God’s Attributes

God’s Always “ALL” In

“Unpacking God’s Omni Attributes”

Definition

The three “omni” attributes of God characterize him as all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-ways/ever-present. Each of these involves the other two, and each provides a perspective on the all-embracing lordship of the One True God.

The prefix omni means “all,” so the three divine attributes in our title can be paraphrased by saying that God is “all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-everywhere present.”

OT: Psalm 117:1- כּוֹל, kôl, kole

NT: Ephesians 4:6- πᾶς, pas

Omnipotence means that God is all powerful.

A.W. Tozer (early 20th century pastor) writes that Omnipotence is that God is “able to do all and to have all the power. Having all the potency there is.”

God’s Word affirms His Omnipotence by saying that He/God does whatever he wills and wishes to do.

Genesis 17:1a- “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty”

This is the beginning of the story of God’s covenant with Abraham “shall be the father of many nations”. V:4.

1 Kings 17 1-24- Story of Elijah during a drought leading to a famine, God provided exactly what Elijah needed at that moment and exactly when he needs it.

Psalm 115:3 “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

Psalm 135:6 “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”

Nothing is too hard for him.

Genesis 18:14- “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Jeremiah 32:17- looking back at Genesis 1, “Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

His word is never void of power, so when He speaks, everything in creation obeys him. “

Isaiah 40:8 - “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Isaiah 55:11- “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Of course, creatures do still disobey him in one sense; this becomes the essence of our sinfulness.

Genesis 45:8- when Joseph is providing for his family. “So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”

Psalm 105:25- “He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.”

Romans 9:18-“So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”

Romans 11:8- “as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”

We must take great care not to reference or make implications of these passages that God “can do anything.” But that doesn’t quite reflect the full biblical teaching. There are things that God cannot do. He cannot lie nor, similarly, He cannot perform any immoral action.

Numbers 23:19- “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

Titus 1:2- “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”

Hebrews 6:18- ”so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

Since God is the One and Perfect, Holy and good God, he cannot do anything evil. Hebrews 6:18 above.

Job 34:12- “Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice”

1 John 1:5- “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

And, since He is the perfect truth, He cannot do things that are logically contradictory.

1 Samuel 15:29- “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

Malachi 3:6- “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

His truth is perfectly consistent within His own thoughts and in actions. Nor can God do things inappropriate to his nature as God.

Psalm 119:90- “Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.”

Lamentations 3:22- “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;”

So, how should we define God’s omnipotence more precisely? John Frame writes this “The most accurate definition of God’s omnipotence I have seen: “that He has complete and total control over everything. This includes the smallest details of the natural world, like the falling of a sparrow or the number of hairs that grow on your head.”

This includes the smallest details of the natural world, like the falling of a sparrow or the number of hairs that grow on your head.

Matthew 6:26-30, We see Jesus telling us we should not be anxious with the parable of the birds, and tomorrow.

Matthew 10:29-30, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Even the events we call random, that we sometimes might call or ascribe to chance, are really God at work.

Proverbs 16:33-”The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”

He, and only He, determines what nations will dwell in which territory. Acts 17:26- “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,”

He decides when, where, and how each king reigns.

Isaiah 44:28- “who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.”

Psalm 33:10-11- “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”

And he decided, once, that wicked people would take the life of his dear Son, so that we sinners might live.

Acts 2:23-24- “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, losing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

God rules not only the important events of human history but also the lives of individual people. He knits us together in our mothers’ wombs.

Psalm 139:13-16- “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

He controls even the decisions of wicked people, as we saw above. But he also exerts his power to save sinners, to bring forgiveness and new life.

Ephesians 2:8-10- “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Our salvation is entirely the work of God’s power, not at all our own work. We believe in Christ because he has appointed us to eternal life Epesians 2:8; Acts 13:48 and because he has opened our hearts to belief (Acts 16:14-15; John 6:44, 65, Philippians 1:29.

So his power is universal: it controls everything in the universe.

Lamentations 3:37-38, Romans 8:28, Ephesians 1:11, Romans 11:33-36.