Omnipotent God

I’m not omnipotent. And thus my friend cannot say about me that nothing is too hard for me. We just proved that wrong, because my plan, my best intention, was to keep the coin safe for my friend, and Dave thwarted that plan….apparently it was too hard for me.

Job recognized the truth of God’s omnipotence. After God asked Job a series of questions about creation Job could not answer, Job said to God:

Job 42:2 (NIV) "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

It might help to understand where this all started, that is, the process through which God directed this Word for this morning. A few weeks ago, reading about Christians’ response to hurricane Katrina, I saw an article by an evangelical speaker and author named Tony Campolo. Now, I have a couple of his books on my bookshelf, and though he is a controversial author, he’s generally considered an evangelical Christian.

Let me read to you what he wrote about the hurricane.

Perhaps we would do well to listen to the likes of Rabbi Harold Kushner, who contends that God is not really as powerful as we have claimed. Nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures does it say that God is omnipotent. Kushner points out that omnipotence is a Greek philosophical concept, but it is not in his Bible. Instead, the Hebrew Bible contends that God is mighty. That means that God is a greater force in the universe than all the other forces combined.

To this, I must say, and I must say it quite emphatically….

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The four passages of scripture we just read are all Old Testament passages. I don’t know how else to read or interpret those, except to say that they teach the omnipotence of God. What does almighty mean if it doesn’t mean omnipotent? All mighty. All powerful. What part of all does Tony Campolo, or Harold Kushner, not understand?

The word omnipotent is defined by the biblical word, “Almighty.” This word occurs 345 times in the Bible, and is never used of anyone but God. The doctrine of God’s omnipotence is assumed everywhere in the Bible. The actual word omnipotent is not in our modern translations, but it is found in the King James Version of Revelation 19:6

“The Apostle John heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and loud peals of thunder shouting out: “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

You may recognize that last phrase. Classical composer Handel composed the Hallelujah Chorus around this verse. So, we have this Christian author and speaker, undermining, outright denying, a critical doctrine of scripture, a doctrine the church has taught for 2000 years. Worse still, he’s using an unbeliever’s reasoning to deny it.

Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book more than 20 years ago called, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. In it, he explains suffering essentially by suggesting that God is a good God, that he loves us, but as for circumstances in the world, He’s just doing the best He can under the circumstances, because He’s not the all-powerful God we’ve always been taught He was.