Alphabet Theology - A Is For Almighty

A Is For Almighty

​Thank you for joining me for this new and exciting blog series entitled, "Alphabet Theology." This is meant to be very straightforward in that I will go through each and every letter of the alphabet and describe God with a word beginning with each letter. The goal is for us to learn more about God and more about ourselves in light of who God is. This is the essence of a God-centered theology which should be the goal for every Christian.

In this first entry, we begin with the letter 'A' and we consider the fact that God is in fact the ALMIGHTY! God the Almighty, the Almighty God. The word is used in reference to the Creator God in several ways throughout the New Testament. To begin, let's consider a few definitional aspects of the word "Almighty."

Merriam-Webster defines Almighty as having absolute or complete power over all. The word most often translated Almighty in the New Testament is the word pantokratór which means ruler over all things or ruler over the universe. It means "the all-ruling one." 

So, with just a cursory glance at some basic definitions, one can see that this word ascribed to God shows one of His attributes which is the all-powerful One of the universe. He alone is the One who has all power and is the ruler of all. God is the One who has complete power which means anyone or anything created that has any measure of power is minuscule and temporal and outright pathetic in comparison to the complete power of God.

​While we could spend an exhaustive amount of time looking at the totality of what Scripture says in reference to this attribute of God, I have decided to spend my time today looking at many of the references in the book of Revelation. It is amazing to me when I study the book of Revelation, it appears that the word 'Almighty' shows up more often than any other book. This is by design and I think it warrants our attention. Below are some of the verses that use the word. Consider them as we continue our study. 

​"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8 NASB)

​Right away, we see that this language of the Almighty is plainly attached to only One Being and that is God Almighty. Considering that the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ who is the 2nd Person of the God-head, it makes perfect sense that the word Almighty would be repeated often in reference to Jesus Christ for He is the all-powerful One, He is the Almighty One, and He is the very Creator who is and who was and who is to come. 

The language used in this verse, "Alpha and the Omega" references the fact that Jesus Christ is the "beginning and the end" meaning that He is before all things, He is all things, and He is the end of all things. He is the Creator of the universe, He is the reason the universe sustains and holds its existence, and He will be the One to judge all things on the last day.

​Now, take a look at the following verses and notice the repeated language used in reference to God as it was used in Revelation 1:8.

And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." (Revelation 4:8 NASB)

"We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign." (Revelation 11:17 NASB)

​As we bring this initial blog entry to a close in this new series, I want to consider two more verses and another aspect of the fact that God is the Almighty One. Consider the following:

And they sand the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!" (Revelation 15:3 NASB)

And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments." (Revelation 16:7 NASB)

​Notice that in these two verses, we have not only the word Almighty used but it takes it one step further. Not only is God the Almighty One, but because He is Almighty, He is also the only righteous and true One. He is the King of the nations because He is the One who creates and destroys nations by His power! He is the righteous and true One meaning that His ways are not our ways. He is an infinite and perfectly righteous Being and we are finite and sinful.

Also, notice that specifically in chapter 16, verse 7 states that God's judgments are righteous and true. Not only is God the only One with the power to execute judgment over all creation but He will do it with righteousness and true judgment because He alone is worthy to judge His creation.

​I sincerely hope that you will enjoy this series that will obviously have 26 entries into it. This first entry has certainly got us off to a strong start in considering the fact that God is the Almighty and He is the all-powerful One of the universe. He is our ruler and He is our God. Let us worship and praise Him because of who He is and what He has done for us.