That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. Psalm 83:18.
In the annals of human history the growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, appear as dependent on the will and prowess of man. The shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by his power, ambition, or caprice. But in the word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, behind, above, and through all the play and counterplay of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will....
Every nation that has come upon the stage of action has been permitted to occupy its place on the earth, that it might be seen whether it would fulfill the purpose of “the Watcher and the Holy One.” ... While the nations rejected God's principles, and in this rejection wrought their own ruin, it was still manifest that the divine, overruling purpose was working through all their movements.
This lesson is taught in a wonderful symbolic representation given to the prophet Ezekiel [chapters 1 and 10].... A number of wheels, intersecting one another, were moved by four living beings.... The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion; but they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling these wheels; above them upon the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; and round about the throne a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy. As the wheellike complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the earth.
The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted time and place, ... speaks to us. To every nation and to every individual of today God has assigned a place in His great plan.... All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.22Education, 173-178.
From God's Amazing Grace - Page 50
God's Amazing Grace