The next attribute is God’s power. Job 9:19. ‘If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong.’ In this chapter is a magnificent description of God’s power. ‘Lo, he is strong.’ The Hebrew word for strong signifies a conquering, prevailing strength. ‘He is strong.’ The superlative degree is intended here; viz., He is most strong. He is called El-shaddai, God almighty. Gen 17:7. His almightiness lies in this, that he can do whatever is feasible. Divines distinguish between authority and power. God has both.
I. He has a sovereign right arid authority over man. He can do with his creatures as he pleases. Who shall dispute with God? who shall ask him a reason of his doings? Dan 4:45. ‘He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?’ God sits judge in the highest court; he calls the monarchs of the earth to the bar, and is not bound to give a reason of his proceedings. Psa 75:5. ‘He putteth down one, and raiseth up another.’ He has salvation and damnation in his power. He has the key of justice in his hand, to lock up whom he will in the fiery prison of hell; and he has the key of mercy in his hand, to open heaven’s gate to whom he pleases. The name engraven upon his vesture is, ‘King of kings, and Lord of lords.’ Rev 19:96. He sits Lord paramount, and who can call him to account? Isa 46:60. ‘I will do all my pleasure.’ The world is God’s diocese, and shall not he do what he will in his own diocese? He it was that turned King Nebuchadnezzar to eat grass, and threw the angels to hell when they sinned; that broke the head of the Babylonish empire. ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer! Thy pomp is brought down to the grave.’ Isa 14:12. ‘Who sets bounds to the sea, and bridles the proud waves.’ Job 38:11. God is the supreme monarch, all power is seated originally in him. ‘The powers that be are ordained of God.’ Rom 13:3. Kings hold their crowns of him. ‘By me kings reign.’ Prov 8:15.
II. As God has authority, so he has infinite power. What is authority without power? ‘He is mighty in strength.’ Job 9:9. This power of God is seen.
[1] In the creation. To create requires infinite power. All the world cannot make a fly. God’s power in creating is evident; because he needs no instruments to work with; he can work without tools; because he needs no matter to work upon; he creates matter, and then works upon it; and because he works without labour; ‘He spake, and it was done.’ Psa 33:3.
[2] The power of God is seen in the conversion of souls. The same power draws a sinner to God that drew Christ out of the grave to heaven. Eph 1:19. Greater power is put forth in conversion than in creation. When God made the world, he met with no opposition; as he had nothing to help him, so he had nothing to hinder him; but when he converts a sinner, he meets with opposition. Satan opposes him, and the heart opposes him; a sinner is angry with converting grace. The world was the ‘work of God’s fingers.’ Psa 8:8. Conversion is the ‘work of God’s arm.’ Luke 1:51I. In the creation, God wrought but one miracle, he spake the word; but, in conversion, he works many miracles; the blind is made to see, the dead is raised, the deaf hears the voice of the Son of God. Oh the infinite power of Jehovah! Before his sceptre, angels veil and prostrate themselves, and kings cast their crowns at his feet. ‘He toucheth the land, and it shall melt.’ Amos 9:9. ‘He removeth the earth out of her place.’ Job 9:9. An earthquake makes the earth tremble upon her pillars, but God shakes it out of its place; he can remove the earth from its centre. He can do what he will; his power is as large as his will. Were men’s power as large as their will, what work would they make in the world! God’s power is of equal extent with his will. He with a word can unpin the wheels, and break the axletree of the creation. He can do ‘more than we can think.’ Eph 3:30. He can suspend natural agents. He sealed up the lions’ mouths; he made the fire not to burn; he made the waters to stand up on a heap; he caused the sun to go ten degrees backward in the dial of Ahaz. Isa 38:8. What can pose Omnipotence? ‘The Lord cuts off the spirit of princes.’ Psa 76:12. He counterworks his enemies; he pulls down their flags and banners of pride, infatuates their counsels, breaks their forces; and he does it with ease, with the turning of his hand; ‘with his breath,’ Psa 33:3, Isa 40:24; a look, a glance of his eye is all it needs cost God to destroy his enemies, ‘the Lord looked into the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire, and troubled their host.’ Exod 14:44. Who shall stop him in his march? God commands, and all creatures in heaven and earth obey him. Xerxes, the Persian monarch, threw fetters into the sea, when its waves swelled, as if he would have chained the waters; but when God speaks, the wind and sea obey him. If he say but the word, the stars fight in their courses against Sisera; if he stamp with his foot, an army of angels shall presently be in battalia. What cannot omnipotent power do? ‘The Lord is a man of war.’ Exod 15:5. ‘He has a mighty arm.’ Psa 89:13. ‘God’s power is a glorious power.’ Col 1:11. It is an irresistible power. Rom 9:19. ‘Who has resisted his will?’ To contest with him, is as if the thorns should set themselves in battle array against the fire; or, as if an infirm child should fight with an archangel. If the sinner be once taken in God’s iron net, there is no escape. ‘There is none that can deliver out of my hand.’ Isa 43:13. God’s power is inexhaustible; it is never spent or wasted. Men, while they exercise their strength, weaken it; but God has an everlasting spring of strength in himself. Isa 26:6. Though he spends his arrows upon his enemies, yet he does not spend his strength. Deut 32:23. ‘He fainteth not, neither is weary.’ Isa 40:08.