Discourse VIII: On God's Knowledge

Psalm 147:5 — "Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite."

It is uncertain who was the author of this psalm, and when it was penned; some think after the return from the Babylonish captivity. It is a psalm of praise, and is made up of matter of praise from the beginning to the end: God's benefits to the church, his providence over his creatures, the essential excellency of his nature.

The psalmist doubles his exhortation to praise God: ver. 1, 'Praise ye the Lord, sing praise to our God:' to praise him from his dominion as Lord; from his grace and mercy as our God; from the excellency of the duty itself, 'it is good, it is comely.' Some read it comely, some lovely or desirable, from the various derivation of the word.

Nothing doth so much delight a gracious soul, as an opportunity of celebrating the perfections and goodness of the Creator. The highest duties a creature can render to the Creator, are pleasant and delightful in themselves, 'it is comely.' Praise is a duty that affects the whole soul. The praise of God is a decent thing, the excellency of God's nature deserves it, and the benefits of God's grace requires it. It is comely when done as it ought to be, with the heart as well as with the voice; a sinner sings ill though his voice be good, the soul in it is to be elevated above earthly things.

God's Care for His Church

The first matter of praise is God's erecting and preserving his church: ver. 2, 'The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; he gathers together the outcasts of Israel.' The walls of demolished Jerusalem are now re-edified; God hath brought back the captivity of Jacob, and reduced his people from their Babylonish exile; and those that were dispersed into strange regions, he hath restored to their habitations. Or it may be prophetic of the calling of the Gentiles, and the gathering the outcasts of the spiritual Israel, that were before as without God in the world, and strangers to the covenant of promise.

Observation 1: All people are under God's care; but he has a particular regard to his church. This is the signet on his hand, as a bracelet upon his arm; this is his garden, which he delights to dress; if he prunes it, it is to purge it; if he digs about his vine and wounds the branches, it is to make it more beautiful with new clusters, and restore it to a fruitful vigour.

Observation 2: All great deliverances are to be ascribed to God, as the principal author, whosoever are the instruments. 'Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.' Blind man looks so much upon instruments, that he hardly takes notice of God, either in afflictions or mercies; and this is the cause that robs God of so much prayer and praise in the world.

He Heals the Brokenhearted

Verse 3: 'He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.' He hath now restored those who had no hope but in his word; he hath dealt with them as a tender and skilful chirurgeon, he hath applied his curing plasters, and dropped in his sovereign balsams; he hath now furnished our fainting hearts with refreshing cordials, and comforted our wounds with strengthening ligatures.

How gracious is God, that restores liberty to the captives, and righteousness to the penitent! Man's misery is the fittest opportunity for God to make his mercy illustrious in itself, and most welcome to the patient.

God Numbers the Stars

Wonder not that God calls together the outcasts, and singles them out from every corner for a return; why can he not do this, as well as 'tell the number of the stars, and call them all by their names'?

There are none of his people so despicable in the eye of man, but they are known and regarded by God. Though they are clouded in the world, yet they are the stars of the world; and shall God number the inanimate stars in the heavens, and make no account of his living stars on the earth? No; wherever they are dispersed, he will not forget them; however they are afflicted, he will not despise them.

To impose names on things, and names according to their natures, is both an argument of power and dominion, and of wisdom and understanding. Now he that numbers and names the stars may well be supposed accurately to know his people, though lurking in secret caverns, and know those that are fit to be instruments of their deliverance.

His Understanding Is Infinite

Verse 5: 'For great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.' He wants not knowledge to know the objects, nor power to effect his will concerning them. 'His understanding is infinite' — no number or account of it; no end of his understanding; no measure, no bounds. His essence is infinite, and so is his power and understanding; and vast is his knowledge, that we can no more comprehend it, than we can measure spaces that are without limits, or tell the minutes or hours of eternity.

In the verse there is a description of God:

1. In his essence: 'great is our Lord.'
2. In his power: 'of great power.'
3. In his knowledge: 'his understanding is infinite.' His understanding is his eye, and his power is his arm.

Doctrine: God Hath an Infinite Knowledge and Understanding

This is clear in Scripture; hence God is called a God of knowledge: 1 Sam. 2:3, 'The Lord is a God of knowledge;' in the plural number, of all kind of knowledge. He knows what angels know, what man knows, and infinitely more; he knows himself, his own operations, all his creatures, the notions and thoughts of them; he is understanding above understanding, mind above mind, the mind of minds, the light of lights.

The notion of God's knowledge of all things lies above the ruins of nature: it was not obliterated by the fall of man. It was necessary that offending man was to know that he had a Creator whom he had injured, that he had a Judge to try and punish him. If men had thought they had to deal with an ignorant Deity, there could be no practice of religion. Who would lift up his eyes, or spread his hand towards heaven, if he imagined his devotion were directed to a God as blind as the heathens imagined fortune?

All nations acknowledge this, as well as the existence and being of God. No nation but had their temples, particular ceremonies of worship, and presented their sacrifices, which they could not have been so vain as to do, without an acknowledgement of this attribute. The Egyptians represented God by an eye on the top of a sceptre, because God is all eye, and can be ignorant of nothing. Hence they called God light, as well as the Scripture, because all things are visible to him.

I. What Kind of Knowledge Is in God

The knowledge of God in Scripture hath various names, according to the various relations or objects of it. In respect of present things, it is called knowledge or sight; in respect of things past, remembrance; in respect of things future, it is called foreknowledge or prescience (1 Peter 1:2). In regard of the universality of the objects, it is called omniscience; in regard of acting, it is called wisdom and prudence (Eph. 1:8).

1. Knowledge of Vision and Knowledge of Intelligence

A knowledge of vision or sight: Thus God knows himself and all things that really were, are, or shall be in time; all those things which he hath decreed to be, though they are not yet actually sprung up in the world, but lie couchant in their causes.

A knowledge of intelligence, or simple understanding: The object of this is not things that are in being, or that shall by any decree of God ever be existent in the world, but such things as are possible to be wrought by the power of God, though they shall never in the least peep up into being. And herein doth much consist the infiniteness of his knowledge.

2. Speculative and Practical Knowledge

Speculative knowledge is when the truth of a thing is known without a respect to any working or practical operation. The knowledge of things possible is in God only speculative.

Practical knowledge tends to operation and practice, and is the principle of working about things that are known, as the knowledge an artificer hath in an art or mystery. This knowledge is in God. It is called discretion: Jer. 10:12, 'He hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.' It is by this knowledge 'the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down their dew,' Prov. 3:20.

3. Knowledge of Approbation

There is a knowledge of approbation, as well as apprehension. This the Scripture often mentions: Amos 3:2, 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth' — that is, he loves them. And on the contrary, when God doth not approve, he is said not to know: Mat. 25:12, 'I know you not.' It is not an ignorance of understanding, but an ignorance of will; he knows them so as to understand them, but he doth not know them so as to love them.

We must then ascribe a universal knowledge to God. If we deny him a speculative knowledge, we destroy his deity, we make him ignorant of his own power. If we deny him practical knowledge, we deny ourselves to be his creatures. If we deny his knowledge of vision, we deny his governing dominion. To deny God knowledge, is to dash out the Scripture and demolish the Deity.

'Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite.' — Psalm 147:5