OMNISCIENCE (all knowing)
The omniscience of God is kin to his omnipresence. We have already stated that God is present to all and absent from nothing. So, it stands to reason that God is present with all his power to know everything. The perfect mind. David said it like this: Psalm 139; “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my………. sitting down and my rising up; you understand my thoughts afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it….” Read the entire chapter. David marries the two attributes of God, omnipresence and omniscience. Thus, God knows all because he is everywhere. You cannot escape from God’s presence and therefore cannot escape from his knowledge.
All human knowledge is limited and imperfect. We do not understand anything completely, not the least and most familiar thing, because we do not understand the whole of which each thing belongs. God’s knowledge is unlike any and all knowledge that is possible to us….all our knowledge is ignorance and foolishness in comparison. In fact, if we combined the collective knowledge of every human that has ever lived and ever will live it would not add up to omniscience. Knowledge of the universe is God’s alone.
“God calls those things that are not as though they are. He looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the entire heaven. He brings out the host of heaven and calls them all by name.”
OMNIPOTENCE (all powerful)
Can you fathom omnipotence? God said to Abraham, “I AM the Almighty God.” He went on to ask, “Is there anything too difficult for the Lord?” “With God all things are possible, declares the Lord.” Omnipotence is closely related to omnipresence and omniscience. Here is the connection….God is everywhere and that enables him to know all things and to “act” everywhere. God is completely able, adequate, and sufficient. He is truly the Master of the universe, the Almighty, holding all together and completely competent to do all that he wishes to do. His power extends above everything he has ever done. It operates in all the things that his nature and character call for and in all that his universe and creation demands.
Here is a trick question, “If God is omnipotent can he do anything he chooses?” The answer is NO. Omnipotence does not imply that God can do everything that we might mention. For instance it does not imply that God is able to contradict himself, nor does it mean that he can be the origin of absurdity. The Bible says, “God cannot lie.” The word says that God cannot tempt nor is He tempted. God cannot die. There are some things God cannot do simply because He is God! Thus there are limitations of God which arise from the perfection of his nature. He is able to realize perfectly whatever he wills but it is inconceivable that he should will anything inconsistent with his own character or attributes. Neither can he do anything that is self-contradictory to his will. Can God delete history? Can he make a past event not to have occurred? Can God make an object so large that he can’t move it? NO. These are self contradictory. God cannot create a being whose nature is sinful. This would contradict the essential nature of his Deity (Calvin and others would have a hard time with that statement). He cannot force us to serve him or to love one another. This would contradict the nature he gave us and would violate his purpose for us.
Well, allow these short articles to help you in appreciating our Great God. Remember them the next time you sing, “Our God is an Awesome God!”
Charlie