Who Is God? Part 7: God the Creator - Omniscient

Isaiah 41:21–23 NASB95

“Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

1. God Knows All Things (Omniscient)

God is a God of Knowledge (1 Sam 2:3; Ps 147:5; 1 Jn 3:20; Rom 11:33)

Omni = “all”; scientia = Lat. for “knowledge”

1 Samuel 2:3 “Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the Lord is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed.”

Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”

1 John 3:20b “. . . for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”

Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

God Knows Everything about the Universe

Psalm 147:4 “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.”

Matthew 10:29–30 “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

God Knows Human Hearts (Thoughts, Intentions, Etc.)

Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

Psalm 139:1–6 “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

When we say God is omniscient, we are saying he knows everything. This includes even more than just the past, present, and future.

God knows all possibilities and even what might be if you were to have chosen differently.

Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

What This Means for Us

We can take comfort in the fact that God knows us.

We are not foreign to God (although he may be foreign to us at times). He knows us perfectly—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

He sees you when you’re sleeping; he knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good so be thankful for the Lord’s sake....or something like that.

James Boice, theologian and pastors, commenting on God’s omniscience, once said when referring to Ps 139:

For an unsaved person this powerful, pervasive knowledge seems intrusive and frightening, and with good reason. God is the end-time judge with whom we must reckon. Strikingly, the response of the psalmist is not fear. He is not trembling when he thinks of God’s omniscience. On the contrary, he shelters himself in God’s knowledge and marvels at it. For the psalmist, God’s knowledge is not a threat; it is a refuge.

James Montgomery Boice

As believers, we know that God’s all-encompassing knowledge of us and the world is a comfort. God knows us. God knows me.

He knows my needs, my wants and desires. And, yes, he knows my sins and my heart.

We can take comfort even in God’s knowledge of our sins because we know that God is also love. This is what the unbeliever seems to miss and why he is frightened by God’s omniscience. He does not know who God really is. God is a God of power, majesty, glory, holiness, and especially love and goodness.

The unbeliever often gets caught up in the notion that God is out to get him. No wonder why God’s knowledge of his heart can be so terrifying! He sees God as only a judge, a punisher, a God of retribution. He forgets or does not understand the self-denying God who became flesh in the man Jesus to show his love and reconcile him to himself by dying for his sins.

God does not know just each one of us perfectly, he knows the future perfectly. God knowledge includes knowing what we will do and what the world will be like in the future.

2. God Knows the Future (Foreknowledge)

“Fore” = before; “knowledge” = to know => to know beforehand

God Declares What is to Come (Isa 41:21-23)

Isaiah 41:21–23 NASB95

“Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

John Walton, OT commentary:

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 42:1-25: The Servant of the Lord Who Will Bring Judgment

The gods of the ancient Near East were not necessarily able to predict the future. The future was in the hands of Fate, an impersonal force that controlled the destiny of things. Enki, the god of wisdom, wore a sorcerer’s hat, showing that he attempted to control and predict fate, much like a human sorcerer. Fate was written on tablets, and those who controlled the tablets controlled the destiny of the universe. If they were in the wrong hands, there was chaos in the world. In one myth a bird deity (Anzu) stole the tablets of fate, which caused quite a stir within the divine community until he was killed. At any rate it was not in the god’s nature to predict the future, but rather it was a concept they desired to control.

God can declare what is to come because he knows what is to come:

God Knows What is to Come (Rom 8:29; 1 Pet 1:1-2; Acts 2:23)

Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”

1 Peter 1:1–2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

Acts 2:23 “This Man [Jesus], delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

What This Means for Us

Because God knows the future, he can help us and answer our prayers.

Imagine what prayer would be like if God did not know the future.

“Dear Lord . . .”

God’s response, “Well, I will try to work this out, but I do not know what other people will choose to do and what the world will be like in the future. The best I can do is try my best.”

If God does not know what people will freely choose in the future and what the world will be like, it would be impossible for him to orchestrate events and results of people’s free will choices to answer your prayers.

We can think of it kind of like an orchestra. Imagine that there are numerous musicians playing a variety of instruments. Each musician has chosen to play in his own key and his own notes. Because God knows what each musician will freely play, he can organize the right musicians to create a piece of music he wants played. If God did not know what each musician would choose to play, then it would be impossible for him to bring together the right ones to create a piece of music.

The only alternative would be for God to make people and the world do what he wants all the time, making us puppets. But we are not puppets. If we were, then we would be unable to love God and others bc to love means to choose to care for others.

Because God knows the future, we do not have to worry about the future.

300 Illustrations for Preachers The Big Business of Anxiety

Journalist Eric Sevareid (1912–1992) said, “The biggest business in America is not steel, automobiles, or television. It is the manufacture, refinement, and distribution of anxiety.”

If you doubt this to be true, then take a look at the talking heads of today and the headlines. Most everything is apocalyptic:

“Your Amazon Account Could Be Compromised Right Now”

“Millions of Americans in their 20s are Jobless”

“16-year-old Killed in Plot Set up by Girlfriend”

“Abrupt Antarctic climate shifts could lead to ‘catastrophic consequences for generations,’ experts warn”

“Jake Scott is fighting the pandemic that followed Covid, and it’s only getting worse”

“California resident tests positive for plague”

“Southwest Airlines to end Open Seating”

What do you think worry is? Let me tell you what worry is. It is a frustrated aspiration to omniscience. It is saying exactly what James says we cannot say, and that is … Here’s what worry is.

Timothy Keller

Philippians 4:6–7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

We can put our trust in God

Andy Griffith episode when Barney receives a chain letter.

We do not put trust in a rabbit’s foot, tarot card readings, palm readings, horoscopes, the stars, the weather, or any superstitious notions.

These things have no power. Superstition and putting any kind of trust or hope in something other than God is idolatry. It is just like the OT Israelites who put trust in other gods to give them good luck and have good outcomes.

As Christians, we place our trust in the Lord for our future.

Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”

Psalm 9:10 “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.”

Conclusion

Have you put your trust in the Lord?

Believers and unbelievers must ask themselves this question.