God Almighty of the Bible
April 11, 2007(GB Message)
This article contains my humble submission as to why I have chosen to worship the God Almighty of the Bible. This is also in accordance with the verse in Peter’s epistle that requires my preparedness to give a defense to everyone who reads this article to find out about the reason for the hope that is me.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1 Pet 3:15)
Besides, this is a witness, humble though, to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, glorifying the Name of the One who offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for all those who pray for salvation with genuine repentance.
The Bible records God’s statement: ‘there is no God besides Me,’ (Deut 32:39).
He also declares “I am the Lord your God,… you shall have no other gods before Me” (Exod 20:2-5). This verse is accompanied with a forceful command, “you shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them”.
We may wonder what the word “your” in Ex 20:2 means or to whom it refers. The possessive pronominal adjective “your” divides mankind into two divisions, one, those who belong to the God of the Bible and two, the rest who do not accept Him. God has given human beings the freedom to choose either group. Those who accept this fact are bound by a covenant with God as revealed in the Bible, and the rest are outside this boundary.
We are here concerned with the former group of people—those who are bound by the covenant of God. We accept God as the Creator and our Heavenly Father and also as the supreme Ruler of not only the world but also the entire universe and everything seen and unseen. Satan is, at best, only the ruler of this perishing earth and that too only with the permission of God Almighty and only until the day He chooses to destroy him.
The usual name given to God by the Hebrews was that which is rendered in the English as Jehovah. This word Jehovah was so reverenced by the ancient Hebrews that it was not generally even pronounced, its place being taken, in normal speech, by the words “Adonai” (Lord), “Elohim,” or “El-Shadai,” all of which are really expressions for certain attributes of God.
The Old Testament, the first part of the Bible, mentions the coming of the Messiah, some one who would be like the representative of Almighty God Himself. We believe that this Messiah is Jesus Christ who revolutionized our understanding of who God is, besides interpreting the Bible as a whole. He also claimed to be the Son God. The term Son is not indicative of a human-like relationship but rather is indicative of Their closeness.
The second part of the Bible, called the New Testament, deals with the mission of Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through His ministry that we learn that God revealed Himself first as Almighty God and then through His Son, Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus also taught us that we do not need to call God as Jehovah any more but instead simply address Him as Almighty God (the Creator of heaven and earth, human beings and all of creation). Lord Jesus also has granted us the privilege of calling Him our Heavenly Father.
This privilege is only for those who accept the Bible as the inerrant word of God, believe that Lord Jesus is the Son of God, and the Messiah (Christ in Greek) as referred to in the old Testament, without whom there is no salvation for anyone anywhere, and accept Him as their personal Lord and Saviour. One has to also enter into a covenant relationship with Him through saving faith, genuine repentance, and baptism.
Lord Jesus also categorically announced to the world through this book, the Bible, that no one can come to God the Father except through Him: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (Jn 14:6).
He also declared unequivocally, I and My Father are one” (Jn 10:30). At the same time He also said, “My Father is greater than I (Jn 14:28). Putting these two verses together, we understand that it is only God the Father who has sent the Lord Jesus, His Son, to this world to explain to mankind everything about Himself (God), to give humanity the Bible, the word of God, and to explain and interpret the contents of the Bible. That is why we insist that the Bible should be read only with the help of the Holy Sprit of Lord Jesus.
The last book of the Bible, Revelation declares, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honour and power belong to the Lord our God,” (Rev 19:1). The next verse begins with: “For true and righteous are His judgments,” and goes on to explain why one may say that His judgments are indeed true and just: “because He has judged the great harlot (meaning the devil) who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her,” (Rev 19:2). From this verse we not only understand that by this victory over Satan, crucial as it is for the people of the world, He has vindicated Himself to be the supreme Judge, but also that His judgments are true and righteous.
This may need some clarification. Satan is a mighty force in this earth, so much so, that a great majority of people in this world consider him as god and worship him in the form of idols. God Almighty has let him exist in this world to test mankind, if they would, through their God-given intelligence, discover for themselves that he, (Satan) is an evil force trying to hide the reality of God and His Son, Lord Jesus Christ. Now in Rev 19:2 we learn that the days of Satan (who deceives human beings, pretending to be a god) are numbered and that God Almighty will destroy him at the appointed time. The people will come to know that Satan is not god.
That is why the God of the Bible has announced to mankind, through the Bible, ‘there is no God besides Me,’ (Deut 32:39). When the prophets of Baal the false god challenged
Elijah, the prophet of God Almighty was challenged by the prophets of Baal the false god who claimed that Baal was greater. Elijah accepted the challenge and before a great crowd of people who had gathered on Mount Carmel to witness the scene, proved that Satan, who had existed at that time in the name of Baal, was powerless before Elijah, the prophet of God Almighty. Baal may be a god, but he was completely powerless before Almighty God, (1 King 18: 20-40).
People still question if Almighty God is powerful enough to subdue Satan who carries on today as an evil god. God watches to see if people would recognise Him through their God-given intelligence, in spite of the nefarious activities of Satan. We the children of God have no problem in rejecting Satan and accepting the Almighty God of the Bible as our God and heavenly Father. We believe in the mighty power of the Almighty God of the Bible even before the crucial battle of Rev 19:2 takes place. But as stated earlier, the majority of the people are still under the spell of satanic power imagining that he is all powerful. But a time will come when the whole world will witness that Satan is in truth mere dust before God.
But by that time, it will be too late for the people to come to Almighty God. Whereas the remnant of people, including us, have understood that God, and not Satan, is indeed ‘the Lord of lords, and the King of kings’, through the reading and understanding of the the Bible, the word of God. “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” (Rev 17:14).
The following are only two of many many verses in the Bible that vouch for this:
“Look to Me, and be saved,
all you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall take an oath”
(Is 45: 22-23)
“Remember this, and show yourselves men;
Recall to mind, O you transgressors.
Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,”
(Is 46:9)
It is mysterious that only few listen to these calls of God and believe in this true God with the saving faith that is needed to be saved. Noah preached for more than one hundred years but how many believed it? Only eight comprising Noah and his family. On the other hand, innumerable faulty churches and cults spring forth all over the world like mushrooms. For most, it will be too late when they come to know the truth, for by that time the doors of the ark would have been closed and locked securely: “Many will say to Me in that day,” Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And, then I will declare to them, “I never know you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Mt 7: 22-23).
There may be many ways through which people may try to come to Lord Jesus. But there is only one true way to reach Him. Blessed are those who discover it and are saved. God the supreme judge will separate the ‘sheep and the goats’ (meaning the genuine from counterfeit believers) through His beloved Son Lord Jesus. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. (Mt 25:31-33).
