Evans, Our God is Awesome: God omniscience

The Omniscience

of God

Wednesday 9 February 2011

"God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven and hell."

A.W. Tozer


Omniscience refers to God’s all knowingness

Evans defines it: “God’s omniscience refers to his perfect knowledge of all things both actual and potential”

So this means there is nothing at all that God doesn’t know - he depends on no one outside himself for knowledge.


We rely on other peoples knowledge all the time - at a chemist, on a plane, in a school class, at the doctors, and even when cheating in exams


God’s omniscience is intuitive

intuitive |inˈt(y)oōitiv|

•using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning

•instinctive


Isaiah tells us something about God’s perfect knowledge - 40:13-14

Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor?

Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,and who taught him the right way?

Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?


Evans says this is like asking, “Where did God go to school?” - God does not need to learn, study, read etc.

For us learning shows us how much more we need to learn - how much more there is to know

Matt 10:30 - even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

God does not need to count them - it is intuitive to him

After Hannah has her baby she prays, 1 Sam 2:3 - for the LORD is a God who knows


God knows immediately and simultaneously - he doesn’t look back to the past to remember or forward to the future to see what will happen,

“All that is known, will be known, could be known, or has been forgotten, God knows intuitively and eternally” Evans

Therefore there is nothing God does not know about you - EVERY THING!

And, all the information in the world - ever - he knows all ready - Ps 147:5

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.


The United States Library of Congress in Washington D.C. ranks as the largest library in the world. It holds over 118 million items which require more than 500 miles of shelving.


2. God’s omniscience is comprehensive

Hebrews 4:13

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.


2. A.no detail overlooked

God knows every thought and feeling you have, he knows fully your personality - he knows everything about you.

In fact he knows everything - and knows it fully (comprehensively)

Proverbs 15:3 -The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

Psalm 50:11 - I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.


2. A.no detail overlooked

God knows every thought and feeling you have, he knows fully your personality - he knows everything about you.

In fact he knows everything - and knows it fully (comprehensively)

Proverbs 15:3 -The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

Psalm 50:11 - I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.

The smallest animal in the world, which is also the smallest insect in the world (so far) is the Megaphragma caribea otherwise known as a fairyfly. It is a parasitic wasp that lives on the island of Guadalope and feeds off the eggs of other insects


Psalm 147:4 - He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.

Psalm 90:8 - You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Even if we try to pretend God doesn’t see - Psalm 70:11 They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”

He does, about everyone of us!

E.g. Jer 1:5, Gal 1:15-16


2. B.what could have been

God knows what could have happened - look at Matt 11:21-24

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”


Capernaum is mentioned 16 times in the New Testament. It served as Jesus’ "headquarters" during his public ministry. Several disciples were from Capernaum and many miracles were performed here. It was a fishing village with a tollbooth and a synagogue.


http://www.holylandphotos.org/go.asp?img=INSGCP02&SiteID=4

http://www.holylandphotos.org/go.asp?img=INSGCP02&SiteID=4

The amazing thing is that this did not happen - but because God’s omniscience is so great that he knows what would have happened.

He knows the potential outcomes of history as well as the actual ones!

This should be of great encouragement to all of us - God could have changed situations and circumstances about our lives yet he wanted us here, now, doing what we are doing - even if it is painful at times


IF you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:


2. C.Comprehensive

Knowledge and Worship

As people worship God he knows every word they will use, each syllable, each note which will be sung - and he loves to hear our praise and prayers - he inhabits the praises of his people

Psalm 22:3 (ESV)

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.


3. God’s omniscience is personal

Psalm 139:1,2

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.


3.a. God knows usSo God is aware of the smallest actions of our lives - sitting down on something uncomfortable, aching joints as we get up etc.

God is also aware of the thoughts we have Ezek 11:5

Then the Spirit of the LORD came on me, and he told me to say: “This is what the LORD says: That is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind.


Ps 139:3-5 - You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

He knows where we are and where we are going, he knows what we will say - there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.


3.b. God understands us

Jesus said of Nathaniel - John 1:47 -“Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

God never misunderstands your motives - he never gets you wrong.

This is a comfort when people around you think wrongly of you.

Job 23:10 - But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.


Psalm 56:8 - You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?People might not understand but God does, he sees every heartbreak and stores up your tears!


3.c. God sees through usAre you a hypocrite - do you say one thing and do another?

Jesus saw this with the Pharisees and Sadducees, Matt 23:27 - “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

The law said not to touch tombs - so they made them obvious and easy to avoid


You might look ok on the outside - God is looking inside you - he desires purity to flow from your heart, mouth and life

God will never be fooled or deceived by your lies


God’s omniscience serves his eternal purposes - there is nothing hit and miss about it.

4. God’s Omniscience is Purposeful


4.a. In Relation to SalvationEph 1:4-6

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.


Acts 2:23 - of Jesus - This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

This all is in the wisdom of God, which Evans defines as:

The interworking of God’s attributes to accomplish his will and achieve his purposes


So what does this mean in relation to election, predestination and foreknowledge, particularly as they relate to our salvation?

Hyper Calvinistic view says, “God has already determined all that will happen and therefore we have no choice in it...in effect we are robots”


The Arminian view has, according to Evans, God sitting in heaven biting his fingernails, he has a plan but is never quite sure what we will do. In this way God’s omniscience is watered down

He is still sovereign and omnipotent, but omniscience takes a hit here.


So how do we handle the fact that God knows everything and yet we are still free to make moral choices?



God knows if you decide to do something - and then change your mind and do it later, or not at all.




Consider it this way;




Consider it this way;

1. God desires all men to be saved - 1 Tim 2:4, 2 Pet 3:9


2. God provided for his desire through Jesus - Heb 2:9, Jn 3:16


2. God provided for his desire through Jesus - Heb 2:9, Jn 3:16

3. God elected some to be saved - Eph 1:4 - meaning some are passed by (Calvin says some are actively decreed lost to condemnation)


4. So how does God desire all to be saved whilst actively electing only some? How can the lost be responsible if they were not elected in the first place? How is it fair to judge people who are not elected in the first place?


4. So how does God desire all to be saved whilst actively electing only some? How can the lost be responsible if they were not elected in the first place? How is it fair to judge people who are not elected in the first place?

No one has any definitive answer for this!


What we do know is that God’s knowledge and purposes intersect with human choice resulting in us having choices to make, yet these choices still fulfill God’s plan and purposes, his goal.


What we do know is that God’s knowledge and purposes intersect with human choice resulting in us having choices to make, yet these choices still fulfill God’s plan and purposes, his goal.

We also know that the bible is clear that people who die away from Jesus go to eternal destruction, and that those who know Jesus only do so through the grace of God.


Evans sums the whole thing up like this:


Evans sums the whole thing up like this:

“So God has made provision for all but He’s elected some, leaving us with a choice but guaranteeing his plan. If the wisdom of the omnipotent God leaves you shaking your head in wonder and amazement, that’s all right. If you or I ever figure out God, we’re in trouble!”


4.b. In Relation to Daily LivingIn Luke 22 we see Jesus speaking to Simon,

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”


God knew all about the situations - and defeats - that would face Simon, and that face us each day. But here’s the good news:

Hebrews 7:25 - Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Simon was restored - John21 - yet we should not underestimate the power of the prayer of jesus (then and now) in saving him (and us)


God knew all about the situations - and defeats - that would face Simon, and that face us each day. But here’s the good news:

Hebrews 7:25 - Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Simon was restored - John21 - yet we should not underestimate the power of the prayer of jesus (then and now) in saving him (and us)

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own

love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died

for us.


Running to GodGod loves us even if, when, we fail:

Jer 31:34

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

We have to choose - do we run from or to God’s omniscience.


Ps 139:16

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

God’s knowledge might seem a little intimidating, but you know from the other attributes that he always uses it in love to work out all things for good.


Responding to God’s Omniscience

1. If you have active sin in your life run to God, confess and repent - he knows about it already.

2. Thank God for his complete knowledge and understanding of you - more then you will ever know or understand yourself

3. Allow God to deal with difficult situations from the past, or present. Release things into his knowledge, rest in him and forgive people.


Read Psalm 139:1-18

Look in the mirror - God chose to create you, nothing about you is an accident or afterthought.


Evans, Our God is Awesome: God omniscience

Spiritual

Transcript of Evans, Our God is Awesome: God omniscience