The Wisdom of God

Definition.

H. B. Smith defines the divine wisdom as “that attribute of God whereby He produces the best possible results with the best possible means.” We may be a little more specific and call it that perfection of God whereby He applies His knowledge to the attainment of His ends in a way which glorifies Him most. It implies a final end to which all secondary ends are subordinate; and according to Scripture this final end is the glory of God, Rom. 11:33; 14:7, 8; Eph. 1:11, 12; Col. 1:16.

L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 69.

God is Wise of necessity. Man has wisdom, God is wisdom. He cannot be or act other than the all-wise God.

The wisdom of God is original. He does not derive it from another. Like himself he is wise of himself.

God’s wisdom is perfect. It does not lack. It does not wax and wane like in us. There is never a point in time were he might not choose the best and most fitting means for his own glory, no blunders.

His wisdom extends to all of His creation. He is everywhere present in power, knowledge, and in wisdom.

His wisdom is from eternity to eternity. Even to eternity he will always know and perform the best way to glorify himself in us.

Like Himself, his wisdom cannot be comprehended. Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”

This is displayed in how differently we would do things. We would have done early church much different than God did wouldn’t we. All of the apostles would have lived to a hundred telling their grand kids and great grand kids about Jesus. We would have skipped over the martyrdom phase… God’s ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts. We need to embrace this. There are hard things in history that we won’t really grasp until glory. Many things that we can’t give a full account for other than the fact that that is my all wise God, and he is working all things for good to those who love him. To the glory of his own self.

He is infallibly wise.

All of the schemes of the kingdoms of this world and all of the plots of the devils and powers of the air are nothing. They will fail and be turned on their own head. Psalm 2. The Lord sits in heaven and laughs. Because his wise counsel will thwart all of their wicked schemes against God and against Christ and his church.

Even martyrs blood makes the church grow. Persecution often purges the church of nominal believers and strengthens God’s true saints. God’s wisdom is greater than all of the plots of his and our enemies. And we do well to grab hold of this by faith.

Do we believe this as we should?

We don’t believe this as we should. What if the next presidential candidate is not the one you would hope for, but in the end it’s going to be for your benefit, the churches benefit, and the glory of God’s mercy, grace, wisdom, etc. Are we resolved to take that wise providence as it is, to pray for that president as we are commanded?

We have an inclination to think we know better than God.

The hard thing for a lot of us to grasp is the fact that God never asked my permission to do that. Why didn’t he seek my counsel about this point in history….. Why did you leave all of those unreached people groups to parish in their sin without the gospel. Or why did you deal with Pharoah the way you did? What does the LORD say? I just wanted to see if Pharoah would make good use of his abilities……….No, he says “for this purpose I raised you up, so that I might make my power known through you in all the earth. So that Rahab might be saved! We don’t think light that. We don’t deal like that!

We really believe we are wiser than God. Sometimes we’ll be stuck hours on end about some wise( difficult ) providence that has come our way. And we’ll grumble and complain about it. And we’ll do it in sophisticated ways. Rather than outright wine and complain like our children do, we’ll find a way to express our discontentment in a way that sounds sooo much better than my child or the gas station clerk.

And it’s hard. It’s hard to be content with God’s wise providence in all things. It’s impossible without the Holy Spirit in us. Impossible without being a new creature. You find contentment by calling to mind what you deserve(hell), and what you are now( an adopted child). That in the wisdom of God, you were born in such and such a place to such and such parents, and that he brought you to repentance and faith at this time, and through these means. And all the while he left others to parish along the way. But he has made you to be his own possession in Christ. And he’s made himself to be possessed by you. God, the creator of the heavens and the earth is now your God, and you are his adopted child. And to embrace that by faith, needs to be enough for us, when his providence and wisdom in certain matters elude our grasp. That is not to say we don’t look and search with lawful and good means. But attending to this subject with; prudence, reverence, adoration. When Paul comes to terms with the reality that God has set him apart. That Paul has been brought into God’s kingdom and passed over so many of his kinsmen, what does Paul say? That I might be cut off in place of them. And then O, O the depth, I can’t give full expression to God’s wisdom in these matters, it eludes my mental grasp, and my ability to speak it.

Job 38. God is essentially sarcastically asking Job, “Where were we, Job, when we created the world and all that’s in it? Tell me?

Psalm 104 .

Rom 11:33.

1 Tim 1:17 .

Job 11:6–9 “That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves. “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.”

What is God’s first consideration in his all-wise ordering of all things?

His glory. That is first. We are secondary beneficiaries for lack of better term. But it is for his glory. God is a God h who is about fetching glory for himself. We don’t have any glory to be about, other than the glory that is ours by participation in Christ. And that’s to the glory of God.

Why did God create you and all things?

Where do we see God’s wisdom on display?

1)Creation and Providence

He has created all things. From angels to the smallest insects. From the billions of galaxies, stars, and planets, to the dust and dirt which we and all the beasts of the earth trample on. The sun and moon, the sea and all it contains. Man made in his own image. All these he has created and all with a purpose. All have their own peculiar mark of being God’s creatures. Each having it’s own intricacies. There is order and rank amongst them. Of greater and lesser importance. Think of the way we enjoy the creation. Sight, sound, taste. These great and various aspects of creation that all could have been so bland. Yet abundantly the Lord has provided for us in his creation things to enjoy. Culminating in man as the highest of God’s creatures being made in the image of God and standing in covenant relation to God. Unlike other creatures, God breaths the breath of life into man signifying his great dignity, and how much care and concern God has for man his image above the rest of creation. Everything in his wisdom, is created for man.

Providence.

Even more brilliant is the way God’s wisdom is displayed in his providence. In the vastness of God’s creation. In the several different realms in which his creatures exist. He is ordering and governing them all so that they will fall out exactly how his decree intended.

Just think of outer space. What a magnificant display of Gods wisdom. It stands in such great harmony. Everything sings together the glory of God’s infinite wisdom and order and beauty. Why doesn’t it all just fall down or collide and blow up. Why doesn’t the sun destry everything by it’s scorching heat? Because God has placed everything were he designed it, and orders and directs it as such. Have you every heard a brilliant peace of music. Everyone plays when and how they are supposed to and the result is beauty. People are moved to tears at such performances. That is what we should see when we look to the heavens except in an infinitely more glorious and skillful way. You know the ancients used to look at space as living and vast and mysterious. They saw the earth as the tiny little planet that it is, and the vast expanse of the universe as the world.

We need to recover that way of thinking.

We tend to see space as purely a means of scientific observation and nothing more. Lets study the solar system and learn all of these facts about their size and proximity to the earth and sun and so on. Lets do all that, but lets adore and worship God as we do. Let us magnify his wisdom and power and beauty as we do. Not that we might worship the creation, but that we might more learn how amazing it is that God cares for us tiny insignificant little humans on this tiny little earth. What is man so frail and week that you should remember him. Is the Biblical thought as the heavens are considered.

App.

1)the wisdom of God is apparent foolishness to the unbelieving. 1 Cor 2.

1)Know that any time the works of God are mentioned, wisdom is to be considered and that is reason for praise and adoration.

2)God’s providence is wise. If who you want to win the upcoming election doesn’t win, are you one who is content with the wisdom of God in who he appoints presedent? In persecution, in suffering, in trials, our God only works in wisdom. Do we know it’s for our good?

3)Pursue wisdom.

What are the different types of wisdom.

How do we get wisdom? James 1. Dan 2:12.

Deny carnal wisdom.

4) Rejoice at God’s wisdom in salvation.

As we consider God’s wisdom in the salvation of sinners, what two attributes appear to be in conflict in recovering the sinner from ruin?

1)Mercy

What does mercy say?

Listten to William Bates:

Heaven itself seemed to be divided. Mercy inclined to save, but justice interposed for satisfaction. Mercy regarded man with respect to his misery, and the pleas of it are, Shall the Almighty build to ruin? Shall the most excellent creature in the lower world perish, the fault not being solely his? Shall the enemy triumph for ever, and raise his trophies from the works of the Most High? Shall the reasonable creature lose the fruition of God, and God the subjection and service of the creature, and all mankind be made in vain?

Glorify your mercy Lord!

But then justice enters in and cries out:

The wages of sin is death. Man has offended the infinite God, and shall he go unpunished. He must render what is due. And the holiness, majesty, the truthfulness of God all add to the necessity of the just sentence to be pronounced. “God is of purer eyes to behold iniquity”. “For in the day you eat of it, you will surely die”.

The purity of God, cannot mix with the pollution of sinful man. God cannot dwell with man in this state. These contrary things cannot go together.

How will these conflicting attributes go together? Who does God need to overcome in this situation?(I say this from our perspective)

God overcomes God, by sending God, in the power of God, to appease God, and bring fallen image bearers back to God. All to the glory of God alone!

Don’t be surprised that the vast majority of the world does not believe this. This is foolishness to the world. 1 Cor 1:20-25.

5) Jesus is the wisdom of God. And has become such for you and me.

It is only in Christ that the Wisdom of God is revealed to anyone. This is what we have been discovering in John. The Fathers mind and wisdom concerning the salvation of His people in Christ is being made known. It lay in darkness and hidden in the OT, but now in Christ, it is being revealed and unfolded.

Listen to John Owen:

"It is in Christ alone that we can discern anything of it; for him has the Father chosen and sealed to represent it unto us. All the treasures of this wisdom are hid, laid up, and laid out in him.

Our Response.

Psalm 139:14 “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”