"God Almighty"

Exodus 6:3

Don Fortner

One of the many names by which God has revealed himself is El-Shaddai, which means "God-Almighty". By that name the Lord our God declares his omnipotence. Omnipotence is the unlimited ability and infinite power of God to do all his will and pleasure. In Luke 1:37 the angel Gabriel assured Mary that she would indeed give birth to the God-Man, though she had never known a man, with these words: "With God nothing shall be impossible." Our Lord Jesus assures us of the salvation of sinners, not by telling us of the power of man's "free-will", but by declaring that "with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). And our Savior plainly asserts that he is himself the omnipotent God, saying, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. 1:8). Because the Lord our God is omnipotent, we can safely trust him in all things and with all things.

Omnipotence is an attribute essential to God, and an attribute that belongs to God alone. It is the nature of God to be almighty. Anything less than an almighty God is not God. A weak god is a useless absurdity. If God were not omnipotent, he could not be trusted. Though he knows all things fit and proper for his own glory and the good of his people, his knowledge is of no comfort if he lacks the ability to do them. Though he has willed, determined, decreed and predestinated all that he would have done, his purpose would be futile if he did not possess omnipotent power to execute his will. Though he makes many promises of faithfulness and goodness, they would be meaningless if he lacked the ability to carry them out to perfection. God's love, mercy and grace would be nothing more than helpless, frustrated emotions, if he lacked the ability to bestow love, mercy and grace upon his people. Faith must have an omnipotent God for its Object. And El-Shaddai, our God and Savior, is the omnipotent, Almighty God.