The Omniscience of God

(Article for publication week of 6-30-2010 AD)

"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" (Psalm 139: 3-4).

The omniscience of God means that He knows everything. The Psalmist here in our text declares that God knows every word that he has ever spoken and every word that he will ever speak. God knows every fact that can be known. He knows everything that has ever been done and everything that ever will be done. He knows every thought that every person has ever thought. He knows where every animal is in the forest and where every fish is in every ocean, river and lake. He knows where every germ is. And this He knows at once. Right now He knows what every person on earth is doing and what everyone will do tomorrow. He knows everything past, present and future. God has never learned anything, for He knew the end from the beginning and He has never been surprised by anything. Well would the Psalmist go on in Psalm 139 and say, "such knowledge is too wonderful for me”!

God knows what you are thinking right now. He knows everything you have ever said. He knows everything you have ever done. He knows everywhere you have ever been. He knows every website you have ever visited. Sinners may hide their sins from their parents or from the sheriff or from the pastor, but you have never hidden anything from God. The eye of the Lord is in every place beholding the good and the evil. Poor sinner, does it not strike fear and terror into your trembling heart to know that God has beheld all your sins? When you stand before Him on the Day of Judgment, He will know all about you and all your transgressions against Him. What an awful thought! The omniscience of God should provoke you to repent of your sins and cry out to Him for mercy before it is everlastingly too late!

But, on the other hand, the omniscience of God is a glorious comfort for the children of God. Job said in Job 23:10, "He knoweth the way that I take." God knew His people before they ever had a being in themselves. He knew every trial we would ever go through. He knew every sorrow we would ever have. He knew our desperate condition when we were lost in our sins. And He knew everything that He would do for our salvation. God knows our every need, and He knows what we need before we ask and what is for our eternal good. He knows what we will pray, before it enters into our minds to pray. Our great and good God knows everything about us.

And not only does He know, but He cares. God cared for us in eternity past when He marked us out for His Own and ordered our salvation and made it sure in His Eternal Son. He cared for us when He showed us what sinful wretches we are, and He cared for us when we cried for mercy. And He will continue to care for the objects of His everlasting love. God in His omnipotence and His omniscience is working all things out for our eternal and spiritual good (Romans 8:28). God knows all things, because He has decreed all things for His Own glory and the good of His people. Let us worship the omniscient God of heaven and earth.

The Omnipotence of God Displayed in Salvation

(Article for publication week of 6-23-2010 AD)

"And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His Own right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:19-20).

According to our text, it takes the same power to save a sinner as it did to raise the Son of God from the dead. It is nothing less than Divine Omnipotence that enables a poor sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. We believe in Christ "according to the working of His mighty power." A poor sinner is helpless to save himself, or help save himself.

The first thing we note about the condition of man is that by nature he is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1; Romans 5:12). Some advocate in their doctrine that man is sick, but the Bible says that he is dead spiritually. Some would suggest that Adam was injured by the fall, but the Bible says that he died. The spiritual condition of man in his natural state is that he is dead. Just as one who is dead naturally can do nothing to restore himself to life, so one who is dead spiritually can do nothing to give himself spiritual life. Poor sinner, you are in desperate straits! You are dead in sin and can do nothing to give yourself life!

The next thing we see about the sinner's condition is that he is in rebellion against God. His will is averse to God. Our Lord said in John 5:40, "ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." Not only are you helpless to come to Christ, but you are unwilling to come to Christ. You love yourself instead of God and you love your sins more than holiness, so you will not come to Christ and be saved, you are a rebel against the High King of heaven.

Were it not for Divine Omnipotence, no sinner would ever be saved. But thanks be to God! The power of the Almighty has engaged to save poor sinners! The omnipotent energy of the Triune God regenerates those dead in sin and gives them spiritual life. "The Son quickeneth whom He will" (John 5:21). The quickened sinner then has spiritual life and is made sorry for his sins and enabled to cry to the Lord for mercy.

Not only does the Lord regenerate one dead in sins when He is pleased to save such a one, but the Lord also conquers the stubborn will of the rebel. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power" (Psalm 110:3). There has never been a sinner so stubborn that God was not able to conquer that sinner when God was pleased to save that sinner. So we read in John 6:37, "all that the Father giveth me shall come to Me." The elect sinner comes to Christ most willingly when Divine Omnipotence overcomes him.

Now I ask you dear reader, "has Divine omnipotence given you life and changed your rebellious nature?" Has the power of the Almighty intervened in your life for your salvation? I pray it may be true of you, my dear readers.

The Omnipotence of God

(Article for publication week of 6-16-2010 AD)

"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" (Jeremiah 32:17).

There is nothing too hard for God, for He is all-powerful, or omnipotent. There is no limitation to His great power. When God promised Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age, He confirmed His promise to them and answered their doubts by asking them, "is anything too hard for the Lord?" Our Lord told His disciples in Matthew 19:26,"all things are possible with God."

One of the great proofs of the Deity of Christ is His omnipotence. In Matthew 28:18, our Lord said "all power is given unto me in heaven and earth." As we write on the attributes of God for the next several months, we will notice from time to time how that the Lord Jesus Christ has the incommunicable attributes of God, proving that He is God.

The omnipotence of God is shown first of all by His creation of the universe. God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. The only reasonable account of the beginning of the world and of man is found in the first two chapters of the Bible where we read that God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six literal twenty-four hour days. Everyone who rejects the Biblical account of creation is unsaved and will perish in hell. You do not show yourself to be smart by rejecting the Genesis account of creation, on the other hand you show yourself to be very stupid. You read right- I said you are stupid if you do not believe in the creation of the universe in six literal days by an omnipotent God. Worse than being stupid, you are lost world without end. You are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. Your problem is worse than ignorance, it is rebellion.

Secondly, the omnipotence of God is shown by His governance of the world. Colossians 1:17 says that by Him all things consist, or held together. Every atomic particle is held in its proper place by the Omnipotent God. There is not a misplaced atom in the universe. God actively governs His creation. Acts 17:28 says it is in God that we "live and move and have our being." The omnipotent God gave you your life. He is keeping you alive. And when He is ready He will end your life. If you do not now believe in the omnipotence of God, you will when He is pleased to end your life. You will see then that God has all power, and you have none. And if you die in your sins, you will feel the omnipotence of God as He sends you to hell. You will see then that you are a helpless worm in the hands of an all powerful God.

But the most glorious display of the omnipotence of God is in the salvation of sinners. Ephesians 1:19 says that we believe "according to the working of His mighty power." When a poor sinner is saved it is the work of the Triune God. Poor sinner you are powerless to save yourself, or help save yourself. But the God of the Bible has power to save. The thing that is impossible with you is possible with God. May He spare you before it is too late.

The Immutability of God

(Article for publication week of 6-9-2010 AD)

"For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." (Malachi 3:6).

The God of the Bible (Who is the only true God) is unchangeable. He cannot change for the better, for He is perfect, and He cannot change for the worse, for He would cease to be God, which He will not and cannot do. The idea of a mutable God is foreign to the scriptures and all rational thinking.

God is unchangeable in all His attributes and all His Being. With Him "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17). He is eternal, without beginning or end, pure spirit, immortal, invisible, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, thrice holy, loving, merciful, and just. Unlike His creation, there is no change or decay in God. He is the same now as He was yesterday, the same in eternity past, and the same for ages to come. What a comfort it is to know that God is unchangeable.

God is unchanging in His purpose. We read in Hebrews 6:17 of the "immutability of His counsel." This means that God has one eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:11) and He will not in any way change His purpose. "He is in one mind, and who can turn Him?" (Job 23:13). God's sovereign will is determined, and nothing can alter it.

The immutability of God is the eternal foundation of the salvation of God's elect. "Ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Though we are changeable, God is not. Were it left up to us to save ourselves, or keep ourselves saved, we would be ruined for eternity. But praise be to God, salvation is not according to the changeable will of man, but according to the unchangeable will of God! All of those God purposed to save, shall be saved without the loss of one. No one who is truly saved (note well, I say truly saved) can be consumed and be lost, because our Sovereign Lord is unchangeable. He is unchangeable in His justice, and justice was satisfied for the believer by the active and passive obedience of Christ. He is unchangeable in His love, and nothing can separate the believer in Christ from God's immutable love (Romans 8:38-39).

And I want to use this opportunity to show the Deity of Christ once again. Hebrews 13:8 says "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever." Only God is immutable. No creature can be immutable. Thus we see plainly that Christ is God for He is unchangeable. Though Christ joined His Deity to perfect humanity, His essence is unchanged by His hypostatic union with humanity. "The Word was made flesh (John 1:14), but the Word was God (John 1:1). No one can deny the Deity of Christ, for He is immutable, and this is true only of God. Let all heretics and blasphemers and infidels shut their mouths, for Christ is very God of very God and very man of very man.

Now dear children of God, let this encourage your heart today. The Lord is unchangeable and so you will not be consumed. Though you indeed go through many changes, thy great God shall never change! You shall persevere to the end for you are being kept by the power of the eternal Three in One Who is immutable.