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“Jesus is the Mighty God”
Jesus is the Mighty God
David Sproule
It is amazing how some people have tried to depict Jesus over the years to be a weak, ineffectual man who could not save His own life. Endless efforts have been made to mischaracterize Jesus, in order to prevent people from truly getting to know Him and follow Him.
The prophet Isaiah got a glimpse of Jesus as the promised Messiah, and he was overwhelmed with what he saw. The coming Messiah would reign as King “upon the throne of David and over His kingdom” (Isa. 9:7). We saw in last week’s article that Jesus is the “Wonderful Counselor” (9:6). Isaiah also described Jesus as the “Mighty God.”
The Hebrew word for “mighty” carries the idea of being a “mighty warrior” as a “strong, valiant man,” and interestingly is often defined as “hero” or “champion” (cf. 1 Sam. 17:51). When Isaiah saw Jesus, he saw deity, for Jesus is God (John 1:1-2), possessing “all the fullness of Deity” (Col. 2:9). As God, He is the “Heroic God,” the one possessing all power and ready to engage on behalf of His people. Let us think about the “might” of Jesus Christ.
As the Mighty God, Jesus did many “mighty works” while He walked this earth. Both believers and unbelievers recognized this. Nicodemus, who became a faithful disciple, exclaimed, “No one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). Even His enemies “were astonished” at His “mighty works” (Matt. 13:54). Peter could tell the crowd on Pentecost that “you yourselves also know” of the great might demonstrated by Jesus (Acts 2:22).
As the Mighty God, Jesus overcame sin and the world. Hours before His death, He told His disciples, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He did that by living a sinless life (1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15), so that He Himself could (and did) “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26).
As the Mighty God, Jesus conquered death. Paul told Timothy that Christ had “abolished death” (2 Tim. 1:10), for having been raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-26), He is “alive forevermore” and has “the keys of Hades and of Death” (Rev. 1:18).
As the Mighty God, Jesus triumphed over Satan. He came “that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and “through [His] death,” He did “destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).
Jesus, the Mighty God, has done so much in demonstrating Himself to be our Heroic God, and even today, He is still “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3). Best of all, He has and continues to use His might for the good of His people (Rom. 8:31; Heb. 13:6).
