God's Infinite Nature

Video

Summary

This lesson, we are going to be talking about God’s infinite nature, and what that means in terms of His abilities.

Timestamps

0:000:00 - Intro and outline
02:0102:01 - Introduction: God’s infinite nature
02:5702:57 - God is Spiritual
 09:4709:47 - If mankind is at present “a little lower than the angels”, why do angels desire physical bodies like ours?
16:0516:05 - God is Eternal
 23:4023:40 - Angels are subject to time
 24:2824:28 - The relationship between future prophecy and the time continuum
30:0330:03 - God is Immeasurable (in a spatial sense)
35:3835:38 - God is Unique
50:1750:17 - God is Omnipotent
 51:2051:20 - “Could God create a rock so big even He couldn’t lift it?”
01:08:1601:08:16 - God is Omniscient
 01:08:5701:08:57 - God’s knowledge of hypotheticals
01:21:5801:21:58 - God is Omnipresent
01:26:4501:26:45 - Summary and outro

Content

(Derived from https://ichthys.com/1Theo.htm)

Introduction: God’s infinite nature

Key point: God’s nature is infinite. Infinite.

God’s infinity – infinity in every way and according to any conceivable true standard – is a clarifying concept, illuminating His abilities.

God is Spiritual

God’s being transcends the physical universe. He is not limited or bounded by material issues or concerns. God is not subject to matter in any way. God is not made of matter – God created matter and employs it however He desires.

If mankind is at present “a little lower than the angels”, why do angels desire physical bodies like ours?

Compare Hebrews 2:6-8.

God is Eternal

God’s being transcends time. He is not limited or bounded by temporal issues or concerns. God is not subject to time in any way. God is not constrained by time – God created time and employs it however He desires.

Angels are subject to time

The relationship between future prophecy and the time continuum

Were prophets actually transported into the future (i.e., plucked from one point in the “river of time” and dropped at another as an observer), or did they just have visions of the future (i.e., see visions of it like a movie)?

God is Immeasurable (in a spatial sense)

God’s being transcends space. He is not limited or bounded by spatial issues or concerns. God is not subject to space in any way. God is not confined by space – God created space and employs it however He desires.

God is Unique

Uniqueness comes from God’s infinite nature. No one else in the universe can reasonably be compared to Him. He is absolutely unique within His own creation, and therefore the one Person to whom all honor is due.

From the standpoint of His transcendence of the physical universe, He is unique by virtue of His spirituality, eternity and immeasurability. From the standpoint of His supremacy within the physical universe, He is unique by virtue of His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.

Essential Quality	Manifesting in creation as
Being spiritual (rather than bound by matter)	Omnipotence (God may affect material creation however he pleases)
Being eternal (rather than bound by time)	Omniscience (God knows everything in creation from beginning to end, and even what could have been)
Being immeasurable (rather than bound by space)	Omnipresence (God is ever-present in creation: as far as the East is from the West, nothing can separate us from God)

While we may not be properly able to fully grasp God’s true nature since we are small, finite beings bound by spacetime, it should nonetheless be clearly apparent that it is not possible for any created creature to compare with the Creator. Even creatures far more powerful than ourselves—Satan and the other angels—are bound and limited in ways God is not, leaving God completely alone and unique in His transcendence of and supremacy within the physical universe.

God is Omnipotent

God is all-powerful, irrespective of matter. He can effect anything He desires in the material realm, and nothing can transpire apart from His will. Therefore there is no deed (nor was there ever, nor will there ever be) which God is unable to do, small or great.

God is Omniscient

God is all-knowing, irrespective of time. He can effect anything He desires in the temporal realm. Therefore God knows (has always known, and always will know) everything, the end from the beginning. As the Everlasting One (Ps.90:2; 90:4), His knowledge of every event that ever has or will or even could occur within His creation is comprehensive and absolute.

God’s knowledge of hypotheticals

The “could occur” bit is important. God’s knowledge of all possible hypotheticals is sometimes discussed in terms of so-called “Molinism” and “middle knowledge”. I prefer to discuss it independent from all the baggage there, however.

Here’s an example: since the Bible says that God will never test us past what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13), then that implies He knows what we would and would not be able to bear. He wouldn’t be able to perfectly test us to refine our faith unless He knew all information like this.

Same deal with perfectly disciplining us, and plenty of other matters besides. Put simply, God’s perfect foreordination of all things logically requires that He know everything about all potential paths in the mind-bogglingly complex decision tree that spans the history of the entire universe. It has always puzzled me why people would ever think to argue against such a notion, but alas, some people do for some reason. Perhaps it is because such a belief requires one to appreciate how truly “big” and unlike us (with our very finite perspective) God really is?

For now, you should mostly ignore the fact that some people have again put God in a box in their minds, and content yourself with the sure confidence that God knows everything—absolutely everything, inclusive of our free-will decisions before we even make them—and is so infinitely wise as to have perfectly mapped out all of creature history before the universe was even created. There is a Perfect Divine Plan being worked out around us, and God knows very well what He is doing, rest assured.

God is Omnipresent

God is ever-present, irrespective of space. He can effect anything He desires in the spatial realm (Job 26:7). Therefore God has the ability (has always had, and always will have) to be anywhere and everywhere, local and universal.

Of particular note is that this means God sees all. Nobody can sneak anything past God, and on that Great Day of Days, all will be revealed. It also means it is completely futile to try to run away from God. Like Jonah, we will find that no matter where we go, God and His purposes for us will always be there too.

Video/audio transcript

0:000:00 - all right guys so this week we are picking up and we are going to be talking about God’s infinite nature so
0:060:06 - last time we met we were talking about the essence of God in general uh so I don’t have the slides up but we did talk
0:130:13 - about how God is The Great I Am God is being uh we talked about uh light and
0:190:19 - Glory as manifestations of God’s resplendant and we also talked about kind of the difference between nature
0:260:26 - and Essence and uh kind of waved our hands a bit and said you know what but we for the purposes of this study are
0:320:32 - just going to be explaining who God is from the Bible and we’re going to not worry so much about some of the technical terms and the arguments that
0:390:39 - philosophers have about these things we’re just going to talk about God in terms of how the Bible explains him to
0:450:45 - us and so picking up on that line this week we’re going to be starting out talking about God’s infinite nature um
0:520:52 - So within the study of IUS we have God’s infinite nature and God’s perfect
0:570:57 - character are kind of the subheadings that we’re going to be going through uh next in our sequence here and this week
1:021:02 - is God’s infinite nature so here are the sub points that we’re going to be going through we’re going to start out just
1:081:08 - the general introduction that he’s infinite and what that means for us going to talk about how God is spiritual
1:141:14 - Eternal and immeasurable in a spatial sense and then we’re going to talk about how these things uh essential attributes
1:201:20 - of God make God unique um and he’s also unique because of how they manifest in
1:261:26 - creation and so that’s where the omnipotence the omniscience and the omnipresent comes from and so that’s the
1:311:31 - general structure of what we’re going to go through here today and um as we go um this middle section here about how God
1:381:38 - is unique this is the transition between these first three which are the
1:441:44 - so-called essential qualities of God um this is uh uh you know God independent
1:491:49 - from creation if you will and then the latter three are how these qualities manifest in how God relates to creation
1:561:56 - and so that’s kind of what the middle section there uh is is going
2:032:03 - through all right so that first point for us to make is simply this that God’s
2:092:09 - nature is infinite and this is actually a decidedly difficult concept for us as
2:142:14 - humans to understand because we as humans are not infinite now God’s Infinity which is infinity in every way
2:212:21 - and according to any conceivable true standard so it’s not like God’s just really big he’s not a super creature
2:282:28 - he’s not you know something that we can honestly contextualize we don’t have a reference for a being that is truly
2:352:35 - infinite but God’s Infinity for us uh is a clarifying Concept in that it
2:402:40 - illuminates his abilities so uh when we talk about God’s character which is what we’ll come next in the study we’ll talk
2:462:46 - about how God’s perfect character illuminates his motives um the reasons behind how he operates in creation but
2:532:53 - God’s Infinity illuminates his
2:582:58 - abilities so the first thing that we’re going to be talking about is about how God is
3:043:04 - spiritual and so in being spiritual God’s being transcends the physical Universe he’s not limited or bounded by
3:123:12 - material concerns or issues God is Not subject to matter in any way he’s not
3:173:17 - made of matter because God created matter and employs it however he desires
3:223:22 - and so this is the first of these essential qualities that we’re talking about so uh spiritual Eternal and
3:283:28 - immeasurable those are the three we’re going through first and this one is talking specifically about matter and so
3:343:34 - when we say matter we’re talking about the things that are created in the material universe so the world and
3:403:40 - everything in it uh the second and third Heavens if you will that’s how the Bible describes them so uh you know our solar
3:463:46 - system the galaxies everything in the universe that has substance is what
3:513:51 - we’re getting at here and when we say that God is spiritual God is separate from that he is separate from that which
3:583:58 - has been created um the stuff if you will in the universe because he is a
4:034:03 - completely spiritual being now one thing that I thought maybe it would be good for us to talk about just a little bit
4:104:10 - is how God being spiritual is different than Angels being spiritual and so aie
4:164:16 - um I know that’s a little bit jumping ahead in the Systematic Theology uh Dr L has an entire section of the study
4:214:21 - dedicated to Angels but do you have anything you want to say on regards to God’s spirituality versus uh Angels
4:284:28 - which aren’t quite the same as us and how they relate to SpaceTime yeah I do um I want to say
4:364:36 - first of all that uh if anything is created it’s made of
4:434:43 - stuff and the Lord is not created so he’s not made of stuff so when we think
4:504:50 - in terms of spirit we might be feeling like this is other than material and there is some
4:574:57 - sense to that but it is not strictly correct MH because everything that
5:045:04 - exists is made of stuff so it is all really material in a sense of speaking
5:115:11 - and that’s actually why we’re not looking forward to a smokey hazy sort of
5:185:18 - heaven or oops well we’ll see if he comes back in a sec yeah it’s it’s smok
5:245:24 - sort of heaven or the new universe a place where you know things are not
5:305:30 - Material that’s not the idea we we saw that um Angels
5:355:35 - could take in food even though the Lord could as well you know when he um came
5:425:42 - to visit with Abraham with the angels we saw that they could interact with matter and um physical matter and uh they could
5:515:51 - eat food and they could have all of these experiences we have Genesis 6 that talks about um The Rebel Angels um creat
5:595:59 - the Nephilim with human women and all of that so that suggests to us that they’re
6:056:05 - made of a different sort of material than the rest of the universe
6:116:11 - is but it is still material that’s the idea but the Lord when we say that the
6:176:17 - Lord is spiritual we’re necessarily saying that he is not
6:226:22 - Material so the his spirituality is essentially in contrast to the Universe
6:306:30 - the spirituality of the Angels is not in contrast to the universe it’s in contrast to other material things other
6:376:37 - physical things and um the way that the Bible presents it it keeps using the word that is also translatable as wind
6:466:46 - we find that kind of issue with different um modern translations instead
6:516:51 - of saying Spirit they would say wind and in some places instead of seeing not just modern translations I think even the KJV have that issue so in some
6:586:58 - places you will see spirit in some places you would see wind because the word is not really
7:047:04 - distinguishable from each other the idea here is that just as wind does have an
7:097:09 - effect on matter around it and yet you can’t see it you can’t really touch it
7:157:15 - it’s not tangible that’s how these creatures are so the spirituality of
7:217:21 - angels is in contrast to the other material Creations in the universe in
7:267:26 - fact um this is one way to look at it that unless man had been created angels
7:337:33 - would have been the only thing of their kind in the entire universe every other thing had either Flesh and Bones if they
7:407:40 - were animals or they had a physicality to them that the Angels did not have it
7:467:46 - classed them separately from everything that existed so when Man was created note what the Bible says that he was
7:527:52 - made a little lower than the Angels that’s actually speaking to the fact that man was more like all creatures of
7:587:58 - the Earth that he was like the Angels so the spirituality of the Angels
8:058:05 - was essentially to set them apart from everything else that God had made and spirituality of God is to contrast God
8:128:12 - as a thing with the universe as a and so that
8:188:18 - was the essential point that we’re trying to draw a contrast between here and I think you did a good job explaining it that God’s spirituality is
8:258:25 - completely distinct from anything that’s created so humans are creatures angels are
8:318:31 - creatures both have been created by the Creator who is external to that which is
8:378:37 - created um and maybe that sounds really technical but I think ai’s done a good job explaining uh some of the points
8:438:43 - just a couple other things to bring up in regards to this um Angels this physicality aspect is one of the reasons
8:508:50 - why Genesis 6 was a thing it’s one of the reasons why Angels um inhabit some
8:568:56 - of the creatures in the gospels you know like going into the pigs um it uh you
9:019:01 - know that that word actually gets transliterated a lot of different ways but the gines or the gines um uh at that
9:099:09 - particular instance is angels have this desire for physicality um Dr lugan Bill
9:149:14 - um uh discusses this in various parts of his studies and the other point that I
9:199:19 - wanted to bring up in regards to this is that before humans were even created in the universe uh the universe had been
9:269:26 - created and was inhabited by angels and so this is the the sons of God as they’re called I believe it’s
9:339:33 - in job somewhere you know talks about how the sons of God Sayang during creation right a angels have this
9:409:40 - materiality to them even though they are different than us but God is completely separate all right so with that I think
9:469:46 - we’re gonna take a question here and we’ll pick back up in a second all right so a good question that we just got was
9:529:52 - well if angels are already kind of of this different state than us why are
9:589:58 - they kind of uh uh looking down so to speak and if humans were created a
10:0310:03 - little lower than the Angels um aie was quoting that passage then why do angels want that um this physical experience um
10:1210:12 - and I I think my answer just to start us off and like I said I’ll certainly let others jump in is just that uh Angels
10:1910:19 - want things they don’t have and so if angels don’t have this the sensory
10:2410:24 - experience the actual physicality now um I should note that it’s a little bit
10:3010:30 - dangerous for us to get too off in the Weeds about saying well Angels did this for this and that reason you know the
10:3510:35 - Bible doesn’t talk so explicitly about some of this um Dr lell has done a good job on this explaining um hypotheses for
10:4310:43 - the motivations here um so for example uh before the universe was uh destroyed
10:4910:49 - and remade um he hypothesizes certain things about angels kind of messing with the genetic code of the creatures the
10:5710:57 - the fauna on the pre reconstruction Earth um as well as um Angels Desiring
11:0311:03 - the bodies of of you know things generally speaking as it shows up in the gospels and uh my initial answer would
11:1011:10 - just be because it’s something that they lack and sort of Grass Is Always Greener sentiment is because of that that’s why
11:1711:17 - even though uh you know having this this Mortal coil to use that phrasing that
11:2311:23 - the KJV does makes us weaker and less powerful we still have that sensory EXP
11:2911:29 - ER and that’s something that the Angels wanted to experience themselves iose aie
11:3411:34 - do you have thoughts to on top of that I think you really actually said what the
11:4011:40 - issue is every time we’re tempted the idea is that what we don’t have is better than what we do have um so why
11:4611:46 - would they want it well because they didn’t trust that God gave them what they should have that what they had was
11:5311:53 - good and that God had you know put them in the right state for
11:5811:58 - them to be and that’s why this whole fight we have is a fight of Faith a fight of trusting that what God does is
12:0512:05 - good that that he loves us and that what he gives for us gives to us is good for us it’s exactly what happened with um
12:1212:12 - Adam and Eve they had the Fountain of wisdom himself coming to walk with them
12:1812:18 - every evening they had a perfect garden everything was great but somehow they thought that the
12:2712:27 - one thing that God said that that’s not good for you was what they needed more
12:3312:33 - than anything once Satan suggested it to them so the fact that anyone wants
12:4112:41 - something no matter how wise powerful smart or whatever they might be does not
12:4612:46 - in any way indicate that that thing was actually better for them than what they had it’s not at all a way to think about
12:5412:54 - things so yeah the Angels wanted it simply because they could
12:5912:59 - not because there was anything to suggest that they what what they had was not Superior to what they were looking
13:0513:05 - for I mean to a certain extent this is the irrationality of sin I know I’ve
13:1113:11 - explained it this way I don’t want to get super philosophical about it but when the Bible calls Jesus the Divine
13:1713:17 - logos you know that word meaning reason I mean it means many things in Greek but
13:2213:22 - God’s universe is ordered and logical and fundamentally all sin is irrational
13:2713:27 - and so the question of why did the angelss seem to desire something that’s lower than the estate that they
13:3313:33 - currently possess it seems kind of like mad right well why does Satan rebel
13:3813:38 - against God why do any of us rebel against God um maybe that isn’t the most
13:4413:44 - intellectually satisfying of answers but it really does get to the heart of this I think is that just because angels are uh you know
13:5313:53 - bigger and smarter than us so to speak doesn’t mean that they don’t suffer from the same spiritual blindness than we do
13:5813:58 - and that’s spiritual blindness causes us to do things that a more objective third party Observer would say are irrational
14:0514:05 - um and in this particular case this is one such instance where by all accounts elect Angels don’t have this same uh
14:1214:12 - desire temptation to do all of this and so it’s it’s just transgression of the
14:1814:18 - created order in a matter that we would term irrational um so I think that is
14:2314:23 - kind of the the way in which we ought to approach this issue um not so much that the angels are doing it for any great
14:3014:30 - purpose like there there there isn’t more behind it in a plan as it’s something that they don’t have that they
14:3614:36 - want and uh sin is always in some sense irrationally breaking God’s natural
14:4314:43 - order yeah yeah I would say that I actually find the answer pretty intellectually satisfying myself because
14:5014:50 - all it all it says really is we always want some because we think it’s better than
14:5614:56 - what we have and that that’s just true we have that experience all the time it’s very rare for people to go I want
15:0315:03 - something and that something is a change of of the order the state in which you are and it’s not because as you don’t
15:1015:10 - think that what you want is better than what you’re what you currently have I mean it’s we have too many if we were to
15:1815:18 - to go into all the experiences that demonstrate this we probably spend the whole night from this and there is no
15:2315:23 - need for that so we could move on at I think
15:3015:30 - all right so with that I think that’s where we’re going to stop on our initial discussion of how God being spiritual
15:3615:36 - means he is set apart distinct from the universe uh he transcends it in a way
15:4215:42 - that even angels do not even though angels are above us in station for the
15:4715:47 - time being as Hebrews talks about is that God even more than that because he
15:5215:52 - is not a created being because he’s not a created creature God is completely separate from matter and that makes him
16:0016:00 - unique in this characteristic as we will see for all of the other things that we talk about
16:0716:07 - next all right so next we are going to be talking about how God is eternal and so what we just spent time covering was
16:1416:14 - how God uh is not bound by matter or the material Universe uh because God is
16:1916:19 - spiritual and now we’re talking about how God is not bound by time so God’s being transcends time he’s not limited
16:2616:26 - or bounded by temporal issues or concerns God is Not subject to time in any way God is Not constrained by time
16:3416:34 - because God created time and employs it however he desires and so this is one of
16:4016:40 - those things where again we as humans are just going to have a hard time wrapping our heads around exactly what
16:4616:46 - it means to be outside of time because it’s not a state in which we have any personal experience in uh plus when you
16:5316:53 - say something like before time even existed the concept of before is
16:5916:59 - inherently wrapped up in time right um if we view time as kind of like a line then before is like more left on the
17:0517:05 - line well for a being that’s outside of time there is no before there is no after because time is not something that
17:1317:13 - that being is bound by and this is really hard for us to wrap in our minds um I would not feel discouraged if
17:2017:20 - thinking about this sometimes causes you to get confused because it confuses me um it’s just not even something that we
17:2717:27 - honestly need to worry ourselves about to the greatest degree we just need to
17:3317:33 - understand that some of the concerns that test us and temper Us in life about
17:3817:38 - not seeing how things are going to play out about this uncertain future about not knowing how the chips are going to
17:4417:44 - fall God is Not constrained in that same way God’s plan sees from the very
17:5017:50 - beginning to the very end of of the history of the universe it sees everything uh in in an instant God
17:5617:56 - planned everything before the initial events of creation were ever set in motion and that is very foreign to our
18:0318:03 - limited way of thinking because we think on imperfect information but God does not and so this is what we mean by God
18:1018:10 - being Eternal is that he sees the beginning from or sorry the end from the beginning he is simply not bound by the
18:1718:17 - constraints of time that we are a you have points you want to bring up in reference to
18:2318:23 - this yeah sure um I think the very first thing that we want to know is what time
18:2918:29 - is uh physicists are having a hard time actually explaining what time is especially since um
18:3618:36 - Einstein basically blew everybody’s mind when he made it clear that time was not a constant when he discovered that time
18:4418:44 - was not the constant it was thought to be well time is really the measure of
18:5018:50 - change and God doesn’t change so obviously there was nothing to
18:5718:57 - measure that change if time exists for a being that does not change it is
19:0219:02 - actually a nonsensical concept it really does not mean anything you know so um
19:1119:11 - the first thing I would say is that the very meaning of time does not apply to God since it’s actually the measure of
19:1619:16 - change and um the second thing I would say is that God’s
19:2219:22 - eternality is explained entirely by the fact that he is that which is
19:2919:29 - so there is no was with God in the sense of him because if you look to God’s past
19:3819:38 - what you see is the same thing that you see now and if you look to his future
19:4319:43 - what you see is the same thing that you see now there is no transformation in the state of his existence but that does
19:5019:50 - not mean that because God is outside and and when we use that that
19:5719:57 - that word it’s it we have to construct we have to create mental constructs for trying to make sense of God so when we
20:0420:04 - say outside of time we have this feeling like there is a box in which time
20:1020:10 - operates and God exists outside of it but God is
20:1620:16 - acting he is doing things and when he does
20:2220:22 - things there’s a question um there’s a question how how does his doing things
20:3020:30 - interact with the fact that time exists outside of or that time does not
20:3720:37 - affect him is he not actually doing something create basically changing
20:4220:42 - something and uh that is where I would bring in the analogy of uh the software engineer and his and his um software
20:5020:50 - he’s he’s changing states without actually being affected in any way by those changes he might put create an an
20:5820:58 - input in a particular program he has um designed and he gets a certain output he
21:0321:03 - might make changes the state of the program and all of that but he himself is not in any way Changed by it
21:1021:10 - so we we the creatures that God made have had to have a context within which
21:1621:16 - we exist he does not need context he does not need anything in himself he is
21:2221:22 - perfectly complete so eternity in fact
21:2721:27 - is is just like um uh would I say space eternity is like
21:3521:35 - an expression of him rather than something that that he exists within
21:4221:42 - that is it it it is his own type of time no eternity is actually like this is an
21:4821:48 - aspect of myself that’s what it is so likewise for us to appreciate God’s
21:5621:56 - eternality we we first of all appreciate first that he does not change and
22:0222:02 - therefore time is meaningless to him to the quality of his existence there’s no change to measure but in order to
22:1122:11 - interact with us and to bring about the state of things that he wants he has
22:1722:17 - created time to allow us to exist exist within a certain context and to work out
22:2422:24 - what he has intended so time for us it is for our
22:3022:30 - benefit otherwise we couldn’t make sense of life right and I think fundamentally
22:3522:35 - the point is that time is created God created time right it’s not like it’s some aspect within which he works like
22:4222:42 - you said um because it is fundamentally tied up with existence like you brought up time is something that was created as
22:5022:50 - part of the creation of the universe you know bringing back up the physicist there’s this thing relativity is this
22:5522:55 - idea of space is linked to time the two things are not unrelated it is very much
23:0123:01 - part of creation and again we have a really hard time understanding exactly what that means for God not having that
23:0823:08 - but it is just very important for us to emphasize that God is not bound by it
23:1323:13 - because God created it um and really I think that is more or less the gist of
23:1923:19 - what we have to say on this matter is simply that even though it’s hard for us to understand and conceptualize God is
23:2523:25 - separate from time um and that means that how he approaches the sequence of
23:3023:30 - events that happen in the material universe is very fundamentally different from how we as fly night creatures who
23:3623:36 - don’t have that don’t have that externality to time can approach things
23:4223:42 - um all right uh good question here well observation question um so first off
23:4823:48 - angels are subject to time um we spent a good bit of the last uh point that we were discussing talking about how God’s
23:5423:54 - spirituality is fundamentally different than angels and that angels are still material they’re in the material
24:0024:00 - creation well so too with time Angels they don’t see the future um so to speak they are not outside of time they are
24:0724:07 - within time space or SpaceTime time space isn’t a word SpaceTime just how we
24:1224:12 - are and so that makes them again more similar to us than they are to God in this even though Angels uh have
24:1824:18 - different capabilities than we do um uh they are different creatures with different Natures than we have they are
24:2524:25 - nonetheless still created creatures within SpaceTime and an interesting observation also related to this idea of
24:3424:34 - how time works and and God’s externality to it is this idea of future Prophecy in the Bible um and so uh sometimes it’s
24:4224:42 - just people are told what’s are are told what’s going to happen uh God tells them
24:4724:47 - what is going to happen sorry um future events but when we have this case of Visions um so uh we might think about
24:5524:55 - John with the Book of Revelation for example was it just that John was given I don’t
25:0125:01 - know like a movie so to speak of what was going to happen in the future or was John actually transported into the
25:0725:07 - future thereby seeing the events that were going to happen uh I I I don’t want
25:1225:12 - to like punt on the question to me it sort of doesn’t seem like the answer matters um because either way in the
25:2125:21 - Book of Revelation we are being given um this description of future events
25:2625:26 - whether that is John was simply given to see the manifestation of what would
25:3225:32 - happen or whether he was actually somehow transported picked up from um if you view time as a stream picked up from
25:3925:39 - one place in the Stream and put in a futured place in the Stream and then brought back I don’t think it really
25:4425:44 - changes the the essence of the fact that the vision that Jon saw was the future
25:5125:51 - um Audie do you think that it has an impact should should we take a stand on
25:5625:56 - this yeah I I don’t I don’t think it really matters it’s it’s an interesting
26:0226:02 - question and uh there there are all sorts of interesting questions out there even with us me personally and pro
26:1126:11 - Robert has has also confessed to having questions of All Sorts that the Bible
26:1626:16 - does not actually give answers to uh I do remember how Ezekiel said that um he
26:2326:23 - the spirit lifted him by the the locks of his head and um took him to such and
26:2926:29 - such a place and he saw this and he saw that and all of that so it’s almost like they were transported forward in time to
26:3526:35 - see things happening as they unfolded now I don’t really know or particularly
26:4026:40 - care the reason for that is this we know that God has control of time whether he
26:4726:47 - can pick you up from the present and transport you to the Future so that you witness things happening or he actually
26:5426:54 - shows you things as they will happen in the future before they actually happen I
27:0027:00 - don’t think it makes that big of a difference we know that God controls
27:0627:06 - time he controls it and we have two um demonstrations in the Bible of God’s
27:1327:13 - control of time he W time back when he was uh speaking to ahaz the king who was
27:2127:21 - an unrighteous king of Judah who didn’t want to listen to reason and uh Isaiah said well this is how God will
27:2827:28 - demonstrate to you that what he has said will happen he caus the sun dial to go back 10° um then there was Joshua who
27:3627:36 - was fighting um I think it was the amalekites he was fighting I don’t remember that whom he was fighting
27:4327:43 - anymore but during that uh battle he basically paused time now how that could
27:5127:51 - possibly happen that time would pause and everything would keep going as it was I mean
27:5827:58 - go knock yourself out with the physics of it but it did happen that’s what the Bible says so all of that tells us that
28:0628:06 - God does have the power to do whatever he wants with time and as for space the
28:1328:13 - Lord Jesus could show up at any place whenever he wanted after he rose from the dead and you couldn’t keep him out
28:2028:20 - with locked doors so when you take all of that into account there is nothing too hard for the Lord he could totally
28:2828:28 - cause a profet to time travel but I’m not sure knowing that he did or didn’t do it is going to really make that of a
28:3728:37 - difference to our understanding of the scriptures or of him we do know that his power is absolute so y I think that is
28:4428:44 - probably the best answer for us on this is just either way I it does not really
28:5028:50 - affect the fact that God is in complete control of time um and it’s not bad to
28:5528:55 - ask questions what I would call questions of curiosity how how exactly does this work you know what does it
29:0129:01 - mean for XYZ if the Bible doesn’t talk about it um there are certain things
29:0729:07 - that we just can’t take hard firm positions on that doesn’t mean that they aren’t interesting in some respects but
29:1229:12 - it also kind of means that maybe it’s not something that we’re given to know and that means that usually I would say
29:1829:18 - as a rule of thumb it’s dangerous to spend lots of time on these things just because uh not that there’s anything
29:2429:24 - wrong being curious or asking questions but if it was something that we needed to know God would have given us
29:2929:29 - information on it right um simple as that so um I think it’s a very
29:3429:34 - interesting question of were prophets actually transported into the future or did they just see visions of the future
29:3929:39 - how does that work uh who knows either way God is in complete control of the flow of time
29:4729:47 - um so I think that’s a good place for us here so just how God is in complete control of matter and uh all of the
29:5329:53 - material things in the universe God is in complete control of time because he is Eternal and separate from it and next
29:5929:59 - we’ll be talking about the same deal except for
30:0530:05 - space all right so uh as we just said next we’re just going to be talking about the exact same sort of concept
30:1130:11 - that we have been with matter and time except now with regards to space so God’s being transcends space he’s not
30:1830:18 - limited or bounded by spatial issues or concerns he’s not subject to space in any way and again God is Not confined by
30:2530:25 - space because he created it and employs it however he desires so we have the
30:3030:30 - same idea of God being the Creator the one outside of creation who has the
30:3630:36 - strings uh in his hand so to speak and so the idea that God is somehow Bound by
30:4230:42 - this thing that he himself made is just completely nonsensical on the face of it um and so AI brought up an example uh
30:5030:50 - when we were just talking about Jesus uh not being bound by space after the resurrection and so uh the the gospels
30:5730:57 - are clear that the disciples were in a room with a locked door and then Jesus appeared among them um and so that’s
31:0331:03 - just an one example here um but uh you know this is what we mean by God not
31:0931:09 - being bound by space um also God uh can control things within space he can uh
31:1631:16 - you know do you know and and this is where it gets a little bit fuzzy if you squint you hard at the physics behind it
31:2231:22 - so uh matter and space and time they’re all related um in these equations that we don’t need to go into but the point
31:3031:30 - is all of it is creation and God is not bound by his creation and if you were to
31:3531:35 - summarize the three things that we’ve been talking about here matter time and space is that all of these things are
31:4131:41 - part of creation and God is not part of creation God exists before creation um
31:4831:48 - god well I I rather I should say God exists right that’s what his nature is
31:5331:53 - and God created what we now have around us and he’s not part of it and that’s really
31:5931:59 - the fundamental basis of all three of these is simply that God is not at all constrained by the things that constrain
32:0632:06 - Us in creation because he is not himself a created creature um you have anything
32:1232:12 - specifically related to space to bring up AI um I I I don’t think so but I
32:1832:18 - think you uh you make a very a very solid Point once you say look we’re
32:2632:26 - talking about that which isn’t created and I I like to make a bit of a
32:3132:31 - difference between um the deity of the Trinity and
32:3732:37 - the persons of the Trinity the reason I make that difference is this or the identity I think um the
32:4532:45 - identity of Trinity the identity of God and the deity of God the reason I like to make that difference is the thing
32:5232:52 - that makes a thing God is simply the isness of the thing the fact that
32:5732:57 - it just is there is no explanation for its existence there is no agent that
33:0633:06 - that speaks to why it exists nothing made it and nothing can affect its
33:1233:12 - existence you can’t change it in any way can’t affect it in any in any way that quality of
33:1933:19 - deity once we understand it makes everything make all the sense in the
33:2533:25 - world because then it can’t be creation creation does not possess that
33:3233:32 - quality and space does not possess that quality because black holes for
33:4033:40 - example there are weird things that happen we’ve been talking about the expans the expansion of of of the
33:4833:48 - universe because of how we are we are measuring um the red shifts I think
33:5433:54 - that’s what they call it yeah it’s red shift yeah so we’re measuring those things that tell us that something is happening
34:0134:01 - to the very fabric of the universe in which we exist everything that we see
34:0734:07 - changes it and change is a response to something external to whatever is
34:1234:12 - changing so if space itself is transforming then
34:1734:17 - space does not possess the quality of deity and that which possesses the quality of deity cannot be subject to
34:2334:23 - anything that is subject to change MH so
34:2934:29 - therefore we can we can comprehend all these arguments are essentially to say
34:3434:34 - look the Bible makes sense because when you think about it it makes sense that’s it so well consistent like you said with
34:4234:42 - drawing this distinction between deity being fundamentally distinct from creation um and creation cannot be deity
34:5134:51 - on this account um you know it’s sort of at least posted on the Forum you know I may get to that at some other point but this idea a that the universe is God is
34:5934:59 - complete garbage because the universe changes and God doesn’t change like just on the surface of it it doesn’t work
35:0535:05 - right um and that’s because God is being God is unchanging as AI has just brought
35:1135:11 - up makes it fundamentally distinct from everything that is created in creation
35:1635:16 - um including space right um so uh that’s a good that’s a good place to end our
35:2335:23 - initial introduction to these so next we’re going to be talking about how some of these attribut that we’ve discussed
35:2835:28 - here so the fact that God’s spiritual that he’s Eternal and that he’s immeasurable make God unique among
35:3435:34 - beings and so that’s what we’re going to turn to
35:4135:41 - next all right so when we say that God is unique this kind of might seem like a
35:4635:46 - no duh teaching well of course there’s only one God right you know we don’t believe in a Pantheon in fact there only
35:5335:53 - could be one God from a logical standpoint right um because if there are
35:5835:58 - more than one well were they all equally existent you have all these other sorts of issues and uh interestingly like
36:0436:04 - pantheons never seem to never seem to kind of handle that so well like do gods exist within other gods or they all kind
36:1136:11 - of if you squint hearted them enough they have what I would call uh existential logical issues with how they
36:1836:18 - work but not so for us because as we’ve just spent time discussing deity exists external to Creation God is not part of
36:2636:26 - creation God is being he’s existence he does not change and so all that to say
36:3236:32 - it should be sort of self-evident that well there’s only one being like that and that being is God and nothing that
36:3836:38 - is created is at all like him because this characteristic of deity like AI has just pointed out that is what makes God
36:4636:46 - unique um I mean among other things right it has all these consequences that we’ve been going through with the
36:5136:51 - spirituality the fact that God is eternal God is immeasurable and the manifestations of those things in
36:5736:57 - creation which is what we’ll look at next as we get through this section but the whole point is that all of these
37:0337:03 - things together mean that there is no one and nothing else like God um and
37:0837:08 - that’s what we mean when we say that God is unique um it comes from God’s infinite nature no one else in the
37:1437:14 - universe can reasonably be compared to him he’s absolutely unique within creation even though God’s not bound by
37:2137:21 - creation right uh as a person who acts within creation no one has the
37:2637:26 - properties that he has no one has his infinite nature and therefore he is the one person to whom all honor is due um
37:3437:34 - as the deao ruler of creation by existential Fiat it’s kind of a mouthful
37:4037:40 - but it’s saying that on account of who God Is His Infinite nature the fact that
37:4537:45 - he is the creator all creation owes him that honor and respect simply on account
37:5237:52 - of who he is um because of these attributes that he has right right we’re saying that God’s Infinity illuminates
37:5837:58 - his abilities that was kind of the intro slide that God is going on this they illuminate his abilities because of his
38:0438:04 - abilities because of his uniqueness he is the de facto ruler of the universe
38:0938:09 - and so from the standpoint of his Transcendence of the physical Universe uh God is unique by virtue of his
38:1538:15 - spirituality eternity and immeasurability and so this is kind of going to be the bridge here and that’s why this section at least to my
38:2238:22 - knowledge that’s why Dr lug has laid out this section as he has is because we’re now going to be going from these three
38:2938:29 - characteristics which are the essential qualities of God right God is these things um now to our minds we kind of
38:3638:36 - have a hard time thinking of them external to the universe but these are the the qualities of God who make God
38:4238:42 - who he is um kind of not in reference to the universe and now we’re going to be shifting our attention um to the
38:5038:50 - manifestations of these qualities as they relate to God’s actions within the universe within creation and so God
38:5738:57 - transcends the physical Universe because he’s spiritual um he’s Eternal and he’s
39:0239:02 - immeasurable but within how he relates to the physical Universe he is supreme
39:0839:08 - within the physical Universe in that he’s omnipotent omniscient and omnipresent and those three if you think
39:1539:15 - about them actually correspond to these other attributes that we’ve just gone over so God is omnipotent because he can
39:2239:22 - affect whatever he wants in the physical Universe with m matter because he is
39:2839:28 - external to it right he’s not bound by the laws that govern the rest of matter in the universe because God created
39:3339:33 - matter same deal with omniscience if God sees the end from the beginning well of what consequences time to God and this
39:4039:40 - is why God knows everything because from the beginning to the end and even that which was not has not been the
39:4639:46 - hypothetical so to speak God knows it all because God is external to time and
39:5139:51 - the omnipresence well if you can’t contain God in one place that’s what it means that God is everywhere because God
39:5839:58 - is simply not a created creature he’s not bound by these these rules of the universe that govern all other created
40:0440:04 - beings now I made this chart here um uh the study doesn’t have it this is just stuff directly out of the study and this
40:1140:11 - can be helpful you know visual a can be helpful for us kind of having an easier way to track some of the things that
40:1740:17 - we’re talking about here so when we say that God is unique we say he’s unique
40:2340:23 - because he’s spiritual rather than being bound by matter and how that manifests in creation is that he’s omnipotent God
40:2940:29 - may affect material creation however he pleases and when we say that he’s Eternal rather than being bound by time
40:3640:36 - that means that God’s omniscient uh God knows everything in creation from beginning to end and even that which
40:4240:42 - could have been um he’s immeasurable rather than being bound by space and that manifests is him being omnipresent
40:4940:49 - he’s ever present in creation as far as the East is from the West so nothing can separate us from God and the the love of
40:5640:56 - God is kind of the scripture I’m paraphrasing there and so all this together means that while we may not be
41:0241:02 - properly able to fully grasp God’s true nature since we ourselves are small finite beings Bound by SpaceTime it
41:0941:09 - should nonetheless be clearly apparent to us that it’s not possible for any other created creature to compare with
41:1541:15 - the Creator um and that’s simply because no other creature is outside of these
41:2041:20 - limitations like God is so even creatures far more powerful than ourselves so Satan and the other angels
41:2641:26 - they are bound and limited in ways God is Not and so that leaves God completely alone in and unique in his Transcendence
41:3441:34 - of and Supremacy within the physical universe and this right here this is why we say that God is
41:4141:41 - unique so uh Audie do you have any points you want to say about kind of what we’ve gone through here um you know
41:4841:48 - this kind of bridge the transition between these essential qualities of God we’ve been going to and then how they
41:5441:54 - manifest within creation yeah um the first thing I want to say about that is the reason that there is
42:0242:02 - even a a question or there is any any mention of God’s uniqueness is that that
42:0842:08 - is actually the whole point of all the fighting so to speak the the war in
42:1642:16 - creation because Satan essentially went why should he have it and I don’t get to
42:2242:22 - have it and every sin that we commit
42:2842:28 - everything that um all all the issues of sin that we
42:3342:33 - have arise from a heart that says why does God get to be God and I don’t get
42:4042:40 - to be God because the idea is what makes him so special I can also make my own
42:4742:47 - choices I can also determine what I will be and we must remember that this is why
42:5442:54 - we are in the image of God that we possess the ability to self-determine we
43:0043:00 - have the ability to self-define so we can say this is what I want to be
43:0543:05 - relative to God that’s what free will really is that we possess the ability to
43:1043:10 - define or explain ourselves relative to God and because we possess that and this
43:1843:18 - is exactly why the argument he just made for how there cannot be more than one God makes all the sense in the world
43:2443:24 - creature Rebellion is AB proof that there can only be one God because if there are more than one creation would
43:3143:31 - not exist there would be at loggerheads all the time and they would essentially
43:3743:37 - either want to create multiple universes and if as long as they’re in Conflict they cannot have this they can’t let
43:4543:45 - anything else exist they would be locked in Eternal conflict forever but we know
43:5143:51 - that there are three Persons Of God and these three Persons Of God are in perfect Unity and that is also proof for
43:5843:58 - why there is one God because if they if they are all in perfect Unity they cannot be multiple gods in the sense of
44:0744:07 - possessing multiple Wills multiple desires multiple projections
44:1444:14 - and expectations and whatnot the very essence of godhead of of deity is that I
44:2144:21 - am that which is not affected by anything outside of myself and
44:2644:26 - more than one God exists they would have issues with affecting each other yeah I
44:3244:32 - mean I almost don’t think to a certain extent that we have to go worry ourselves with uh arguing against the
44:3844:38 - concept because to some extent scripture is clear that there is one God right um
44:4344:43 - you know even Old Testament got that so I I’m not saying we can’t talk about it it’s just to us that’s the important
44:4944:49 - part yeah we’re not going into that the reason that this is actually raised is to explain the matter of the uniqueen of
44:5644:56 - God while we’re even talking about it that uniqueness is the point of all the
45:0245:02 - fighting we are having because as long as a creature can say I can be God too
45:1045:10 - then what’s special about God and that’s why that’s why the Bible is shaped the
45:1545:15 - way it is um I think I had a conversation yes I had a conversation with someone on my way back from church
45:2145:21 - today and I had to tell her I don’t present and I don’t believe that the Bible is a manual of in instruction so I
45:2845:28 - don’t teach you what to do and what not to do and what is right and what is not right I teach you who God is so that you
45:3545:35 - see how different he is from you and from everybody else you get to know his plan so that you know exactly what he
45:4245:42 - aiming to accomplish as a thing that’s different from what you are aiming to accomplish and what everybody else is
45:4745:47 - aiming to accomplish in other words I’m showing you the uniqueness of God and
45:5245:52 - that’s the point that’s the point Satan could say I will Ascend to and I will
45:5945:59 - make my own place I will be like the most high as if you can be like him you
46:0746:07 - are not like him not even remotely so and that’s the point so like you said um
46:1346:13 - all of these uh other qualities that came into play um they they essentially demonstrate his uniqueness and all sorts
46:1946:19 - of ways that is absolutely true they show his Transcendence over creation but more importantly they show his
46:2646:26 - Transcendence over us that is me personally this is the difference
46:3146:31 - between me and God and this is why he gets to say what should be and I get to
46:3846:38 - say I’d like to go with you I agree with you I submit to what you want I will
46:4346:43 - work with you to accomplish it because I don’t know half the things you know you know everything and I don’t have half
46:4946:49 - the power you have you you have all the power whatever you don’t do doesn’t get done I I can’t
46:5646:56 - um be everywhere at once to accomplish my this and and again look when he
47:0247:02 - tested job these things are what he brought to bear he showed him look at the difference between me and you you
47:0847:08 - think you’re so wise you think you’re so smart that you can even judge me now would you can you do this can you do
47:1447:14 - that do you understand this do you know that have you been here have you been there do you know where the the snow
47:2147:21 - comes from and all of that stuff he was essentially saying look at the the gulf the wide go between who you are and who
47:2747:27 - I am and when you see that for what it is do you really think you can judge me
47:3347:33 - can you sit in Judgment of God so this is why we’re interested at all in the
47:4047:40 - talk about God’s uniqueness we’re essentially saying it is impossible for
47:4647:46 - there to be more than one God we are certainly not candidates for that other God that be and Satan is most definitely
47:5447:54 - not a candidate for the other God that ought to be there is only one every other claim to deity to godhood is a
48:0348:03 - lie that’s what this is about because they can never have these attributes
48:0848:08 - that we’re talking about only a being who created what currently exists who’s
48:1348:13 - outside of it can have these attributes nothing that exists within creation can be spiritual truly like separate from
48:2148:21 - creation right nothing that exists within time can be separate from time it just it doesn’t make sense right it’s
48:2748:27 - impossible and so this is the madness the existential futility of Satan’s
48:3348:33 - rebellion and uh you know as uh the satanic rebelling series on ichus talks
48:3848:38 - about this this idea that humans have about you know I am like God God needs
48:4448:44 - me that progression of self- delusion again the insanity of this as
48:5048:50 - Audi is pointing out the reason why we talk about the uniqueness of God is because this this uniqueness that we’re
48:5648:56 - talking about it means that we we owe God God is the one who controls the
49:0149:01 - universe and because of that he’s the one with all the authority in the universe not us um we don’t control the
49:0849:08 - things like God does and for that reason God’s uniqueness gives him de facto
49:1449:14 - rulership and Supremacy within the universe because among other things no one can oppose him not really uh even
49:2049:20 - Satan’s plan Satan’s only dancing in the palm of God’s hand because Satan can do nothing that God does not allow to
49:2749:27 - happen um there is no battle between good and evil where you have Stakes that
49:3349:33 - you’re not sure who wins God won from the time that history first started there is no competition so to speak and
49:4049:40 - that’s because God is unique within the universe no one can compare to him no one has these attributes except for him
49:4849:48 - so um I think that’s where we’ll conclude this I mean obviously uh this bridge that we’ve spent talking about
49:5449:54 - here going from these essential qualities of God to how they manifest in creation as omnipotence omniscience and
49:5949:59 - omnipresence but we’re going to be talking about those things next but that’s kind of how this section Works in taking us from the one to the other
50:0650:06 - talking about how these things make God unique by nature and no one can compare to him on that account so I think that’s
50:1350:13 - where we’re going to stop here and we will be picking up next talking about
50:2050:20 - omnipotence all right so having just talked about how God is unique and he’s
50:2550:25 - unique on account of his spirituality giving him complete dominion over material things in creation his
50:3250:32 - externality to time his eternity giving him complete knowledge of things in creation and his immeasurability uh
50:4050:40 - giving him the ability to be present at all places in etern or in creation um
50:4550:45 - those latter three things that’s what we’re going to be focusing on now starting with uh omnipotence this idea
50:5250:52 - that because God is outside of SpaceTime he can control everything within SpaceTime it’s his right um his ability
50:5950:59 - to do this is because he can affect whatever changes he wants within the material realm nothing can transpire
51:0751:07 - except that which God happens or allows to happen based on the Free Will decisions of others therefore there is
51:1451:14 - no deed nor was there ever nor will there ever be which God is unable to do small or great within material creation
51:2251:22 - um and so I wanted to uh start off a bit of the discussion that we have here
51:2751:27 - talking about this question that you may have heard posed um something like so could God create a rock so big even he
51:3451:34 - couldn’t lift it um sometimes this comes up somewhat tongue and cheek sometimes people are actually serious in raising
51:4051:40 - this as an objection and so this is supposedly pitting two aspects of omnipotence against each other so on the
51:4751:47 - one side God’s ability to create anything he wishes ex nilo that’s Latin it means out of nothing so for for God’s
51:5451:54 - ability to create um versus God’s strength his ability to do things to manipulate material creation um and so
52:0252:02 - the people who make this argument they argue that the two superlatives mandated by omnipotence contradict each other so
52:0852:08 - supposedly if God cannot create an object too heavy for him to lift he’s not omnipotent because an omnipotent
52:1452:14 - creature would be able to create anything and likewise if there would exist some object that God could create
52:1952:19 - but he was unable to lift then he also would not be omnipotent because an omnipotent creature would be able to lift everything so people who make this
52:2652:26 - argument they kind of say something like see either way he can’t do something therefore he’s not omnipotent now of
52:3152:31 - course we don’t agree with this argument as Christians and I’m about to explain why and this is one reason why
52:3652:36 - apologetics um just as a side tangent is best engaged in with those who have the
52:4152:41 - gifts the requisite um gifting from God empowerment of the Holy Spirit and uh proper preparation to handle things like
52:4852:48 - this appropriately because it’s easy to get confused and tripped up and maybe not give as convincing an answer as we
52:5452:54 - ought as Christians when confronted with objections to the truth because this
52:5952:59 - truth that we’re talking about this is an objection to the idea of God’s omnipotence that’s kind of why I’m bringing it up just to highlight no
53:0653:06 - really God is omnipotent what we mean by that okay so how do we handle this this supposed situation of contradiction that
53:1253:12 - people bring up so we can let people who don’t want to believe or we can kind of
53:1853:18 - let them go on their way and this is kind of what I mean by we don’t always have to take up this debate especially
53:2353:23 - if maybe it’s not the right thing for you to do in a second but also and more to the point here it’s not our job to
53:3053:30 - convince people if people are going to not believe in God because of this there’s almost nothing we can do their
53:3753:37 - hearts are already closed off to the truth and you’ll see what I mean in a second here and so to answer this it’s
53:4253:42 - obvious I’m GNA emphasize it again obvious that God can both create whatsoever he wishes and also manipulate
53:4953:49 - Creation in whatever way he wishes that’s what we mean when we say that God’s omnipotent so the idea of a
53:5553:55 - material object that he cannot create is definitionally impossible right it just
54:0154:01 - it cannot happen and so to is a material object he cannot manipulate that he cannot change he cannot affect within
54:0854:08 - creation so lifting The Rock in this case so put differently there is no such thing as an object he could create but
54:1454:14 - not lift or an object he could lift but not create that thing just doesn’t exist the entire objection here is circular by
54:2254:22 - assuming that such a thing can exist to begin with and so when we say that that means that people who they raise this
54:2954:29 - point they think they’re they’re so clever for this they’ve already put God in a box from the very beginning they’re
54:3554:35 - already limiting what he can do just by the very way they phrase this and then they only proceed to smugly knock down
54:4154:41 - nothing but a straw man so they’re not even addressing the real points in hand and again that’s because anything that
54:4754:47 - God could create he could lift by definition there is no such thing as an object where he can do one but not the
54:5354:53 - other and so I might say Okay step why are we why are we talking about this right I’m not that interested I don’t
54:5854:58 - raise that objection so the reason is because it kind of helps throw into relief what God can do right this is not
55:0655:06 - what we have in our heads we we don’t have these logic puzzles when we say that God’s omnipotent we know that God can do
55:1355:13 - anything whatever anything might be um God can do it whatever it may be and so
55:1855:18 - with that we follow El Shai God Almighty the the leader of Angel hosts he who was
55:2455:24 - an is and is to come the person who holds the very strings of the universe in his hands and can create or
55:3055:30 - annihilate galaxies in the blink of an eye that’s what we mean when we are talking about omnipotence not not this
55:3655:36 - this hypothetical creature who might be able to create a rock right we’re talking about the king of the universe the creator of everything that exists
55:4455:44 - and we’ better fear that power and Majesty as we ought to uh to keep our own lives in perspective and so uh just
55:5155:51 - to use a progression here to emphasize the point so as human beings we are tiny
55:5755:57 - compared to the vastness of just Earth much less our solar system much less our galaxy much less the universe itself but
56:0456:04 - God is even bigger infinitely bigger in fact because he’s not bound by it than the universe itself and God could snuff
56:1156:11 - out everything that exists in the blink of an eye if he decided to and so that is the kind of power in view when we
56:1756:17 - speak of God being omnipotent not that he actually will snop out the Universe on a whim but that it would be
56:2256:22 - absolutely nothing for him to do so because he is in complete control of matter time and space and things only
56:2956:29 - exist because he causes them to exist it’s not like they exist independent from his will and so to ties back um I I
56:3856:38 - don’t know if other people find this interesting or or satisfying on an intellectual level to knock down
56:4356:43 - arguments like this but when we say God’s omnipotent God really can do anything within material creation
56:5056:50 - because he controls it and so this idea that uh he couldn’t do something uh
56:5656:56 - whatever skepticism or doubt that people might Express on this is just misplaced
57:0157:01 - because God is not in any way Bound by material creation and so as in this example it simply means that people come
57:0857:08 - in already thinking of God as a limited creature um as something Bound by the
57:1357:13 - rules in which we operate and that’s just the wrong way to go about it because God is completely separate from
57:1957:19 - the rules that govern all of creation so sorry I rambled a bit there but um this was something that I just
57:2557:25 - thought it was worth us talking about as we examine this idea of omnipotence so a do you have anything you want to rip on
57:3257:32 - from what I’ve said or or other points you want to make on omnipotence itself uh yeah um let me say first of
57:4057:40 - all that regarding the question you addressed the first time I heard in 2012 I’d never heard anything of that sort
57:4757:47 - and my fellow apologist then and I we used
57:5357:53 - to kind of people used to mistake us for each other on nirand then um I used to
57:5957:59 - call him my twin because it seemed like we thought exactly the same his answer to that question was that’s a word salad
58:0758:07 - it means exactly nothing like you can’t explain you can’t Define what you’re talking about what’s a rck that God
58:1358:13 - can’t lift so something so um I know I know what is
58:1958:19 - behind it the idea is it’s it’s exactly like saying can God create a square circle because well God can do anything
58:2658:26 - can do everything so he must be able to do something completely nonsensical so um the answer that I find
58:3758:37 - in the scriptures for such things first of all is um there is nothing that God can’t do
58:4458:44 - and the first person to find out how wrong he was about what God can do and
58:5058:50 - can’t do was the wisest creature that God ever
58:5658:56 - made the one who should have been telling everybody just don’t mess with him he knows he knows things you you
59:0359:03 - don’t even begin to imagine like he’s already thought about what you you have not yet begun to imagine or conceive in
59:0959:09 - your in your heart that’s the person who first thought I can box God into a
59:1559:15 - corner I can I can put him in a catch 22 where he his his hands are tied he
59:2159:21 - thought well I can’t beat God in an actual fight I can’t go to war with God and win he’s too powerful but I could
59:2859:28 - outsmart him that was Satan and uh how did that turn out for
59:3459:34 - him well you see this is where things get a little uh annoying for people like
59:3959:39 - me we we live in in Trivial times that means Jesus has come and died on the
59:4559:45 - cross the miracle has happened so it’s it’s it’s easy to trivialize we don’t
59:5059:50 - see the the Marvel of this thing we don’t see the enmity of this miracle
59:5759:57 - that God can forgive a sinner that God can forgive a sinner That’s what Satan said was
1:00:041:00:04 - impossible that he could put in a position where if he forgave a sinner he would be acting
1:00:091:00:09 - unjustly and if he punished The Sinner he would be acting he would be negating his character of
1:00:161:00:16 - love he thought he had won and then God did this Jesus thing and all of a sudden
1:00:221:00:22 - Satan is looking like a complete idiot now those who say he could he create a a
1:00:271:00:27 - rock that he can’t live they sound real smart and after all they’re speaking English most of us who speak English can
1:00:331:00:33 - make sense of the words that they just used and it sounds like yeah yeah I mean could he could he I mean he right if he
1:00:411:00:41 - creates a rock then and he can’t lift it well he can create a rock but now he
1:00:491:00:49 - can’t lift it where is it’s like oh why and your head is blown right like you’ve
1:00:541:00:54 - said you’ve just made so much sense you’ve boxed God into a corner now he can’t exist precisely what Satan thought
1:01:021:01:02 - like I can put him in a situation where he will be forced to abandon creation and I get to rule over
1:01:091:01:09 - it we really can’t win there’s something that God said that Paul said through the
1:01:141:01:14 - spirit in second Timothy Chapter 2 he said If you deny him he won’t deny
1:01:201:01:20 - himself so are there things God can do absolutely he won’t lie he can’t lie he
1:01:261:01:26 - can’t deny himself there are all sorts of things God can do none of them is a reflection on his power all of them are
1:01:341:01:34 - reflection on his character there are lots of things God can do but if we’re
1:01:401:01:40 - talking about what his omnipotence actually means it doesn’t mean he can he can create a rock that he can’t lift his
1:01:471:01:47 - omnipotence means there is absolutely nothing that God could want to do that he want he can’t do nothing
1:01:551:01:55 - like if God decided right now I want to create a sare circle he can create a
1:02:001:02:00 - square circle it doesn’t make any kind of sense to us but I wouldn’t bet against him so I don’t even want to I
1:02:061:02:06 - don’t even want to go there a roong that I can’t lift yeah that’s it’s another nonsensical thing to imagine but I
1:02:121:02:12 - wouldn’t bet against him if he decided that he wanted to do that that’s the well but the whole point of why I framed
1:02:191:02:19 - this how I did was that the question itself is circular that there is no such
1:02:241:02:24 - object right AB so so that’s the whole thing in this is that now I will say you
1:02:301:02:30 - know scripture that comes to mind when we deal with this again is this idea of answering fools according to their Folly
1:02:351:02:35 - I wouldn’t even give people who make this argument the time of day most of the time they’re not interested right no
1:02:411:02:41 - matter what you say they’re not going to listen to you but the whole point of this is that the point that I was trying
1:02:471:02:47 - to make when I brought this up was simply that we cannot in our thinking put God in a box and then speak of his
1:02:531:02:53 - power in terms of the boxed version of God um we need to appreciate how big God
1:02:591:02:59 - is right yeah that’s precisely right there is there is nothing wrong with the
1:03:051:03:05 - answer that you gave it’s actually where I’m starting from which is essentially this you don’t know what God can or
1:03:121:03:12 - cannot do so shut it that’s where you start then what is God’s omnipotence the
1:03:201:03:20 - Bible is very clear there is nothing that God could possibly want to do that
1:03:251:03:25 - he can’t do nothing can stop him in all of creation and this is what Satan keeps
1:03:301:03:30 - learning time and time again and everybody that wants to oppose God I mean right now they’re going bunkers
1:03:361:03:36 - because of Technology because of science for the past 500 years we’ve been doing Miracles that they didn’t think was
1:03:421:03:42 - possible now we’ve gone to the Moon we have launched all sorts of machines into
1:03:481:03:48 - space we exploring things that our great-grandfathers didn’t even know existed all sorts of things are
1:03:531:03:53 - happening in the the world today and people have lost their freaking minds they think now I’m God right because can God do all
1:04:031:04:03 - this stuff I mean they’re forgetting that all those things existed before they even learned how to you know put
1:04:091:04:09 - anything together and send it to the Moon the Moon was already there how did it get there oh it was Evolution right
1:04:151:04:15 - the nothing that exploded and became everything right so but for us who
1:04:211:04:21 - believe what we know from the scriptures is this there is nothing that God cannot do if
1:04:281:04:28 - he wants to do it so if you create a logical impossibility I wouldn’t bet on you
1:04:361:04:36 - winning against God assuming of course and what I’m assuming is that there is
1:04:411:04:41 - any kind of sense in what you’re saying now when Satan made his bet against the
1:04:461:04:46 - Lord and encouraged his fellow angels to to join him in that bed I’m absolutely
1:04:521:04:52 - sure that while he was persuaded he he would win and those the third of the angels that agreed with him thought that
1:04:571:04:57 - they would win was that they were persuaded that this was an actual logical
1:05:021:05:02 - impossibility if God is just and if God is loving well we can get away with sin
1:05:081:05:08 - because you can’t reconcile those two things well God did he did so again I
1:05:151:05:15 - would say I have no idea the limits and this is the most important thing I have
1:05:201:05:20 - no idea what the limits are to God’s power I have no idea so if you create
1:05:261:05:26 - something that sounds absolutely idiotic and you think this is where I’ve caught God I’ve put him in a box he can’t win
1:05:321:05:32 - in this one I’m not betting on you against the Lord I’m simply not now if you said well I I I bet you the Lord
1:05:391:05:39 - cannot lie yeah he said so I won’t fight you on that one he can’t lie if you say
1:05:461:05:46 - that um God God cannot um deny himself sure I’m with you on that I’ll bet I’ll
1:05:541:05:54 - bet on you any day of the week every day of the week everything I’ve got God cannot deny himself but you see if there
1:06:021:06:02 - is anything the Bible does not say God can do and that we can’t reason from the Bible that he can’t do and you think
1:06:081:06:08 - it’s some kind of logical impossibility yeah I’m not going with you on that
1:06:141:06:14 - I’m we have plenty of counter examples of that going real poorly like you said
1:06:191:06:19 - now I will say that these arguments that I’ve been that you’ve been bringing up like can God can God lie can God deny
1:06:251:06:25 - himself those are have a little bit different character um so the particular logical trap here this this whole Rock
1:06:321:06:32 - business I brought up as an example of one of those arguments that we don’t even have to wave our hand at like the
1:06:381:06:38 - argument is literally it assumes things and it’s circular in that regard that’s the point I tried to make some of the
1:06:441:06:44 - other things um this idea of well if God can’t sin turn into an all powerful
1:06:491:06:49 - being sin therefore God can’t exist sort of thing the problem with those is just
1:06:551:06:55 - that their definition of what all powerful is like where are they getting it from right this is always why
1:07:011:07:01 - defining terms is important now I don’t want to go down the Apologetics Rabbit Trail I didn’t want to get a super
1:07:061:07:06 - sidetracked again I was bringing this up sort of as as a point to examine this idea of boxing God and whenever we think
1:07:141:07:14 - that God is limited in some way we better revise our thinking and I think we’ve talked about it well right we’ve
1:07:201:07:20 - used good examples your example of Satan thinking that he he caught God in this in this way to uh that God couldn’t
1:07:271:07:27 - somehow reconcile Sinners to himself that was Satan’s PR campaign if you will it’s a great example of what not to do
1:07:351:07:35 - right of trusting somehow that God can’t do something uh whatever you’re thinking
1:07:411:07:41 - you’re probably wrong because God is in complete control he knows way better than we do about everything that happens
1:07:481:07:48 - in the universe so um with that maybe we’ll see if anyone has any questions
1:07:531:07:53 - questions on this before we move on to the next one so this again is on the idea of
1:08:001:08:00 - omnipotence all right so that’s probably where we’ll we’ll pivot from talking about God’s omnipotence to his
1:08:081:08:08 - omniscience and so we spent all this time talking about well what can God do and now we’re going to talk about what
1:08:131:08:13 - does God know that’s going to be the next thing that we focus
1:08:191:08:19 - on all right so as to omniscience uh here’s the text coming straight out of the study uh we have the idea that God
1:08:261:08:26 - is all knowing irrespective of time so again this is how this corresponds to
1:08:321:08:32 - God being Eternal and outside of time is that God knows everything irrespective of time he knows the end from the
1:08:391:08:39 - beginning he can affect anything he desires in the temporal realm therefore
1:08:441:08:44 - God knows always has known and always will know everything the end from the beginning as the Everlasting one his
1:08:511:08:51 - knowledge of every event that has or will or even could occur within his creation is comprehensive and absolute
1:08:591:08:59 - so specific phrase that I wanted to pick out here is this this could occur business so it’s not just knowing
1:09:061:09:06 - everything that has and is and will occur but everything that could have occurred as well so I do not want to get
1:09:141:09:14 - too off in the weeds of the the theological thing people give this a label the so-called molinism with a
1:09:211:09:21 - capital m m o l i n ISM um and this idea of middle knowledge um I that’s just the
1:09:291:09:29 - theological jargon here um I actually don’t particularly like bogging ourselves down in the theological
1:09:361:09:36 - arguments that have happened over this um uh there’s a a reasonably famous apologist in our day his name is William
1:09:421:09:42 - Lane Craig um he is a prominent proponent of this particular Doctrine um
1:09:481:09:48 - I kind of like to talk about independent from that so the example that I thought we’d bring up to talk about this idea of
1:09:551:09:55 - God knowing uh things that didn’t just happen or or that that like happened in
1:10:011:10:01 - the past or will happen in the future but things uh kind of that this would have could have hypothetical sort of thing is uh when the Bible says that God
1:10:091:10:09 - will never test us past what we can bear so that’s 1 Corinthians 10:13 you know I could actually read full reference here
1:10:141:10:14 - no temptation is overtaken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted
1:10:201:10:20 - beyond what you are able but with the Temptation will provide the way of Escape also so that you will be able to
1:10:251:10:25 - endure it now the Greek word here that is translated as Temptation in the nasb is also translated as testing um
1:10:331:10:33 - depending on context is how you know whether it’s Temptation or testing um so this one can actually kind of go either
1:10:381:10:38 - way that God will not test us past what we were able to bear um but the idea is well how does God know what we’re able
1:10:451:10:45 - to bear and the verse here implicitly requires that God knows where our limits
1:10:511:10:51 - are how does God know that if it happens before we have actually done something and this is where you get into
1:10:581:10:58 - this idea of this knowledge that God has is so complete that it even covers these
1:11:041:11:04 - situations past that which actually has or will occur hence middle knowledge
1:11:091:11:09 - again I don’t particularly like bogging ourselves down in uh some of the history so to speak here but it’s necessary for
1:11:171:11:17 - God to know what what test we are and are not able to Bear he has to know
1:11:221:11:22 - whether we would or would not pass a test were he to give it to us right um seems kind of like common sense um another example you can use is divine
1:11:291:11:29 - discipline um how does God know what discipline is necessary for us right he
1:11:341:11:34 - has to know what discipline will best lead to Turning us back to him right to
1:11:411:11:41 - uh basically corresponding to the Free Will decisions we make in life well since we’re all different we have these
1:11:471:11:47 - different um uh you know makeups talents aptitudes opinions everything thing uh
1:11:541:11:54 - so the discipline with which now anyone who’s had kids can probably relate to this uh the way in which you discipline
1:12:001:12:00 - one child may need to be different than the way in which you discipline another so very encourageable little boys for
1:12:051:12:05 - example may need a much Sterner talking to than uh their more sensitive younger sisters for example um just not to
1:12:121:12:12 - generalize based on gender too much but uh you know sometimes people need a good bit more discipline uh because they’re a
1:12:191:12:19 - little bit more resistant to it so God knows all of this perfectly he knows exactly what we need and what would and
1:12:251:12:25 - would not work with each of us specifically um all of this knowledge that we’re getting at here this is God’s
1:12:311:12:31 - knowledge of that which could be of the hypothetical and uh I for whatever
1:12:371:12:37 - reason some of this is controversial theologically um so to me these examples
1:12:431:12:43 - I’ve raised 1 Corinthians 10:13 God will not test us past what I can bear seems just kind of like it makes sense for God
1:12:491:12:49 - to have this knowledge it’s necessary for him to uh act in this way way that everything is perfectly mapped out right
1:12:551:12:55 - we believe in the for ordination of all events before the beginning of human history and so uh God’s perfect for
1:13:021:13:02 - ordination logically requires that he know everything about all potential paths in the mind-bogglingly complex
1:13:081:13:08 - decision tree that spans the history of the entire universe so that’s a really jargony way of saying that all of these
1:13:141:13:14 - potentials that we’re talking about for God’s plan to be perfect he has to have already taken all of that into account
1:13:191:13:19 - so it’s kind of always puzzled me why people would ever think to argue against this um it’s just this is just how big
1:13:261:13:26 - God’s knowledge is this is what it means when we say he’s omnicient but alas some people do argue against this right and
1:13:331:13:33 - uh hypothesis Theory I don’t know I cannot look into the hearts of people but perhaps it’s because believing that
1:13:391:13:39 - God knows even these things requires us to appreciate how truly big and unlike us uh who with our very finite
1:13:461:13:46 - perspective that we have here within SpaceTime how unlike us God really is
1:13:521:13:52 - because for us this sort of knowledge is completely impossible for us to have we can’t know what would or could happen
1:13:581:13:58 - were this to you know were this event or that event to happen in our lives we can’t predict that we have no idea but
1:14:041:14:04 - God does because he’s God because he’s external to creation and so for now
1:14:091:14:09 - again another thing that I’m raising here you should just mostly ignore the fact in my opinion that some people have
1:14:151:14:15 - again tried to put God into a box in their minds right so we talked about this with omnipotence we’re now we’re
1:14:211:14:21 - talking about it with omniscience uh people who say well God can’t know that that’s you know it doesn’t make sense it’s not logical etc etc um uh well you
1:14:291:14:29 - should kind of ignore the fact that some people do put God In A Box in their minds and content yourself with the sure
1:14:341:14:34 - confidence that God knows everything when we say everything that is unbounded we mean everything absolutely everything
1:14:401:14:40 - inclusive of our Free Will decisions before we even make them it’s for knowledge and so and God is also so
1:14:471:14:47 - infinitely wise as to have perfectly mapped out all of creature history before the universe was even created
1:14:521:14:52 - God’s plan perfectly captures everything from beginning to end there are no mistakes there is nothing that could
1:14:591:14:59 - happen that would be better than that which has already been foreordained and so this divine plan being worked out
1:15:051:15:05 - around us God knows what he’s doing he’s not going to make mistakes and we need to have faith and trust in that so again
1:15:121:15:12 - kind of introducing a way in which people box God in which they’re not willing to accept that God knows everything and when we say everything we
1:15:191:15:19 - mean it everything um so a you want to bounce anything off of what I’ve said
1:15:251:15:25 - here yeah I think I think uh the real sum of it um is is really God’s
1:15:311:15:31 - knowledge is perfect the Bible bears that out and um whenever we go into a
1:15:371:15:37 - lot of the philosophy uh I know why molinism exists it’s one of the answers
1:15:451:15:45 - to trying to reconcile how God knows everything and
1:15:511:15:51 - yet we have free will it’s one of those um theologies like you said we there’s
1:15:571:15:57 - quite a bit of getting into for that but I think I can say rather simply here
1:16:031:16:03 - that first of all the Bible is absolutely clear that God’s knowledge is perfect there is no um need to
1:16:121:16:12 - accommodate some imperfection in God’s knowledge if he has imperfect knowledge he’s not God we should remember again
1:16:191:16:19 - that what God is by nature is that which
1:16:251:16:25 - is and that is why the Bible tells us that his name is I will be what I am or
1:16:321:16:32 - I I I I am what I will be he’s unaffected by time if his knowledge is
1:16:391:16:39 - affected by time then that definition becomes untrue if he has to learn things
1:16:461:16:46 - that definition becomes untrue if his knowledge depreciates loses value or
1:16:521:16:52 - quality over time that definition becomes untrue so he either has perfect
1:16:591:16:59 - knowledge or he is not God and this is actually how we can tell when something is not the true God it’s one of the ways
1:17:051:17:05 - we can tell that that thing does not have perfect knowledge that’s why we can know for example that even a suser who
1:17:121:17:12 - who can predict like it was happening with uh the slave girl who had the spirit of divination right we could
1:17:191:17:19 - still say even with that demon rtion of power that is beyond human ability that
1:17:261:17:26 - was still not God we can tell that because like God said through one of the prophets bring
1:17:331:17:33 - your divers find bring your Gods let’s see who can predict the end from the
1:17:401:17:40 - beginning like I can so God’s knowledge is perfect that’s not a question
1:17:451:17:45 - molinism and questions of hypothesis what could be what would be and all of that stuff my answer to that is still
1:17:531:17:53 - God knows everything and Jesus did demonstrate that matter of what could be when he talked about Sodom and Gomorrah
1:18:001:18:00 - and yeah that is one of the proof text and this is why I didn’t want to get into people argue about this very long
1:18:061:18:06 - and audite but the idea that we’re introducing here like Audi said is just that when we say God’s knowledge is
1:18:131:18:13 - perfect we we mean it every every down to the last drgs of the logical
1:18:181:18:18 - implication of that so to speak and yeah and here’s need we just need to speak as
1:18:241:18:24 - if we actually believe that because people people in their heads again they try to put God in a box they try to say
1:18:301:18:30 - well but but but and the answer is no like Audi said God’s knowledge is perfect and complete from the beginning
1:18:381:18:38 - to the end so I would say this a lot of times in in matters of discussing the
1:18:441:18:44 - Bible people don’t discuss the Bible they want to talk philosophy and here’s
1:18:511:18:51 - the thing we have to be look philosophy is good if it is good philosophy as a
1:18:591:18:59 - matter of fact what we consider good philosophy is the Bible so if the Bible
1:19:041:19:04 - says it it’s true the Bible doesn’t say it’s suspect at at best it’s suspect
1:19:101:19:10 - best so if someone shows up and starts going into the ins and outs about why
1:19:151:19:15 - this or that is logical I’m listening for yeah the Bible actually does say or doesn’t say if I don’t hear that I don’t
1:19:211:19:21 - really care what you’re saying so if you’re insisting that if he knew then this if he didn’t know then that
1:19:291:19:29 - what I I I really don’t care the question I want to hear or what I want to hear from you is the Bible says this
1:19:361:19:36 - or doesn’t say that that’s all so as far as I’m concerned the Bible is clear
1:19:421:19:42 - about God’s perfect knowledge and and complete knowledge there is no question
1:19:481:19:48 - about whether God knows everything or doesn’t know Peter himself said it to
1:19:531:19:53 - Jesus Christ you know all things you know that I love you so when God is asking us questions he’s not seeking
1:19:591:19:59 - information that’s very obvious so um having said that all questions that
1:20:061:20:06 - arise from if God knows we have to understand the answer
1:20:121:20:12 - is not in he probably doesn’t that’s not where the answer to
1:20:171:20:17 - that question is if the question is how do I reconcile the fact that God has perfect knowledge to this is then
1:20:231:20:23 - there’s a third piece that you’re missing you need to find that you cannot
1:20:291:20:29 - solve that problem by reducing what God knows because then you would make him less than God that’s the end that I can
1:20:361:20:36 - you know yeah no I mean and like I said not going to go down the full Rabbit
1:20:421:20:42 - Trail there um you you brought up the Sodom and gomorah passage there’s other arguments I mean I made mine using the
1:20:481:20:48 - testing passage here from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 uh more of the point is is
1:20:541:20:54 - that the people who want to limit God to say that God can’t know these things
1:21:001:21:00 - somehow that it’s logically impossible where are they getting that from right it’s it’s the same issue with the the
1:21:061:21:06 - whole thing that we talked about about the limits people place upon God’s omnipotence is that the limits that
1:21:111:21:11 - people who argue against I’m not even So Pro all the arguments that people use for this particular teaching in so far
1:21:171:21:17 - as it just means that when we say God knows everything we really do mean everything um everything that has and is
1:21:241:21:24 - and will or could or could have or everything in between right because he’s
1:21:291:21:29 - God um and we just have to respect that that’s all and so that is omniscience um
1:21:351:21:35 - God knows the end from the beginning God is in uh complete control of everything
1:21:401:21:40 - that that has and is and will happen in the universe because God’s plan is
1:21:451:21:45 - perfect it spans time from beginning to end because God knows all um that’s
1:21:511:21:51 - omniscience I think that’s where we’ll cut for omniscience and next we’re going to talk about
1:22:001:22:00 - omnipresence all right so now that we finished our discussion here of omniscience uh talking about how just
1:22:071:22:07 - like with omnipotent some people kind of put God In A Box in their minds they
1:22:121:22:12 - right from the outset don’t view him kind of as this being separate from
1:22:171:22:17 - SpaceTime but they try to contextualize him in terms of the way we might understand very powerful creatures that
1:22:251:22:25 - are still part of our universe well in the same way people might not always appreciate that God is absolutely
1:22:321:22:32 - everywhere within creation so God is ever present irrespective of space he
1:22:371:22:37 - can affect anything he desires in the spatial realm therefore God has the ability has always had and always will
1:22:441:22:44 - have to be anywhere and everywhere local and Universal and this is within creation within the universe uh now this
1:22:511:22:51 - note is me this isn’t directly from the study this is something I wrote I just say a particular note is that this means
1:22:561:22:56 - that God sees all he sees everything that happens within creation nobody can sneak anything past God and on that
1:23:031:23:03 - great day of days on Judgment Day be Before the Throne all will be revealed
1:23:091:23:09 - um this also means uh as a practical note that it’s completely futile to try to run away from God so like Jonah from
1:23:161:23:16 - the Book of Jonah we will find that no matter where we go God and His purposes for us will always be there too
1:23:231:23:23 - so because God is ever presentent in the world uh no matter where we might try to
1:23:291:23:29 - escape uh to run to hide from the things that God has for us we will never be
1:23:341:23:34 - able to because God is at all places at all times because he’s God so aie do you
1:23:401:23:40 - have any points you want to make um I think maybe this is among the more straightforward of the characteristics
1:23:451:23:45 - of God that we’ve gone over here um but interested to hear if you have things to
1:23:511:23:51 - say um I don’t think there is a much more to
1:23:581:23:58 - say there it’s just that God is not limited by space he created it he exists
1:24:061:24:06 - without it or he existed without it until he made it and he absolutely
1:24:111:24:11 - controls it so he can do whatever he wants with it and he’s not limited by it
1:24:181:24:18 - I think that’s um uh I wouldn’t say a more correct way to
1:24:241:24:24 - put it but a more um uh all embracing way to put it uh in the
1:24:321:24:32 - sense that God is not limited by space so one might be thinking in terms of if
1:24:391:24:39 - he’s everywhere is he in Hell uh but then we talk about the Lake of Fire
1:24:441:24:44 - being um uh God casting people away from his presence so what does that mean what
1:24:521:24:52 - we mean the Bible never uses the word omnipresent but it does say things like
1:24:581:24:58 - where can I go away from you if I if I make my bed in hell there you are as
1:25:041:25:04 - well but of course hell in that sense is show the place of the Dead um regardless
1:25:111:25:11 - the point is there is no place in the universe in all of creation that is
1:25:181:25:18 - outside of God’s reach MH so that’s what I would say I I think bringing up the
1:25:231:25:23 - point of so-called biblical geography um you know ichus has a chart I don’t remember exactly which study but of like
1:25:301:25:30 - the third heaven separated by the universe from like the waters above and
1:25:361:25:36 - then we have the universe and then um hell and the Lake of Fire you know uh
1:25:421:25:42 - Jesus went into sha like you said the grave um when he descended uh before he
1:25:481:25:48 - ascended on the third day and that’s different than the Lake of Fire where the devil and fallen angels and
1:25:531:25:53 - unbelievers will go at the end of time um so-called again biblical geography
1:25:591:25:59 - here um but regardless like you said the point is God’s not limited by space or
1:26:051:26:05 - spatial concerns and so uh for us practically as human beings well we don’t have to worry about any of that
1:26:111:26:11 - stuff that happens after we die at the moment in how we we in how we live our lives um it is just true that God is
1:26:171:26:17 - always before us um and we should actually view this more as a comfort than as a a bad thing is is someone
1:26:231:26:23 - snooping on us because this means that nothing can separate us from God we have this verse I I know Paul wrote maybe
1:26:311:26:31 - it’s Philippians I don’t remember like nothing can separate us from the love of God As far as the East is from the West
1:26:361:26:36 - that sort of thing uh God is always with us and that should be a supreme Comfort
1:26:421:26:42 - to us uh probably more than anything
1:26:471:26:47 - else all right so just to run through the things that we’ve talked about here in this lesson examining the nature of
1:26:551:26:55 - God so we have talked first about God’s essential characteristics how he is
1:27:001:27:00 - spiritual Eternal and immeasurable in a spatial sense um and then how that
1:27:061:27:06 - manifests within creation is him being omnipotent omniscience and omnipresent um and we spent a good bit
1:27:131:27:13 - of our time in the study talking about how God is unique and because no other
1:27:181:27:18 - being in all of creation um uh you know or outside of creation right because we
1:27:241:27:24 - believe there’s one God and that God made SpaceTime uh no one is like God no
1:27:301:27:30 - one in the universe can reasonably be compared to him he’s absolutely unique and therefore the person to whom all
1:27:361:27:36 - honor is due um and so he transcends the physical Universe um through these
1:27:411:27:41 - characteristics and within the physical Universe he is supreme within it because
1:27:471:27:47 - he is omnipotent omniscient and omnipresent and so this is how we view God
1:27:521:27:52 - with respect to his infinite nature and if you remember at the beginning of this lesson we had been emphasizing that
1:27:591:27:59 - God’s infinite nature illuminates his abilities what things God can do how he
1:28:041:28:04 - interacts with creation and in the next lesson we are going to pick up talking about God’s perfect character and what
1:28:101:28:10 - that says about his motives