Numerous instances throughout the Bible attest to the unlimited power of God. The theological term is “God’s omnipotence”, that is, the reality of God possessing not only unlimited power but all power. It’s generally agreed that among all of God’s demonstrations of power none exceeds that of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The raw and divine energy exercised in the creation undertaking cannot begin to be contemplated. And don’t be misled in assigning limitations to the Almighty because He did it in the time-frame of six days. It was not because the job was so big He had to do it in stages. He who is omnipotent could have as well created all He did in six days in six nanoseconds had He chosen to do so. The six days of creation, with God resting on the seventh, He simply used as a pattern for establishing the 7-day week for the creatures of time and space that He also brought into existence…which 7-day week, by the way, remains in force the world over. There is an expression used after the 6-day creative work of God that gives an erroneous idea about God’s omnipotence… that is, His possession of all power. And that expression refers to God’s resting on the seventh day. We mere mortals assume God was rightly exhausted after a laborious spade of six days wherein He created everything. We mistakenly think God would certainly be entitled to a day off to rejuvenate and refresh Himself after such an arduous task of bringing everything into creation. Even God needs some down-time… some R&R, if you will. But, no, He does not, and His omnipotence does not require it or allow for it.
When we mortals spend our energies on work of any kind, we need to rest and recuperate and resupply ourselves with food to replenish our energy level. But God knows none of this. The Hebrew word translated “rested” in many English Bibles more correctly conveys the idea that God ceased from His creative activity. He ceased because He was finished. He did not cease or rest because He was weary after a hard six days of work. God does not become tired. Omnipotence requires an undiminished possession of energy. The power that resides in this omnipotent God is not subject to decreasing or increasing. Any effort we mere mortals expend, whether scratching our nose or lifting a huge weight, requires an expenditure of energy. When we expend energy, we, then, have less than we had before we spent it. Our energy supply is sorely limited and needs continual resupply, but not so with the omnipotent God. By possessing all power, He never can have more or less power. This is omnipotence, and it is one of the attributes that makes God God. Revelation 19 says, “Hallelujah, for the LORD our God omnipotent reigneth.”
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