The Omnipotence of God

Genesis 18:1-14; Numbers 11:1-6, 10-14, 18-23

Most of the disappointments and frustrations of human beings, including Christians, about life are as a result of their thinking that God cannot use His power to meet their needs or to change their unpleasant situations. People ask questions like: Where is my all-powerful God, for whom nothing is impossible? Why doesn’t the God who opened up the Red Sea, gave sight to blind men, and walked across the Sea of Galilee, as if it were pavement give a 40-year-old single woman a husband and a childless woman a baby? Several answers have come to mind of people over the years.

Rabbi Rubenstein, a leading Jewish theologian who lived through the Holocaust, concluded that God was absent. Another rabbi, Harold S. Kushner, in his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People said that God must be helpless to stop our tragedies. Still others view God as cruel and wicked, someone who plays with people like puzzle pieces. However, none of these alternatives is true about God. A more correct position about God’s power is that given by A. H. Strong who said, “God can do all that He wills, but He will not do all that He can.”

There are two implications of this position that we must be aware of as we seek to come to grips with God’s omnipotence. First, God won’t do all that He can because He chains His power to His purposes. God’s power serves His purposes, not ours. He never uses His power except to fulfill His purposes. Second, God doesn’t do all that He can because His power is coupled with His love. His love for us constrains His power. He does not use His power to meet our desires, but to serve His love.

The Bible bears witness to the omnipotence of God. Centuries ago, God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son through whom the world would be blessed. But there were problems. Abraham and Sarah were getting on in years, and Sarah was barren. When told she would be the mother of Abraham’s child, the child of promise, Sarah laughed. In response to her laughter, God spoke these words to Abraham: “13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son” (Genesis 18:13-14).

When God rescued the nation Israel from their bondage in Egypt, He led them into the wilderness, where the “menu” was a miraculous provision of manna. But the Israelites began to grumble because they could not enjoy the variety of foods they had eaten in Egypt. In response to their grumbling, God promised to give this great company a diet of meat for an entire month. If the feeding of the 5,000 seems difficult, imagine feeding this huge congregation. Moses had the same thoughts and expressed his concerns to God: 21 But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?” (Numbers 11:21-22).

But God asked another question in response to Moses, a question vitally important to every Christian today: 23 The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” (Numbers 11:23). The answer to this question is crucial, and the answer of the Bible is clear and unequivocal: “3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” (Psalm 115:3). 17 “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17). 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26).

The earliest manifestation of God’s power is seen in the creation of the world in which we live: “20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20). Throughout Scripture, the creation of the world is cited as a compelling testimony of the power of God (see Psalm 19:1-6; 33:6-12). In Psalm 19, the heavens testify to the existence of God and His attributes and thus proclaim His glory (Psalm 19:1-6).

David continues the theme of creation’s proclamation of God’s character in Psalm 33 where the power of God is highlighted. Verse 6 states the power of God in creating the world, emphasizing that all this took place by the mere speaking of a word (see Genesis 1:3ff.; Hebrews 11:3; 2 Peter 3:5). In verse 7, David indicates God not only created the heavens, He controls them. And in verses 10 and following, David goes on to tell us God likewise controls the affairs of men; God is in control of history.

God’s second great demonstration of power is seen at the Exodus (Exodus 5:1-2). Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to allow the children of Israel to leave Egypt provided the occasion for God’s power to be demonstrated to the Egyptians, the Israelites, and the surrounding nations (see Exodus 7:3-5; 14:30-31; 15:6, 11-16). The nation Israel praised God for the power He displayed in delivering them from their bondage in Egypt. They confessed that their deliverance proved God to be God alone, and the word of their deliverance would strike terror in the hearts of the other nations. They saw this deliverance as proof of God’s power and assurance of their entrance into the land as God had promised. The exodus was indeed a demonstration of God’s omnipotence. Later, Moses would remind the second generation of Israelites of this great event and of the power of God to which it bore witness (see Deut. 4:32-37).

Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah included the fact of His power. He was called the “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6). At the time Messiah’s birth was announced to Mary, she was told this miraculous virgin birth would take place by the power of God (Luke 1:34-37). Our Lord’s power was evident through the many miracles He performed (see Acts 2:32; John 3:2). The people were awe-struck by the evidences of His power (Luke 9:43a).

Jesus made it clear His power extended beyond the merely physical realm. He employed His power to heal in order to show that His power extended to the forgiving of sins (Luke 5:17-26; see also Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12). The greatest demonstration of our Lord’s power was His resurrection from the dead (John 10:17-18, “17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (see also Matt. 12:38-40; Rom. 1:4).

In His first coming, a few men were given an occasional glimpse of the full power of our Lord (see Mark 9:1-8; 2 Peter 1:16-19). But He makes it clear that in His second coming, all will see Him coming with power (Matt. 24:30, “30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” (see also Matt. 26:64). The last book of the Bible emphasizes the power of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 5:11-12, “11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!”).

No one who takes the Bible seriously can deny the power of God. God is omnipotent; He is all-powerful. This truth transformed the lives of men in the past, and it can transform our lives today. But for this to happen, we must do a number of things.

The first is to fear, honour, and serve God and God alone (Exodus 20:1-7; see also Joshua 4:23-24; Psalm 115:1-15). Two, remove the word “impossible” from our vocabulary since the Bible teaches God is infinitely powerful. How often we excuse our sin by appealing to our human inability. “But I’m only human,” we say. That is indeed true, but God has not only saved us by His power, He also works in us to sanctify us by His power (Romans 8:8-11; Ephesians 1:18-21; 3:14-20; Colossians 1:9-12; 1:29).

Three, we must not allow our weakness to be a barrier to the power of God. Rather, our weakness should be the basis for our turning to God, depending upon His power to work in us. In this way, God receives all the glory (2 Cor. 4:7, “7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us;” see also 2 Cor. 12:7-10).

When we minister in the power of God, we need not trust in our own strength and in human methods. Indeed, we dare not do so. Through the “weakness” of a cross, God brought salvation to men. Through the “foolishness” of the message of the cross, men are saved. Through weak and foolish men, God has chosen to proclaim His gospel. Through weak and unimpressive methods, the gospel is proclaimed, trusting in the power of God to convince and convert sinners. In this way, men must give God the glory, and they must trust in Him and in His power, not in men (1 Corinthians 1:20-24, 26-29; 1:2-5).

This is not the way the church operates today. When we preach, we employ the marketing methods of our day, which have proved to be successful in producing results. We use persuasive techniques which sell soap and breakfast cereals. When we seek to train and develop leaders, we train men to be leaders following the model and methods of our secular culture rather than teaching them to be servants. The church is more often run on the basis of “good business” principles than on biblical principles. And we offer “therapy” in a thinly disguised version of secular psychology and psychiatry, rather than challenging men and women to think biblically and to obey the Word of God.

Four, if we really believed in the power of God, one, we must come to him in prayer first, not as a last resort after having tried every other means and failed. We must forsake trusting in the idols of our day and trust in Him. We must humbly acknowledge that all the blessings we have are gifts of His grace and the result of the working of His power. Our prayers would be filled with praise and thanksgiving, seeing God as the Source of every blessing. We would be filled with faith and hope, knowing that no purpose of God can be thwarted (2 Chronicles 20:6) and that every promise that God has made will be fulfilled, in His time, and exactly as He has promised.

Five, we would not give so much credit to Satan, if we really understood the power of God. We would not look at Satan as though he and God were closely matched rivals who have battled for centuries. We would not dare suppose that in the end God will barely defeat this one who is our deadly foe. We would realize that God is the Creator, and Satan is but a creature. We would know that God’s power is infinite, while Satan’s is finite. We would not minimize Satan’s power, but neither would we overstate his power. God is not battling with Satan with the hope of defeating him; Satan is already a defeated foe, whose final demise is certain (John 12:31; 16:11; Luke 10:18). In the meantime, God is using Satan and his rebellion to achieve His purposes (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Six, we would not believe the lies of the so-called “prosperity preachers” who line their own pockets by assuring people that God is standing by with all His power, eager to do their bidding. They lay claim on God’s power by “faith,” by claiming certain possessions like money and healing. They say that “God doesn’t want us to suffer, but to prosper.” If they really believed in God’s power, they would know that God’s power can just as well sustain us through suffering and affliction as it can deliver us from suffering and affliction. They refuse to accept that God often works through suffering to sustain and purify the saint and to demonstrate His grace and power to a lost and dying world (again, see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Seven, if we really believe in the power of God, we would not be so reluctant to obey those commands of God which seem to leave us vulnerable (commands like, “sell your possessions and give to the poor,” or see 1 Corinthians 7:29-30). And we would not excuse ourselves from obeying the “impossible” commands like, “love your enemy.” We would live our lives much more dangerously if we really believed God is omnipotent (Ephesians 1:18-19; 3:16-19).