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Grounded-In-Biblical-Truth | |
Sovereign Grace Doctrines
Concerning 'THE GOSPEL' - JESUS CHRIST
CHRIST AS ALMIGHTY GOD
GENESIS 17:1
GOOD NEWS FROM THE REDEEMER
DANIEL E. PARKS, PASTOR
MAY 29, 1999 - RADIO MESSAGE #269
“When [Abraham] was ninety-nine years old, [Jehovah] appeared to [Abraham] and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God [Hebrew El Shaddai]; walk before Me and be blameless, and I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly” (Genesis 17:1-2ff).
It is with good reason that Jehovah would here identify Himself as Almighty God. He was promising a physical descendant to Abraham and Sarah even though they both were beyond the age of producing physical offspring -- a prospect at which they both “laughed” (v.17; 18:10-12). What assurance could God give that He could and would keep His promise and covenant? “I am Almighty God” (v.1); “Is anything too hard for [Jehovah]?” (18:14).
As the name El Roi, “The-God-Who-Sees” (Genesis 16:13), emphasizes God’s omnipresence (being everywhere present) and omniscience (possessing all knowledge), this name El Shaddai, “Almighty God,” emphasizes His omnipotence (possessing all power).
Christ is the Almighty God!
I. Christ is the person here identified as “Jehovah” and “Almighty God” who “appeared” to Abraham. God the Father never appears (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12): “No one has seen God at any time.” But Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3), “God ... manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). He therefore declares “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30 -- i.e. two separate persons of one indivisible substance) and consequently “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Every appearance of God in the Old Testament was in the person of God the Son, Christ.
II. Christ manifests His omnipotence. For example:
This last aspect, of Christ being “mighty to save,” is of great consolation to believers. Emphasis here is of course upon the sovereignty and omnipotence of Christ in salvation. Because He is Almighty God, “He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21; “His people” are God’s elect, as in Ephesians 1:4f). Christ has as their penal substitute suffered the wrath of God against them (Isaiah 53); therefore every single solitary one of them shall mostcertainly be healed (v.5) and justified (v.11). Not one single solitary sinner for whom Christ shall suffer damnation, because He is Almighty God and nothing is too hard for Him. He therefore acknowledges to His Father that His mission during His incarnation was “to give eternal life to as many as You have given [Me],” and declares “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:2,4). Nothing is too hard for Christ because He is omnipotent, Almighty God, and “mighty to save.”
This truth is denied by many professing Christians. This is true not only of those who deny His deity, refusing God’s mandate “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (John 5:23). It is true also of those who deny the doctrine of penal substitution and posit instead the heresy of universal atonement. They aver that Christ died for every mortal, but that He is powerless to save those who will not let Him, and that a great host of sinners for whom He died shall nevertheless suffer damnation. Their Christ is not omnipotent, Almighty God, “mighty to save.”
Are you trusting the Christ of Abraham, Almighty God?
Your servant for Jesus' sake.
Address all questions to pastor
Daniel E. Parks (2 Corinthians 4:5) e-mail RedeemerBC@aol.com
Pastor, Redeemer Baptist Church
2801 Cleveland Boulevard, Louisville, KY 40206 / 502.899-9205
