The Only Way to be Mighty . . .

 

The English word MIGHTY has many synonyms. So do the Hebrew and Greek languages. Depending on how they are used, these words can mean power, strength, might, force, ability, wonders, and miracles. What makes them distinctive in the Bible is that the word chosen to describe the actions of Jesus indicates that His power has a supernatural force behind it.

We know that word. My husband has a chronic form of leukemia. During a recent visit to his oncologist, she said, “Your bloodwork is a train wreck. How do you have those numbers and still show good health? It must be a divine intervention.”

In the NT this word dynamis is one of several that is translated as mighty and most often refers to the works of Jesus and the power of God. From this we conclude that God is a mighty God, able to do great things because of His power and strength.

1 Chronicles 29:11. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

The people of the OT looked at events in their history to see this power. For example, Exodus 15:13 says, “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode” and Exodus 32:11 says, “Moses implored the Lord his God and said, ‘O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?’”

In the NT, dynamis essentially means “power,” but it also refers to acts of power or ‘miracles’ attributed to a supernatural force indicating that God is at work.

Acts 2:22. “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know . . . .”

The Gospels relate these mighty acts to show that Jesus Christ is not a mere man or even a prophet. He is God the Son, able to do what no other can do. His first mighty miracle was to turn water into wine, indicating that He did not come to wield His power in a destructive manner. He also healed the sick, put demonic forces on the run, calmed storms, and raised the dead.

For these actions, the people were divided. Some attributed them to demonic forces yet that could not be true because those forces serve the one Jesus called the Liar and Destroyer. What Jesus did was true and helpful. He was not empowered by Satan.

Others realized that the works of Jesus were done because of the mighty power of God but they were confused because Jesus acted in humility and kindness. They expected a Messiah that would deliver them from Roman oppression but Jesus was not the mighty king they hoped for.

A few realized Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that He was powerful and yet full of grace and truth. His kingdom was not of this world and the only way to enter it was through faith and on bended knee, receiving new life from Him via another mighty act, that of salvation and redemption in a ‘new birth’ that changed their lives.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Other words are translated “mighty.” One of them tells me: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” (1 Peter 5:6). Therefore, I use the term “bended knee” as a reminder to be receptive to God’s power instead of relying on my own. Even after being a Christian for many years, access to Almighty God remains the same; He bids me come in humility, acknowledging my helplessness and how deeply I need His mighty hand so that I can live as He desires. His strength is perfected in weakness and the only way to be mighty is to first be helpless.