Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on God's Sovereignty in History: Questions and Answers

What Old Testament story did Dr. Lloyd-Jones use to illustrate God's sovereignty over world events?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones used the story from 1 Samuel 5:1-4, where the Philistines captured the Ark of God and placed it in the temple of their god Dagon. He recounted: "When the Philistines captured this Ark, they decided that they wouldn't destroy it...So they decided that they would take this Ark and take it to the temple of their god Dagon." However, the next morning "to his amazement, found that their god Dagon had fallen to the floor, immediately beneath the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord." When they set Dagon up again, the following morning they found "not only was Dagon fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord, but in addition to that, the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hand were cut off upon the threshold."

How did Dr. Lloyd-Jones apply the Dagon story to the 20th century?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones saw a direct parallel between the ancient Philistines and modern society, stating: "I suggest to you that this story really has a very great deal to tell us about ourselves at this very moment." He explained that just as the Philistines didn't destroy the Ark but relegated it to the background, modern society has done the same with God: "The average person doesn't believe in God and doesn't believe in Christ. But that doesn't mean, you know, that they've done away with them altogether. They still like to get married in a church...If there should be a royal wedding, or a coronation...oh, you must have a religious service." He concluded: "You put God on the shelf. You put him somewhere in the background. You'll take him down when you think he can be of use and of help."

What historical events did Dr. Lloyd-Jones cite as evidence of God disrupting human plans?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones traced several 20th-century disasters as evidence of God "erupting into our perfect little world." He listed: the Moroccan crisis of 1911, the sinking of the "unsinkable" Titanic in 1912 ("The unsinkable ship had gone down, man's perfect world was shaken, Dagon had fallen"), World War I in 1914, the rise of Mussolini and Hitler, World War II in 1939, and the atomic bomb in August 1945. He explained: "We put Dagon back, down he falls, back we put him, down he goes, and on and on it goes, what is it? What's your explanation of this history? There's only one adequate explanation...it's the God whom we've forgotten, the God whom we've relegated to the background, acting, interfering, upsetting."

Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones believe the Christian church experiences defeat?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphatically stated that church defeat is never due to external opposition but internal spiritual failure: "When the Christian church is weak and ineffective, it's never due to anything that's happening in the world. It is always due to something that's happening in the church itself." He explained: "The defeat of Israel was not due to the strength of the Philistines, it was due to the weakness of the Israelites. It was because the children of Israel had forgotten God and had ceased to be in communion with God." He applied this principle to the modern church: "Things are as they are in the church today because the church has been relying upon herself and her own power to organize. She is trusted to her own ability and ingenuity and God has allowed her to go down."

What did Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify as the only hope for the church?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones declared unequivocally: "There is only one hope and that is revival." He distinguished this from human efforts: "As long as the church places her confidence even in an organized evangelistic campaign, things will continue to go from bad to worse." He emphasized the need for divine intervention: "We must realize that we need such an outpouring of the spirit that we ourselves shall be fumbled and crushed and overwhelmed and raised up. And God shall use us in a way that will amaze us as well as the world that looks on in astonishment." He insisted the church must recognize "that apart from him they are nobody and without him they can do nothing."

How did Dr. Lloyd-Jones describe the modern "gods" that have been humbled?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones identified several modern idols that God has exposed as failures. About education, he said: "If you turn even education into a God, don't be surprised at what may happen...in spite of all our educational advances, one of our greatest problems today is the problem of juvenile delinquency." Regarding science: "Take the God science which was going to solve all our problems, isn't it our main problem itself at this moment?" About politics: "There was a time when men used to worship politicians, I don't think many people are guilty of that at this present time...we've come to know that our Gods have got feet of clay." He concluded: "God humbles and ridicules our Gods...he has proceeded to do this with every single God that mankind in its folly has tended to set up in his place."

What characteristics of God did Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasize from the Dagon narrative?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones highlighted three essential characteristics of God. First, "He is the living God" - not "something in a box which they could carry and handle" but one who "demonstrated to them that far from his being in their hands, they were in his hands." Second, "He is also the only God" - "he won't even share the shelf with Dagon even in the temple of Dagon...he's a totalitarian God, he's an absolute God." Third, "He's a God who is to be approached in the way that he indicates" - specifically "through Jesus Christ and him crucified." Lloyd-Jones warned: "If you put your wife or your husband or your children or your money or anything by the side of God and begin to worship them, he'll rob you of them, he'll smash them before your eyes."

What was Dr. Lloyd-Jones's view of the Edwardian period's optimism?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones described the early 20th century's misplaced confidence: "Cast your minds back to the end of the last century and the beginning of this. Do you remember that Edwardian period? How confident men were, everything was advancing, knowledge was growing, the country had never been more prosperous...oh life in the 20th century was just going to be astounding, it was going to be like paradise." He noted how this confidence was repeatedly shattered: "Knowledge grows from age to age, this inevitable perpetual advance, the 20th century was going to be the crowning century of all the centuries, so we were told, and indeed at first it began to look like this, everything was perfect, but then some odd things began to happen."

What Old Testament principle did Dr. Lloyd-Jones apply to modern times?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones quoted a fundamental biblical principle: "There is no peace saith my God to the wicked, there shall be no such peace, he won't allow it, there shall be no peace without him." He explained this as God's consistent pattern throughout history: "You put God there and he'll smash your God, he'll throw them down, he'll upset, he'll erupt into your little world and into your little life, God always does this at such a time, and he is doing it in this present century." This principle explained why human attempts to create paradise without God consistently fail.

What was Dr. Lloyd-Jones's ultimate message about God's purpose in allowing crisis?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones taught that God allows crisis to bring people back to Himself: "We have to realize that God will either bless us or else curse us...it's either blessing or cursing, if we obey him, blessing, if we don't, whatever our ability, whatever our possession, cursing." He saw modern disasters as divine warnings: "It's God pronouncing judgment, it's God telling men that as long as they forget him they make a shambles of life. It is God, I say, warning us that as the two wars have brought their calamity, so greater calamities yet will come unless we repent." The ultimate purpose is redemptive: to lead people to "repent, to confess and acknowledge your sin...to humble yourself before him and accept his gracious offer of pardon and forgiveness in the blood of Christ."