- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
THE MIGHTY GOD.
By Gordon Watt.
"He will be called Wonderful Counsellor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Is. 9 v6).
The name of God is a wonderful treasure house. In Hebrew the word good includes everything that is beautiful and fair, great and excellent, and is frequently used in the Bible for God. All that God is, the Lord Jesus Christ is. Each thought of perfection, in character and work, which is the attribute of the Father is also the attribute of the Son, for we have the authority of Christ as to the close, intimate relationship between God the Father and God the Son, “I and the Father are one,” He said (John l0 v30). When Philip voiced the request that people in every age have made, “Lord, show us the Father,” Jesus’ reply was, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14 v8-9).
The Father is seen in the Son, in His character, life, actions, words, aims and love, especially in His great sacrifice on the Cross. The name, “The Mighty God”, is therefore correctly applied to the Lord Jesus Christ,
The first meaning of the word “Mighty” is to show strength. The Hebrew for God is "El", meaning “The Mighty One”, so literally the name given to Christ is “The Mighty, Mighty One”. The idea of more than ordinary strength is attached to the word. It is the superlative degree of strength.
In Christ there is ability, without a trace of weakness, to answer each demand made upon Him. The Lord Jesus stands far above all that is human. In Him there is more and yet more for every need in life. Our strength is very limited. Our most frequent experience is that of being up against circumstances or forces which we, unaided, can neither successfully meet nor control.
Have we ever tried to measure our strength? What does it amount to in the face of a subtle, sudden temptation, or when the cloud of a heart-breaking sorrow enfolds us, or the fear of death grips and chills us? Common occurrences such as these reveal our strength to be a bruised reed.
But the reverse side of human weakness is Divine Omnipotence. The heavens and the earth proclaim Jesus to be “The Mighty God”. Amid the wreck of nations, from generation to generation, He stands firm and true, and in every age trusting hearts have found that “He does not fail”.
Isaiah gives us a picture which presents a marvellous contrast. He says, “Even the youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall” (Is. 40 v30). That is the power of the world at its highest, its strength at its greatest, its life at its best, and the character of it all is weakness and its end faintness and failure. Then in glowing words Isaiah describes Jehovah, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no-one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Is. 40 v28-29).
That is God, the Mighty God. That is Christ, the Mighty, Mighty One. In what directions, then, may we look for the display of His strength? He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph. 3 v20).
He “is able to make all grace abound to you” (2 Cor. 9 v8).
He “is able to keep you from falling” (Jude 24).
He “is able to save completely those who come to God through Him” (Heb. 7 v25).
Who has ever gone to God through Jesus to be sent empty away? Who has ever believed with the heart to find Him unresponsive to such faith? Who has ever definitely accepted Him as Saviour to discover that His salvation was a myth?
No one at any time has taken the Lord Jesus Christ at His word and found Him untrue. He is “The Mighty God”, the Mighty, Mighty One, who is ready to save. The one who yields to Him, the Strong One, is on the high road to a life abounding with the richest experiences of what God in Christ can be, but He must have His way. Let us take our hands off our lives and yield them to Christ. As His fingers sweep over our heartstrings there will issue the music of obedient living, of warm love and devoted service that will reveal His wonderful power, and the world will know that He is “The Mighty God”.
The second meaning underlying the word “mighty” is to bind up and this presents great visions of the powers of Christ.
He can bind up what is broken. A life broken by sin He can bind up and make it pure. A life broken by failure He can take and transform into a success. A life broken by disappointments He can grasp with His wondrous grace and fill it with peace and satisfaction. A life broken by sorrow He can enfold in His everlasting love and give it a new song to sing.
He is the Master-Physician. Many a broken heart has “the Mighty God”, the Lord Jesus Christ, put together again. The pathway to His Throne and Heart is never closed. That is one of the most thrilling messages of the Gospel. “Does He who implanted the ear not hear?” (Psalm 94 v9). It is easier to get to the Mighty One than to reach an earthly sovereign. We are more certain of touching the throne of God than of standing in any earthly throne-room. Nothing can keep any one from Christ, except the sin of rejecting Him. Let us yield ourselves to Him, and He will yield Himself to us to give us free pardon, full salvation and great strength. The medicine of His grace and love will bind up heart and life.
Then, through the darkness deepening around us, light flashes out to reveal the purpose of “the Mighty, Mighty One” to prevail over and bind His great enemy. The power of Satan was broken by Christ on the Cross when in death He became the victor. The history of Christianity has been the story of the destruction of the devil’s power over nations and people. Every reformation, every struggle for national freedom against oppression, every chain of slavery that has been snapped, every revival and awakening of men and women to understand their need of God and to seek the Saviour, every enterprise for the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world has been an instance of Christ binding the devil and prevailing over him. The Mighty, Mighty God has triumphed.
The last great battle of the world will soon be fought between the Deceiver of Eden and the Conqueror of Calvary. The day is drawing near when “the desire of all nations” will come. Let us watch for it and see that we are ready.
From ‘The Name that shall Endure’.