Members of the Body of Christ are inclined to acknowledge a certain symmetry in history, recognizing patterns and recurring structures across time. This symmetry arises from the unchanging, desperately wicked nature of mankind (Jeremiah 17:9) and the persistent deception of satan, the worldwide deceiver (Revelation 12:9), alongside the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). However, beyond this human and demonic influence, history is ultimately under the sovereign control of God. His divine hand shapes the course of events, orchestrating pivotal moments and epochs according to His eternal purpose. While historians like Karl Jaspers identify specific periods, such as the Axial Period from 800 BC to 200 BC with a pivot around 500 BC, as uniquely significant, it is God's overarching authority that governs the rise and fall of nations, the shifts in ideologies, and the turning points that define successive eras.

God rules and overrules to bring His purpose to a successful conclusion in spite of men. Because the Creator truly is sovereign, He is constantly moving His creation including mankind toward the conclusion of the purpose He determined from the beginning. All things do not continue as they were. God is working and intervening making adjustments in the course of international national and personal events as the incidents of the Flood and the Tower of Babel vividly illustrate. God has freed Israel from Egypt guided Israel to power and destroyed it and scattered the Israelites over the face of the earth. God has done this so completely that most have no idea where Israel is or that they themselves might be Israelites. Just as water is turned into irrigation ditches so the Lord directs the king's thoughts and turns them wherever He wants to. If the thoughts of a king representing the highest and most influential person in the nation are in God's hand and He influences his decisions when it pleases Him then all governors of men are completely under the Almighty's sovereign control. The sovereign Lord of Creation is moving all history in the direction He desires it to go. There is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. God fashions the hearts of all the inhabitants of the earth individually and considers all their works. God intends to use Assyria to punish Israel and responds when Assyria boasts of its accomplishment. Assyria does not want to cooperate with God but He makes them. After Israel is punished Assyria takes undue credit and God's judgment begins. The lesson to all is that people are empowered to do only what God wills or permits.

God directs the course of history according to His purpose. He intervenes in the affairs of nations and individuals to move events toward the conclusion He determined from the beginning. The Creator sets the bounds of nations' habitations and determines their times. He turns the heart of a king wherever He wills, directing decisions that guide entire nations in chosen directions. God is constantly managing and governing His creation through adjustments in the course of events, both national and personal. He sweeps away attempts to unite mankind under one government by confusing languages. He changes the heart of one who burns with anger so that joy replaces hostility upon meeting. He compels a prophet sent to curse to bless instead. He causes an enemy who builds a gallows for another to be hanged upon it himself. He brings a resistant servant around through circumstances until the servant thinks as He does. God sends one nation as a rod of anger against another to accomplish punishment, yet later judges the instrument for its pride in taking credit. He empowers actions that fulfill His will while ensuring no leader or confederacy can turn Him aside. Attempts by rulers to break free from His bands are met with derision, for He has set His king upon Zion. Safety remains with the Lord, as no wisdom or counsel can stand against Him.