The LORD: the Author of Calamity

The LORD is sovereign.

The LORD who acts in the first chapter of Genesis is powerful beyond imagination. Everything in the universe in which we live was spoken into existence in only six days.

Consider the visible universe: the number of stars in the universe is not known, though many, many estimates have been made in the last century. The Hubble Deep Field images demonstrated that, given time and technology, there literally seems to be no limit to the number of galaxies that can be seen in what appeared to be merely “empty space”.

Yet, the expression of their creation is probably the most profound understatement in all of Scripture:

Gen 1.16
God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.

The count of stars is unimaginably large (and currently beyond our ability to determine with any certainty), yet the LORD expressed it in His Book with just two words in the original Hebrew! That is sovereign power!

By the way, consider these remarkable statements as well:

Psa 147.4
He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.

Isa 40.26
Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.

Not only does the LORD know their number, He has a name for each one!

Centuries after Genesis chapter 1, when the LORD repeated the promise of His covenant with Abram, He begins with this simple and profound declaration:

Gen 17.1
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless.”

While the words used are easy to understand, their full import is impossible to grasp by the human mind. By definition, the finite does not and will never completely understand the infinite.

I made the claim in the introduction that

The LORD of the Scriptures is sovereign!

The following are categorized to demonstrate the scope of this grand truth (though no list could ever do justice to this great truth!).

As you read each, consider the unbounded ignorance—and unmitigated hubris!—of this all-too-typical question:

“How could God let this happen?”

as if there was some power or authority operating above the LORD to which He either must submit or react!

The LORD declares His sovereignty.

Gen 18.14
Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.

Isa 14.24-27
The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand ... For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

Isa 19.14
The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; they have led Egypt astray in all that it does, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

Isa 37.26-27
Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, they were dismayed and put to shame; they were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, as grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.
[The prophecy references the intentions of Egypt against Israel which the LORD was going to overrule.]

Isa 40.21-23
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

Isa 42.8-9
I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.

Isa 44.6
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.”

Isa 45.23
I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

Isa 46.8-11
“Remember this, and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”

Isa 55.10-11
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Isa 65.1
“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here am I, here am I,‘ to a nation which did not call on My name.”

Zec 8.6
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?‘ declares the LORD of hosts.”

The LORD’s sovereignty expressed by those who witnessed and/or experienced it.

Job 23.13
But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does.

Job 37.11-13
Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, that it may do whatever He commands it on the face of the inhabited earth. Whether for correction, or for His world, or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.

Psa 33.11
The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.

Psa 103.19
The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.

Psa 104.27-30
They all wait for You to give them their food in due season.
You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire and return to their dust.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the ground.

Psa 115.3
But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.

Psa 135.5-7
For I know that the LORD is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.

Isa 25.1
LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

Jer 32.17-18,27
Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts is His name ... “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?”

Hab 2.13
Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing?

Luk 1.37
For nothing will be impossible with God.

Rom 4.21
and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Rom 9.33
...just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

Rom 11.33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Jam 1.18
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

1 Pet 1.3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...

The LORD’s sovereignty over the individual lives of all mankind.

Deu 29.4
Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.
[This is part of the last address by Moses to the ancient Jews just before they entered the Promised Land. As a generation and culture, they were unfaithful and would prove to be unfaithful even as they continued.]

Jdg 7.4
Then the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,‘ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,‘ he shall not go.”
[The LORD was in complete control of the upcoming battle.]

Ezr 7.6,27
This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him. … Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem ...

Psa 139.16
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

Pro 19.21
Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand.

Mat 19.25-26 [Mar 10.27, Luk 18.27,34]
When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” … But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.
[Note the passive voice "was hidden"; the LORD withheld the meaning of the statement from His disciples because it was not time that they understand.]

Luk 19.41-42
When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.”
[The generation of the Jews of the Lord Christ’s day could easily be considered the pinnacle of obstinance and disobedience against the LORD they claimed to worship. As a result, the Lord Christ tells them of the certain judgment that would befall them. Note the passive voice "have been hidden".]

Joh 3.21
But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

Act 17.26
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation ...

1 Pet 2.8
and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

The LORD’s sovereignty over nations.

1 Kin 12.15
So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from the LORD, that He might establish His word, which the LORD spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

1 Kin 22.23
Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.

2 Chr 20.5-6
Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD before the new court, and he said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.”

2 Chr 25.20
But Amaziah would not listen, for it was from God, that He might deliver them into the hand of Joash because they had sought the gods of Edom.

Ezr 6.22
And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had caused them to rejoice, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Neh 2.8
“and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.

Isa 9.11
Therefore the LORD raises against them adversaries from Rezin and spurs their enemies on ...

Isa 10.5-7
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hands is My indignation, I send it against a godless nation and commission it against the people of My fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. Yet it does not so intend, nor does it plan so in its heart, but rather it is its purpose to destroy and to cut off many nations.
[Assyria thought that it was its own plan to attack the Northern Kingdom, but in reality the entire nation was merely an instrument of the LORD against the disobedient Northern Kingdom.]

Isa 42.24
Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they were not willing to walk, and whose law they did not obey?

Isa 43.3-4
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.

Isa 43.13
Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?

Isa 45.1,5-7
Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: … I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.

Isa 54.15-17
“If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you. Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and brings out a weapon for its work; and I have created the destroyer to ruin. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.
[The context here that the execution of the LORD’s wrath against the Jews (because of their rebellion) would come to an end and that a time of restoration would follow. Should someone attack them (and there will be many who will do so according to end-time prophecy), it will not then be because of Israel’s rebellion.]

Dan 2.20-21
Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.”

Dan 4.17
“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.”
[The context is Nebuchadnezzar’s reaction to the vision of the great statue; he will, a year later, experience the vision personally just as he was warned.]

Dan 4.31,34-35
While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you ...‘ But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'
[Nebuchadnezzar finally learned the lesson: the LORD is Almighty; there is no higher power anywhere.]

Hab 1.6, 2.8
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. ... Because you have looted many nations, all the remainder of the peoples will loot you—because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, to the town and all its inhabitants.

Act 1.7
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority...”

Act 2.22-23
Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

Act 4.27-28
For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

Act 5.31
He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

The LORD’s sovereignty to “harden the heart” of whomever He chooses.

Exo 4.19-21
Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons … The LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.”
[cf., Exo 7.3,13,22; 8.15,19,32; 9.7,12,34-35; 10.1,20,27; 11.10; 14.4,8,17]

Jos 11.20
For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

1 Sam 2.25
“If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death.

Isa 6.9-10
He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.’
Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull, and their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.'”

Isa 44.18
They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.

Lam 3.64-66
You will recompense them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them. You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD!

Rom 1.24,26a,28a
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. … For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; … And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind …

Rom 9.15,18
For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” ... So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

Rom 11.7
What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened ...

The LORD’s sovereign authority to commit to Sheol/Hades (initially), then to the Outer Darkness/Gehenna/Lake of Fire (eternally). [cf., The Final Sequence]

Num 16.30,33
But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord. … So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

1 Sam 2.6
The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Psa 49.14
As sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd; and the upright shall rule over them in the morning, and their form shall be for Sheol to consume so that they have no habitation.

Isa 14.3a,9a,11a
And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, … Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; … Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol;

Mat 8.11-12
I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Mat 22.11-14
But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.

Mat 25.41,46
Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; … These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Luk 12.5
But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

Luk 16.22-23
Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.

2 The 1.3-10
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.

Heb 10.26-31
For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

2 Pet 2.4,9
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; … then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. … These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

Jde 1.6
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

Rev 14.9-11
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Rev 19.20
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

Rev 20.13-15
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Rev 21.7-8
He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Rev 22.14-15
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

The LORD’s sovereignty over evil as well as good.

[Note: only a few texts are referenced here. Most of the Scriptures are presented in the chapter on calamity.]

Job 12.16
With Him are strength and sound wisdom, the misled and the misleader belong to Him.

Pro 16.4
The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Ecc 7.13-14
Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what He has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider--God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him.

Isa 45.7
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.

Jer 32.42
For thus says the Lord, ‘Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.'

Lam 3.32,37-38
For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. ... Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?

Hab 2.12-14
Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing?

The LORD’s sovereignty to be displayed at the end of the current age.

[Consistently in the Revelation, the LORD is shown to be the One who sits on the throne. He has absolute power, and perfectly and completely directs the events of the end times, which is to inflict judgment on a disobedient world, then reveal His Son, the Lord Christ, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords who will rule the earth with a "rod of iron" for 1000 years. (Rev 2.27; Rev 12.5; Rev 19.15)]

Rev 4.1-3
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.
[“That which must take place” are those events directed by the LORD’s sovereign purposes.]

Rev 4.9-11
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

Rev 5.11-13
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

Rev 7.9-12
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying,
“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Rev 12.5
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

The following highlight some of the great works of power to be displayed during the judgment and wrath of the end time.

Rev 6.12-17
I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
[The highlights show stupendous changes to the very structure of the universe. Nothing less than the Sovereign of the universe could accomplish such works of power.]

Rev 8.7-12
The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.
[Note the global power of the judgments enacted upon those “who dwell on the earth” (the phrase used in the Revelation to indicate those upon whom the LORD’s wrath will be poured out).]

Rev 9.3-5a
Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months;
[The torment of the demonic locust was directed by the sovereign LORD and could proceed only to the extent they were permitted.]

Rev 10.5-7
Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.
[It is the sovereign LORD who declares that the time for judgment has come.]

Rev 11.7-13
When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
[The sovereign LORD will send two prophets to witness to those “who dwell on the earth”. They will be killed after their testimony to the earth is complete, then after three and one-half days be raised back to life. There follows a great earthquake which is an indication of the LORD’s wrath.]

Rev 11.17
saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.”
[As the Scripture says in Heb 4.13, all must give account to Him.]

Rev 14.9-10
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
[The time will come during which the one known as the beast will temporarily rule earth and during that reign will impose the “mark of the beast”. The sovereign LORD exacts great wrath against those who receive that mark as they align themselves with the beast.]

Rev 14.14-15
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
[It is the sovereign LORD alone who determines when judgment and wrath come.]

Rev 16.17-18
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.” And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.
[By this point in the Revelation, because of the great wrath which has been poured out, the earth can no longer support life. Its entire infrastructure (power, communication, security and government, water, sanitation, food production and distribution, communication, etc.) has been completely devastated. Only stockpiled resources will be used to sustain the lives of a tiny few (most likely those who have weapons to defend their “hoard”), but for only a very limited number of days.]

Rev 19.1-3
After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.”
[The saints will rejoice in the justice which the sovereign LORD has rendered.

EDIT Oct 2020: cf., It is Time for Imprecatory Prayers!]

Rev 19.11-16
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
[The return of the Lord Christ (the One who is the sovereign LORD!) takes His rightful place as the judge and ruler of the earth over the kingdom given to Him by the Father (Psa 110.1-3).]

Rev 20.11-15
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
[The Lord Christ will take His place on the Great White Throne and judge all the remaining lost dead. [See this series for details.]]

Rev 21.5-6a
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
[Only the sovereign LORD can make everything new and declare “It is done.”!]