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Almighty
April 12
Almighty
pantokratōr
As noted yesterday, Rev_1:8 declares, “I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Almighty
translates pantokratōr (G3841), a compound word comprised of
pas (G3956), “all or every,” and kratos (G2904; see February
29), “power, strength, dominion.” The idea, then, is all power,
ruler over all, omnipotent.
This word appears ten times in the NT, all of which except one
are in the book of Revelation (2Co_6:18; Rev_1:8; Rev_4:8;
Rev_11:17; Rev_15:3; Rev_16:7, Rev_16:14; Rev_19:6, Rev_19:15;
Rev_21:22). The concept, of course, is rooted in OT imagery,
appearing there some forty-eight times.
It flows from the Hebrew masculine noun Sadday (Shaddai,
H7706), which the Septuagint always translates pantokratōr,
and which means “omnipotent” and “the Sufficient One.” God
revealed Himself to Abraham (Gen_17:1-2), for example, to
confirm that He had the power to keep His promises to make
Abraham a great nation (Gen_12:2) and to make his seed as
innumerable as the dust of the earth (Gen_13:16) and the stars
of heaven (Gen_15:5), even though Abraham and Sarah were past
the childbearing years.
It’s also interesting that of the forty-eight occurrences of
Sadday in the OT, thirty-one of them are in the book of Job
(where it is always translated Almighty). That is significant
because Job was a non-Israelite, which demonstrates that
Almighty is a universal term for God. Reading those occurrences
truly gives the reader the picture of the immense greatness of
God and His power over everything.
Used of the Lord Jesus, then, this word declares that He is,
indeed, “the Sufficient One,” “the Omnipotent, All-Powerful
God,” and “the Ruler of All.” We do not worship a limited God,
a God who can do only certain things under special
circumstances. We worship God Almighty (Gen_28:3; Gen_35:11;
Gen_43:14; Gen_48:3; etc.)
Scriptures for Study: Read the ten NT verses noted above in
which pantokratōr appears (it’s translated “omnipotent” in
Rev_19:6). What do these verses declare as characteristics and
results of God’s almightiness?
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