Christ is the light that came into the world to dispel the darkness that isolates us from the glorious presence of God and fills our minds and hearts with the fear of death. And so says the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 9:2-7, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in a land of shadows, but now light is shining on them. You have given them great joy, LORD; You have made them happy. They rejoice in what You have done, as people rejoice when they harvest their corn or when they divide captured wealth. For You have broken the yoke that burdened them and the rod that beat their shoulders. You have defeated the nation that oppressed and exploited your people, just as You defeated the army of Midian long ago. The boots of the invading army and all their bloodstained clothing will be destroyed by fire. A child is born to us! A Son is given to us! And He will be our ruler. He will be called, ‘Wonderful Counselor’, ‘Mighty God’, ‘Eternal Father’, ‘Prince of Peace’. His royal power will continue to grow; his Kingdom will always be at peace. He will rule as King David’s successor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until the end of time. The LORD Almighty is determined to do this.”

The Lord tells us in John 16:33, “The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!” He who lives in us is greater than he who lives in the world. The Spirit who is in us is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world. God rules supreme over the world, and gives us victory over the world by means of our faith in Christ Jesus. And so, every child of God, that is any person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, can defeat the world. Neither trouble nor hardship, neither persecution nor hunger, neither poverty nor danger or death has power over God’s children. And no one can separate us from the love of Christ: “neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below – there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39).

God is the Only Head of his people. As Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “God put all things under Christ’s feet and gave Him to the church as Supreme Lord over all things. The church is Christ’s body, the completion of Him who Himself completes all things everywhere.” The Lord is the only Teacher, the only Father and the only Leader of his flock. He tells us in Matthew 23:8-10, “You must not be called ‘Teacher’, because you are all members of one family and have only one Teacher. And you must not call anyone here on earth ‘Father’, because you have only the one Father in heaven. Nor should you be called ‘Leader’, because your one and only Leader is the Messiah.”

«J'ai fixé un temps pour le jugement, dit l’Eternel, et Je jugerai avec équité.» (Psaumes 75:2). Versets 6-8: «Le jugement ne vient pas de l'est ou de l'ouest, du nord ou du sud; c'est Dieu qui est juge, Il condamne les uns et acquitte les autres. L'Éternel tient dans sa main une coupe remplie du vin fort de sa colère. Il le verse, et tous les méchants le boivent; ils en boivent jusqu'à la dernière goutte.» Hébreux 4:13, «C'est à Lui que nous devons tous rendre compte.» Il est écrit: «Dieu va juger tout ce que nous faisons, bon ou mauvais, même les choses faites en secret.» (Ecclésiaste 12:14). «Quand le Fils de l'Homme viendra comme Roi et tous les anges avec Lui, Il s'assiéra sur son trône royal, et les hommes de toutes les nations se rassembleront devant Lui. Il mettra les justes à sa droite et les autres à sa gauche.» (Matthieu 25:31-33).

“I have set a time for judgement, says God, and I will judge with fairness.” (Psalms 75:2). Verse 6-8: “Judgement does not come from the east or from the west, from the north or from the south; it is God who is the judge, condemning some and acquitting others. The LORD holds a cup in his hand, filled with the strong wine of his anger. He pours it out, and all the wicked drink it; they drink it down to the last drop.” Hebrews 4:13, “It is to Him that we must all give an account of ourselves.” “God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). “When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his royal throne, and the people of all the nations will be gathered before Him. He will put the righteous people on his right and the others on his left.’’ (Matthew 25:31-33). “God will reward every person according to what each has done.”

God can do everything He wants. (cf. Job 42:2). Everything happens as God has predestined and planned. No one and nothing can stand against his will. (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12). No one can oppose his decree. The Lord raises some to glory and condemn others to misery, according to his own mercy and grace. He alone directs the course of our lives and all the events that mark our existence. Job 12:14 says, “When God tears down, who can rebuild, and who can free those God imprisons?” In the same way that the Lord controls life and death, any other event relating to all that God has created occurs according to His decree and at the very moment He intended. No one can oppose what God has ordained. It is written: “All things are done according to God’s plan and decision.” (Ephesians 1:11).  God does whatever pleases Him. Lamentations 3:37–38 says, “The will of the Lord alone is always carried out. Good and evil alike take place at his command.” Psalms 115:3, “Our God is in Heaven; He does whatever He wishes.” The Lord “does whatever He wishes in Heaven and on earth, in the seas and in the depths below.” (Psalms 135:6).

We are the cause of evil; it comes from our hearts. But the Lord has power over it. Although the Lord never does anything evil, (because He is holy, just and good), not a single evil act takes place outside his will. Evil only happens because the Lord wills it to happen. He ordains it in order to demonstrate his goodness. He has the power to thwart our evil actions. People may plan evil but it is the will of God that is going to be done. And what men mean for evil God means it for good. God allows evil to happen so that his goodness can be subsequently revealed. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him. They beat him and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. God allowed their evil actions to take place so that He could later use Joseph to fulfill his own purpose. He wanted to prevent famine from hitting the people. And so Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.” Even the most outrageous evil of human existence, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ by his own people, was ordained by God. It was God’s will that his Son would be crucified. Many people still today do not know that Christ’s death was orchestrated by God, in order to satisfy the righteous demand of the Law. It pleased God to crush Him. Not only is God sovereign over evil, but He also exercises his sovereignty over our will in general. “People may plan all kinds of things, but the LORD’s will is going to be done.” (Proverbs 19:21).

We deserve nothing good from the Lord. But out of the fullness of his grace the Lord constantly exercises protection and care for his creatures. He is always present in our lives to procure to us the care and protection we need. It is God who provides for our physical and spiritual needs. The Lord alone protects us against physical attacks – Proverbs 21:31 says: “You can get horses ready for battle, but it is the LORD who gives victory.” And as far as maintaining our physical wellbeing is concerned, it is the Lord who keeps us healthy and strong. God alone has the power to keep us in good shape. He is the one who heals our diseases and broken hearts and keeps us safe from all hidden dangers and all deadly diseases. He protects and defends us against our enemies. It is the Lord who offers us spiritual protection. The Lord alone protects us against the Devil’s tricks and against sin. It is the Lord who protects us against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world. By Him we are able to put out the burning arrows shot by the Evil One. The Lord is our deliverer from sin and depravity. We do not have the capability to separate ourselves from the evilness of our flesh. The Spirit of God is our restrainer – those who do not have the Spirit of God in them, as the result of their rejection of the Son of God, are given over to their depraved mind and they remain slave of sin and death. But those who honour the Lord are led by the Holy Spirit. The word of God is life, it is Spirit-breathed, it is the light for the soul. As Paul says in his second letter to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” (2 Timothy 3:16).

The Lord is sovereign over all authorities and powers of the heavenly Kingdom. Enthroned above the winged creatures and seated at the right-hand side of the Father in Heaven, “Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; He has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next.” (Ephesians 1:21). All the angels of heaven are under the authority of Christ, day and night they worship and serve Him. Hebrews 1:14 says, Angels “are spirits who serve God and are sent by Him to help those who are to receive salvation.”  God is the Lord and King, the supreme Ruler, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords – all knees bow before Him. He is sovereign over earthly rulers and powers. These receive their authority from God. As Paul says in Romans 13:1, “No authority exists without God’s permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God.” God’s is also sovereign over evil spiritual powers and demonic forces. “He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.” (Colossians 2:10). The Lord rules over Satan and his agents, all the fallen angels that Satan has drawn with himself in his rebellion against God. None of these beings can move to the left nor to the right unless the Sovereign Lord, the Lord God Almighty wills it. In the garden, when Satan led Adam and Eve into sin, “the LORD God said to the snake, ‘You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: from now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live. I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head and you will bite her offspring’s heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15).

Hebrews 1:10-12 says, “You, Lord, in the beginning created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens. They will disappear, but You will remain; they will all wear out like clothes. You will fold them up like a coat, and they will be changed like clothes. But You are always the same, and your life never ends.”  On the other hand death is an instrument designed and controlled by God, the ultimate judgement that God pronounces against the entire human race after the fall of the first man Adam. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad, the Lord says to Adam: “You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again.” (Genesis 3:19). The Lord thus condemned Adam and all his descendants, that is, the whole human race, to the same fate. And so people of all generations die as the result of God’s judgement, because of the sin of our first parents. We all are mortal beings, no one escapes death. Also, God has the power to kill both body and soul. Just as it is God who gives life, it is Him who takes it back. It is the Lord who determines when and how each person has to die.