S earch the topic “most powerful” and Google will populate quite an impressive list of results. The most powerful machine is NASA’s Saturn V Rocket used in the Apollo program. The most powerful weapon is the Tsar Bomba 50 megaton hydrogen bomb, equal to 50 million tons of dynamite. The most powerful animal is Balaenoptera musculus, the Blue Whale, growing up to 400,000 pounds and more than 100 feet long. The most powerful material is graphene. A paper-thin sheet is 200 times stronger than steel and can support 14 million pounds per square inch.
No one would doubt the awesome might of such machines, materials or mammals. But the last thing a young girl would think as she looked at her baby laying wrapped in a bed of hay is “powerful.” No one in Bethlehem would have thought as much. And yet, Jesus’ tiny, tight infant fists held all the power of the universe. For this reason, Isaiah would write about the coming Messiah as “Mighty God.”The Hebrew word for “mighty” can be translated as “champion” or “hero” or “warrior.” The word is used dozens of times in the Old Testament to describe winners—the 30,000 warriors chosen by Joshua (Joshua 8:3), Goliath the giant from Gath (1 Samuel 17:15), or David’s band of mighty men (2 Samuel 23:8). However, Isaiah wasn’t looking forward to another mighty man, but a champion who would be born a mighty God.
Of course, Isaiah is speaking of Jesus.
Jesus proved His mighty power over and over again throughout the Gospel accounts.
He turned water into wine, healed diseases, gave sight to the blind, restored the lame, fed the multitudes, walked on water, calmed the sea and raised the dead, just to name a few examples. The question we should ask is, “Why?” Why did Jesus perform miracles?
There is a story told of an American bodybuilder who was visiting Africa. A tribal chief looked at the visitor’s impressive physique, muscles chiseled on every inch of his body. As the bodybuilder flexed his calf muscles, triceps, biceps and thighs as a display of all his hard work, the chief asked, “What else do you use them for?”
The visitor replied, “That’s it. My muscles are for show.”
The chief responded, “What a waste.”
Indeed, if Jesus merely flexed His muscles for show, His miracles would be welcomed, but a waste. However, there are two higher reasons why Jesus’ put His power on display. First, Jesus was mighty for God. Every wonderful work was a manifestation of the power of God that proved Jesus to be the Son of God and magnified the glory of God through the Son’s ministry. In other words, Jesus’ miracles were designed to make much of God. The prophet Jeremiah said about God, “You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours” (Jeremiah 32:20). Jesus exercised His mighty power for the sake of God’s fame.
Jesus was also mighty for us. The Son of God wasn’t unaware of the human need all around Him, at every place finding people sick, hungry, lost, and dead. Jesus proved that God not only knows about our challenges, but enters into our challenges to heal, feed, find, and restore. The greatest exercise of Jesus’ power is His resurrection from the dead. Jesus overcame the stronghold of the grave and the power of our enemy, Satan, to offer people the hope of new life forever. This “incomparably great power” (Ephesians 1:19) that raised Jesus from the dead is offered to His people so that each of us can continually conquer the devil and win the spiritual war. Jesus is a champion who makes us victorious over sin and death. His great power is for our good.
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD
Children sing the ditty: “My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do!” That’s a good reminder for all of God’s people today. God is able and available to tackle the seemingly impossible obstacle that is in front of you today. Is your problem financial, physical, emotional, interpersonal or spiritual? In Christ is the reservoir of mighty power. And that power is only accessed by faith.
Faith is how we activate God’s power. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). It’s not that our faith makes us strong, but that our faith concedes our weaness and relies on God’s strength instead. There are some things that God may only do when we stop struggling and start trusting. Stop and tell God you believe nothing is impossible for Him.
Faith is also how we accept God’s response. We don’t trust God simply to get something from God, like putting a token into a vending machine. Faith is our abiding confidence in God to be God. He has the prerogative to do as He sees fit and we will trust Him no matter the outcome.
Robert Louis Stevenson relates the story of passengers on a steamship that was caught in the middle of a severe storm. They began to whisper among themselves, “Is it safe? Are we going to sink?” One passenger set out to find some assurance and made his way topside, across the heaving decks, to the pilot house. The captain, his hand firmly on the wheel, saw the fear in the passenger’s face and smiled, not speaking a word. The passenger made his way back below and exclaimed to the others, “We’re going to be all right! I’ve seen the face of the pilot and he smiled at me.”
When you are hit by stormy waves and crippling fear overtakes you, you can look into the peaceful face of Jesus, the Captain of your life. He has His hand on the wheel and you can have confidence that He is in full control. Faith is not only trusting in God to do something, but also accepting God’s sovereign response. Turn to Jesus who is Mighty God, and Mighty God for you!