Attributes of God (3)
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This past Monday night, at an Academy event, I shared this verse with the parents who attended...
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
I then asked the parents...
What is the “key of knowledge?”
I then shared...
That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The “key of knowledge” is the knowledge of Christ!
Some of the world’s greatest scientist, who have made some of the greatest discoveries, have been individuals who knew God!
Sir Isaac Newton, who discovered the law of gravity, said...
“The true God is living, intelligent, and powerful; from the other perfections, that he is supreme, or supremely perfect. He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, he endures from eternity to eternity; and he is present from infinity to infinity; he rules all things, and he knows all things that happen or can happen.”
While we may never make great discoveries such as Sir Isaac Newton, we should strive to know the God we serve!
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
So, let’s continue our look at the natural attributes of God; those characteristics of God which are unique to Him and which cannot be the characteristics of man either now or in the future.
God is omniscient.
God is omniscient.
Omniscience means that God is all-knowing.
Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:
Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?
Omniscience means that God knows everything, things actual and possible, effortlessly and equally well.
A.W. Tozer, in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, said...
Ryrie’s Basic Theology I. Omniscience
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.
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 (except when drawing men out for their own good) does He seek information or ask questions.
To say that God is omniscient is to say that He possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn. But it is more: It is to say that God has never learned and cannot learn.
God’s knowledge is beyond our comprehension.
God’s knowledge is beyond our comprehension.
It is not only that God knows more than we do; He knows differently than we do. God’s knowledge is not affected by sin.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Quite often we cannot comprehend how all things could ever work together for good. But, it is because of God’s omniscience that we can rest in the truth that all things work together for good!
God is never surprised.
God is never surprised.
While that truth should give us comfort, especially when we are surprised by events, we should take that truth a step further...
Nothing can ever come to light in the believer’s life that would surprise God and cause Him to cast him out.
Nothing can ever come to light in the believer’s life that would surprise God and cause Him to cast him out.
God knows you perfectly and yet He still loves you. When Satan accuses us God simply replies, “I already know.” God knows every skeleton in our closet; He knows our every weakness.
God knows all about you.
God knows all about you.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; And in thy book all my members were written, Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
God made you exactly the way you are. He did not make a mistake. He has given you all the abilities and talents you need to do the job that He has called you to do. He has not given you more abilities than you need nor has He “short-changed” you by not giving you the abilities that you need.
God knows the thoughts of man better than man knows them himself.
God knows the thoughts of man better than man knows them himself.
I would like you to keep those two thoughts in mind - 1) God knows all about you and 2) God knows the thoughts of man better than man knows them himself - in light of Proverbs 18:2.
A fool hath no delight in understanding, But that his heart may discover itself.
There is a popular philosophy - albeit a false one - in our world today that is known as “self-discovery.” The world is full of people who are trying to “find themselves.” That philosophy goes back thousands of years.
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Instead of trying to discover yourself, get to know God!
God is omnipotent.
God is omnipotent.
God is all-powerful.
God is able to do whatever He wills to do. By His great power He created the universe and its creatures.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
He maintains in existence all that He has created.
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
He determines the events and the final end of the universe and its inhabitants.
Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
I know that thou canst do every thing, And that no thought can be withholden from thee.
Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
In Scripture, God is called the Almighty God and the Lord God Almighty.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
The word, “Almighty,” is used 56 times in the Bible and is used only of God.
A. W. Tozer said...
“Since a source must be at least equal to anything that emanates from it, God is of necessity equal to all the power there is, and this is to say again that He is omnipotent.”
In 15 minutes, the sun radiates as much energy as people use in all forms in an entire year.
In Scripture, how has God’s omnipotence been demonstrated?
Now, allow me to ask you, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14)
The omniscience and the omnipotence of the Lord!