Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 21 – The essence of God – Omniscience. 1Sa 16:7; Psa 44:20-21; Isa 40.Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 21 – The essence of God – Omniscience. 1Sa 16:7; Psa 44:20-21; Isa 40.
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.
Eph 1:18-19 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
1 John 3:19-20 We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him, in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
God is infinite wisdom and understanding.
Therefore, you cannot say that no one understands you, because God understands you perfectly at all times, even better than you understand yourself.
1 Sam 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature [Eliab – Jesse’s first born], because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
Psa 44:20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or extended our hands to a strange god;
Psa 44:21 Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
Prov 5:21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He watches all his paths.
Prov 17:3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests hearts.
Isa 40:1 "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God.
Deliverance from the Babylonian captivity through Cyrus the Great. This is foretold by the prophet approximately 150 years prior. God fulfils His covenant relationship with His people.
Isa 40:2 "Speak kindly to Jerusalem [then in ruins]; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord's hand Double for all her sins."
Isa 40:3 A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
Though referring to the restoration of Israel and her capital Jerusalem, this is also a prophecy of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ who would restore the spiritual ruins of the city and the nation, and although He was mostly rejected in this, He does finally accomplish the promise at the second coming.
Isa 40:4 "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
It was the leader’s duty to start rebuilding as it was John’s duty to call for obedience to the Law as the Messiah approached so that they would be ready for Him and have the prophecies of Him freshly repeated in their minds.
Isa 40:5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Isa 40:6 A voice says, "Call out."Then he answered, "What shall I call out?"All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
Isa 40:7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.
Isa 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
Man comes and goes. He is transitory while the word of God and the omniscience of God is forever.
Isa 40:9 Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear [many enemies around the ruined city]. Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
Isa 40:10 Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, And His recompense before Him.
Isa 40:11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs, And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
Isa 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance, And the hills in a pair of scales?
Isa 40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him?
Rom 11:33-34 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
Isa 40:14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, And informed Him of the way of understanding?
These rhetorical questions imply the immensity of God’s omniscience.
Isa 40:15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust [where are the Egyptian, Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, Persian, Median, Lydian, Grecian, Roman, Ottoman, Russian, German, English empires?].
Isa 40:16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
There aren’t enough animals or wood to sufficiently sacrifice to God’s glory.
Isa 40:17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
Isa 40:18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
Isa 40:19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
Isa 40:20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter.
idol picture
Isa 40:21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Isa 40:22 It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
Isa 40:23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
Isa 40:24 Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.
Isa 40:25 "To whom then will you liken Me That I should be his equal?" says the Holy One.
Isa 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power Not one of them is missing.
Isa 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"?
Isa 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
Isa 40:29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Isa 40:30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Those returning to rebuild the city worked day and night and were constantly in danger of being attacked since there were no walls or doors to protect them, and yet God states that He will strengthen and He will invigorate, and He will defeat the enemy.
And as the chapter begins, where are the Assyrians, where are the Babylonians? All gone.
Isa 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord [trust, hope, long for] Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
As we know, they successfully rebuilt the city walls and the temple despite being surrounded by enemies because God was in the stone and mortar and in the temple and in the hearts of many of those men who slept with their weapons, worked with their weapons because attack was always imminent. What are you building? If you are building a structure of doctrine in your soul in the sincere faith that you will bring glory to God, this chapter is very comforting. Though we have been enemies to God at one time and through we leave the plan of God in selfish pursuits, we are God’s people and God will restore and comfort if we respond to His rebukes and He will build that structure in our souls despite our enemies and even in spite of ourselves.
Jer 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.
Nah 1:6 Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, And the rocks are broken up by Him.
Nah 1:7 The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
All these passages say that infinity related to the knowledge of God means there never was a time when God didn’t know everything that is knowable about every creature and every natural phenomena.
God knows the end from the beginning. Do not try to live a life of deceit, your life will end in the sin unto death.
Note that many of the passages about the knowledge of God are written by Old Testament prophets. This is because Israel was always complaining that no one understood them and that God had abandoned them. Therefore, they needed to understand, as we do, that there never was a time and never will be a time when you will have a thought, motive, or make a decision or do something virtuous or asinine that God did not know about billions and billions of years ago.
There is no excuse for not knowing the intellect of God that He has chosen to reveal to us. More importantly, there should be no contradiction in the life of the believer between what he claims to believe and how he lives. There is no excuse for a believer to be unable to solve his own problems and to answer his own questions. There is no excuse for not knowing when to live in the law of liberty, law of love, or law of supreme sacrifice. There is no excuse for not claiming promises or for not living in love and avoiding the rulership of the cosmos, the flesh, or the KOD. There is no excuse for failure in this conflict.
This attribute as well as the rest that follow are commutable to the believer if he has positive volition.
We have been graciously given an intellect and it is imperative that we gain as much of God’s knowledge and wisdom as we can in this life.
1Co 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Tim 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Col 1:9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Col 1:10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Col 1:11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
Col 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. |