The Knowledge of God

| December 22, 2012

universe1I’ve been reading The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler, the Pastor of The Village Church in the Dallas, TX area, with Jared Wilson who blogs at The Gospel Coalition.  To be accurate I picked it up awhile ago – started to read it and then put it down for awhile.  I’ve taken it back up today and I was struck with this passage about the knowledge of God or the theological term for it – the omniscience of God.

It is unfathomable and Chandler paints a good picture of how much we can’t possibly know about what God knows.

God knows everything.  He knows everything at the macro level.  He knows the temperature at which certain stars burn.  He knows the orbital lines of planets.  He knows every mountain in every mountain range on this planet and others.  He knows the depths of every ocean.  He knows it at the macro level.

But he also knows it at the micro level.  He knows every atom and ever molecule.  He knows their positions, their locations, their functions.  He sees and governs every instance of mitosis, which, in case you’ve been out of school for a while, is one cell becoming two cells.  We have a God who knows everything at the macro level, but he also knows everything at the micro level.

In addition to the exhaustive depth of his knowledge is the exhaustive breadth of his knowledge.  God is aware of every event that has ever occurred and will ever occur, and he knows completely how each event affects other events that create still more events that roll into other events and so on and so forth ad infinitum.  From the velocity of every butterfly’s flapping wings at every second to the exact amount of magma to the microgram flowing out of every volcano above and under sea level, he spans it all simultaneously and precisely.  If a tree falls in the woods when nobody’s there, does it make a sound?  I don’t know, but God does.

He knows it all without any sticky notes or strings on his finger.  He is holding all things together, seeing all things and knowing all things, all purely from the reality of his wanting it to be so.  This is, at the very least, what it means to be God, (pg. 26-27).

We can’t even come close to totally grasping the depth and the breath of His knowledge and yet how many question Him?

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About the Author ()

Shane Vander Hart is the founder and editor-in-chief of Caffeinated Thoughts.  He is also the President of 4:15 Communications, LLC, a social media & communications consulting/management firm.  He is a communications director for American Principles Project’s Preserve Innocence Initiative.  Prior to this Shane spent 20 years in youth ministry serving in church, parachurch, and school settings.  He has also served as an interim pastor and is a sought after speaker and pulpit fill-in.  Shane has been married to his wife Cheryl since 1993 and they have three kids.  Shane and his family reside near Des Moines, IA.  You can connect with Shane on Facebook or follow him on Twitter and Google +.
  • http://www.facebook.com/thom.toth Thom Toth

    if you like this, check out “The Knowledge of the Holy” by A.W. Tozer

  • SJ

    I’ve been reading The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler

    So, is that the MTV-version of the New Testament? Well, hopefully there isn’t too much rapping involved. ;)

    This is a great discussion to have around Christmas time, because the Incarnation is truly beyond our human grasp.

    God is aware of every event that has ever occurred and will ever occur, and he knows completely how each event affects other events that create still more events that roll into other events and so on and so forth ad infinitum.

    Exactly. And how is God able to do this? Well, God exists outside time, and He actually created it. It really is mind-boggling to think that time is a creature, and will not always exist. To God, nothing is past, and nothing is yet to come. All times are one with Him, and He lives in an infinite present.

    As you said, all this stuff can easily blow our minds. It’s important that we not really try to grasp it all, or it can even cause harm. So, we often have to be careful. As Psalm 131:1 puts it:

    “I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.”

    We can’t even come close to totally grasping the depth and the breath of His knowledge and yet how many question Him?

    I know what you’re saying, but it’s one thing to realize intellectually that God knows everything, and quite another thing to be firmly convinced that God really knows what’s best for us and is truly a good God who loves us personally. Perhaps we shouldn’t question ever Him, but it’s only human to do so, and of course God understands that. Indeed, we shouldn’t ignore our doubts and fears (we all have them), but instead should do our best to bring them to Him. God doesn’t mind it when we’re honest with Him, even if it’s in a negative way. As one author has put it, He would much prefer that we shake a fist at Him than simply ignore Him. Perhaps with God, there’s no such thing as negative attention–as long as we spell His name right. LOL. ;)

    • http://shanevanderhart.com/ Shane Vander Hart

      I agree, we should bring our doubts and fears to Him.

  • Andy

    You should really read Christopher Hitchens – God is not Great, and Richard Dawkins – The God Delusion.

    • http://shanevanderhart.com/ Shane Vander Hart

      You assume I haven’t.

      • Andy

        That’s right.

        • http://shanevanderhart.com/ Shane Vander Hart

          Why because I would suddenly become convinced? Please, those two represent arrogance in its highest form.

          • Andy

            “Why because I would suddenly become convinced?” – Yes, that’s precisely why.

            “Please, those two represent arrogance in its highest form.” – I don’t disagree that they are arrogant, Dawkins is definitely the more arrogant of the two, but to be such a skilled debater at their level, I suppose you have to adopt a certain degree of arrogance.
            But to say that their arrogance is of the “highest form”, is untrue. Christianity, no, religion itself, and its members and priests have been the most arrogant for over two Millenia. It is religion, not humanism or atheism, that is the only group of people guaranteeing assurance and certainty over the biggest of questions.

            Dawkins and Hitchens readily admit that they are not certain there is no God, just that the evidence overwhelmingly points to the absence of one. They admit they haven’t got the answers to everything, something religion is so arrogantly different in.

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