GOD OF KNOWLEDGE (2)

“With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him KNOWLEDGE…?” – Isaiah 40:14a

Scripture is definitive on the Omniscience of the GOD of KNOWLEDGE: “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counsellor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him KNOWLEDGE, and showed Him the way of understanding?” (Isa.40:13-14). The word ‘omniscient’ comes from two Latin words: omni meaning ‘all’, and scientia signifying knowledge. That God is Omniscient means that He is All-Knowing. He is Unlimited in Knowledge. He has absolute, perfect, and unacquired knowledge of all things. No one can direct God. No counsellor or instructor can teach Him or add to His knowledge.

God does not have to reason things out, find things out, or learn them gradually. He knows the quantities of all items in creation that are infinite to us: the waters, heaven, the dust of the earth, mountains and hills: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” (v.12) Luke 12:7a says, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” God knows everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen, including those that humankind has yet to discover (Isa.46:10a).

The New Covenant testifies to God’s Omniscience in terms of His foreknowledge: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom.8: 29-30). God knows what will happen in the future and when it will happen. He sees everything ahead of time. He planned on things in advance; is never ruffled!

A.W. Tozer elucidates God’s unequalled brilliance and limitless knowledge as follows: God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, ... all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desire, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell!

There is Great Security for the Believer in the Omniscience of God. There is nothing that He is not aware of. He does not make any mistakes; hence He is able to righteously judge humanity, for He knows thoughts as well as deeds. He knows the needs of each believer, and He promises to meet them all. Those who have put their trust in Him are comforted by the thought of God's omniscience.