Dr. Seuss
once wrote a book called “Yertle the Turtle.” In this story, Yertle the Turtle
is the king of the little pond where he lives. He is the king over everything
that he can see, but one day, he decides that he can’t see far enough, and his
kingdom really deserves to be much bigger. So he commands other turtles to come
and stand on top of each other so that he can stand on top of them and expand
his view. After spending the day enjoying his new view and the power that is
supposed to come with it, Yertle is enraged when the evening dawns and he
realizes that the moon is still higher than he is.
This story
is a good analogy for our position with respect to God. No matter how much
power we may think we have or how much power we may actually have in this
world, we are all still looking up at God! God’s power is truly unrivaled, and
when He decides to act, there is no power anywhere in all of creation that can
stop Him.
This
attribute of God is often called “omnipotence,” and today we’re going to
discuss what this means and how it should be comforting and inspiring for us to
know that God’s power reigns supreme.
How is God’s Power Proclaimed in
the Bible?
1. Through titles
Throughout
Scripture, God is referred to as “the Almighty,” which is a pretty easy word to
understand. God has ALL the MIGHT He needs to do whatever He wants to do. In
Genesis 17:1, God appeared to Abraham and said, “I am God Almighty.” Perhaps
you have heard the Hebrew phrase el
shaddai—that phrase means “God Almighty.” That title was especially
meaningful in a time when most people believed there was a god of the rivers
and a god of the lakes and a god of the mountains and a god of the plains and
so on. This title proclaimed that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was supreme over
all.
At the
opposite end of the Bible, we read in the book of Revelation that the people
and angels in heaven refer to God as the Almighty (Rev. 19:6, 21:22). So from
the first book of the Bible to the last, that title runs throughout to proclaim
God’s unrivaled power.
2. Through direct statements
Some verses
simply state that God is all-powerful. Here are just a few examples:
·
Psalm 115:3—“Our God is in the heavens; he does
all that he pleases.”
·
Job 42:2—“I know that you can do all things, and
that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
·
Daniel 4:35—“All the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or
say to him, ‘What have you done?’”
You can
probably think of other verses like these because such verses are very popular
because of the comfort and confidence that they bring to us.
3. Through rhetorical questions
On a number
of occasions, people used rhetorical questions to say, in effect, “Isn’t it
obvious how powerful God is?” When Sarah laughed at the idea that she would
have a baby at the ripe old age of 90, God said, “Is
anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14). And when Paul was
declaring Christ’s resurrection to a Jewish leader, he said, “Why do you think its incredible that God raises the dead?” (Acts
26:8). Even a humanly impossible act like that was no challenge for God.
4. Through His actions
The reason
that the rhetorical questions we just read can work is that God has put His
power on full display through His actions. The greatest example of God’s power
was in the creation of the universe back in Genesis 1-2. Remember—when God
began to create, He didn’t just take “stuff” that already existed and make
planets and stars and air and water out of it. When God began to create,
nothing existed but Him, and the Bible tells us that He simply commanded things
to exist, and they did! That’s why Paul could say, “Why do you think its
incredible that God raises the dead?” We’re talking about God, after all—the one who just speaks things into existence.
The
miracles of Jesus also display His power as God. Let’s just think for a moment
about the miracle recorded in John 5. In that story, Jesus encountered a man
who had been unable to walk for 38 years. He asked the man if he wanted to be
made well, then he simply told him to stand up, pick up his bed, and walk—and
he did!
Think about
the extreme makeover that this man’s body experienced. His muscles would have
been severely atrophied after 38 years, so he probably instantly received new
muscle mass. His bones would have been frail from not supporting any weight for
all that time, but they instantly became strong. His circulatory system was
immediately capable of sustaining him in a standing position. Think about
that—have you ever stood up quickly after you’ve been lying down? You get
light-headed because your circulation has to catch up. Imagine standing up after
lying down and only sitting up on occasion for 38 years!
Miracles like
that are an amazing display of power, and they show us that God truly is
almighty—He can do anything He chooses to do!
What Does it Mean that God is
Almighty?
We need to
spend a little time discussing what it means that God is almighty, because some
people have enjoyed challenging this idea with questions like, “Can God make a
rock so big that even He can’t pick it up?” or “Can God make 2+2=6?” or “Can God make an elder board so stubborn that even He
can’t make it act?” (A little joke among pastors!). So what does it mean
that God is almighty? I think we can clarify this idea in two ways.
1. God can do whatever is
possible to do
If
something can possibly be done, God can do it if He chooses. Keep in mind that
the idea of possibility extends beyond what is merely possible for humans. Even
though something may be impossible for us, it is possible for God as long as it
is a real, logical possibility.
Some things
are not real possibilities, like making 2+2=6, and so God cannot do something
like that. This really isn’t a limit on God’s power, however—its actually just
a limit on what is real. I like what Charles Ryrie said about questions like
this. He said, “We might as well ask if a nuclear explosion could make 2+2=6.”
A question like this isn’t really about how much power something has—its about
what sort of actions are real possibilities. So just remember—if something can
possibly be done, God can do it if He chooses.
2. God cannot do something that
is outside of His nature
Your nature
simply refers to what you are. For example, I am a human being, so I have a
human nature, and if you think about it, my nature puts limits on what I can
do. I can’t fly like a bird because its not in my nature to do that; I can’t
see through a wall because its not in my nature to do that; or, as a male, I
can’t give birth to a child because its not in my nature to do that. These
things aren’t really limits on my power or strength; they’re just the
boundaries of what I am.
Likewise,
God cannot do something that is outside of His nature. So for example, Hebrews
6:18 says that it is impossible for God to lie. Lying is outside the boundary
of who God is, and so its not in His nature to do that.
These are some
helpful clarifications to keep in mind when you think about God being
“almighty.” They may seem a little abstract or philosophical right now, but I
know that with just a little bit of thought time, you can understand these ideas.
Just bring them to mind again and let them sink in. For now, let’s spend the
remainder of our time talking about some implications of God’s unrivaled power
Implications of God’s Unrivaled
Power
1. God has no true rival
By “rival”
I mean someone who is on an equal footing and could actually keep God from
achieving something that He chooses to do. God certainly has enemies—such as
Satan and his demons—but they cannot match His power. In fact, in the book of
Job and in the temptation of Peter we discover that Satan has to ask for
permission before he can act. Now, the reason that God gives him permission is
another sermon for another day, but we can see clearly through this observation
that even God’s greatest enemy is no match for His power.
2. God has power over everything
that happens to me
Nothing
happens in our lives because God was somehow unable to stop it. We will never hear God say in Heaven, “By the way, sorry
about that car accident. I tried my best to stop it, but I just couldn’t do
anything about it.” We will never hear anything like that!
While this
doesn’t answer all of our questions about why God allows things to happen, it
is comforting to know that we’re not simply at the mercy of fate or chance or
karma or anything like that. Everything that happens to us is under God’s
control, so there is a purpose behind everything that we face. One part of that
purpose is to give us opportunities to express faith in God so that we might
earn a greater reward from Him someday. There are likely other purposes as
well, but we should be encouraged just to know that everything that happens to us
has already passed through the hands of a loving God, so there is a reason for
it.
3. God is able to keep His
promises
God is
fully capable of doing whatever He chooses to do, so nothing can keep Him from
fulfilling His promises. As humans, we sometimes have to deal with broken
promises from other humans because we don’t have that kind of power over our
circumstances. Perhaps you promise your child that you’ll make it to their ball
game, but car problems keep you from getting there, or a broken fence allows
the cattle to get out and you have to round them up.
When we
receive promises from each other, we have to allow for things like that, but
with God, we don’t have to entertain any doubts about whether He will keep His
promises. And so, His promises become a tremendous source of comfort and a
solid foundation on which to act in our lives. They are a bedrock on which to build,
and that is because of God’s unrivaled power.
When we
consider the ability that God has to do whatever He chooses to do, it is all
the more amazing to think that He chose to send His Son to die for us. God has
provided us with forgiveness of our sins because He chose to do so, which tells
us of His tremendous love, mercy, and grace. God has exercised His unrivaled
power for our undeserved benefit, and we praise Him for this today.
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