My God Is a Mighty God
Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. — Psalms 24:8
Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. — Luke 19:38
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: God does not merely give strength: through his Spirit, he clothes even the weak with power. Like Paul, we can endure deprivation and suffering, not through our own ability but through the power of Christ. In him rest the promises of redemption and all authority; as we follow him, we receive strength to live as Christians and be his witnesses. Trials will come, but God directs the outcome and promises to restore and establish us. Let us trust in him rather than seek victory through human power. This Christmas season, let us draw near to Christ, who accepts us even if we have strayed, and live in peace and reconciliation.
God is not only strength, nor merely might, but power. Some people have strength but no power. That is why even the weak, before God, are clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit.
We see this in Paul when he told the Corinthians: “That is why I rejoice in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties that I suffer for Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). Paul’s strength lies not in his own might, but in the power given by the Spirit to endure every kind of tribulation and suffering. Paul’s Lord delivered him from prisons and shipwrecks, saved him from a snakebite, brought comfort amid the humiliation of beatings, and provided him with bread in his hours of weakness.
Only the Spirit provides this kind of strength. Jesus, reading Isaiah in the synagogue, revealed that the prophecy was fulfilled in his own person: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives and freedom to the prisoners” (Isa 61:1).
Christ is strong because the promises of humanity’s ultimate redemption rest in Him, and because He also holds dominion and authority and is Lord of creation. The principalities will rest upon His shoulders and submit to His authority, so that at His name every knee will bow and every tongue confess Him as Lord (Phil 2:10). What are we to do? Follow Him! If we are co-heirs with Christ of God’s possessions, then we are strong with Him because divine power dwells in Him. He makes us strong, clothes us with power to walk through the world as Christians, bearing witness to Him. Trials may come, but God writes the end of the story according to His will. Is His will not good and perfect? Then let us trust in Him. He is our mighty God. The apostle Peter told his fellow servants: “And after you have suffered for a little while, God Himself, the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast” (1 Pet 5:10).
The apostle Paul likewise encouraged the Corinthians, telling them: “The weapons with which we fight are not of this world, but have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4). What are we to do as Christians? Make Christ our own, for with Him we are strong. We do not triumph through our own strength, nor is there any human power that makes us victorious: it is Christ. The psalmist asks, “Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle” (Ps 24:8). Christ is the King of glory, the mighty God who goes to extraordinary lengths to win your heart and sets no condition for you to come to Him. He accepts you as you are right now: far away, cold, distant, estranged.
It is Christmastime, a time of joy for God’s children, a season that stirs a desire for peace and reconciliation. Come to the Mighty One, the Lamb slain yesterday and forever victorious!
God bless you!
Suggested reading: Psalm 24