Daily Bible Nugget #349, Revelation 19:6

The Nugget:

Rev 19:6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

My Comment:

This verse, Revelation 19:6, surely makes it clear that God is omnipotent, the fourth attribute of God on my list of the divine attributes of God.

The Omnipotence of God is that unlimited power which he possesses to do whatever is consistent with the other perfections of his nature. (Samuel Wakefield, Wakefield’s Christian Theology, Vol. 1, p. 146)

He alone is almighty. God possesses what no creature can: an incomprehensible plenitude of power, a potency that is absolute. (A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 71)

Contrary to what some like the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach, the attribute of omnipotence is possessed by all three members of the Godhead, the Trinity: the Father, Genesis 17:1; the Son, Revelation 1:8; the Holy Spirit, Romans 15:19. I have placed extensive cross references at each of these verses (Ge 17:1; Re 1:8; Ro 15:19) in both The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible.

Cross reference Bible study is absolutely essential to understanding what the Bible itself teaches. The Bible is not written in the form of a systematic theology. The Bible contains the material required to form a systematic theology, but is itself not arranged that way. To learn what the Bible has to say about any subject it refers to, one must study all the statements found in the Bible about that subject. To do this, you can start with a Bible concordance and find all the verses that have the word connected with the subject you want or need to study. But you will miss much material if you only use a concordance.

You can make use of a topical Bible, such as Nave’s Topical Bible and more recent equivalent resources, in print or on line or in Bible software. These resources will help you find still more of the material in the Bible about a particular subject.

Another most excellent Bible study tool that fits this category is the Thompson Chain Reference Bible. You can start with any verse that you know pertains to a subject you want to study further, and it will lead you to many more verses on that subject. The Thompson Chain Reference Bible has an excellent subject index too. But even using these resources, you will miss much material in the Bible on the subject of your study unless you also use a source of very complete cross references like those in The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

I gave Revelation 1:8 as a verse which shows that our Lord Jesus Christ possesses the attribute of omnipotence, for he is called the Almighty. The Jehovah’s Witnesses disagree with me about this. They try to re-paragraph Revelation chapter 1 in a way to make the statement in Revelation to apply to God the Father, but not to our Lord Jesus Christ. In reference to Revelation 1:8, Jehovah’s Witnesses argue that Jesus is the “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6), but He is never called the “Almighty God.” Now, how can you determine in a factual manner who is right about this?

Careful cross reference Bible study will lead you to the Biblical answer. In the cross references given for Revelation 1:8, for the keywords “the Almighty,” a reference is given to Amos 4:13, LXX. The symbols I use in the New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge alert you to the fact that Revelation 1:8 quotes Amos 4:13. This is a most important fact.

The Hebrew text followed by the KJV for Amos 4:13 uses the divine title for God, “The God of hosts.” But John, when writing the book of Revelation, quotes this verse at Revelation 1:8 from the Greek Septuagint, which uses the title “The Lord God Almighty.” The Septuagint at Amos 4:13 reads in our English translation:

“For, behold, I am he that strengthens the thunder, and creates the wind, and proclaims to men his Christ, forming the morning and the darkness, and mounting on the high places of the earth, The Lord God Almighty is his name.”

Amos thus states directly that the name of Christ is the Lord God Almighty. And that is the very verse that the Apostle John quotes at Revelation 1:8.

I bet you never read, and never will read that in the Watchtower Magazine! I’ll bet again (though I’m not really a betting man!) that neither your pastor nor your Sunday school teacher has explained anything about this either. They should. If our everyday Christians in the pew were armed with a knowledge and understanding of these facts, the Jehovah’s Witnesses would not make the headway they now make by stealing untaught sheep from Bible-believing, Evangelical churches. Now if a retired English teacher like me can figure these things out, why are our pastors not doing the same? One secret of mine: I do not play golf! Now, I know our dear pastors need to get exercise. But they also need to exercise their skill in learning and teaching the Bible. Preaching is not enough!

My book, Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible, contains more cross references here than what I knew to supply when I created my first book, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. But my newest though not yet quite complete project contains still more help on Amos 4:13, help probably not available at this verse in any commentary:

Amos 4:13. he that. Note: This is a most powerful description of the majesty of Jehovah, the God of hosts. Jb 38:4-11. Ps 65:6. *Is 40:12. 42:5. *Zc 12:1. and createth. Heb. bara, Ge 1:1. Some modern critics allege that this word was not used before the time of Jeremiah; but it is used, besides the Pentateuch, in Ps 51:10. 89:12, 47. 102:18. 104:30. 148:5. Ec 12:1; and in Isaiah frequently (CB). Ps 135:7. 147:18. +Is 45:18 (*S#1254h). Je 10:13. 51:16. wind. or, spirit. Pr 30:4. Ec 3:21. Ezk 37:9mg. **Jn 3:8. and declareth. Ps 7:9. *Ps 139:2. +*Je 17:10. Da 2:28. Mt 9:4. Lk 7:39, 40. +*Jn 2:25. unto men. LXX. adds, “his Christ.” that maketh. *Am 5:8. 8:9. Ex 10:22. 14:20. Is 5:30. Je 13:16. darkness. +Ex 10:22. +Pr 20:20. and treadeth. Dt 32:13rp. Dt 33:29rp. *Mi 1:3. Hab 3:19. The Lord. Am 3:13. 5:8. 6:8. 9:6. Is *47:4. 48:2. *Je 10:16. 51:19. The God of hosts. LXX. renders, “The Lord God Almighty.” 2 S 7:26, 27; Je 31:35; 50:34; Ho 12:5; Zc 2:8, 9, 11; 3:7, 10, 11; 13:7; Ml 3:1 all have “Lord (or Lord God) Almighty” where the Hebrew reads “Lord of Hosts” (+Ps 24:10). The Watchtower claim that Jesus is called “the mighty God” (Is 9:6) but never “Almighty God” is proven false for John cites this very passage (Am 5:13) from the LXX. in Revelation 1:8 and applies this title to our Lord Jesus Christ. The LXX. usage and renderings show that “Almighty God” and “Lord of Hosts” were by them considered equivalent. Re 1:8n. is his name. +*Ex 6:3n. Ex 15:3rp. +Ps 68:4. +*Ps 83:18.

Now that is a lot of compressed material on one verse. But if you realized the peril of the souls in your circle of influence, you would take the time to carefully study these cross references and learn this answer to the false doctrine pedaled by the Watchtower Society.

It is very important to learn how to dig deeper into your Bible. God has placed all the answers there. One way I have found to get motivated to learn more about what the Bible teaches is to be forced to find the answers to mistaken doctrines taught by false cults like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and false doctrinal systems taught by what otherwise seem to be orthodox, Bible believing Christians. Each time I engage people or books that present a different view of what I have so far learned that the Bible teaches, it forces me to dig deeper, and it expands my knowledge and understanding of much Scripture I had not noticed before. Sometimes I am forced to change my opinion because I get a better understanding of the Bible subject or doctrine involved. Usually I learn what the underlying error is behind a false system of theology. The Bible is a self-interpreting, self-correcting Book. If you happen to fall into error, continued serious study of the Bible will point the way out of the error, because no system of false doctrine can stand the full light of all the testimony of Scripture.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on pages 1514-1515 for Revelation 19:6.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1532 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Revelation 19:6.

(3) Consult the cross references given in the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 186 of the NT for Revelation 19:6.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those three resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

Revelation 19:6. voice of a great multitude. ver. Re 19:1. Re 5:11. *Re 7:9. Ps 95:1. 96:7. 98:4. 149:2, 6. Da 10:6. He 12:22, 23. and as the voice of many waters. +Re 1:15. *Re 14:2. %Re 17:1. Ezk 1:24. 3:12. *Ezk 43:2. +*Jn 3:23. and as the voice of mighty thunderings. +Re 4:5. +Re 6:1. 8:5. 10:3, 4. 11:19. Ex 20:18. Jb 40:9. Ps 18:13. 29:3-9. 77:18. Alleluia. ver. Re 19:1. Ps 104:35. for. *Re 11:15-18. 12:10. 21:22. Ps 47:2, 7. 93:1. 97:1, 12. 99:1. Is 52:7. +*Mt 6:13. the Lord God. +Re 4:8. Ps 8:1. Ac 21:20. omnipotent. or, the omnipotent; “Almighty” in ver. Re 19:15 (CB). T#218. +*Re 1:8n. 4:8. 11:17. 15:3. 16:7, 14. 19:15. 21:22. Ge 1:1. 17:1. 18:14, +**Ge 18:25n. Ex 15:7. Dt 3:24. 32:39. 1 S 14:6. 1 Ch 16:25. *1 Ch 29:11. 2 Ch 20:6. Jb 9:12. 40:2, 9. +*Jb 42:2. *Ps 33:9. 68:34. 135:6. Is 26:4. +*Is 40:12. 43:13. *Je 32:17-19, 27. Ezk 10:5. Da 3:17. 4:35. Am 4:13n, LXX. Am 5:8. +*Zc 12:1n. *Mt 19:26. +*Mt 28:19. Mk 10:27. Lk 1:37. *Lk 18:27. Ac 26:8. Ro 1:20. +Ro 9:18 (T#234). +*Ro 15:19. +1 Cor 1:24 (T#76-5). +2 Cor 9:8 (T#588). Ep 1:19. *Ep 3:20. Col 1:16, 17. +He 11:3 (T#259). 1 P 1:5. reigneth. Literally, “reigned”: hence reigneth once for all (JFB). First aorist active of basileuō. Probably ingressive prophetic aorist, “God became king” in fulness of power on earth with the fall of the world power (Robertson). *Re 11:15, 17. 1 Ch 16:31. Ps 47:8. +Ps 93:1. 96:10. 97:1. 99:1. 146:10. +*Is 24:23. 52:7. +*Ob 21. **Zc 14:9. +*Mt 6:10. Lk 11:2.

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