There are several powerful and influential people in the world. Global crises face us and leaders try to intervene. President Trump exerts a lot of influence, but President Putin is a force to be reckoned with. Recent peace talks about Ukraine seem to have reached stalemate. Many people are worried. Who is in control?

The simple answer is that nobody on earth is actually in control. The God of heaven is in control. But this requires some explanation.

The fact that God is in control most certainly does not mean that He orchestrates everything and that we are all puppets or robots. We have choice. Nor does it mean that He approves of everything that we do. For example, God did not control king David to commit adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). And God was not pleased. The record simply says:

But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD

verse 27

And then the prophet Nathan described to David the enormity of what he had done, and the implications for him (2 Samuel 12:7-14).

On other occasions, however, God does prevent people from sinning. He protected Sarah, Abraham’s wife, from being seduced by Abimelech. God said to him,
…it was I who kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I did not let you touch her (Genesis 20:6).

Even so, we can never know when we will be able to carry out our plans, let alone whether they will succeed.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand

Proverbs 19:21

Without doubt, nothing is too hard for God. He posed the rhetorical question:

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

Jeremiah 32:27

But God always does what is right: He will never go against His perfect moral standards (Deuteronomy 32:4).

He has a purpose for the earth. He has a plan of salvation for men and women who try to obey Him. And absolutely nothing can thwart Him.
…so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

To this end He controls world affairs in ways that we do not and cannot comprehend. He ensures that the rulers are who He wants.

…the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men

Daniel 4:17

By implication, He oversees major political decisions.

True, there are wicked people and awful things happen. God does not always intervene. But He is still ‘in control’. There is no opposing force like Satan or the Devil with evil power. There is no single example in the Bible where God is not in control.

The faithful will be saved. They may suffer wrong in this life, but their salvation is guaranteed. While they are not protected from all physical harm (Luke 21:12), God does protect them. Paul reassured believers in Corinth:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it .

1 Corinthians 10:13

So, we should not fear what world leaders do. We should fear and serve God. For no human being has been, or ever will be, in control. The God of heaven is in control, and our allegiance must be to Him.

We recently experienced a widespread internet outage. Then, soon afterwards, another one. Such occurrences are annoying and inconvenient, but can also be very serious. For example, the economic consequences can be far-reaching. Few of us understand how the invisible internet system works, the meaning of ‘DNS error’ (deemed responsible on at least one occasion), or how truly interconnected our world has become. As with many things, we tend to take it all for granted until something goes wrong. But we surely realise that it is complex, and that these outages can cause disruption to thousands of services worldwide, affecting millions of people. The system is only as strong as its weakest link, piece of kit or coding. Nevertheless, despite all this, we tend to trust it and rely on it.

Our world is becoming ever more unstable in many ways. This should not surprise Bible students. A time of great trouble is predicted before Jesus returns to establish God’s kingdom on earth in a reign of peace (Daniel 12:1-3; Luke 21:25-28). A formidable time of distress and confusion is described in picture form in the ‘apocalyptic’ book of Revelation.

In the past God has intervened causing chaos and confusion, and foiling human systems in order to bring about His purpose. Examples are: the flood (Genesis 7), plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7:14-12:32), and battles (Judges 4:12-16). We cannot usually tell whether a disaster is a natural consequence of human error or His intervention. But as the all-powerful God He is certainly capable, if He so decreed, of causing widespread chaos far worse than any recent internet outages.

God is also invisible to us. We cannot understand how He works. But He is always there. He never slumbers or sleeps. He is always totally aware of what is happening in the world, and can see in our hearts and minds. He never lies. He is all-powerful, and nobody can thwart Him (Psalm 90:2, 121:4; Isaiah 14:27). There can never be an ‘outage’ of Almighty God. With Him there is no unreliability: nothing to break, fail or wear out. No weak link.

Nowadays, however, people seldom think much about God. His blessings are taken for granted until there is a crisis. In life-threatening situations people often resort to prayer. Of course, God hears all prayers. But there is no guarantee that He will answer them. The Bible contains chilling examples of God refusing to heed prayers. He refused to respond to king Saul of Israel (1 Samuel 28:6), to David’s enemies (Psalm 18:41) or to faithless Israel (Isaiah 1:15): and He even told His prophet Jeremiah not to pray any more for Israel (Jeremiah 7:16).

So where do we put our trust? In fallible human beings or in the Almighty creator and sustainer of the universe (Psalm 146)?

One day human systems will end for ever, and God will rule. We need, right now, to totally trust in, and rely on, the God of the Bible.

The Nobel Peace prize for 2025 has just been awarded to Maria Corina Machado from Venezuela. Maybe not many people knew of her or her work. There was some speculation about whether the US president Donald Trump (much more well-known) would get the prize for negotiating a peace deal between Israel and Hamas. And this has been far more prominent in the news, especially as the live hostages have been returned to Israel. But the short-list for the prize had been drawn up a while ago.

This Middle East deal, facilitated by Donald Trump, is seen by many as a major breakthrough. Donald Trump himself hailed it as such, saying that there had not been peace in the Middle East for 3,000 years, and that ‘maybe’ the peace would be ‘everlasting’.

It is certainly true that for thousands of years there has been conflict in the Middle East. Of course, it remains to be seen how long this peace deal will actually last, but we can be certain that peace in the Middle East will not be ‘everlasting’. Why? Because the Bible says so.

The Bible most definitely predicts everlasting peace; and not just in the Middle East – in the whole world. Here is one such prophecy:

‘He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore’

Isaiah 2:4

The underlined words are inscribed on a wall near the United Nations buildings in New York. But, despite their efforts, the United Nations have failed to achieve peace.

The ‘he’ referred to in the prophecy is Jesus Christ. And other, similar, passages in the Bible make it clear that this prophecy is describing the kingdom of God on earth, ruled over by Jesus after his return.

But the Bible is also clear that before this reign of peace there will be a time of great trouble. The prophet Zechariah predicted an awesome battle against Jerusalem, where Jesus comes back to rescue the Jews who have survived (Zechariah 14:1-4). He also prophesied that the Jews, who have mostly rejected Jesus, will finally believe in him.

‘And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn’

Zechariah 12:10

That chapter also predicts the fearsome battle with Jerusalem. Quite clearly, these events are still in the future.

Another prophet, Ezekiel, described a future battle in Israel (Ezekiel 38:10-23). Verses 11-12 described an invader of Israel:

‘…I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates, to seize spoil and carry off plunder…’

This invader is destroyed by God.

Consequently, despite their best efforts (however genuine), no human beings can bring about lasting peace in the Middle East, let alone the world.

Bible students watch world events in the light of Bible prophecies such as these. The news heralds the return of Jesus.

But there are also warnings for us. The apostle Paul wrote to believers in Thessalonica:

‘While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape’

1 Thessalonians 5:3

He was warning about ‘the day of the Lord’ and judgment by Jesus.

We need to heed these warnings. We need to be preparing for the return of Jesus, because it could happen sooner than we imagine. He will only accept us if we have tried to follow him. To some professing believers he will say chilling words:

‘On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness”’

Matthew 7:22-23

We may not know much about Maria Corina Machado; we are unlikely to know Donald Trump personally, but we have Bibles and we should make every effort to know and follow Jesus Christ. For it is certain that one day he will identify his true followers and establish everlasting peace.