Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 18 – The essence of God – Omniscience. Isa 46:10; Psa 33:15; Luk 12:7; 1Sa 23:14; 2Ki 13:19; Jer 38:20 .

Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 18 - The essence of God - Omniscience. ISA 46:10; PSA 33:15; LUK 12:7; 1SA 23:14; 2KI 13:19; JER 38:20 .

 

6. The essence of God part 2: Attributes that constitute God and are commuted to beings.

 

E. Omniscience: God comprehends all things - things past, things present, and things future, and the possible as well as the actual.

 

God has commuted this part of Him into man created in His image, but obviously at a vast difference than God’s omniscience.

 

Man’s intellect is extremely limited whereas God’s intellect is without bounds, all inclusive and infinite.

 

Foreknowledge is the category of God’s omniscience which is restricted to things specifically foreordained.

 

However, this is a human conception, since to God, the future is no different than the past, for He knows all simultaneously.

 

The finite mind cannot grasp the complete truth concerning omniscience any more than it can grasp any other of the divine attributes. Whatever omniscience is, only omniscience can know in the absolute cognition of it. Nevertheless, some portions of this marvelous divine reality may be comprehended and what cannot be known may be received by faith in God’s Word.

 

As set forth in the Bible, the works of God are, as to their time relations, declared to be of the past, of the present, and of the future. By divine arrangement, events do follow in sequence or chronological order and that is the only way that man can perceive them.

 

Again, God brings His revelation to us in a way that we can understand with the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit and so God reveals His plan chronologically as revelation continues throughout the ages, however, to God all things are perceived simultaneously.  

 

To God, the things of the past are as real as though now present and the things of the future are as real as though past, ROM 4:17.

 

ROM 4:17 (as it is written, "A father of many nations have I made you") in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

 

Yet He knew that Abraham’s son would exist as would the nation of Israel, as though it is right to say He knew, since to Him it is always known.

 

 

 

ISA 46:8 "Remember this, and be assured;

Recall it to mind, you transgressors.

 

ISA 46:9 "Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

 

ISA 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying,'My purpose will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';

 

ISA 46:11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,

The man of My purpose from a far country.

Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.

I have planned it, surely I will do it.

 

Perfectly known unto Him, as though they were now in process, are all His works from the foundation of the world (Acts 15:18).

 

ACT 15:6 And the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.

 

ACT 15:7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

 

ACT 15:8 "And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;

 

We watch things progress around us and we see only a small portion of everything that is happening. A person walks by us and we conclude that he is headed somewhere but we don’t know where, we do not see the muscles he is using or the tiny bones in the middle ear communicating to the brain which is communicating to the muscles so that he doesn’t fall. We cannot see his thoughts or emotions. Is a contented person or is he fearful and bitter? And if we think about it, it’s best that we don’t know all that. Now imagine you’re on a busy street and thousands of people are walking, driving, standing, sitting all around with bodies functioning and thoughts and emotions dwelling in their heads and think of the amount of information or data that would be needed just to comprehend a second of it.

 

PSA 33:13 The Lord looks from heaven;

He sees all the sons of men;

 

PSA 33:14 From His dwelling place He looks out

On all the inhabitants of the earth,

 

PSA 33:15 He who fashions the hearts of them all,

He who understands all their works.

 

Now imagine God looking from heaven and seeing all of it, and not just a second, or a small section of a big city, but all people in every corner of the earth, and for all time, seeing every electrical impulse in the body, every flow of blood and oxygen, every muscle twitch, and every thought, every emotion, every plan and scheme and the amount of data for all men in all ages since Adam and the amount of data that God sees simultaneously is beyond immense. Now add to this that God knows every possibility of what could happen if certain events were changed, both large and important events and small and minor events.

 

You might say that God is too busy to care about me and that He might miss a thing or two, or you could say that God is fully and infinitely omniscient and He knows every detail about me and has a solution for every problem, a love for every heartache, a sweet and gentile discipline for every reversion, and He cares for my every moment.

 

Within the immensity of God’s knowledge is the loving care of every one of His creatures, LUK 12:7.

 

LUK 12:6 "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

 

LUK 12:7 "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.

 

So God sees all His program of events in their unified whole. From the beginning He knows the end, and from the end He knows the beginning.

 

Strictly speaking, the distinction of foreknowledge in God is a human conception; for divine knowledge is simultaneous as opposed to succession. Omniscience is complete, certain, and intuitive of all events, while knowing the possible as well as the real.

 

How many possibilities to human history are there? If we were to imagine that one thought could change to another or that a person could not be born or born at another time, if we multiply the number of thoughts that each person has had by the total number of people in the human race and then add to that all animals, vegetation, weather, seismic events, and everything else that is a variable in our world and imagine how history would have turned out if one of them was changed or all of them, we come up with even more data or information that is held in reality. God has it all in His mind and simultaneously knows all of it as well as your little place in it.

 

Charnocke declares: “The knowledge of one thing is not, in God, before another; one act of knowledge doth not beget another. In regard of the objects themselves, one thing is before another; one year before another; one generation of men before another; one is the cause, and the other is the effect; in the creature’s mind there is such a succession, and God knows there will be such a succession; but there is no such order in God’s knowledge; for he knows all these successions by one glance, without any succession of knowledge in himself” (God’s Knowledge, cited by Shedd, Theology, 1,355).

 

That God knows all things future which are merely possible and never become actual is disclosed in the Word of God.

 

Every warning from God is a declaration of danger and evil which He knows will follow a wrong choice, Matt 11:24.

 

Jonah’s preaching to the people of Nineveh was concerning a sure destruction which was averted only by the deepest repentance.

 

Matt 11:21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! [city north of the Sea of Galilee] Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre [destroyed by the Babylonians] and Sidon [destroyed by the Assyrians] which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

 

Matt 11:22 "Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.

 

Matt 11:23 "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.

 

Matt 11:24 "Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you."

 

It’s obvious here that God could have spared Sodom and Gomorrah, that’s one of the possibilities, but His person is more glorified by their destruction.

 

God knew the plans against David and instructed him in battle. God knows the plans against you and has made provision for your victory, 1SA 23:5-14.

 

1SA 23:1 Then they told David, saying, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are plundering the threshing floors."

 

1SA 23:2 So David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the Lord said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines, and deliver Keilah."

 

1SA 23:3 But David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?"

 

1SA 23:4 Then David inquired of the Lord once more. And the Lord answered him and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand."

 

1SA 23:5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

 

1SA 23:6 Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

 

1SA 23:7 When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars."

 

1SA 23:8 So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

 

1SA 23:9 Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."

 

1SA 23:10 Then David said, "O Lord God of Israel, Thy servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.

 

1SA 23:11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Thy servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Thy servant." And the Lord said, "He will come down."

 

1SA 23:12 Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the Lord said, "They will surrender you."

 

1SA 23:13 Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.

 

1SA 23:14 And David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

 

It is important to know God’s will and obey it and also to understand God’s will so that we apply it to the fullest and do not come short of all that God given us in victory, 2KI 13:19.

 

This occurs around 790 BC in the northern kingdom of Israel as they were consistently pressured by the Syrians also known as the Arameans. David had conquered this area around Damascus about 1000 BC but the kings of Israel had turned to idol worship. From the strong and united kingdom of David, now 200 years of apostasy has grown increasingly worse, yet our compassionate God, the Husband to Israel will make provision.

 

2KI 13:14 When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"

 

2KI 13:15 And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow and arrows.

 

2KI 13:16 Then he said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands [transfer of power].

 

2KI 13:17 And he said, "Open the window toward the east," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" And he shot. And he said, "The Lord's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you shall defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them."

 

The arrow shot in the direction of the Syrians located to the east. This was a symbol of victory that Elisha gave to Joash.

 

2KI 13:18 Then he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground," [shoot them into the ground] and he struck it three times and stopped.

 

2KI 13:19 So the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times."

 

Joash was given three victories over the Syrians, but did not utterly defeat them because he did not have the faith that Jehovah could completely destroy them. And no wonder since he continued to worship false idols as his father had.

 

2 Kings 13:11 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in them.

 

Joash didn’t go all the way, lacking faith that God would utterly destroy Israel’s enemies. In about 70 years the whole nation would be destroyed and deported by the Assyrians (721 BC).

 

God has known from eternity past exactly what we would do and to the measure of our faith in His deliverance within the plan of God was measured back to us. He knew Joash wouldn’t go all the way and that David would and He knows right now whether this warning to you and me will cause us to go all the way without doubt, but with overwhelming faith in the power of God to deliver.

 

Matt 9:27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

 

Matt 9:28 And after He had come into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."

 

Matt 9:29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, "Be it done to you according to your faith."

 

Mark 4:24

And He was saying to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you; and more shall be given you besides.

 

God warns us about destructive ways so that we may reverse discipline (warning, intensive, and dying) and prosper. His omniscience is never wrong about the consequences, JER 38:17-20.

 

Zedekiah is the last king of Judah (597 - 587 BC). The northern kingdom of Israel is long gone. Nebuchadnezzar had already invaded Judah [southern kingdom], taken away almost all the nobility, and placed Zedekiah as a vassal king at 21 years old. He was a terrible ruler. He threw Jeremiah in prison while simultaneously seeking his advice, he promised to release the Hebrew slaves as according to the Mosaic Law and didn’t do it, then he openly rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar against the advice of Jeremiah and Nebuchadnezzar came back to Jerusalem in 587 to finish the job he started years before. The Babylonians successfully cut off the food supply and breached the wall. Zedekiah appealed to God by promising to release the Hebrew slaves again but when the Babylonians temporarily lifted their siege due to the approach of the Egyptian army, he refused to release the slaves. The Babylonians made short work of the Egyptians and returned to the siege and destroyed the city. Zedekiah fled during the night, but he and his sons were captured. On the orders of Nebuchadnezzar Zedekiah's sons were executed before their father's eyes; Zedekiah was subsequently blinded and taken captive to Babylon, where he died.

 

JER 38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'If you will indeed go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will survive.

 

JER 38:18 'But if you will not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and you yourself will not escape from their hand.'"

 

JER 38:19 Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I dread the Jews who have gone over to the Chaldeans, lest they give me over into their hand and they abuse me."

 

JER 38:20 But Jeremiah said, "They will not give you over. Please obey the Lord in what I am saying to you, that it may go well with you and you may live.

 

What God says is going to happen is going to happen. He is not a respecter of persons and neither you nor I are the exceptions. His omniscience knows it all. He warned Lucifer of the consequences of not accepting His reconciliation offer and Lucifer refused, not believing in the iron clad omniscience of God.