The Omnipotence of God: A Bible Study

God is omnipotent but what does this mean?  How does God display His omnipotence in the Bible?

Omnipotence Defined

The dictionary’s definition of omnipotence is having all power, unlimited power, or one who has unlimited authority.  I’d say that’s a pretty good but short definition of omnipotence.  We recognize that this is not a human attribute but this is only an attribute of God.  His other two most significant attributes related to His omnipotence is His omnipresence (He is everywhere and all times present) and omniscience (He knows all that there is to know and there is nothing new that He can learn).  That is most certainly Who our God is but what can we find in the Bible that relates to, reflects upon, and defines His omnipotence?

Out of Nothing, Everything

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

How can this not be the first great evidence of God’s omnipotence?  God created everything out of nothing.  Let’s see mankind try that!  Here is God Who has existed for all time and out of nothing He creates everything that exists and He simply had to speak and it was created; ex nihilo…or out of nothing.  Creation by instant fiat; He “He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing” (Job 26:7).

A Creation Demands a Creator

Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

If at any time there was nothing, then nothing would now exist but since we have a creation, there must have been a Creator.  The universe could not have created itself for to have a self-created universe the universe would have had to exist prior to its creating itself so then it would have not had to create itself for it would have already existed.  Just as a painting demands a painter, a creation demands a Creator.  What in the universe did not have a beginning?  What in the universe is eternal?  When we consider the titanic dimensions of the entire universe it must have been created and the Creator must have been greater than that which He created so since the universe is so huge the One Who caused it to come into existence must have, by necessity, be so much greater.  That is why Paul says that men are “without excuse” because the divine nature and eternal power of God is “clearly seen.” Even the heavens declare the glory of God and “proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).

He Stretches out the Heavens

Isaiah 44:24 “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.”

Can you imagine the intricacy of the detail in the forming of a human life and yet He “streteched out the heavens” and “spread out the earth” all by Himself.  Imagine all that God does in the universe but He also sets “the kings on the thrones” as it pleases Him (Job 36:7) while also “spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion” and “he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea” (Job 36:28-29), “He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark” (Job 36:32), “For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour” (Job 37:6), “By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning” (Job 37:10-11), “can you, like him, spread out the skies hard as a cast metal mirror” (Job 37:18), and Who “laid the foundation of the earth” (Job 39:4).  There is just so much majestic power that the Bible describes God has having that it is hard to stop.

God Does as He Pleases

Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

The only things that God cannot do is break His own promises, He cannot lie, and cannot fail to do whatever He wills to do.  Jesus, Who is also God, said that mankind is limited “but with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26). This is true because “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).  He asks us a rhetorical question, “Is anything too hard for me” (Jer 32:27)?  He is “abundant in power” (Psalm 147:5), “He does not faint or grow weary” (Isaiah 40:28), “he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb 1:3), He is “above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Eph 1:20) and He can make the lame to walk, give sight to the blind, make the deaf to hear, and bring the dead to life (Matt 11:5) and so it is no wonder that it is said of Him that “no purpose of [his] can be thwarted.”

Conclusion

God has resurrection power and “an hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29).  You will have only one of two possible experiences:  Either you will arise “to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan 12:2) or you will inherit eternal life (John 3:16) and “shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12:3). There is no fate; there is only personal responsibility.  You will either repent of your sins and trust in Christ or you will refuse to humble yourself and be cast into an eternal lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15).  God is omnipotent and can bring this to pass but He is also willing that nobody perish but rather that they would have everlasting life (2 Pet 3:9).

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon