Of course, the Sadducees considered the Pharisees to be heretics, and the sentiment was undoubtedly reciprocated. Then Christ Jesus, who is “true and teachest the way of God in truth,” clearly declared that both sects were filled with various heresies. He could have directed it toward the Pharisees, but it was to the Sadducees that the Lord said, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”
The thing which hit me as I meditated on the statement was this: Isn’t it true that all heresy is rooted in one or both of Jesus’ points? Heresy often grows out of ignorance of the Word of God, but perhaps even more frequently it comes out of an ignorance of the person of Jehovah. “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” – or the holiness of God, or the love of God, or the justice of God. Ignorance of God’s Word is sad and bad, but a denial of God is worse – it is evil. In the case life after death, these resurrection-deniers rejected God’s Word. But they also did “err not knowing the power of God” – over time, over death, over the soul and over eternity. They understood neither the authority of God, nor in this case, the “dunamis” of God.
Can Jehovah be God if He is not all-powerful – omnipotent?
He who cannot do whatever He wills to do – cannot be God. Obviously, I am not God. Is he a god who is not able to do whatever he will? Is he worthy of human worship? Is Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, who kept falling over onto his face, a real god? Was the god of Jezebel’s prophets, who couldn’t light a fire, a true god? Is he – who is not able to do whatever he wants to do – any mightier than a powerful human being? Everything about such a “god” would be vain. Omnipotence – power – is one of the absolute essential characteristics of deity. The theologian Charnock once wrote, “God’s power is like Himself – infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; It can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature.”
Psalm 62:11 says – “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.” The relationship of omnipotence to creation is so commonplace that Christians tend to skip over it. Some people think of omnipotence somewhat like the relationship of a man to his dog. Over time, the man becomes the alpha, and when he speaks the dog obeys. No sir, “Ye do err, not knowing the power of God.” God spoke TO nothing – and at the same time to everything – saying, “Let there be light,” and it was lit. There was no competition, no argument, no resistence, nothing to overcome. “God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly,” and the oceans were filled with life. Jehovah doesn’t have to convince the Sadducees before they can be raised from the grave. All He has to do is say, “Sadducees, come forth,” and no matter if they have been dead three days, three centuries, or three millennia – out they come.
For a time, the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar lost his power, authority and mind. What precipitated that loss? It was his pride – his self-deification. But just as it had been prophesied, the king was later restored to sanity and power by the grace of God. When it was all said and done, Nebuchadnezzar concluded with the words of Daniel 4:34-38 – “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
The Psalmist said that power BELONGETH unto God – which essentially means that He alone is powerful.
What happened to the leper when the Lord commanded him to become clean? What did dead Lazarus do when the Lord commanded him to come out of the tomb? What did the wind and waves do when He commanded them to become still? What could a legion of demons do when He commanded them to come out of a man? “Ye do err, when ye don’t know the scriptures, nor the power of God.”
From what source did God derive His power? I like this quote from Spurgeon – “God’s power is like Himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the omnipotent One. He sits on no buttressed throne and leans on no assisting arm. His court is not maintained by His courtiers, nor does it borrow its splendor from His creatures. He is Himself the great central source and Originator of all power.” A reflection of God’s power is His independence and superiority over creation. Every week or so we have to fill our cars with gasoline to keep them running back and forth to church. What is the source of that gas? Crude oil. And where did that crude oil come from? We can take this equation back farther and farther until we reach an impasse – a dead end. More correctly, we are forced to take that equation back to the beginning – to Jehovah. Our energy comes from God’s creation and the creation came the Creator. Where did God’s energy come from? It had so source. The Lord has always been omnipotent.
I stand before you this evening, because of Antony Leslie Oldfield and Patricia Anne Milligan. I derived life from my parents, who got their lives from their parents, who got their lives from their parents. The evolutionist wants to say that the first of all the parents got their life from mud, or a cosmic explosion, or some such thing. I am convinced, with logic, as well as scripture on my side, that life and can only come from life. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Just as no man has life apart from God, so too he has no power. “Ye do err, when ye don’t know the scriptures, nor the power of God.”
Job 38:1-6 – “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Did you know that it might be said that “power” is one of the names of God? Mark 14:60-62 – “And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
Please turn to Job 26:1-14: Notice that we have a description of some ways in which God’s omnipotence can be seen. What does verse 14 say? “Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?” Creation displays just a part of God’s power. Resurrection is another. “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” Habakkuk 3 describes some of God’s omnipotence and then verse 4 says that God has actually hidden His power. “O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.”
Where do we see the omnipotence of God?
Of course we see it in creation. When was the last time that you tried to speak something into existence? Why don’t you order your dirty dishes to be clean and neatly put away? Why can’t you tell your car to drive you to church, and to wake you when you arrive? Creation is something that mankind can’t recreate.
We see God’s power in the sustaining of creation. “He upholdeth all things by the word of His power. “ When your houseplant died, why didn’t you breathe into it the breath of life?
God’s omnipotence can be seen in His government over things. “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” So why hasn’t he devoured everything? How is it that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord? In what ways does the Lord turn the heart of the king? God rules over the hearts of men.
And His power is seen in judgment. What evidence is there that Jericho was destroyed just as the Bible says that it was? Is there any evidence to corroborate the Bible’s testimony of the flood? Why isn’t there evidence of the judgment of Sodom?
And preceding that judgment will be resurrection, Mr. Sadducee. “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”
Application.
Doesn’t it make sense to treat with disrespect One who can crush us more easily than we can blink our eyes? Logically speaking, it isn’t even possible to defy omnipotence. We can only pretend to defy God. The scriptures, which the Sadducees deny, says that the Lord laughs at man’s rebellion against Him. The idea is so ludicrous that it is beyond humorous.
But for the child of God, the Lord’s omnipotence should provoke our humble adoration. Every single one of the perfections of Jehovah call for our fervent worship. If men with limited power can demand so much from their peers, what should the One without peers expect from us? “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods, who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises doing wonders” – Exodus 15:11.
The omnipotence of God ought to draw our absolute trust. He is worthy of our implicit confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him. “The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” How shall that be? Resurrection, my friend. Ephesians 3 concludes with these words – “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”