You have heard it said that God is Omniscient, that God knows everything. But I say unto you that God is not omniscient but has infinite knowledge.
There is a big difference, and it affects how you see yourself, and how you walk before Him.
THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. We must see things from God’s point of view, in our relationship with Him.
Or else our thinking will block the fullness of His divine life flowing into us AND THROUGH US. We will not be continually filled with the Spirit, so FULL of His Spirit, that there will be an overflow of His Spirit where it will make an IMPACT upon those around you.
You will become the light of the world, people will ask you, why are you so different, which opens the door for preaching the gospel, you become a living epistle, a walking BIBLE.
When Jesus died on the cross our old man died with Him. When God forgives our sin, He no longer remembers it.
ALL KNOWING
The word “Omniscience” is not in the Bible.
Omniscience is ALL knowing about the past, present and future. This definition does not originate from the Bible or the early church fathers’ teachings.
It is derived from Greek philosophy and mythology about their God’s.
Omniscience is NOT necessarily what the Bible teaches.
Infinite knowledge, on the other hand, allows for God’s sovereignty.
God can choose what He knows.
If He does not want to know about your sins, for example, He can ‘throw them in the sea of forgetfulness.
The Father Knows our Needs.
MATTHEW 6:8 FOR YOUR FATHER KNOWS THE THINGS YOU NEED BEFORE YOU ASK HIM.
The Father knows us intimately.
MATTHEW 10:30 BUT THE VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED.
The Father knows what we are thinking.
PSALMS 139:2 YOU KNOW MY SITTING DOWN AND MY RISING UP; YOU UNDERSTAND MY THOUGHT AFAR OFF.
The Bible supports infinite knowledge rather than Omniscience.
The Father can choose what He looks upon.
GENESIS 18:20-21 AND THE LORD SAID, “BECAUSE THE OUTCRY AGAINST SODOM AND GOMORRAH IS GREAT, AND BECAUSE THEIR SIN IS VERY GRAVE, I WILL GO DOWN NOW AND SEE WHETHER THEY HAVE DONE ALTOGETHER ACCORDING TO THE OUTCRY AGAINST IT THAT HAS COME TO ME; AND IF NOT, I WILL KNOW.”
If the Father knew everything about Sodom and Gomorrah, He would not need to come down to look.
The Father has the power to forget.
HEBREWS 8:12 FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”
The word reveals that the Father does not know everything, He chooses not to know everything.
So now we have found examples where God does not know everything. And another where He also CHOOSES not to know everything.
If the Father is not all knowing, what is He? He has infinite Knowledge. He has named every star He created.
PSALMS 147:4 HE COUNTS THE NUMBER OF THE STARS; HE CALLS THEM ALL BY NAME.
Not only does God have the ability to know all things, but He also understands all things:
PSALMS 147:5 GREAT IS OUR LORD, AND MIGHTY IN POWER; HIS UNDERSTANDING IS INFINITE.
So, He knows the motives and the reasons that we do things. He looks at the motive and not just the action.
Why Is This so Important for us to know?
The popular teaching that God is omniscient and that He knows everything, can produce a fear in the lives of unbelievers, so that they will not come to Jesus.
The God who created you came to earth as the Son of man with limited understanding, and with the same fragilities just like us yet never sinned.
His desire is for all to receive Jesus and be given the authority to become the children of God- John 1:12
We see this in the story of the Prodigal Son – (where the Prodigal Son is humanity, not a backslidden Christian).
Because God is sovereign, He CHOOSES what He knows about us and what He does not know about us.
The Father is faithful to His word, He is a covenant-keeping God because what He says will come to pass if we do what He says.
If God chooses not to remember our sins, why are you still sin conscious?
Guilt and shame are the work of the devil, not the work of God, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
If we want to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and be changed into that image, we need a revelation of who we are in Jesus Christ.
We need to see ourselves the way that the Father sees us. He see’s nothing wrong in us, only in what we are becoming as we come into the maturity of the fullness of the Christ.