Isaiah 46:9-10 “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, (10) Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.”
In order for us to understand how God’s will interacts with the free will of man we need to have a clearer understanding of how God governs His creation, for if we do not rightly divide the word of truth in this area it can seem as if God does create robots that have no free will at all. And so the first aspect we will discuss is the infinite wisdom and knowledge of God. It amazes me to hear some supposedly mature believers say that God does not know everything. I can understand unbelievers making such foolish statements because they are walking in darkness and ignorance. Those who are born-again should know better however, nevertheless because some believers are still carnal in their thinking they therefore make the same foolish statements that the world makes. Nevertheless because God is who He is, He knows all things, including all of the future. In the above quoted passage of scripture God teaches us that He declares the end from the beginning, and that He declares things that are not yet done. When God makes this statement He is referring to everything i.e. everything that occurs in the entire universe including everything that occurs in each individual life. In other words before God creates us He knows how we will turn out and thus He can declare our end from our beginning. God can do this precisely because He knows all things, including all the future. In this same passage of scripture God gives us a glimpse into the fact that as God, His will prevails in His creation, for He says that His counsel stands and that He does all that He pleases.
Psalms 139:16-18 “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book, they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. (17) How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (18) If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit reveals to us that God knows what we look like even before we are formed in the womb. The reason God knows that is because He sees all the future. That same portion of scripture teaches us that God writes our entire life in His book, day by day, before we ever come into the earth. The reason God can do that is because He is God and because He knows all things. The Holy Spirit also teaches us in this passage that the sum of God’s thoughts toward each one of His creations, are more than all the sand on the earth. Truly God is all knowing, and so in our extremely limited understanding in this life it is impossible for us to even begin to conceive who He really is.
Psalms 147:4-5 “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. (5) Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.”
Again, in the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit gives us some insight into God’s infinite knowledge of everything. For He tells us that not only does God count the number of the stars, but He also names each one and calls each one by name. In other words not only does God name each star He creates, but for all eternity He also never forgets each one’s name. To put that into some sort of perspective for us, it is estimated that in the observable universe there are approximately one hundred billion galaxies, and each galaxy contains approximately one hundred billion stars. And the observable universe is only a small portion of the entire universe. Such depth of knowledge is beyond mankind’s ability to even begin to comprehend. And so when the scripture tells us that God’s understanding is infinite, that’s exactly what it means.
Michael E.B. Maher
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