ABILITY OF OUR LORD.

Our God is a great God and greatly to be praised. Indeed His greatness is unsearchable. In this study we consider the ‘ability’ of the Lord, especially in extraordinary circumstances.

Three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to compromise their faith in their God, in bowing to worship the golden idol that the heathen king had set up. Despite the threat of a flaming oven, they declared ‘ Our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace , and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.’ Daniel 3:17

Nebuchadnezzar’s fury burned and the expression of his face changed, when ‘he commanded that they heat the furnace seven times. Then ‘he commanded certain mighty men of valour to bind these 3 young men and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. The extreme heat and the flaming fire slew the soldiers. ‘Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego fell down bound into the midst of the burning, fiery furnace. The situation appeared hopeless! Not so with God.

The astonished king rose, turning to his counsellors , ‘Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace? ‘True, O King.’ ‘Look, he said, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. ‘ ( v 25 ) ‘ Come out and come here,’ commanded the king to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.’ ‘They saw these men on whom the fire had no power, the hair of their head not singed, nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.’ ( v27)

The king was compelled to confess, ‘Blessed be their God. Who sent His Angel (our Lord Jesus ) to deliver them.’ In each generation, the Lord’s people gladly tell of many similar experiences in which their God has miraculously delivered and so preserved them. Certainly, multitudes have died for their Lord, who received the martyrs home to glory. ‘He is able to deliver us’ then and now..

Nebuchadnezzar added, ‘ No other God can deliver like this.’ ( v36)

Dr Luke gave the next evidence of our Lord’s ability, speaking of God’s creative power. (Luke 3:8) Jesus spoke to the religious-proud, who claimed,

‘ We have Abraham as our father’, For, I say unto you that God is able to raise up children from these stones.’ Our Lord reminded them that Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90 years when God miraculously gave Isaac as their son.

In the original creation of Adam and Eve, God used the dust of the earth to create ( ex nihilo ) Adam, fashioning Eve from one of his 12 ribs. God raised the entire human family, now six billion people ( six thousand million ) from the dust of the earth. Isn’t that marvellous? Let us wonder at His creative power!

Considering Abraham and Sarah, many bodily functions would have ceased, where tissue had degenerated with calcium deposits, leaving plaques in the ovary and ovarian tubes, fibroids in the uterus in Sarah, deterioration in the testicles, the epidydimi and male organ of Abraham , while cholesterol in blood vessels would be miraculously removed, and degenerative tissues would function again. Our Lord, the great Anatomist and Physiologist, spoke with such authority.

A similar mighty procreation occurred with the ageing Zechariah and Elisabeth when God promised them a son. ‘Truly He is able to raise up children from these stones.’ These Scriptures have strengthened those crying out to God for the gift of a child, especially where there are natural restraints.

A spiritual parallel is the work of God where you have faced spiritual opposition – stony unproductive soil- and prayer is heard and answered. And many are born again into the family of God. He is able to raise up children.’

Paul continues the discussion concerning Abraham and Sarah in Romans 4:20-21, where ‘He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised, He was also able to perform.’

God’s Word hides the backwardness of their faith when Sarah surrendered her maid Hagar to Abraham, to bear the child. God had His own manner of teaching them , as He does in our weakest moments, when He gently leads us into the path of true faith. ‘Abraham was ‘not weak in faith nor did he consider his own body, already dead, (since he was about one hundred years old, nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb.’ ) ( v19)

God matched their return of faith with a desire for physical union, plus the ability to consummate their oneness. Their strong faith persisted ( boosted by hormonal resurgence ) until the Lord miraculously granted conception to the aged woman. They surely glorified their God as the pregnancy advanced to the moment when the ‘son of laughter’, Isaac, was born into their family.

Their enduring strength lay in God’s ability ‘to perform what He had promised,’ of which they were persuaded. The promised Messiah must be born of the line of the faithful Abraham, hence the urgent fulfilment of this promise. Vigourous faith stopped even satanic suggestion or human thought of possible failure . Their God was sufficient. He was able to perform this miracle.

Do you know that your God is able to able to raise up children from stones; that He is able to deliver you’, and that He is able to perform that which is humanly impossible? Our walk with the living God will be changed when we reach this level of simple trust. Our family lives will be enriched; our professional walk will be blessed ; our fellowship with God’s people will be sweet, and allow God to do such marvellous things.

HE IS ABLE.