What do you think of when you think of Jesus? There are so many ideas out there. Some people think he’s all about rules. Unfortunately, that’s the impression that many Christians portray. Some think he’s no fun or is against fun. I mean there are all kinds of ideas about who Jesus is and what he is like and why it matters to us.
That’s why we’re doing this series. As we get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus we’re taking a few weeks to discover who he really is and what he is like and why it matters to us. And to guide us we’re using a verse that was written 700 years before Jesus was born predicting who he would be and what he would be like. It’s found in Isaiah 9:6.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Last week we talked about Jesus being the Wonderful Counselor, that he is someone who came for sick and hurting and sinful people, and that we can come to him with our weariness, burdens, anxiety and cares because he cares for us.
Today we are going to look at the name or description: Mighty God. The Hebrew term for this is El Gibor. It carries with it the picture of a strong and powerful warrior who easily defeats his enemies.
Maybe you’ve heard the term: Omnipotent. It’s Latin and means “all powerful.”
Jesus is the all-powerful God. We see that illustrated throughout his life.
And I want to tell you a few of those stories out of Matthew 8. These are great examples of Jesus being mighty God. Jesus had just given the sermon on the mount to his disciples, and he comes down off the mountain and there’s this large crowd of curious people who are waiting and wanting to follow him. And then a man with leprosy came up to Jesus and asked Jesus if he would be willing to heal him. And Jesus does an amazing, unexpected thing. Verse 3 says, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
Get this, Jesus reaches out, touches the man, which was something that you just didn’t do in that day and age. They feared that you could catch the disease by touching a leprous person, but Jesus touches him anyway and tells him to be clean. And all of a sudden he’s cleansed. Can you imagine? It would be like you having a bad case of acne and someone touches your face and all of a sudden you’ve got skin that’s magazine, air-brush clean. That’s some incredible power.
Well, after this amazing miracle, with crowds following him, Jesus heads to the town of Capernaum when he is approached by an officer in the Roman military who asks Jesus to heal his sick servant. Jesus agrees and says “let’s go.” But the Roman officer stops him and basically says, “You don’t need to come to my house. I recognize you have power and authority, so just say the word and I’m sure he’ll be healed.” So what does Jesus do in response to this man’s faith? Verse 13: Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
It’s amazing. In the first instance Jesus touched the leprous guy and told him to be clean. In this instance he does a long distance healing. Jesus has so much power that he doesn’t even have to be in the same room with a sick person in order to heal.
Well, word of these miraculous healings spread through the crowd and around the city, so Jesus tries to get away from the crowd by going to Peter’s house. But when they get there it turns out that Peter’s mother-in-law is sick in bed with a fever. Now, when we get a fever we take a Tylenol and we’re fine, but back then, a fever could kill you. So Jesus does what he’s been doing. Verse 15: He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. This is incredible. The previous two miraculous healings had Jesus saying something. But here, He touches her hand and the fever vanishes. Immediately. Instantaneously. That’s some serious might and power, don’t you think?
Well, like I said, word of these miraculous powers spread throughout the town of Capernaum and look at verse 16:
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
in other word, crowds of sick and demon-possessed people showed up at Peter’s house and Jesus heals all of them. His power was limitless.
I don’t know about you, but those are some pretty incredible illustrations of Jesus being a mighty God. But there’s one more scene out of Matthew 8 that we have to look at. After Jesus healed all these people, he gave a little mini-sermon and then look at verse 23.
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
Jesus was tired. After all that had happened Jesus was taking a little nap.
25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Imagine being one of the disciples. You had just spent the day watching Jesus heal all kinds of people. He healed a man with leprosy. He healed a Roman servant from a distance. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a debilitating fever with the touch of his hand. He cast demons out of people, and he healed crowds of sick people. And now this? Jesus wakes up from a little cat-nap and rebukes a storm and the storm ends. Talk about power. Talk about a mighty God. Even the wind and the waves obey him.
That sounds pretty all-powerful to me. That’s an incredible display of might and strength. Jesus is the all-powerful, mighty God. I think Matthew 8 clearly demonstrates the prediction from Isaiah 9:6. We could stop here.
But I know some of you have objections to this whole idea. One objection that same of you have is that you have trouble believing in an all-powerful, mighty God because you have trouble believing these miraculous, supernatural displays of power. And I understand that because we don’t really see that in our day. But there was no doubt among the people of Jesus day that these miracles were for real. It’s one of the reasons people were trying to kill Jesus.
Another of your objections is that, in your mind, power is a negative thing. And that’s because when we think of someone with power we usually think of someone who abuses power. We think of a tyrant, a dictator or a corrupt politician. Maybe we think of an abusive or controlling parent, or a boss with a self-esteem problem. And that’s understandable. Power does have the ability to corrupt when used for selfish gains. Power is negative when used to put people down.
But as we’ve seen in Matthew 8, our all-powerful, mighty God used his power not to push people down but to lift people up. In other words, his might is used for our good.
And this has enormous implications for you and me. It implies that we can trust him. We can trust the mighty God who is bigger than our problems and circumstances. We can trust the mighty God who is so powerful that even the winds and waves obey him. Why can we trust him? Because his power is for our good. It always has been. It always will be. You and I are invited to trust Jesus, the Mighty God.
I want to show you another passage in the book of Matthew that clearly illustrates this invitation to trust God. Jesus had just finished another amazing miracle demonstrating his power where he took two fish and five loaves of bread and fed more than 15,000 people. And he was tired and needed some alone time with his heavenly father.
Matthew 14
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
I don’t know about you, but walking on water is a pretty incredible display of power. Can you imagine being the disciples? You’re rowing away when all of a sudden you see something, or rather, someone, walking towards you on the water. What would be going through your mind?
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
They were scared to death. They thought they were seeing a ghost. You’d probably be scared to death too. I know I would.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
I love that, “Take courage, it is I. Don’t be afraid.” Yes, Jesus is the mighty God, but do you want to know why it matters to you that Jesus is the mighty God? It matters because whatever you’re going through right now, Jesus, the Mighty God, says to you, “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.” The Mighty God is with us. There is no need to fear.
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
It’s like Peter was saying, “If it’s really you, and we’re not just hallucinating after a long day and seeing things that aren’t really there… if it’s really you, Jesus, the tell me to come to you on the water.” I love Peter. He’s willing to try anything. And here is Jesus’ invitation.
29 “Come,” he said.
Jesus invited Peter to trust him and to walk out on the water with him. He gives the same invitation to you and to me today. Jesus, the mighty God, says, “Come.” So what does Peter do?
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
I honestly believe that this had to be the most amazing experience of Peter’s life. He actually got to walk on water. And it was all because he trusted Jesus enough to accept his invitation to come. And it would be great if the story ended there. But this is a real story and it’s just like real life.
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
I think that this is how most of us deal with life. We’re followers of Jesus, and we say we trust him, and we start off trusting him, but when life gets a little out of hand, when things get out of control, when we get distracted with worry and anxiety and fear, what happens? We start to sink, or at least we feel that way.
Now why did Peter start to sink. He took his focus off of Jesus, the mighty God. The same happens to us. Or at least I know it happens to me. I turn my focus off of Jesus and onto my circumstances and when that happens I have this sinking feeling. When we take our focus off of Jesus we start to sink. Some of you feel that way right now.
But look what Jesus did:
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Jesus reached out to rescue Peter, even when Peter wasn’t looking to Jesus. And he basically says to Peter, “Why didn’t you trust me?”
See, Jesus saw the same wind and waves that Peter saw. But they didn’t cause him to sink. We can trust in Jesus. He sees the things that are overwhelming to us, yet he isn’t phased.
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
In other words, Jesus can be trusted. That’s the significance of Jesus being the mighty God.
The same Jesus who healed all those people, who calmed the storm, who walked on water and who rescued Peter is the Mighty God who is with us today.
Jesus gives this invitation to us again in John 14:1 – Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
And that is what I want to invite you to do today. Trust in the Mighty God.
What do you need to trust Jesus with today?
