Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries |
The Divine Decrees. Part 5. The mystery of the omniscience of God.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Point 1. Definition and description. By decrees is meant the eternal plan by which God has rendered certain all of the events of the universe (angelic history, human history) past, present, and future. So the decrees of God are the chosen and adopted plan of God for all of His works.
The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsels of His own will whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass.
ISA 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.
PRO 16:4 The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.
The decrees are the all-inclusive will and purpose of God concerning all that ever was or ever will be, which originates wholly within Himself.
The decrees are the all-inclusive will and purpose of God concerning all that ever was or ever will be, which originates wholly within Himself and which He Himself alone must have objectively designed for His own glory and for His satisfaction.
So by accommodation to creatures of time and space subject to subdivisions reaching out to such minute details as the falling of the sparrow, all decrees were simultaneous, not given by stages.
Because of the finite mental limitations of man, we must perceive them by logical and chronological progression.
The human mind, when thinking properly, thinks according to logic and chronology.
(a) From the standpoint of the word efficacious – that which is directly wrought by God from His sovereignty.
(b) From the standpoint of permissiveness – that which is appointed by God to be accomplished by secondary causes or by the free will and action of agents (the free will of man).
Efficacious refers to the sovereign will of God.
Permissive refers to the free will of man or the volition of mankind.
Point 2. There are five characteristics of the divine decrees.
(A) The decrees are all-comprehensive.
That means that not the slightest uncertainty could exist as to one of the smallest or most insignificant of events without confusion to all.
Everything you think, why you think it, and the environment in which you think it, was all known to God in eternity past.
God is perfect and therefore He gave you life at the exact time that He knew would be the best time and environment for you personally.
Everything you think, why you think it, and even the environment in which you think it, was all known to God in eternity past.
(B) The divine decrees are eternal.