Posts Tagged ‘Perfect Knowledge’

How foolish are those who think that God does not know their actions

Posted: April 25, 2013 by Pam Larson in April, Devotionals/Commentaries, Psalms
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He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
    He who teaches man knowledge—
        the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,
        that they are but a breath.
    Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD,
        and whom you teach out of your law,
    to give him rest from days of trouble,
        until a pit is dug for the wicked.
    For the LORD will not forsake his people;
        he will not abandon his heritage;
    for justice will return to the righteous,
        and all the upright in heart will follow it. —Psalm 94:10-15 ESV

Spurgeon, in The Treasury of David, comments on Psalm 94

Whether men admit or deny that God knows, one thing is here declared, namely, that The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Not their words alone are heard, and their works seen, but he reads the secret motions of their minds, for men themselves are not hard to be discerned of him, before his glance they themselves are but vanity. It is in the Lord’s esteem no great matter to know the thoughts of such transparent pieces of vanity as mankind are, he sums them up in a moment as poor vain things. This is the sense of the original, but that given in the authorised version is also true—the thoughts, the best part, the most spiritual portion of man’s nature, even these are vanity itself, and nothing better. Poor man! And yet such a creature as this boasts, plays at monarch, tyrannises over his fellow worms, and defies his God! Madness is mingled with human vanity, like smoke with the fog, to make it fouler but not more substantial than it would have been alone. How foolish are those who think that God does not know their actions, when the truth is that their vain thoughts are all perceived by him! How absurd to make nothing of God when in fact we ourselves are as nothing in his sight.

Ryle: We can TRUST Christ who has perfect knowledge

Posted: September 4, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Luke, September
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J.C.Ryle, comments on Luke 21:20-24

We should mark in this passage, our Lord Jesus Christ’s perfect knowledge. He gives us a fearful picture of the miseries which were coming on Jerusalem. Forty years before the armies of Titus encompassed the city, the dreadful circumstances which would attend the siege are minutely described. The distress of weak and helpless women–the slaughter of myriads of Jews–the final scattering of Israel in captivity among all nations–the treading down of the holy city by the Gentiles for eighteen hundred years, are things which our Lord narrates with as much particularity as if He saw them with His own eyes.

Foreknowledge like this is a special attribute of God. Of ourselves we “know not what a day may bring forth.” (Prov. 27:1.) To say what will happen to any city or kingdom in forty years from the present time, is far beyond the power of man. The words in Isaiah are very solemn–”I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” (Isa. 46:10.) He who could speak with authority of things to come, as our Lord did in this place, must have been very God as well as very man.

The true Christian should continually keep in mind this perfect knowledge of Christ. Past things, present things, and things to come, are all naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. The recollection of the sins of youth may well make us humble. The sense of present weakness may make us anxious. The fear of trials yet to come may make our hearts faint. But it is a strong consolation to think that Christ knows all. For past, present, and future things we may safely trust Him. Nothing can ever happen to us that Christ has not known long ago.

Spurgeon: No limit can be set to God’s knowledge

Posted: April 25, 2011 by Pam Larson in April, Devotionals/Commentaries, Psalms
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He who planted the ear, does he not hear?  He who formed the eye, does he not see?

C.H.Spurgeon on Psalm 94:9 


He fashioned that marvellous organ, and fixed it in the most convenient place near to the brain, and is he deaf himself? Is he capable of such design and invention, and yet can he not discern what is done in the world which he made? He made you hear, can he not himself hear? Unanswerable question! It overwhelms the sceptic, and covers him with confusion.

He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He gives us vision; is it conceivable that he has no sight himself? With skilful hand he fashioned the optic nerve, and the eyeball, and all its curious mechanism, and it surpasses all conception that he can himself be unable to observe the doings of his creatures. If there be a God, he must be a personal intelligent being, and no limit can be set to his knowledge.

To read the rest of the commentary on Psalm 94, from the Treasury of David, click here:

Perfect Knowledge

Posted: August 21, 2010 by Pam Larson in August, Devotionals/Commentaries, Luke
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J.C.Ryle comments on the Triumphal Entry in Luke 19:28-38 

colt.JesusLet us mark, for one thing, in these verses, the perfect knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see Him sending two of His disciples to a village, and telling them that they would find at the entrance of it, “a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat.” We see Him describing what they would see and hear, with as much confidence as if the whole transaction had been previously arranged. In short, He speaks like one to whom all things were naked and open, like one whose eyes were in every place–like one who knew things unseen as well as things seen.

An attentive reader will observe the same thing in other parts of the Gospel. We are told in one place that “He knew the thoughts” of His enemies. We are told in another, that “He knew what was in man.” We are told in another, that “He knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray Him.” (Luke 6:8; John 2:25; John 6:64.) Knowledge like this is the peculiar attribute of God. Passages like these are meant to remind us, that “the man Christ Jesus” is not only man. He is also “God blessed forever.” (Rom. 9:5.)