Psalm 147:4 – As I was saying…

God’s Attributes … of Knowledge

September 3, 2018 Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

The ATTRIBUTES of God which demonstrate His control, authority, and presence are: LOVE, KNOWLEDGE, and POWER. Last time, we looked at God’s attribute of love, seen in His allegiance, affection and action.

Today we dive into God’s attribute of KNOWLEDGE, which from a purely Biblical view must include: SPEECH, TRUTH and WISDOM.

When we think of SPEECH as a divine attribute we must make an important distinction here. The Supreme Being of the Bible (God) is the only divine being that communicates truth about Himself to His creatures. In polytheistic religions (many gods) the gods do speak, but none is the supreme being. In Hinduism while there is a supreme being, he is silent. Speech happens between two persons and that’s what makes this attribute of God such a blessing to us. God speaks to us. God desires to help us know Him, and His knowledge, in our own minds and in our hearts.

TRUTH in scripture is found in three contexts. First, God is the truth. In other words He is the true God and not a false god [Jeremiah 10:9-10; 1 John 5:20]. In the Bible God always speaks the truth. God never lies, never makes a mistake in His speech [Titus 1:2]. And finally, God does the truth (action) representing Himself as the God of all goodness and love – Deuteronomy 7:9 says “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.“

Regarding God’s attribute of knowledge (generally) the Bible clearly represents God as omniscient (all-knowing). Here’s just a few verses as a reference point:

Psalm 147:4
John 21:17
Hebrews 4:12-13
1 John 5:20

In addition to knowing all things, God also understands all things, even to discerning (knowing) the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. (all of us!) The deduction we make from this knowledge is that everything happens by His wise plans, since He knows all.

There is a group of people today called “open theists” who say God does NOT know the future completely and exhaustively as I suggest here. Some go on to say that God makes mistakes all the time in saying what will happen. In Deuteronomy 18:21-22 there is a prophet’s test. Simply put, if a prophet’s words prove false… they can’t come from God, since God is never wrong about the future or anything else. We might simply extend this test then to God. In Isaiah 41:21-23, this great prophet speaks God’s words challenging the ancient false gods of the surrounding peoples to predict the future, all the while, knowing they cannot do it. Only God knows what is going to happen.

Open theists say God is ignorant, using scripture itself to assign this charge. As a proof-text, they use Genesis 18:20-21 which says “Then the Lord said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.’”

“See,” they say, “if God is all-knowing, why is He suggesting here He needs to find out for Himself?” Is God ignorant in this passage?

They have lifted this verse “out of context” because the point of the story where it is found, is about Abraham praying for God to spare these cities. Abraham bargains with God, “will you save the cities if only 50 righteous men can be found? How about 40? 20? 10?” And God’s reply is always, “yes.” “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”… ““For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” It was never about God being ignorant, it was about God KNOWING there were not 10 righteous men to be found in all of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Being truth, and having all-knowledge then leads to God’s KNOWLEDGE attribute of WISDOM. Wisdom is that enhanced form of knowledge that takes all the strands of information, understands the significance of each one, and relates them into a practical relevance or application. We might label this as it is in my Bible: the Doxology.

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever!
Amen.

One last reminder for today…

Everything the Bible reveals about God, remains true about JESUS! He is God.

As God is love, knowledge and wisdom… so is Jesus.

Next time we’ll examine God’s attribute of POWER.

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A Limited Understanding

September 7, 2017 Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

Daily Post: Finite

finite

No, this is not the latest image of Hurricane Irma. While it may have a similar look, two notable differences are obvious. First, the rotation of this body (if it is indeed moving) is clockwise. Hurricane Irma’s rotation is counter-clockwise. Second, the image above is a photo of the Milky Way Galaxy taken from space. Our tiny home, the Planet Earth, would be virtually impossible to locate in this image since our Sun is represented by only a tiny dot just north of the second band away from the center of the image. These are known facts, representing limited or finite human knowledge.

Regarding Irma, every meteorologist in the western hemisphere is trying to predict Irma’s course, strength, and what will happen along the way. But none of them have infinite knowledge or understanding which would enable them to be perfect in their predictions. This storm is governed by the hand of God, and will yield only to, and in accord with, the commands of God. In just the same way, the Milky Way Galaxy has been in place, and will stay in place because of God’s command.

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

Psalm 8:3-4
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?

Think of it this way, “creation” is God’s act of bringing everything into existence, described for us in the Genesis 1 narrative. Scripture says God made the world “out of nothing,” ex nihilo. So, before “the beginning” of Genesis 1, there was nothing but God himself. There was no Milky Way Galaxy, there was no light to separate from the darkness, there was nothing but God. He is infinite. We are finite.

Our knowledge is finite. Our understanding is finite. We challenge the limitations of our knowledge and understanding daily, but we will never attain infinite wisdom and knowledge. Those are attributes of the Creator, not the creature.

Why is it so important to yield to this awareness of exactly how finite our existence really is? Because in the depraved darkness of an unyielding mind, there are those who see themselves as gods. As though they had the ability to speak and sun, moon, stars, and planets would come into existence. Or worse, that they can understand how these heavenly bodies came into existence without the help of a Creator, and tend to wax eloquent regarding the ignorance of those who believe the Genesis narrative.

It’s important to understand our finite understanding, knowledge, and abilities in order to recognize our need for a Savior. If we think we are not lost, we have no need to be saved. If we think we can save ourselves, we have no need for a Savior. If we think we have all knowledge and understanding, we are infinitely out of touch with reality.

Today, we should pray to the Creator of the Universe to spare those in the path of Irma, even as we pray for His providential care for those who have suffered through Harvey.

Today, we should pray for enlightenment to come to those who think they need no saving grace, that they would come to know they do.

Today, in our finite understanding, we should give glory to the Infinite Creator who loves us, and gave Himself to save us.

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Eternal Dossier

March 13, 2017 Dr. J.D. Wilkins2 Comments

via Record

An obituary typically consists of a brief biographical sketch of the deceased person from the vantage point of a friend or relative. The view received from this information is still an earthly view. While it may have a spiritual synopsis of the person’s life, often it is more about the nature of their character, the sum of past achievements, genealogy, etc. I know a few folks who still read the newspapers, whose favorite section is the Obituaries, because they like reading these short biographies of those who have passed.

obituaries

Some people might even see this tribute as the “scorecard” for a life. However, keeping score this way may not necessarily be the healthiest approach to life here or the hereafter. If we are going to keep score, we might want to think more along the lines of what God keeps recorded in our eternal dossier. Of course, this assumes you know that God does keep records of some things, and those things are defined for us in the Bible. Allow me to give you a list of ten things God records, or has recorded over time; and will record until human history is over.

God records and stores all the tears we shed.
Psalm 56:8
You Yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your records?
God records my birth, my life, my death in days – before it happens.
Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.
God records the number of the stars and keeps record of their names.
Psalm 147:4
He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
God keeps a Book of Remembrance of those who regard His name.
Malachi 3:16
At that time those who feared the LORD spoke to one another. The LORD took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name.
God keeps track of people’s heavenly investments.
Matthew 6:20
But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.
God records the number of hairs on an individual human head.
Matthew 10:30
But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
God records every idle word a person speaks.
Matthew 12:36
I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak.
God records every Godly work of a person.
Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints–and you continue to serve them.
God records the general life of all humans.
Revelation 20:12
I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.
God records the name of every person who ever stepped over the line of faith into Christ.
Revelation 20:15
And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

An obituary is the record to be read by those who remain behind in this life, here on this earth. God’s records are for the person who has just passed. Specifically, God keeps a Book of Life where He records all those who have trusted Jesus as their savior. By definition this means there are those who haven’t, and what awaits them is not imaginable or desirable as an eternal destination. Does this give you pause? Because maybe it should. Maybe this is the moment of reflection and contemplation your whole life has been leading up to. In these ten simple statements you may recognize that all of life has meaning and purpose, but will your’s measure up to God’s standard?

What does your eternal dossier look like?