Our God is Omnipotent (Part 1)

Lord you are great and greatly to be praised and so teach us, Lord teach me that I might be able to teach your people and Lord please teach your people and help them to use these truths in their life, in their faith to live for you and love you in a greater way. We ask these things all in Jesus’ name. Amen. All right, the omnipotence of God, omnipotence of God.

Revelation chapter 19 and verse number, this is of course a scene in heaven, verse number 6 the Bible says this, and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying, hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Now what’s interesting is this is the only example in our Bible of the word omnipotent.

It’s the only time in scripture that this word occurs, but it is not, it is not even though that’s true, it is not the lone occurrence in scripture of this truth. And I’ll say more about that in just a minute. In fact, I’ll go ahead and mention it. So this is the only time we see the word omnipotent. Now the word omnipotent just means omni, like omnipresent means all, omniscient means all knowing, and so anytime you see like an omnivore, like an animal that eats everything, plants and animals is an omnivore.

It’s just like a Latin, I think it’s a Latin root, and it just means all, and then potent means of course power. And so the idea is all powerful, and there’s a lot that goes into that term, but although this is the only time that this word is found in scripture, it is actually related to another word that you’re probably more familiar with. Anybody want to guess what that word is?

Omnipotent is directly connected like this to another word that occurs bunches of times in the Bible that speaks of the same truth, almighty, almighty. So in the same way that you have omnipotent, all power, almighty is all might, all power. It’s actually the same word, it’s the same exact word. In Revelation 19 verse 6, it’s the one place that our Bible translates it as omnipotent, and every other case that’s found in the New Testament is translated as almighty.

So in the Old Testament there are 48 references, 48 occurrences of the word almighty. And then in the New Testament you also have references to the word almighty. All told in the scripture there are 58 references to the word almighty or omnipotent, so it’s 57, and then the one omnipotent is 58 references. And here’s an interesting fact, of all the times that you see this word, it is never one time given as an attribute of anyone except a God.

And that makes perfect sense considering that God is the only one who is almighty. Now we talked about this before, and I’m just kind of going through the paces here before looking at some of these verses in more detail. The omnipotence of God, like the omnipresence of God, like the omniscience of God, like the eternality of God, like the aseity of God, which is the what? Aseity?

It’s only been like six months at least. That’s the self-existence of God. Like all of those things, all of the attributes we’ve looked at so far are attributes that belong only to God. They’re attributes that belong only to God. In other words, the true and the living God is the only person, if you will, the only being that has these attributes. No created thing can have these attributes, and therefore these are defining attributes of God.

Whatsoever claims to be God that does not have this attribute is no God at all. This is why it’s so silly, like we’ve been talking about in our School of Scripture class when we talk about who Jesus Christ is, the identity of Jesus Christ. That’s why it’s so stupid for Aryans, modern day Aryans, like Joe’s Witnesses and Mormons, to – well, Mormons aren’t quite Aryans, but similar anyway.

It’s so silly for them to say that Jesus is some lesser God. There is no such thing. You’re either God or you’re not. You’re not – there is no – it’s a binary. It’s a black or a white. You’re either God or you’re not God, because God has exactly and only one definition, though men have many things that they call God. That one and true God has these essential characteristics, and all of them are related, as we’ve seen before.

Now, when we talk about omnipotence or we would say all-mightiness, maybe, the core of that is power. Okay, that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the omnipotence of God, the power of God, that God has all power. Now when you look at the idea of power, when you look at the idea of power, it splits off into two forms, and both of them are in Scripture, and we are going to spend some time looking at both of them.

But there’s two of them. I’m going to read you the definition of power, as of course found in the dictionary, and it also divides them into two. We see it in Scripture. We see it here as well. The first definition of power is this, the ability to act or affect something strongly, physical or mental strength, might, vigor, energy, or effectiveness. And so the core idea behind that is ability, ability, ability.

God’s power first means ability. The second thing, the second definition, which of course they’re related, but the second definition of power, as we see in Scripture, is authority. So you have ability and authority. So the dictionary says this, power in the realm of authority means control or authority over others, dominion, rule, government, command, and sway. Now just as a little foreshadow, authority and ability are together. How do you know?

Well because in Genesis chapter 1, the Bible says, in the beginning God created heaven and the earth, and later on it says, and he said, let there be light. So what do you have there? You have the blending of authority and ability. So the Lord obviously creates something, but he creates it by means of his authority, which is his word. He speaks it, and it happens because of his ability.

You see they’re both kind of tied together, authority and ability. So keep that in your notes if you would. So how might we define, from the Scriptures perspective, how might we define the idea of the power of God, or the idea of omnipotence? And so here’s the definition I came up with, nice, and using the KISS method. Here it is. God’s infinite ability. That’s what I said.

God’s infinite ability. Now go if you would to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. What we’re going to do now is we’re going to look at this first definition, this idea of ability, power, energy, strength, might. And so we want to go to Romans 1. Romans 1, look if you would at verse number 18. The Bible says this, Romans 1 verse 18. Now listen, pay close attention to that verse 19.

Pay close attention to what it says. That which may be known of God is manifest in them. Now is manifest in them means God, and it goes on to say, for God has showed it unto them. So here’s the point. God has revealed certain things about himself to mankind. Does everybody see that in verse number 19? There are certain things, it doesn’t matter what mankind might say it, it doesn’t matter what a man, an individual man or an individual woman might claim about these things, God authoritatively said I have revealed certain things to people.

That is undeniable. Like for instance, I like to watch these cop shows, you know, where they have the body cam and they go through it. That’s what I like to do. You know how many people will have a conversation with a cop and then of course later get arrested and then they’ll say, the cop will say I tried to tell you X, Y and Z and they’ll say no you didn’t and then the narrator will go back and play the part where the cop says it on the body cam but they’re denying that he said it, right?

They’re denying the whole thing. Like I told you to take your hands out of your pockets or I told you to turn around or whatever and they deny that he said that. Well that’s kind of like what’s happening here is the Almighty is saying I’ve told you certain things and mankind is running around trying to tell us that God hasn’t said anything. There’s nothing to see. There’s no truth God has revealed to them.

But in verse number 19 the Bible says that which may be known of God. So the first thing is that God has revealed and manifested himself to mankind. Number two, there are things that can be known of God that every single person alive has access to. Even if they don’t have a Bible. You see this? They don’t have to have a Bible to know these things. These things are able to be known without the scripture.

Here they are. All right. So it says verse number 19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. What do you mean? God has showed it unto them. Okay. What has God showed to them? If you follow the chain of the verses, verse number 20 rather, explains the things that God has showed them. Here it is, verse 20. For the invisible things of him, of God, from the creation of the world are clearly seen.

So there are things about God that you cannot see, invisible things of God. These are attributes of God, which is what our topic of our Sunday School is. These are attributes of God that are not able to be seen with the naked eye that have been revealed through creation. So creation, this is Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament show it the sandy work.

So that means that God is talking to people. Whether they’re hearing, whether they’re listening is a different question, but God is talking to them. And so when you meet an atheist type, or you’re trying to share the gospel maybe with a family member who is agnostic or atheist, or they believe in evolution, or whatever the case might be, you can operate on the assumption that they know certain things, even if they deny it.

Even if they deny it, you can operate on that assumption because God has told you he has revealed these things to them by creation. But it tells us one other thing about creation, which we’ve already seen in our class, which is creation, the study of creation is a rich resource to understand and know about God. It is one of God’s revelations. So by studying creation, you can study God because he is the creator.

So this is why things like what we would normally call science, those things are important to know and understand because the more we know them, the more we know about the creator. And that is by design. God has, verse 20, revealed the invisible things of himself from the creation of the world. And they are easy to see. They’re clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.

So it’s possible the things that are made are the visible things. So you can see invisible attributes of God by the visible things that God has created. It is the connection between the invisible God and the visible world. And that’s the way God has designed it. I was looking at something yesterday and it was talking about the large apes, the great apes they call them. The great apes, the chimpanzees, the gorillas.

And over since the 70s, they’ve been teaching chimpanzees and gorillas and various other primates to use sign language. And so what it said was they have taught them well over a thousand signs and they can communicate. And so when the gorilla or the chimpanzee feels a certain way, I’m using that kind of loosely, but you understand what I mean, feels a certain way or is hungry or wants something or something like that, it can give the sign and then it can communicate in that basic sort of way.

And there are cases where the apes have actually taught the children without being prompted, taught their babies to use signs as well. And so I thought that was kind of interesting. But of all of the years, let’s say since the 70s, so we’re talking 50 years here. Since the 70s, they’ve gone through dozens and dozens of examples of these great apes that they’ve kind of befriended and taught these signs and all of these things to see how well they can communicate and all these things.

In 50 years and that long process, not one time has any one of them ever asked a question or ever been curious about any knowledge or any aspect outside of their own observation and existence. In other words, they can comprehend things that are in front of it, kind of like stimuli, that which is in front of it. They comprehend that, but beyond the boundaries of that immediate circle, the universe doesn’t exist.

They’re not curious, no questions, no curiosity at all. Why’d I bring that up? Because in that, what the article was saying is that is one of the distinctive features of man, is that man can comprehend something beyond the limits of what he sees, what is immediately around him, which also kind of brings us full circle because as man degrades, his thoughts become low and carnal and immediate and temporal.

In other words, his thoughts stay right here kind of like the great apes, looking for immediate satisfaction to the promptings and desires of the flesh and not concerned with anything outside of that boundary at all. And you know what I’m talking about. These are people who live for the flesh. That’s all they’re concerned with, making money so they can party and indulge every whim and desire that they have with no thought for anything outside of that, no serious thought at all.

But they have the capacity. That’s the difference. They have the capacity. God has given man the capacity to know him by his creation, to look into that which is invisible through that which is visible. That’s what the verse says. So God is talking to man in words he understands. The apes do not understand, but man does and can understand, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

Now let me add another point here about Calvinism. Because at this point, if you follow the pure teachings of Calvinism, Calvinism teaches that men are dead in trespassances and sins. Now we believe that as well. Ephesians chapter 2 says it. But it goes the depravity of man teaches that not just men are dead in trespassances and sins, but that means that man is not able to perceive or understand any communication with God.

It’s not just we’re sinners and we need a savior. A lot of people misunderstand that. That is not the doctrine of depravity of man. This is why you’ve got to be careful. I learned kind of the hard way recently about throwing around theological terms because when you throw around, everybody’s got their own idea of what that means. And depravity of man is an example. Some of you, if I had asked you prior to me saying that, if I had asked you, do you believe in the depravity of man, most of you probably would have raised your hand according to how you understand it.

But if I gave you the definition used by Calvinism, you probably would be less likely to agree, even though you agree in the depravity of man as you understand it. Well here’s the problem. The depravity of man in this means man cannot understand. He does not have the ability to understand or perceive anything, anything that God, any ways that God communicates. But look at the verse. It says, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

So here’s the thing. Number one, God is communicating. Number two, man can understand it, even if he’s lost. Even without God, he can understand it. That means that God is communicating and man gets it. And that’s when he’s still dead and trespasses and sins. But notice verse 20, even his eternal power and Godhead. So what are the things that can be known by creation? There’s two aspects, there’s two characteristics of God that can be known.

Number one, his eternal power. Number two, the Godhead, which is the, if you want to say the God’s state of being God, if you will, right? What’s that? Authority. You could say that. Sometimes people say deity. But the thing I want you to concentrate on is the idea of eternal power. So here’s the thing I want you to see. By looking at the creation and examining the things that God has created in the material world, you and I can understand God’s power, which is what we’re talking about today.

See that? God has revealed it. Now we’re saved. I hope you’re saved. And you have not only, if you’re born again, you have the Spirit of God in you, you have the Word of God hopefully in your lap. So you have a full revelation of everything God has revealed to you. But that doesn’t negate the natural revelation that God has given to us as well. And this is something that is repeated over and over and over again in Scripture.

Let’s look at a few examples. Turn to Isaiah 40. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 26. Verse 20, look at verse 25, says this, Isaiah 40 verse 25, to whom then will ye liken me or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and behold, who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number? He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might.

See that creation with his power. For that he is strong in power, not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, here’s what it says, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding.

So if in God’s creative power he never faints or is weary, you know what that means? He is all powerful. That means at no point, no matter how much God expends his power, is it diminished in the least? Think about that. You drive wherever you want to drive and the gas tank’s always full, right? That’s the way God’s power is. It is inexhaustible. It is infinite. That’s why we say God is almighty.

Look at Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah chapter 10. Verse number 12. Jeremiah 10 verse 12, the Bible says this, he hath made the earth by his, what? Power. He hath established the world by his wisdom, that’s omniscience, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Again, the might of God connected to his creative act. Look at chapter 27, same book. Chapter 27. Verse five. Chapter 27 verse five.

The Lord speaking here says this, I have made the earth and the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by my outstretched arm and have given it unto whom it’s seen me, unto me. So in this verse, not only do you have power in the sense that the ability, his arm, right? That’s the ability. And then he says, and I give it to whoever I want.

That’s authority. So you have ability and authority both in this verse. But again, connected to his creation. Chapter 51, look at that. Chapter 51. Look if you would at verse number 15. He hath made the earth by his power. He hath established the world by his wisdom and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. Made the world by his power. Last verse I want you to see is in Revelation chapter four.

So let’s go there and we’ll come in for a landing. Revelation chapter four. Revelation chapter four. Verse number 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and what? Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Again you see ability and authority. His power created them and his authority states their purpose. You see that is a great verse to memorize.

I challenge you to memorize it. Make up a song too. Revelation 411. It is a song. Sure enough. I’ve never heard that song. That is fantastic. Well it’s set Brother Vernon. It’s set. We need to make it official. Now that we have sung three songs in Sunday school it is now a fixed and firm part of the bylaws of the church which cannot be altered or amended according to the laws of the Medes and Persians.

Very good. I’m about to sing that one. Everybody help me remember them. Okay. So here’s what we see from this is that the power of God is connected to his creative ability and his creative act. So here’s a few things I wanted to read to you. So you think about the things and this is just me brainstorming. You think about the things that God has created and how they show his power.

It’s really just a matter of study and a matter of your imagination because as much as you dig you will find God’s power in his creation. So I thought about what in creation are obvious examples of power or I might say energy or force. Right. Those are all kind of synonyms. Right. And I thought about the force of gravity. Thought about the force of gravity. The force of gravity governs the movement of all physical objects in the universe.

And all objects, any two objects in the universe are attracted by gravity. They all have anything that has mass has gravity. Including celestial bodies like moons and stars and planets but also small things as well have gravity. It’s just not measurable. It has been measured but it’s not something we commonly interact with. And we as people interact with gravity every single day of our life. When you get out of bed you have to overcome gravity.

Right. Let me ask you a question. How much effort is required to overcome that force? How much energy? How much power? Now of course you can talk about your legs but think about when SpaceX sends these rockets. In order to escape the gravity of this planet, the amount of energy as we measure it in human standards you see coming out of the back of that rocket. Right.

It is unbelievable. You’ve got to remember it was God in his power that established that power. Not only that, you think about nuclear forces. Nuclear forces, where that word comes from is the nucleus of an atom. The protons and neutrons that are bound together inside of every atom that’s been created. There is a force, the nuclear force is what holds the nucleus of an atom together. And we can’t really perceive it in our normal life but from a natural perspective the nuclear force that holds atoms, the nucleus of the atom together is what holds all things together.

Because if they came apart you no longer have atoms in the same way. That’s what determines the kind of atom. Whether it’s gold or whether it’s iron or whatever. We can however observe that power, that nuclear force that holds those atoms together when that force is broken. When the nucleus of an atom is broken apart it releases enormous amounts of energy which we observe as power. We call it a nuclear reaction.

Like a nuclear bomb or a nuclear power plant. You know what’s happening? They’re busting up nuclei of atoms and the power that’s being put off is being harnessed or used to destroy. Think about the power of a nuclear bomb. But the power of a nuclear bomb comes from the power of the nucleus that God put there. Multiplied trillions and trillions and trillions of times. How much power does that show that God has?

Think about it. Think about the power of the sun. The sun is just is only one of the stars that God created out of billions or even trillions of stars. Nobody really knows how many there are or even a good guess. In comparison with the average nuclear bomb that we would have in our arsenal in our country the sun emits 900 billion times that power every second.

And that’s one of billions and trillions of similar stars in God’s universe. That’s power. That’s power. 900 billion times every second. It’s no wonder then that the Bible writers often describe God’s power in relation to his physical creation. In Psalm 107 verse 25 the power of God is seen in a storm. You think about a storm and a ship on the sea and the waves because that’s what Psalm 107 describes.

It describes the ship on the waves of the sea in a storm. Think about that. What forces or powers control the waves? The wind and temperature changes move enormous amounts of water. I challenge you, you want to talk about power and energy and ability. Think about have you ever tried to lift a five gallon bucket of water? It’s 40 pounds. 8 times 5. 8 pounds per gallon.

40 pounds. It’s hard to lift with one hand. It’s kind of hard. You put two on there. I mean that’s a job. When God moves the oceans just like nothing. Using weather patterns. It requires enormous amounts of power. Gigantic waves move through the sea such that even man’s largest ships are just like bobbers on the waves. They’re nothing. The power that those ships, no matter how big they are, are subject to is just beyond our comprehension.

And that’s just on our planet. Think about how much power is required to move your car. If you were to get behind one of your cars and push it from behind, that’s hard work. That’s hard work. You put gas in it, which is also power that God created. You put gas in it and it seems to move pretty easily. But if you push it, you wouldn’t be able to move it far.

And even without gas, even without mankind, when the Lord chooses to with a simple flick like an earthquake or a gust of wind, that same car that we can’t move is thrown around just like nothing. See, what I’m saying is you look at all of these examples and there’s just tons and tons more if you just meditate upon it. All these examples of power or energy or force that you find in the material creation and you know that the Almighty who established those laws and truths is far greater than all of them.

It is beyond our understanding. God created all power. That’s awesome. Let’s pray.