THE MIGHTY GOD

The prospect of the coming of the great light is a cause of joy, as is the promise of the child who will be born to the virgin. Already it has been declared that His name will be Immanuel, and now it is announced that He will be Wonderful, Counsellor and the Mighty God. As ‘Wonderful’ He is beyond human understanding, as ‘Counsellor’ He has all knowledge, and as ‘The Mighty God’ He has all power.

His enemies will fall before Him and none will be able to rise against Him. It is He who will enter Jerusalem in triumph as the cry goes out, ‘Who is this King of glory?’ Ps. 24. 8, with the glorious response from a remnant Israel filling the air, ‘The Lord strong and mighty’. Before Him the gates will lift up their heads! Those who trust Him can rest on the fact that He will prevail over all His foes. Under His wings they can rest secure!

But will His might be such that all compassion will be gone? Power can rob the heart of concern for others. However, when Moses speaks of He who is ‘a great God, a mighty’, Deut. 10. 17, he adds that ‘He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger’, v. 18. Jeremiah speaks of Him as ‘the Great, the Mighty God’, Jer. 32. 18, who not only executes righteous judgement but ‘shewest lovingkindness unto thousands’.

Yes, He who is mighty is also caring and compassionate. His power will never be abused and His compassion will never be exhausted. He, before whom winds and waves were hushed to peace and silence; He, who spoke and demons hasted to obey; He, who could command legions of angels; He it was who stood still at the call of a blind man, stretched out His hand to touch a leper and looked with compassion on a multitude that were as sheep without a shepherd.

As we face the anxieties of life let us never forget that our God is mighty. As Jeremiah thinks of this Mighty God he declares that ‘there us nothing too hard for thee’, Jer. 32.17. No enemy too clever, no mountain too high and no barrier too strong. This is our God! We have trusted Him in the day of His rejection; we will enjoy the fullness of His day of triumph.