“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6). Gibbor is the Hebrew word in this verse that gets translated into “mighty” It is the same word that gets used to describe Gideon in Judges 6:12, “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” Gideon lived in a time when the children of Israel had turned their backs on God and had been subjugated by the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites and every other tribe in the region that had a grudge against Israel (which was basically all of them) had surrounded Israel with a host so large that they were described as grasshoppers and they didn't bother counting them that were so numerous. Against this vast horde, Gideon gathered a little over 32,000 men to take with him into battle. Even with more than 30,000 soldiers, the Israelites were vastly outnumbered. Still, it's not unheard of for smaller armies to defeat larger ones. The Lord tells Gideon that this isn't going to work. “And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” (Judges 7:2). The Lord tells Gideon to give any who are fearful and afraid the option to leave. More than two out of every three took him up on his offer. This was still too many for the Lord. They end up sending home ninety nine out of every hundred of the men who had originally come to fight. Just three hundred go up to fight against a force as numerous as the sands of the sea. And when they emerge victorious, it is not because they had any hope in their own abilities but because they relied on the Lord who was mighty. Gideon was a mighty man of valor because when he faced impossible odds, he did not run away but trusted in Almighty God. God allows us to be placed in impossible situations so that we know without any doubt that it is His might, and not our own, that will save us. David did not accept the armor and weapons of Saul in his fight with Goliath because he knew that winning did not depend on David's strength or skill or the quality of his armor or weapons. The whole point of the Atonement is that none of us can be saved without the might and the mercy of our Savior. If we wasted and wore out our whole lives in the service of God, we still would need the help of our Savior. I am so grateful to have a mighty God of impossible miracles and grateful most of all for the most impossible miracle of all when God gave His only Son to save all of us and Christ laid down His life so that we all could live again.
