By TONY HOSS
God is all powerful and can be evidenced the next time you venture out on a clear night. Just look up in the sky; now imagine the power that is in just one of those stars! God created those stars (Genesis 1). Consider the intelligence and design that is involved in the creation from the most complex to the simplest particle on earth. It is beyond man’s understanding, what God has done. The Psalmist wrote, “…The Lord is clothed with strength”. In Genesis 18:14, The Lord said, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Certainly God is powerful and would seem to be able to do anything. The fact that God is powerful is not the question. Revelation 19:6 states that God is omnipotent. However omnipotent does imply that God can do anything. Omnipotent states that God is sovereign and almighty therefore He can do anything that is consistent with His nature.
(Jeremiah 32:17) states, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” Spiritually, God is able to save anyone (John 3:16, Matt. 11:28; Romans 5:6-10). In reference to salvation Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Mark 10:25-27). As great as God’s power, love, mercy and justice may be, there are some things in which God is limited. In fact the very traits of God are the things that limit Him.
God cannot do things that are contrary to His own character and nature. First, God cannot lie (Numbers 23:10; Titus 1:2). He cannot lie because He is holy (Lev. 20:7; Isaiah 6:3; 1 Peter 1:16). In His holiness He is pure and morally perfect. Second God cannot sin because He is just; because He is just He cannot simply overlook sin (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). Therefore Jesus died to pay the sin debt man cannot pay in his imperfection (Romans 3:26; 5:8). Third God cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13). If God were tempted to do evil and he succumbed, He would then be a false God. Fourth, God cannot show partiality (Col. 3:25; Eph. 6:9). God always interacts with humanity in a way that is consistent with his nature of faithfulness, truthfulness, honesty and he does so in a consistent manner. Fifth, God cannot remember sins He has forgiven (Isa. 43:25). Sixth, God cannot stop loving mankind (Jer. 31:31).
Finally, God’s omnipotence demands that He cannot forgive anyone who will not repent and forsake their sinful lives (Joshua 24:19; Luke 13:3, 5). It is for impossible for God to give forgiveness to anyone who does not seek forgiveness. Those desiring salvation must come to God through Jesus and access the power of His blood through obedience to the Gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16; 2Thessalonians 1:8; 1Peter 4:17).
(Tony Hoss is minister at Centerview Church of Christ, Elizabethton.)