The Attributes of God: Exploring in Incomprehensible Glories of God Session 7 The Omniscience of God

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1 The Attributes of God: Exploring in Incomprehensible Glories of God Session 7 The Omniscience of God Introduction: Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occured to God? God never learns anything because He knows all things. God never has a moment of enlightenment. He never has a eureka experience. He is never surprised or caught off guard. You ll never hear God say, Well, I didn t see that coming. Defining Omniscience: To declare God omniscient is to declare that God possesses all knowledge and has no need to learn. Not only does God not learn, He cannot learn for there is no knowledge God does not already possess to include past, present and future. God called Himself I AM! but He can also be accurately called, I KNOW! In Hanna s song of praise she declares The Lord is the God who knows. 1 Samuel 2:3. Profound Quotes: God is omniscient. He knows everything: everything possible, everything actual; all events, all creatures, of the past, the present and the future. He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth and in hell. A.W. Pink. God knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn. God knows all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feelings, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth

2 2 Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well. He never discovers anything. He is never surprised, never amazed. He never wonders about anything, nor does He seek information or ask questions (that He does not already know the answer). God is self-existent and self-contained and knows what no creature can ever know--- Himself, perfectly. Only the infinite can know the infinite. A.W. Tozer I. Exploring God s Omniscience a. The exhaustive knowledge of God. i. God knows everything to the smallest detail. ii. Psalm 147:4 (ESV) He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. iii. Matthew 10:29-30, God knows the number of hairs on your head as well as how many birds die each day. iv. Job 38:39-41, God knows what every bird and every lion ate today. v. Job 39:1, God knows the birthday of every goat and deer. vi. Nothing happens that God does not fully know. Proverbs 15:3 (ESV) The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. b. God has perfect knowledge. i. God is never mistaken in his knowledge. ii. God never misunderstands. iii. Job 37:16 (ESV) Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge. iv. Psalm 147:5 (NASB) Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite. v. 1 John 1:5 (ESV) This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Light is a metaphor for knowledge and darkness is a metaphor for ignorance. In God there is only light and no ignorance. c. God has eternal knowledge. i. God has always known. There was never a time when God did not know all that can be known past, present and future. ii. God does not progress in His knowledge. iii. Before speaking existence into existence, God knew all that there was to be known. end from the beginning Isaiah 46:10 iv. God never learns and He never forgets. He never adds to His knowledge or subtracts from His knowledge.

3 3 v. God is never informed, counseled or brought up to speed. 1. Isaiah 40:13-14 (ESV) Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 2. Romans 11:34 (ESV) For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? d. God s knowledge is penetrating. i. Psalm 139:1-6 (ESV) O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. ii. No one wants to be known this well. You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can t fool God. John 2:24-25 says that Jesus didn t reveal Himself to some people because He knew what was in them. No one had to give him a briefing; He knew what was in a man and that determined His self-revelation. iii. Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV) I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. iv. 1 Samuel 16:7b (ESV) For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. v. Revelation 2:23 (ESV) And I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. (The works that He is talking about in not outward behavior, but inward mindsets and motives.) vi. Peter s appeal to Jesus omniscience: John 21:17 (ESV) He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? and he said to him, Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.

4 4 II. III. The Application of God s Omniscience: Wisdom a. Romans 11:33 (ESV) Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! b. Romans 16:27 (ESV) To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. c. The wisdom of God is the application of His omniscience. All-knowing nature of God is incredible, but it is the application of that knowledge through wisdom that makes it glorious. Wisdom is the glorious application of God s knowledge that results in our good. d. Wisdom is the practical application of intellectual knowledge that brings about the highest good. e. God s wisdom is manifest most clearly in two ways: i. Creation ii. Salvation The impact of God s omniscience. a. God s omniscience leads to my cleansing through the confession of what He already knows. b. God s omniscience nullifies the work of the accuser, frees me to live in the joy of total acceptance. God chose us and called us unto Himself in the full light of everything we have ever done or will ever do. i. The fact is that in the cross God demonstrates the deepest law of acceptance. For to be convinced that I have been accepted, I must be convinced that I have been accepted at my worst. This is the greatest gift an intimate relationship can offer---to know that we have been accepted and forgiven in the full knowledge of who we are, an even greater knowledge than we have about ourselves. This is what the cross offers. Rebecca Pippert ii. My sins and failures may surprise me and cause me to loath myself, but God s never surprised and knows every sin I have and will commit and yet has loved me, chosen me and gifted me with acceptance and eternal life anyway. iii. Grace is God s acceptance of me, while faith is my acceptance of God s acceptance. Adrian Rogers c. Nothing happens that God does not know about in advance and in love permitted with the intent of good that we will one day praise Him for. i. C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock 1. The ancient man approached God as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the Dock. He is quite a

5 5 kindly judge: If God should have reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God s acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the Dock. ii. Job: God in the Dock/Job in the Dock 1. Job attempted to place God in the dock and pilfered Him with question after question demanding an answer. 2. God turned the tables, Job What Job learned a. Don t expect God to always give you answers even though He has them. b. We can live joyful lives without answers if we learn to trust the one who has them and loves us. i. At the beginning Job thought he had to know, but at the end he said in Job 42:1-6 (ESV) Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. c. We are called to live not knowing all the answers trusting the God who does.

6 6 Conclusion: Lord, it belongs not to my care Whether I die or live; To love and serve Thee is my share, And this Thy grace must give. If life be long, I will be glad, That I may long obey; If short, yet why should I be sad To welcome endless day? Christ leads me through no darker rooms Than He went through before; He that into God s Kingdom comes Must enter by this door. Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet Thy blessed face to see; For, if Thy work on earth be sweet, What will Thy glory be? My knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim; But tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with Him. Richard Baxter clung to the fact that Christ knows all and that is sufficient knowledge for this life.