Understanding The Omnipotence And Omniscience Of God

 

As we journey together through learning a biblical world view and what it means, we must be reminded of what a biblical world view is. In essence, it is a belief in an absolute, moral truth, consisting in six core beliefs. Thus far, we have talked about the accuracy of biblical teaching, which is fundamental to our world view. And the sinless nature of Christ, which does away with man's ability for self-justification. Then we moved into the literal existence of satan, knowing that there are powers and principalities at war.

This article will deal with the omniscience and omnipotence of God. We will answer the question as to why these two attributes of God are important to our biblical world view.

One of my favorite authorities to refer to is the Webster 1828 dictionary. From which we can find that 75% of the definitions are taken strait from scripture and the others are biblically principled. The 1828 dictionary defines omnipotence as: omnis (all), and potens (powerful). Put them together and you end up with all powerful and God is that, isn't He?

Almighty power, unlimited, or, infinite power. Strictly speaking, this is a word only applied to God, hence it is sometimes used for God. All we need to do is look at His creation and how He spoke things into existence and know His power. He has unlimited power over particular things, such as the omnipotence of love.

What does the bible say about God's power? In Genesis 17:1, God calls Himself the Almighty God. As I have stated, God can say a word and it will be so (Genesis 1:3), folks, this means that if God were to say the sky is pink, by golly, it would be pink.

In Amos 4:13 we learn that God has control. If you sat down to paint a picture of a landscape, you, ultimately, would be the owner of that painting and have full control over the use, or, sale of it. In that same sense, God has control over His creation.

Again in Amos, we see that God is in charge of even nations (Amos 1:1-2). He will cast judgment on all nations for their transgressions.

Psalm 115:3 says that God has power, or, control over all things. He does as He pleases.

There are scriptures all over the bible that tell of God's power and control over His creation. But, perhaps, the most fascinating aspect of His divine power is in the fact that He never gets tired. This fact is something that we will never, fully, understand (Isaiah 40:28).

And the most beautiful and wonderful expression of His power was, and is, through His Son, Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:1-11). See also, Mt. 25:31-33. Destiny is foretold, it is a foregone conclusion and there is no getting out of it. Let me repeat that, there is no getting out of it. Everyone, saved or unsaved, will face His power someday. If you are ready, be thankful to a mighty God.

Omniscience is defined in the 1828 dictionary as, omnis (all) and scientia (knowledge). In other words, He is all knowing. I know that much of this information is remedial, but do we really know these things? If we really understood God's omniscience and omnipotence, why do we still do things as if they were in secret?

Omniscience is the quality of knowing all things at the same time. This is powerful, in itself, I know. In fact, we cannot begin to understand God's ability to hear, see, feel everything at the same time and still be able to put it all together. Omniscience is an attribute particular to God.

Read your bible to see what God says about His omniscience.

Isaiah 40:13,14

Colossians 2:2,3

1 Corinthians 2:10-12

There is a very good question asked here. Who did God take counsel with? Who gave Him this knowledge? Actually, the answer is very simple, Himself. He took counsel with Himself, if this doesn't describe Hi power, then I don't know what will.

Having an understanding of these attributes of God, in light of your world view, should cause us to know that God is in control and that nothing escapes Him. Did hurricane Katrina surprise God? From a biblical perspective, how could this tragedy have been viewed? What about other natural disasters?

What about bad politicians? How should this knowledge of God's attributes affect the way we view them? How should we view judges with an obvious agenda? How does the conflicts in the middle east affect our view? Remember Y2K? Where should our eyes have turned?

Does any of these thing get beyond the hand of God? Is this all part of His divine plan? If so, how would this change our world view? It has got me thinking that my focus should always be on the Lord. It should cause me a great deal less anxiety knowing that the Father of all creation is at the helm, that I have to think eternally, not temporally. It should relieve me of a great weight upon my shoulders. (Matthew 13:7, 22)

Thinking in a civil-ized manner will obstruct the Gospel. Did you get that? If I think like the world does, the Gospel gets buried under the rubble, this is important stuff to grasp, and grasp it we must!

These verse tell how the world thinks.

Luke 14:18-20.

They all made an excuse, they all had something better to do. Don't let yourself get into that trap. Remember this, if nothing else written here, an excuse is the skin of a reason, stuffed with a lie. I have affectionately dubbed this “reason sausage”. Stop eating the sausage and feast on the meat of His word and change your world view to His.

Next we will delve into a, sometimes, controversial topic, salvation through grace-alone. I look forward to sharing with you then.