Thursday, December 10, 2015

Oh Sovereign God



Isaiah 48:
1 Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name.
3 "The former things I declared of old; they went out from my mouth, and I announced them; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,
5 I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, 'My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.'
6 "You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'
8 You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel.
9 "For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
12 "Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.


God's foreknowledge is based entirely on the truth that He has declared all things to be from before the foundation of the world was laid. It is not some sort of clairvoyant act. (Go to a modern charismatic/evangelical service if you are into the "amazing kreskin" approach to the prophetic)
He is not a soothsayer simply reacting at the "appropriate" time, as men make decisions, and events take place. He is not a "god" who spends his existence running from place to place putting out fires. He is the omnipotent (all powerful) one; the Lord Almighty. He is omnipresent, everywhere, throughout all time, the Eternal One.
So then He is omniscient, i.e. all knowing, not just past and present things which He caused to be, but fully prescient in all things not yet seen, but declared from of old. Omniscience, the revealing of His will past, present and future, declares His power and presence. Ultimately the final revelation of His will is seen in Christ, His Son. (Hebrews 1:1-4)


Everything under the former covenants find their fulfillment in Christ and in His Gospel, i.e. under the new and final covenant.
(Luke 24:25-26; 44-49; Hebrews 8:13)


The true apostles and prophets, that is, all the elect saints, worship the sovereign God; the God who truly is God.
.(Acts 4:23-31)   

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