God is the Creator and sustainer of the universe. As the King of the universe, any definitive statement made by God is law. When God issues a command it is the law. When God formalizes what he says into a decree it’s also the law. One of the reasons God has given us the Bible is so we can know his laws and obey them. In the Bible God say, “no one can oppose what I do,” and nobody can. The Holy Bible also says, “everything happens to the good pleasure of His will,” and it does. Since we can’t oppose or avoid God and his laws we have only two choices, obey and live or disobey and die. To obey Almighty God means an eternity in heaven being showered with untold riches by a loving father and to disobey God means spiritual death; separation from God in the lake of fire and brimstone suffering in constant pain and agony forever.
What a stark contrast! Who in their right mind wouldn’t choose what’s behind door number one? Let me give you an example of the vast gulf between heaven and hell. For believers, life in heaven is going to be so wonderful that’s we’ll one day look back on our lives here on earth as the only hell we will have ever known. The only rough patch of an otherwise wonderful existence. Unbelievers, on the other hand, will go to hell when they die and be in pain and torment forever. As they’re bobbing up and down in the lake of fire screaming in pain the memory of their life on earth will be the only heaven they’ll ever know. Do you remember the movie, “Terminator: Judgment Day”? At the end of the movie the liquid metal guy winds up in a steel mill vat of molten steel flailing around and bobbing up and down in 3,000 degree Fahrenheit molten metal. Whenever I see that movie scene I think to myself, ‘that’s what it must be like in hell.”
What is a decree of God? A decree of God is his eternal purpose, according to his will, and for his own glory so that he has foreordained whatever comes to pass. Let’s examine the qualities of a decree from Almighty God:
1. They are founded in divine wisdom. God has perfect knowledge of what will happen and perfect knowledge of what could happen. God is perfect in all he does. God doesn’t make mistakes.
Psalm 104:24 – O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions.
Proverb 3:19 – The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens.
2. They are eternal. While decrees relate to things outside God, the fact that they are an act within the Divine Being makes them eternal because God is eternal.
Acts 15:18 – Known to God from eternity are all His works.
1 Timothy 1:9 – (God) – Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
3. They are effective. Whatever God decrees will come to pass. Failure to do so would make God a liar and the Bible untrue. Christianity would become null and void. God would not be God. We would all die in our sins and there would be no heaven.
Isaiah 46:10 – My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.
Psalm 33:11 – The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.
4. They are immutable. The decrees of God don’t change. Since God has perfect knowledge there is nothing deficient and no information lacking that would make a change in a decree from God necessary. God doesn’t change his mind.
Malachi 3:6 – For I am the Lord, I do not change.
5. They are unconditional. A decree of God is not dependent on outside conditions There’s nothing in the world that’ll change a decree of Almighty God.
6. They are universal. The decrees of God cover all things in heaven and on earth. The entire universe obeys the decrees of God.
Ephesians 1:11 – In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to counsel of His will.
Proverbs 16:4 – The Lord has made all for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.
7. They are permissive. God’s decrees allows his creatures the free will to obey or disobey, with the prescribed penalties for disobedience and rewards for obedience.
Psalm 106:15 – And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.
Acts 14:16 – (God) – Who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.
Acts 17:30 – Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.