THE ALMIGHTY

It is compelling evidence of the superiority of the gospel that believers are happy knowing that the true God is ‘the Almighty’. The heart-warming association of omnipotence with benevolence casts out fear from those who have learned to love the Almighty. This is most clearly seen in the last use of the title concerning our heavenly home: ‘the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it’, Rev. 21. 22. The Almighty is linked with a Lamb! He is the eternal sanctuary of His people. Against the God who rules the sky

I fought with hand uplifted high,
Despised the mention of His grace,
Too proud to seek a hiding place.
But thus th’ eternal counsel ran,
Almighty Love, arrest that man!’
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place.
Indignant justice stood in view,
To Sinai’s fiery mount I flew,
But Justice cried with frowning face,
‘This mountain is no hiding place!’
Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
And Mercy’s angel form appeared,
Who led me on with gentle pace,
To Jesus Christ, my hiding place. [Jehoida Brewer]

The Hebrew shaddai, and its NT counterpart pantokrator, are translated fifty-eight times by the name Almighty. It was commonly used in patriarchal times since, as the Lord stated, ‘I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them’, Exod. 6. 3. More than half the citations are in the book of Job. How heartening to reread one verse from each Testament linking supreme power and supreme love: ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty’, Ps. 91.1. ‘And [I] will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty’, 2 Cor. 6. 18.