God’s Four Great Attributes
Justice, Love, Wisdom, and Power

This Month We’re Examining

Power!  It is a term, which many find disturbing, especially when discussing persons in authority.  Psychology Today states “Power is the capacity to achieve values in collaboration with and in opposition to others. It can be an end in itself, but it is primarily instrumental in attaining other objectives. In the original French, pouvoir, it means “to be able” and is a creative, generative, and cohesive force. However, within a group or between groups, this capacity often has an uneven distribution, so that more powerful people and groups have more autonomy than others as well as more influence over others. When the uneven distribution is extreme and persists over time, it becomes domination.”  In other words, there is the capacity for abuse of power within any dynamic group of individuals.

One of God’s four main attributes is power.  Considering the above, how has God used his power and does He exhibit the capacity for abuse of that Power?
Merriam-Webster defines power in the following ways: 1) ability to produce an effect, 2) control, authority or influence over others, 3) physical might, 4) mental or moral efficacy, and 5) political control or influence.   How has God exhibited and how will he exhibit his power within this criteria?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1). “The (Hebrew) word bârâ, “he created,” may originally have signified to hew stone or fell timber; but as a matter of fact it is a rare word, and employed chiefly or entirely in connection with the activity of God. As, moreover, “the heaven and the earth” can only mean the totality of all existent things; the idea of creating them out of nothing is contained in the very form of the sentence. Even in Genesis 1:21; Genesis 1:27, where the word may signify something less than creation ex nihilo, there is nevertheless a passage from inert matter to animate life, for which science knows no force, or process, or energy capable of its accomplishment.” This capacity to create fits into two of the categories: 1) ability to produce an effect and physical might. God is not corporeal.  He is a spirit being (John 4:24).  He has a spirit body and he can exhibit power and might through that body.  He used the power of his being to create the universe.  Looking at the universe, what can we glean about this power?

Scientists believe the universe is 13.7 billion years old. There are over a 100 billion galaxies and each galaxy holds around 200 million stars, but this is only 4% of the matter in the universe.  The rest, 96%, is invisible. This is called dark matter or energy.   Dark energy is the name given to a force, which scientists cannot explain, which is causing the universe to speed up over time rather than slow down.   “A ball thrown by a pitcher will reach home plate, sixty feet-six inches away, at a speed about eight miles per hour slower than when it left the pitcher's hand.” According to the Big Bang Theory, which purports to explain the creation of the universe, this is what scientists expected to find, a slowing down as the universe expands. Scientists now realize, this is not the case.  The universe’s expansion is instead speeding up.

The scriptures describe God as “the one who does great and unsearchable things” (Job 5:9), “many, O Lord, are the wonders you have done” (Psalm 40:5), “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power, His understanding has no limit” (Psalm 147:5), “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth. He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him. For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.” (Psalm 33:6-9). God has used his awesome power to create a universe seemingly without limit.

In addition to the universe’s inanimate objects, God through his power created intelligent living beings with self will.  This extends not just to the angelic hosts and man but to the lower creation as well.  Anyone who has ever tried to make a dog do something it does not want to do has experienced evidence of this phenomenon.  Both the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel tell us there are “myriads upon myriads and thousands upon thousands” of these angelic beings. (Revelation 5:11; Daniel 7:10) This is an indefinitely large number.  Each being was created individually through the power of God, but with mankind a differing technique was used, reproduction.

No less a miracle and clear demonstration of God’s great power is the ability of humans and animals to reproduce their kind.  In the article “Find and Fuse: Unsolved Mysteries in Sperm-Egg Recognition,” we read reproduction “involves the formation of highly specialized cells: the sperm in males and the egg in females, each carrying the genetic inheritance of an individual. The interaction of sperm and egg culminates with the fusion of their cell membranes, triggering the molecular events that result in the formation of a new genetically distinct organism. Although we have a good cellular description of fertilization in mammals, many of the molecules involved remain unknown, and especially the identity and role of cell surface proteins that are responsible for sperm–egg recognition, binding, and fusion.” Although reproduction in both human and animals is a daily occurrence, the mechanisms of creating a viable being are still not fully understood.

The Psalmist wrote “For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139: 13-16)  Man may not fully understand the mechanics of reproduction, but God who imagined it and infused it with His great power certainly does.

The Scriptures inform us of a still greater creation by God. We read “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.…” (Colossians 1:14-15)  Here is found the manifestation of the power described as control, authority or influence over others and political control or influence.

“He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made that had been made.” (John 1:2-3) “The LORD created me as His first course,before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began. When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth, when no springs were overflowing with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth, before He made the land or fields, or any of the dust of the earth. I was there when He established the heavens, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep gushed forth, when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters would not surpass His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was a skilled craftsman at His side, and His delight day by day, rejoicing always in His presence. I was rejoicing in His whole world, delighting together in the sons of men.” (Proverbs 8:22-31)

Before God created the universe, or the host of angels, or the earth or man, He created an angelic being, the Logos. How long this relationship existed before the beginning of the rest of creation, the scriptures do not say.  However, it is said that he is the image of the father and he said of himself “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9) God said of this being “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” (John 3:17)  This relationship, perhaps over eons of time, created such a bond of love and trust, that God used this angelic being to create all things in heaven and on earth. “Let US make man in our image.” (Genesis 1:26)

God sees the beginning from the end.  He foresaw that in giving his intelligent creation free will, evil would enter the world by its misuse; therefore, in his wisdom, he formed a plan by which justice could be satisfied, free will could be protected, and evil could be eradicated. Thus his beloved angelic son freely gave up his station in heaven to come to earth as a perfect human and sacrifice that life to ransom Father Adam (and we who came from his loins and therefore inherited his imperfection) from sin and death.  God used his miraculous power to resurrect his son from the grave, not as a perfect man or as an angelic being; those were given up forever, but as a divine being like his Father.  This perfect man, of course, was the Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. (Isaiah 14:24; Isaiah 46:10; Acts 2:23; Matthew 20:19; Acts 3:18) And just as Isaac willingly lay down upon the altar when Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son, Christ willingly gave his life to further God’s plan and because he was loved the sons of men. (Genesis 22:1-9; Hebrews 10:7; Proverbs 8:31)

Christ died for ALL men that all should be made alive through his ransom sacrifice. (2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22) The manifestation of God’s power and authority over the entire earth has not come to full fruition yet, but His plan has been clearly laid out in scripture.  Christ taught us to pray for this manifestation of God’s power.  “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.  Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)  What is a kingdom and how will it come?

A kingdom is a territory ruled over by a monarchical form of government.  What is the territory referred to in this kingdom?  It is the whole earth.  All earthly nations must bow the knee to God’s anointed King. (Psalm 2)  And who is this king, none other that God’s beloved son and our redeemer, the risen Christ Jesus. (Revelation 1:5; 1 Samuel 2:10; Matthew 25:31) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.…(Isaiah 9:6-7)

When the kingdom is fully established in the earth, God’s power will be fully manifest when he calls every individual who has ever lived out of death, bringing them forth with all their experiences remembered, fully recognizable to all their loved ones. For God remembers every human being who has ever lived, every thought, and every action. The same power used to create the universe, to bring forth a living being from a single cell will be used to accomplish this. (1 Corinthians 15:21; Romans 6:23)  Job said, “When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service (in the grave) I will wait, until my renewal comes. You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands. (Job 14:15-16)

This kingdom under God’s anointed King Christ Jesus will establish peace and righteousness in the earth. (Psalm 89:14; Daniel 2:44;) Death will be no more, neither mourning or sorrow. (Revelation 21:3-5)  Wars will cease. (Psalm 46:9) Sin will be eliminated and man will everlastingly enjoy the planet intended for him from its beginning. (Jeremiah 31:34) And all this will be accomplished through God’s wisdom, justice, love, and power.

Rather than abusing his power, as both angels (Satan and the demons) and mankind has demonstrated, God has used His power for good and will continue to do so. He could have used his power to create beings, which like machines would obey him automatically, but he did not.  He valued and values free will.  He wants his intelligent creation to obey him because, like his son, they love and trust that whatever he plans is for their eternal good.

When we imagine the vastness of the universe, we can exclaim, as did the Apostle Paul, “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) There are limitlessness possibilities once sin and death has been eliminated.

God’s attributes of wisdom, power, justice and love, unlike man’s attributes, are perfectly balanced.  In love God created the universe and all who live in it.  In wisdom he foresaw that giving his creation free will would introduce evil into the world, but like a foreseeing architect He devised a plan to overcome the difficulty even before the building began.  In justice he sentenced the first man to death for disobedience and in justice he provided a second Adam (Christ Jesus) to balance the scales of justice and ransom Adam and his offspring from sin and death.  In Power God created a limitless universe, filled with intelligent beings, who when justice is fully satisfied and restoration to perfection is accomplished, will exist in harmony. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain (kingdom): for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9) No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor. (Isaiah 60:19)