If God is Sovereign, why is Man Still Responsible?
In Isaiah 46:9-10, God says, "remember the former things of old; 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, (bold and underline mine).
Also, we read in Isaiah 45:7, "I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things."
Yet, God still holds mankind responsible for their evil, even though God uses the actions of wicked men to carry out His plans. You can read all throughout Scripture, especially in Isaiah and Ezekiel of how God tells the prophets that He will "cause" the enemies of Israel to attack them and bring calamity upon them as punishment for their idolatry. God said numerous times how He would use their enemies to draw Israel back to Himself and after a prescribed amount of time, He would then punish their enemies for coming against His people.
Some may ask the question of how God can hold man responsible for the evil that goes on in the world if God has already declared the end from the beginning. See, mankind acts according to his nature. Israel's enemies attacked them, not because they knew they were doing God's will; it wasn't that they woke up one day and said, "Oh, let's attack Israel because that's what God's will is." No, they attacked Israel because they were ENEMIES. They hated Israel. And God allowed them to carry out their evil deeds because He would use their actions to bring Israel out of idolatry and back to Himself. Their intentions were wicked so God will judge them according to their intentions.
Remember the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers and then rising to prominence within Pharoah's courts? When his brothers begged him to not hold that against them, Joseph said, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." His brothers' intentions were wicked, but it was through their actions that God worked to save all of the region from the effects of the famine.
Here's another example. How about the death of Jesus? Allowing Jesus to die on the cross wasn't Plan B. It was Plan A from the very beginning. In Acts 2:23, we read how the Apostle Peter said that Jesus was delivered up to death according to the "definite plan and foreknowledge of God....".
While it's possible the Pharisees and the religious leaders thought they were doing God a favor by putting Jesus to death, they did so because they saw Jesus as a blasphemer. They despised His teachings and stirred up the whole city to come against Him and have Him crucified. Their actions were carried out because of the wickedness in their hearts, not because they knew they were doing God's will. So, even though God had decreed from before the foundation of the world that Jesus would be the ultimate sacrifice, those who carried out the deed would still be held accountable for His death, unless they repented later. And we know of at least two who came to realize who Jesus truly was: the Roman soldier who said, "Truly, this was the Son of God," and the thief on the cross who said, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."
People get angry at God when something evil happens. They lash out at Him wondering why He didn't stop the evil from taking place. It's perfectly fine to be angry at evil, but it's a wicked thing to say that God is responsible for the evil. God doesn't put the wickedness in their hearts. That's already there and they just act upon it. But when we read in Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose," we can trust Him to work through any and all circumstances, no matter what they are, and to bring about good from it.
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