God of all gods

Question:

Dear Apologist,

As we know in general information, that a God is a being who ( or which ) has attributes like :

*Almighty / Omnipotence.
*Eternal.
*Immense / Omnipresent / Immeasureable.
*Incomprehensible.
*Infinite in intellect and will / Omniscience.
*Infinite in every perfection.
*Really and essentially distinct from the world.
*Infinitely blessed in Himself and through Himself.
*Inexpressibly above all things that can exist and be thought of besides Him.

1) Well, my questions as a teenager ;) If & once again If, there are another Gods ( just imagine that there are countless amount or infinite amount of Gods & Goddess ), where is the position of Jesus exactly ? Because i heard in the scripture that :

*Exodus 18:11 =Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods.
*Deuteronomy 10:17 =For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords.
*Psalm 135:5 =Our Lord is above all gods.

2) Is it correct that Jesus ( the word Itself ) is God of all gods ( gods & goddess ) ?
3) is HE beyond than all gods ?
4) Can Jesus create things that way more / beyond than our imaginations or prayer ? ( I imagine a trillions of universes, can Jesus make itu true ? ) Because sometimes I just feel that Jesus is weak

Thank you for the answer. Jesus Bless you, Thank you dear apologist

Rudi

Answer:

Dear Rudi,

1. If there are other gods, where is the position of Jesus?

First and foremost, there are no gods other than our One, Trinitarian God. Thus Jesus the second Person of the Trinity, takes equal position and in union with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, to be the Supreme Being and Principal Cause of all the universe and all His creation.

Ex 18:11, Deut 10:17 and Psalm 135:5 say: God of gods, or the Lord is greater or above all gods. Here, Scripture is not saying that there are many gods, but saying that men, out of their own wisdom, create their own gods. For all these man-made gods, Scripture says that God is above all of them.

We shall keep in mind that God forbids His people to have other gods besides Him. In the Old Testament, what it meant is any graven image (of bulls and any figures which refers to gods and goddes of the pagans such as Baal, Asytoret, Astarte, etc), to which they offered sacrifices and homage (cf. Is 42:17; 44:9-17, and many other verses alike). The worship of these gods is called idolatry, and God strongly detests such act; since it shows no respect to God who alone is the true God.

In Ex 20:3-6, God says:

“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Thus idolatry, which means having other gods besides God Himself, is against God’s first commandment, that is to love God with all our mind, soul and strength (cf. Mrk 12:30, Mat 22:37, Lk 10:27). Thus idolatry is not limited in the making of any graven images and in worshipping them, but it can manifest in many different ways. St. Paul say, “Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Eph 5:5). For those who are impure/ commit fornication put sexual pleasure as their god, and those who are covetous put money or riches as their god, instead of the One, True God.

If you are interested in reading more on Idolatry, click here. The article is written in bahasa Indonesia, hopefully you could still grab the meaning.

2&3) Is it correct that Jesus is God of all gods? And that He is beyond all of them?

Of course, it is true. Why? Because, in fact, there is no other gods other than our God. St. Paul says,

“… we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one. For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth–as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”–yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” (1 Cor 8:4-6)

4) Can Jesus create things beyond our imaginations or prayers?

Scripture tells us that through Jesus, the Word of God, all things are created, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (Jn 1:1-3).

Thus, Jesus in union with the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit created all things.  ‘All things’ here includes heaven and earth, the things we have known in our universe, and also the things we have not known. But, there will be the time when we will know all things as they are, when God reveals that to us through the Holy Spirit, as it is said, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him. God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God…” (1 Cor 2:9-10). We can reach this perfect knowledge of God and all His creation, if we see Him in heaven, as told by St. John, “it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is.” (1 Jn 3:2)

Further, you said, “I just feel that Jesus is weak“. Perhaps people say this if they see Jesus only in His humanity; and if they look at Him only in the eyes of human thinking. Perhaps this is the reason why many Jewish people are still waiting for their Messiah, because they hope for the messiah king, who will make them a great nation like in the OT; because they could not accept the Messiah who died on the cross. So to them, Jesus is weak and lowly, yet for we who believe in God and His revelation, Jesus Christ is our strength and our life; because through His sacrifice on the cross He opens the way for us to eternal life. St. Paul tells us:

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption ….” (1 Cor 1:22-30)

Let us see Christ in the eyes of faith, based on what God Himself has revealed to us: Jesus Christ is the Son of God who chose to die for us on the cross so that we may have eternal life in Him.

Peace in Christ Jesus,
Ingrid Listiati- katolisitas.org