THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD
Lesson #23
The
Sufficiency of God
Exodus 6:3
When
the Lord was about to deliver Israel out of Egyptian bondage, he spoke to Moses
and said, “I am the LORD: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob
by the name of God almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.” When he was
about to save his people, God revealed himself by the name, Jehovah, which
means Deliverer, Savior, God who saves. And when he sent Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob out to follow him in strange lands, he appeared to them by the name God
almighty. That name, “God Almighty,” is translated in the margin of our Bibles,
“El-Shaddai,” which means “God Almighty,” identifying our God as One whose
power is infinite and uncontrollable.
This
name, “El-Shaddai,” however, speaks of much more than God’s omnipotent power.
It suggests the idea of “God who is a
Nourisher.” In fact, El-Shaddai is said to bless his people with “blessings of heaven above, blessings of the
deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb” (Gen.
49:25). As a mother nourishes her children with the milk of her breast, so the
Lord our God, El-Shaddai, tenderly nourishes his own elect with the fullness of
his Being.
El-Shaddai
also means, “God who pours out.” He
not only nourishes us, supplying everything we need to sustain us and keep us,
but he also pours out upon us all the blessings of his grace. Our God is a
fountain overflowing and gushing out with grace that flows to us with constant
fullness, like a mighty river from the throne of God.
And
El-Shaddai means, “God All-Sufficient.” The
Lord our God is so great and glorious that he has all sufficiency in himself,
for himself, of himself, so that he needs nothing to make him happy and
complete. And El-Shaddai is God All-Sufficient for his people. Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, as they made their pilgrimage through this world, needed nothing but
God whose name is Sufficient! That person truly lives by faith who lives in the
confidence that he needs nothing but God, whose name is El-Shaddai - God
All-Sufficient. This attribute of God, his sufficiency, implies three things
about his great and glorious Being.
GOD’S ALL-SUFFICIENCY IMPLIES
SELF-SUFFICIENCY, AND INDEPENDENCE. In other words, God needs nothing from
anyone. Preachers often portray God as a pathetic being who is in desperate
need of man, as one who cannot be happy and satisfied without man, and one
whose will, work, and glory greatly depends upon man. But from the beginning
God revealed himself as El-Shaddai, God Almighty and All-Sufficient. God is so
infinitely great that he stands in need of nothing and is in need of no one.
The self-existent God is the self-subsistent God. He is perfect, complete,
happy and satisfied in himself. We can add nothing to him. And we can take
nothing from him. He is God (Rom. 11:35-36).
John Gill wrote, “God in his divine
persons, God Father, Son, and Spirit, have enough within themselves, to give
the utmost, yea, infinite complacency, delight, and satisfaction among
themselves and to one another.” From eternity, “the Father delighted in the Son,
`the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person;’ the Son in the Father, before whom he was
always rejoicing, when as yet no creature existed; and both in the blessed
Spirit, proceeding from them (see Prov. 8:30). For creation adds nothing at all
to the perfection and happiness of God, nor makes the least alteration in him.”
There
is no vacuum in God, which we must fill. He lacks nothing that must be supplied
by his creatures. We stand in need of God. He alone supplies our every need and
supports us in life. By him we consist. In him we live, and move, and have our
being. He upholds us by the word of his power. But God needs nothing from us.
God All-Sufficient is God Self-Sufficient!
The services we perform for God in faith
are not for his benefit, but for ours (Acts 17:24-25). In the Old Testament
the ordinances of worship were for man’s benefit, not God’s (Psa. 50:7-15). All
those sacrifices, ceremonies, rituals, priests, and holy days were for the
instruction, comfort, peace, and edification of God’s people. But God received
nothing by them. The ordinances of worship in the New Testament are for the
same purpose. God gains nothing by what we do. Our worship, service, and
obedience to God does not enrich him. They enrich us, but not him. By these
things we are led into communion with the living God and brought into the
enjoyment of his gracious presence.
·
Our praise does not benefit God. It benefits us.
·
Our prayers do not benefit God. They benefit us. The throne
of grace was set up, not for God, but for us (Heb. 4:16).
·
Our sacrifices, services, and acts of obedience to God do
not benefit him. They benefit us (Job 22:2-3; 35:7-8; Lk. 17:10; Tit. 3:8).
Even the righteousness, obedience,
and sacrifice of Christ as our Substitute added nothing to the perfection of
God’s glorious being, but was altogether for our benefit (Psa. 16:2-3).
His obedience was for us (Rom. 5:19). His death was for us (1 John 3:16). His
resurrection was for us (Rom. 4:25). His exaltation is for us (John 17:2). His
intercession is for us (Rom. 8:34). His second coming is for us (1 Thess.
14:13-18). Even His judgment in the last day is for us (Isa. 14:1; Rev. 18:24).
Not only is it true that we can
never add anything to God, but no creature can ever take anything from him
either. The
sinful deeds of the wicked do not in anyway diminish the happiness, perfection,
and glory of God (Job 35:6-8). God is so infinitely great, so thoroughly
self-sufficient that no creature can add anything to him, take anything from
him, hinder his work, impede his purpose, or in anyway alter him. God needs
nothing from anyone; and loses nothing to anyone!. His name is El-Shaddai - God
All-Sufficient!
BECAUSE HE IS ALL-SUFFICIENT, GOD IS
ABLE TO SUPPLY ALL THE NEEDS OF HIS PEOPLE. God is able to do whatever he
pleases. He is able to fulfill all his promises. He is able to accomplish all
his decrees. And he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think. Nothing is too hard for our God. He who sent manna from heaven every day
to feed a hungry nation for forty years can feed you. He who caused water to
gush out of a rock in the desert can refresh you. He who caused a pair of shoes
to walk thousands of miles for forty years and remain new, and caused a coat to
last all that time without the least wear, can clothe you. He who caused an ax
to swim can keep you afloat. The name of our God is El-Shaddai, God
All-Sufficient!
We see something of God’s infinite
sufficiency in the physical world around us. In his good providence, God
gives life and breath to all things (Acts 17:25). He breathed into Adam the
breath of life and gives the breath of life to all the sons of Adam. He is
called the God of our life (Psa. 42:8), because we get life from him. And he
supports, maintains, and preserves the life he has given from his own
sufficiency as long as it pleases him (Job 10:11-12; 12:10; Psa. 66:9). it is
God alone who provides for all men all the necessities of life and supplies the
needs of all his creatures daily (Psa. 104:27-28; 145:15; 147:9). Out of his
great, infinite sufficiency, in the exercise of his wisdom and power, our great
God and heavenly Father totally rules the universe (Psa. 22:28; Prov 8:15-16;
Matt. 10:29-30). So great is God’s infinite, incomprehensible sufficiency that
though he made all things, sustains all things, provides for all things ,and
rules all things, his sufficiency is never diminished!.
But, above all else, we know El-Shaddai to
be God All-Sufficient because we have experienced his all sufficient grace.
El- Shaddai is the God of all grace. He is able to cause all grace to abound
toward us; and he does. He is able to supply all our needs; and he does, out of
that rich and glorious plenitude and all-sufficiency that is in him, by Christ
Jesus (Phil. 4:19).
1.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Mediator (John
1:14, 16; Col. 1:18-19; 2:9-10).
2.
Christ is the Mediator of an all-sufficient covenant (Eph.
1;3).
3.
And God bestows upon his elect all-sufficient grace in
Christ (2 Cor. 12:9).
4.
When
he says, “My grace is sufficient for
thee,” he means for every believing sinner to understand that his grace in
Christ is sufficient to justify, pardon, and cleanse him, keep him in life,
sustain him in death, bring him up to heaven, and present him faultless before
the presence of his glory in the last day! The name of God our Savior is
El-Shaddai - God All-Sufficient. He is able to supply all our needs. And he
does (Gen 22:7-14).
GOD’S ALL SUFFICIENCY ALSO IMPLIES
THAT HE IS PERFECT. One who lacks nothing, needs nothing, to whom nothing can be
given, and from whom nothing can be taken away is perfect. God is perfect in
his nature (Matt. 5:48). He is
immutable (James 1:17), omniscient (Job 37:16), wise (Rom. 11:33), omnipotent
(Isa. 40:26-28; 59:1), holy (Lev. 11:44), and pure (1 John 1:5). His perfection
is displayed in all his works (Deut. 32:3-4). Whether we speak of creation, redemption,
providence, or grace, we are compelled to joyfully confess with the psalmist, “As for God, his way is perfect” (Psa.
18:30). (See Eccles. 3:14). And before he is finished with us, if we are his,
God will make us perfect, too (1 Pet. 5:10). We are perfect now positionally
and representatively in Christ Eph. 1:6; Col. 1:12; 2:9-10). And soon we shall
be perfect personally and experimentally with Christ (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:1-3).
We have confidence that it shall be so, because the name of our God is
El-Shaddai!