be fair, and that there will be wonderful surprises. Ugo Betti
• Legalistic remorse says, “I broke God’s rules,” while real repentance says, “I broke God’s heart.” Timothy Keller
• We need great people who understand that their success is wrapped up in the sovereignty of God. Graham Cooke

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When God is king, we can see ourselves as soldiers in God’s army

• If there is a God, the King of kings, there is also a Kingdom. If there is a Kingdom, there must also be an army. Now the question is, are you in this army and are you willing to fight for your King? Artur Pawlowski
• In its cruder versions, God is the king who fights on the side of his chosen ones to bring their enemies down; in more refined versions, God is the father who will not let his children suffer. The first view supports militarism. the second supports escapism. Sallie McFague

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When God is king, we must surrender to the sovereignty of God

• God is sovereign, that is He is the boss. He is in control. He is the supreme ruler of heaven and earth for all of eternity. He is Lord. We don’t make Him Lord. He is Lord. And joy comes when we acknowledge that He is Lord; we rest in His Lordship. We trust His sovereignty, and we surrender to it. That means that God has the right to give, and God has the right to take away. Nancy Leigh DeMoss
• True faith is trusting the sovereign God even when we don’t understand. Hank Hanegraaff
• Take a firm grasp on God’s sovereignty and trust His love even when you don’t understand His purpose. Joyce Meyer
• Our duty is found in the revealed will of God in the Scriptures. Our trust must be in the sovereign will of God as He works in the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives for our good and His glory. Jerry Bridges
• In regard of God, patience is a submission to His sovereignty. To endure a trial, simply because we cannot avoid or resist it, is not Christian patience. But to humbly submit because it is the will of God to inflict the trial, to be silent because the sovereignty of God orders it – is true godly patience. Stephen Charnock

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When God is king, we are commanded to worship God

• God the all powerful monarch commands and demands worship. The point of such worship is to affirm God’s power and greatness. It is to extol who God is and what God is able to do, which are always in contrast to who we are and how little we are able to do. Worship of God includes the admission that human beings lack power and so are utterly dependent on God. All prayers come to the same conclusion: “Your will be done, 0 Lord, for yours is the greatness and the power and the majesty.” Flora A. Keshgegian
• How could it occur to anyone to demonstrate that God exists unless one has already allowed Himself to ignore Him? A king’s existence is demonstrated by way of subjection and submissiveness. Do you want to try and demonstrate that the king exists? Will you do so by offering a string of proofs, a series of arguments? No. If you are serious, you will demonstrate the king’s existence by your submission, by the way you live. And so it is with demonstrating God’s existence. It is accomplished not by proofs but by worship. Any other way is but a thinker’s pious bungling. Soren Kierkegaard
• If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshipped. Evelyn Underhill
• In prayers and hymns worshipers tell God how wonderful, glorious, and powerful he is and express awe and gratitude. They recognize who God is, in all his glory, and what God has done: “Blessed are you, Almighty King of the universe, who has brought us to this day and granted us life.” Flora A. Keshgegian
• There is a type of flattery in such praise, especially when affirmations about how wonderful and powerful God is are contrasted with our own helplessness and sinfulness. For example, a typical prayer offered to God the monarch might be: “Even though we are unworthy to offer you any praise, 0 Lord, yet you are merciful and slow to anger, you hear our prayers and are gracious toward us.” Flora A. Keshgegian
• Submission is at the center of prayer and worship to God the monarch. Worshipers are demonstrating through word and action and bodily posture that God is almighty and powerful. They are but his humble subjects, bowing before him and submitting to his will. Flora A. Keshgegian
• To pass through the door that leads to God’s kingdom, we must go down on our knees. Catherine Doherty
• Men treat God’s sovereignty as a theme for controversy, but in Scripture it is matter for worship. I. Packer
• To honor God as God, we must worship Him as He and He alone decrees. R. C. Sproul
• True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God even in the dark. N. T. Wright
• Worship is adoring contemplation of God. R. A. Torrey
• Our heart’s desire should be to worship God; we have been designed by God for this purpose. If we don’t worship God, we’ll worship something or someone else. John Wimber

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To sin is to defy the authority of God

• Sin cannot dethrone God. That is what sin aims to do, but it misses its mark. Sin brings guilt to a man, but it does not bring him one ounce of sovereignty. God rules even when men imagine they are defying Him. Tom Wells
• Sin, without strong restraints, would pull God from His throne, make the world the minion of its lusts, and all beings bow down and worship. Richard Cecil
• Why will God’s creatures sin against his throne? Can there be such madness in beings gifted with reason’s light? Charles Grandison Finney
• God has decided the rules of life, whereby you don’t trespass on anybody else’s rights, and sin is something that upsets the balance of things. Cat Stevens

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The metaphor of God as king does not work for all…

• When I say God is King, that really does not do much of anything for me. I have never lived in a Kingdom, and from studying history, I know of many kings who were distant, corrupt, greedy and disengaged from people in need. That is not at the heart of who God is. I recognize that this metaphor does work for some people, conjuring up feelings of majesty and saying that God is in control. Ellie Roscher

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….and some even rebel against it

• I can not imagine a God … made happy by my getting down on my knees and calling him ‘great’. Susan B. Anthony
• God’s greatest thirst and his greatest sin is his ultimate vanity. Kedar Joshi
• If God is the master of the universe, then what are we? The slaves of the universe? If so, let each man become proud Spartacus! Mehmet Murat Ildan
• Let’s face it; God has a big ego problem. Why do we always have to worship him? Bill Maher

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It is a metaphor that some outgrow

• When I was a teenager, I was deeply inspired by the image of God as King. I subconsciously imagined myself a knight at the celestial round table. With sword clasped to breast, I knelt before God, my lord, my liege. I committed myself to live or die in service to my King. It was a powerful metaphor, and I am who I am today because it inspired an early commitment to surrender and service. However, I can no longer find God in the image of King. It’s gone. Try as I might, I can’t get it back. Doug Hammack

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God as king, some argue, justifies hierarchy, autocracy and even oppression

• “Being” became the metaphor for the God of the philosophers. God is the Supreme Being at the top of a hierarchy of beings. Or God is the Being of all beings — that from which all that there is have being. As Being or supreme Being, God is the source of all power, legitimacy, and force. The Heavenly Father is Progenitor, Creator, and First Cause; and He is End, Culmination, and Final Cause. Everything comes from and goes back to Him. Rollie Smith
• Rollie Smith
• I resisted the idea of a set world order, established by God and therefore sacred. The idea that God had willed a hierarchical universe seemed too politically convenient for those in power, that is, for those at the top of the hierarchy. They claimed God’s power to back up their own. At the same time such hierarchical ordering was too onerous for those at the bottom. It afforded them little access to power and few resources for changing the way things were. Flora A. Keshgegian
• God as king model is because it “encourages hierarchical, dualistic thinking of the sort that has fueled many kinds of oppression. Sallie McFague
• A dualism of king and subjects is intrinsically hierarchical and encourages hierarchical, dualistic thinking of the sort that has fueled many kinds of oppression, including (in addition to that of the nonhuman by the human) those arising from the cleavages of male/female, white/colored, rich/poor, Christian/non-Christian, and mind/body. The monarchical model encourages a way of thinking that is pervasive and pernicious, in a time when exactly the opposite is needed as a basic pattern. Sallie McFague
• The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth: for kings are not only God’s Lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called Gods. King James I
• They say that kings are made in the image of God. If that is what he looks like, I feel sorry for God. Frederick II
• These are the beliefs of religions and philosophies up to and into modernity. Today these beliefs are threatening the future of humanity and the earth insofar as they limit critical thinking, reduce responsibility, and impede human transcendence by situating it above and beyond human existence and action. The metaphors of God and Being are what justify hierarchy in politics and an economy driven by profit measured by the competitive accumulation of private property. The Creator, Father, and Judgment God sanctifies patriarchy and government as the monopoly of the use of violence within and between nations. Today God is used to rationalize a reactionary return to a premodern and even tribal world. The metaphor works for empires, monarchies, and dictatorships. They support the control of “free” markets by the wealthy and the separation of people into classes. They still work for many in running private, cultural, and religious associations. It does not work for a democratic Republic in a transmodern age. When the head of state is considered supernatural, God-chosen, or in special communication with the supernatural, that is, the Great Leader who rules over and protects the tribe or nation, then conflict and wars ensue. And in our age of rapid communication, literal interpretation, and weapons of mass destruction, humanity is threatened.  Rollie Smith
• The monarchical model encourages militarism, dualism and escapism; it condones control through violence and oppression;, it has nothing to say about the nonhuman world. Sallie McFague
• The King himself should be under no man, but under God and the Law. Edward Coke

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This metaphor sees God as transcendent, separate from the world and somewhat distant…

• These questions are not new ones. Over the centuries a variety of answers have been developed. One long standing response to such questions, perhaps the most common one, argues that there is no explanation. God is a mystery; God’s actions are mysterious. God the supreme sovereign is so transcendent, so categorically different and other than us, that we, with our limited capacities, cannot understand what God does or why. After all, we are not omnipotent, omnipresent, nor omniscient, scient, so we cannot presume to know or see or act as God does. Flora A. Keshgegian
• The monarchical model of God as king exhibits three major flaws: “God is distant from the world, relates only to the human world, and controls that world through domination and benevolence.” Sallie McFague
• I just knew that God wasn’t there. He was a man on a throne in Heaven, so he was easy to forget. Frances Farmer

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…a God that is not approachable…

• I imagine it great vanity in me to suppose that the Supremely Perfect does in the least regard such an inconsiderable nothing as man. More especially, since it is impossible for me to have any positive, clear idea of that which is infinite and incomprehensible, I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it. Benjamin Franklin
• The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by Homo Sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not receive this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history. Robert A. Heinlein

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…though some disagree…

• We can approach God’s throne with boldness because we are confident in the power of what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross. Joyce Meyer
• What joy the gospel gives me! I can approach the throne of God with confidence-not because I’ve done a good job at my spiritual duties, but because I’m clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. J. Mahaney
• We, with all of our sin, weakness, and failures are welcome to do what should blow our minds. We are not only tolerated by God at a distance; no, we are welcomed into intimate personal communion with the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the creator, the sovereign, the Savior. We, as unholy as we are, are told to go with confidence into his holy presence. Paul David Tripp

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…saying God is reachable through prayer

• Prayer means that we have come boldly into the throne room and we are standing in God’s presence. W. Kenyon
• Prayer is our essential lifeline to God’s throne and heart. Franklin Graham
• The central significance of prayer is not in the things that happen as results, but in the deepening intimacy and unhurried communion with God at His central throne of control in order to discover a sense of God’s need in order to call on God’s help to meet that need. Edward McKendree Bounds
• True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. Charles Spurgeon
• People ask me, ‘Why pray if God is sovereign?’ I respond, ‘Why pray if He isn’t? Michael Horton
• God’s sovereignty does not negate our responsibility to pray, but rather makes it possible for us to pray with confidence. Jerry Bridges
• Yet another form of prayer that fits this metaphor for God is confession, which includes contrition and penitence. In confession the penitent asks God for mercy and is prepared to accept the judgment of God. Kneeling, a bodily posture often associated with confession, is not only a penitential stance, but also one of obeisance, a sign of humility and submission. Flora A. Keshgegian

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This metaphor suggests God, being all powerful, is ultimately responsible for the bad things that happen

• This question suggests a couple of other problems with this metaphor. A primary one is God’s lack of accountability for his actions. If God is all powerful and in charge, should then God not be responsible for what happens? Such accountability, however, would mean that God has to answer for evil and the bad things that happen. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Because evil is always other than God and therefore God cannot be responsible for it, God’s power ends up pitted against his goodness in a dualistic framework. If God is to be both good and powerful, then the bad things either cannot be really bad-they are for our own good somehow-or God has nothing to do with them. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Suffering always prompts heart-wrenching questions: if God is good, why would He allow this pain in my life? Is God truly sovereign over accidents and birth anomalies, or does the devil set the world’s agenda? How do I counsel people who are despairing of their condition? Joni Eareckson Tada
• I have been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept, by faith, that God is sovereign, and He is a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering. Billy Graham
• God — if he really exist — is good, alive, self-conscious, and governs all things according to his benevolent and holy providence; but the world shows no indications of such a benevolent and holy Providence. This earth appears to be a hell, or at best a planet condemned — a sort of purgatory: it is filled with violence, tyranny and injustice, and yet God, if he exist, is absolute sovereign, and has willed that things should be as they are! — Therefore there is no God. William Batchelder Greene

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This metaphor inspires awe more than love

• Clearly, God as lord and master is supremely powerful, but how are we to understand this absolute monarch as good or loving? This God is to be revered and feared. He inspires awe and perhaps even terror. What does it mean to love such a God or for him to love us? Flora A. Keshgegian

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This metaphor promotes God as all powerful and us as weak

• As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth. Mikhail Bakunin
• Christians are always wanting God to give them something. They appear as beggars before the throne of the Almighty. Swami Vivekananda

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This metaphor, some argue, is no longer culturally relevant

• Even though, in the last several centuries, one revolutionary movement ment after another has challenged the rule and power of autocrats, the metaphor of God as a monarch has remained strong. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Is divine sovereignty the appropriate imagery to express salvation in our time? It may have been for some ages, but in our time, when the interdependence of all life and our special responsibility for it need to be emphasized, is it for ours? Sallie McFague
• The metaphor of God the monarch does not reflect the world in which we live. For many of us our only knowledge of emperors and kings is through books and films. Our image of a monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who is more a symbol of duty and ceremony than of power. The societies we inhabit value democracy and human rights and tend to oppose the wielding of arbitrary and absolute power. Such uses of power are associated with dictators and despots. In democratic societies power is distributed so that no one person or one body is all powerful. What then does it mean to attribute such power to God? Flora A. Keshgegian

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Instead of king, some prefer to see God as father

• God doth not govern the world only by his will as an absolute monarch, but by his wisdom and goodness as a tender father. It is not his greatest pleasure to show his sovereign power, or his inconceivable wisdom, but his immense goodness, to which he makes the other attributes subservient. Stephen Charnock
• I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. I believe in a Heavenly Father who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged-never to give up or flee our allotted field of service-but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying. Dieter F. Uchtdorf

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Instead of king, some prefer to see God as the source of being

• God is not a ‘being’ removed from creation, ruling it from outside in the manner of a patriarchal ruler; God is the source of being that underlies creation and grounds its nature and future potential for continual transformative renewal in biophilic mutuality. Rosemary Radford Ruether

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Instead of king, some prefer to see God as liberator

• In liberation theology, especially as first expressed in a South American context, the image of God as sovereign, ruler, and victor becomes God as liberator. God is still powerful, powerful enough to oppose those in power on earth, including despots. Indeed, God as liberator is the champion of those who suffer and are oppressed in this world. God remains all powerful, but God uses his power in a particular way, on behalf of those who are powerless. Affirmation of God’s power becomes a judgment against the power of their oppressors and a hope for transformation of the conditions of the oppressed. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Whether the battle is on earth or in the cosmos, in our psyches or in our homes, God the liberator is able to defeat the forces of evil. He is a mighty warrior, wielding great power to make right what has been wronged and to restore what has been lost. God’s will is able to prevail against all that might oppose it. God exercises judgment or might to make sure that goodness wins out. Flora A. Keshgegian
• Some view liberation not as political freedom, but as spiritual and personal transformation. God’s power is able to free those held in bondage age because of social systems, interpersonal violence, and abuse, addictions, tions, or debilitating fears. God will be victorious against such powers and forces. God will free those held captive. Flora A. Keshgegian

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Instead of king, some prefer to see God as friend

• God is friendship, not Lordship. Neale Donald Walsch
• God offers friendship, not lordship—and in return asks for friendship, not worship. Neale Donald Walsch

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Some adapt this metaphor, rendering God more accountable

• Sometimes [God as monarch] it is adapted to contemporary perspectives, needs, and sensibilities. Such variations tend to forego the regal imagery but maintain the sovereignty of God. They assert God’s power and might, but render God’s power as more accountable. Although God remains in control and in charge, he metes out justice in a way that is more responsive sive to human need. Indeed God’s just power challenges and confounds injustice in the world. Flora A. Keshgegian

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• What if God were not at the top of a hierarchical universe?  Flora A. Keshgegian