“I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,” I Tim. 6:13-15(NKJV)
There are a lot of Scriptures that express the greatness of the authority God manifested through Jesus Christ. The one above is as straight to the point as any. In it Paul makes it clear that He is the one and only Potentate (Sovereign), King of kings and Lord of lords. No matter which term one uses it is abundantly clear that God in Christ Jesus is the final authority.
In an attempt to express this point man has presented God as sovereign. However, man’s definition of “sovereign” in reference to Him has clouded theology in this area. Flawed theology has interpreted sovereign as meaning that God is the source of all earthly happenings, good, bad, and otherwise. Using this theology, God either causes or allows everything that happens.
To be true to the definition, the word sovereign means one having final authority over all other authority. In a “kingdom” the “king” is the highest authority and power there is. The king is in control of his country. He has authority over all his subjects. But, he is not responsible for their actions. If a citizen kills another citizen, it isn’t because the king made it happen. However, the king has authority to deal with the situation because he has the last word. We need to stop blaming God for causing things and give Him the opportunity to do something about it. He said, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me.”
If God is “sovereign” meaning He is responsible for everything that happens, it means that everything that happens is His will. If that is the case, then why were His disciples told to pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Truth is truth as long as it is understood correctly. His word is Truth.