Who is God? Part 2: God The Creator - Omnipotent

Introduction

[From The Jerusalem Post] 

There’s an old joke about human arrogance.  One day a group of scientists got together and decided that humanity had come a long way and no longer needed God.  So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him.  The scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we've decided that we no longer need you.  We’re to the point where we can clone people, manipulate atoms, build molecules, fly through space, and do many other miraculous things.   So why don’t you just go away and mind your own business from now on?”

            God listened very patiently and kindly to the man.  After the scientist was done talking, God said, “Very well.  How about this?  Before I go, let’s say we have a human-making contest.”  To which the scientist replied, “Okay, we can handle that!”

            “But,” God added, “we’re going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam.”

            The scientist nodded, “Sure, no problem” and bent down and picked up a handful of dirt. God wagged a finger at him and said, “Uh, uh, uh.  Put that down.  You go find your own dirt.”

Different views of creation

1. God Created by His Word

God’s power seen by speaking (word) creation into existence

Spoken Words

He just speaks - Psalm 33:6–9 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

Personal Word

personal Word - John 1:1–3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

personal Word also - Colossians 1:15–17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

2. God Created Out of Nothing

Jn 1:3; Heb 11:3; Rom 4:17

Nothing Nothing

Francis Schaeffer: “nothing nothing” (He is There and He is not Silent, 7). “You begin with nothing. . . . It must be absolutely nothing. . . . It cannot be nothing something or something nothing. . . . which means no energy, no mass, no motion, and no personality.”

here’s no physical stuff God used; creation is not a part of God (pantheism); naturalism (atheism) is not true; science supports creation out of nothing (Big Bang)

Beginning Beginning

3. God is All-Powerful (Omnipotent)

All the verses/passages that refer/teach God’s power: Jer 32:17; Rom 1:20;

Psalm 21:13 “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power.”

Psalm 62:11 “Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God;”

Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”

God is “Almighty” (El Shaddai): Genesis 17:1 “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”

Visible and Invisible Universe (that’s power!)

Absolute Power

Absolute power - things he can (things he so desires, must be within his nature; Ps 115;3) and cannot do (sin, illogical stuff, destroy himself);

illustration: God created bc he wanted to (cf. Revelation 4:11 ““Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.””)

Possible Power

Objection/challenge to divine power: couldn’t make a world without evil (Hume, etc.); he could have but then a world without love; Idea of self-limitation—when God decided to create, he has decided not to do certain things

Aquinas: “it is better to say that such things cannot be done, than that God cannot do them” (Summa, I.xxv.3c)

Illustration of omnipotence: show slides of galaxies from NASA, give stats on how many galaxies/stars/etc., the human body, the atom/subatomic level (don’t even know how quantum mechanics works)

J.O. Boswell: “There is no other religion or philosophy in all the history of human culture which teaches the omnipotence of God. This must be understood in the light of the fact that there is no other monotheism, and no other doctrine of creation from nothing, than that found int he Judeo-Christian tradition or derived from it. . . .” (Systematic Theology, I:62)