The God who can

There is something about the raw energy of nature that just inspires awe. Crashing waves, peals of thunder, howling winds – these all demonstrate the raw power of creation. But as powerful as these elements of nature are, they are nothing compared to the sun. The Sun releases energy at the rate of a mass–energy conversion rate of 4.26 million metric tons per second, which produces the equivalent of 38,460 septillion watts (3.846×1026 W) per second. To put that in perspective, this is the equivalent of about 9.192×1010 megatons of TNT per second, or 1,820,000,000 Tsar Bombas – the most powerful thermonuclear bomb ever built! Now think about this for a moment: God spoke the sun into being.
 
God is powerful and his power is beyond human comprehension. Blaise Pascal said: “The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost thinking about it.” God is all-powerful or omnipotent. That means that God has the power or the ability to do whatever pleases him.
 
Deut. 10:17 described God as “God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God”. There is no-one like God. Just listen to how the Bible describes God:

• Ps. 24:8: “Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!”
• Genesis 18:14 the Lord asks Sarah a rhetorical question: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
• Jeremiah 32:17: “Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”
• Luke 1:37: “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

 
Even after reading all these verses, and there are many more, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of God’s power. As Paul explains in Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us”. No wonder then that one of the Bible’s favorite titles for God is “the Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:18 and Rev. 1:8).
 
At this point you might be wondering if there is anything that God cannot do? For example, some philosophers have wondered whether God can create a rock that he cannot lift, or if God can draw a square circle. These are absurd and illogical questions. I believe CS Lewis summed it up best when he wrote: “His Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense.” So is there anything that God cannot do?
 
God cannot go against his nature, his character. If God is truth (Isaiah 65:16), it follows that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2: “God, who never lies”). God can also not be tempted to sin. James 1:13: “God cannot be tempted with evil”. In other words, God’s power is only limited by his character – he will never do anything that contradicts his holy, gracious, righteous and loving character.
 
Why is this important? One of the most frightening things in life is when power is wielded by evil men. The gun in the hand of a criminal or an army in the hand of a tyrant – these are frightening. But God is not like that. God’s power is governed by God’s character and God is supremely, perfectly good. Therefore his children need never fear his power, they need only rely on it.
 
You see the power and the perfect character of God meet at the cross. In Matt. 19 we meet a rich young ruler. He ran up to Jesus and asked Jesus what he must do to be saved. Jesus took in to the law, not because he could by saved by obeying the law, but because the law would expose his inability to save himself. The young man could not see his own need, so Jesus pressed him: “sell what you posses and give to the poor” (v. 21). He went away sorrowful, because he had many possessions. Jesus then said something that alarmed the disciples: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (v. 24). Jesus’ point was that it is impossible for a sinner to save himself, and the disciples understood. “Who then can be saved?”, they asked. Here is our assurance: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (v. 26).
 
God is omnipotent – all-powerful. All things are possible with him, even the salvation of sinners like us. Let us trust in the God who can.
 
Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

Next: The Holiness of God