God is the greatest, most powerful and perfect being that exists. God created the universe from nothing (Hebrews 11:3), simply by speaking (Genesis 1); and today, everything continues to exist only because God continues to sustain it (Acts 17:28). For this reason, God is worthy of all praise (Revelation 4:11). He alone is the great and mighty God (Jeremiah 32:18) whose “greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3). It is therefore a sin to worship anything or any “god” other than Him (Exodus 20:3-4).
No-one is greater than God
Another passage that explains that God is the greatest being that exists, is Hebrews 6:13-14. The argument of these verses goes: Do you remember how, when God promised to bless Abraham, God swore an oath to confirm His promise? Normally, when someone swears an oath, they swear by someone greater than themselves, don’t they? But did you notice who God swore by? He swore by Himself! So obviously, there can’t be anyone greater than God; because if there had been someone greater than God, then God would have sworn by that person, and not by Himself! Since God swore by Himself, it shows that there is no-one is greater than Him.
So to answer the question: “What makes God so powerful?” we must simply say: “Nothing makes God powerful: God just IS powerful – that’s His nature!” After all, if God needed someone else to make Him powerful, then that person would be more powerful than God; and this is impossible, since, as we have seen, no-one is greater than God.
God is very different from us
Because God is very different from us, we sometimes find this hard to understand. We are all created beings; we all rely on someone else in order to exist. But God is not created; He doesn’t rely on anyone. God exists entirely from Himself. A clue to this is found in God’s own personal name, Yahweh. The name “Yahweh” seems to be related to the Hebrew verb “to be,” and it means something like “I am Who I am,” or “I will be Who I Will be” (Exodus 3:14). God isn’t defined by anyone else, nor does He depend on anyone else: He exists entirely from Himself, and is, in fact, the source of all existence.
Jesus Christ shares God’s divine nature
Fascinatingly, the Bible also teaches us that Jesus Christ shares God’s divine nature! For example, Jesus repeatedly claimed God’s name, “I AM,” as His own (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:7, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1), and this was recognized by the early church (Philippians 2:6-11, cf. Isaiah 45:22-23). Jesus shares in God’s works of creating the universe (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16; Psalm 33:6) and sustaining the universe (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus also does other things that only God can do: He accepts worship (John 20:28-29; cf. Exodus 34:14), He has God’s authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:5-12; cf. Micah 7:18), and He will judge the world (John 5:22; cf. Genesis 18:25). This shows us that Jesus is indeed the eternal Son of God.
God’s greatness is a warning and an encouragement
These truths are both a warning to us, and an encouragement. To finish, let’s go back to Hebrews 6, where we can see both of these.
- First: the warning. Hebrews 6:4-8 warn us that turning away from faith in Jesus Christ, the “Son of God,” and “subjecting Him to public disgrace,” is a terribly serious sin, which puts us “in danger of being cursed.”
- But second: the encouragement. Hebrews 6:18-20 encourageal us that Jesus Christ is also “a high priest forever.” Through Jesus, God gives us the opportunity to share in His promised blessing to Abraham. And because God is perfect, never lies, and is so powerful that none of His plans can ever be stopped, if we put our trust in Him, our hope of salvation is certain: “we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”