God Can’t Learn

  

Did you know that God cannot learn? He does not have the ability. 

 

That may sound like blasphemy. When we speak of a person’s inability to learn, it is usually an offensive, even if honest, assessment. When a person is unable to learn, there is usually some mental explanation as to why. Some people cannot learn, period. Some people cannot grasp certain subjects (like me and algebra. OK, like me and math in general). We throw up our hands in desperation when someone cannot learn. 

 

And yet God cannot learn. Many times we say things like “God can do anything,” or “There is nothing that God cannot do.” In reality, there are several things that God cannot do. He cannot die or lie, for example. It is also true that God cannot learn. 

 

God cannot learn because there is nothing He does not already know. Learning implies a person is lacking in some knowledge, but that cannot be said of God. As A.W. Tozer so simply put it in his classic work The Knowledge of the Holy, “To think of a God who must sit at the feet of a teacher, even though that teacher be an archangel or a seraph, is to think of someone other than the Most Hight God, maker of heaven and earth.” Tozer continued, “He never discovers anything. He is never surprised, never amazed. He never wonders about anything, nor…does He seek information or ask questions.” 

 

Even when God asks questions of people, it is for the benefit of the one He is asking (“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”), not so that God can learn. 

 

We refer to this attribute of God as His divine omniscience. Isaiah posed this rhetorical question: “Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding (40:13-14)?” The answer is nobody.

 

David once wrote, “Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You (Psalm 139:12).” God is never in the dark about anything, because to God, the dark is the same as the light. Teachers often speak about that lightbulb coming on in the minds of their students when they finally catch on to a new concept, but for God, that light has been on even before He said “Let there be light.”  

 

Every time we learn something, it should be a comfort to remember that God never has.  

 

 

A New Puppy

Our children have been asking to get a dog for a while a now, so yesterday we got them a puppy. She is eight weeks old, and a beautiful Aussie/Winnie mix. Since we are a Star Wars family we named her after the iconic Princess Leia. My wife and I talked through all the pros and cons of getting a dog before we made the decision, but there was something I overlooked. I forgot how hard the nights are with a new puppy in the house. It has been a few years since we had to get up with our babies during the night, so we weren’t used to having to get up and take out a whimpering puppy. 

We got her on a Saturday, and that night from about 1:30-4:30 we were up with our new dog. Even when she was asleep I was still worried about her. I felt like a zombie trying to preach the next morning. While I have never considered myself to be a lazy person, I do require a certain amount of sleep in order to function, and that first night I didn’t get it. Some people toss and turn at night, and it isn’t because of a puppy. Some haven’t slept well in years. There may be a medical condition, but it also may be spiritual. The Bible seems to associate restful sleep with being at peace with God. 

In Psalm 4:8 David said he could lie down in peace and sleep because the Lord allowed him to dwell in safety; in the previous psalm he said could lie down and sleep because the Lord sustained him (3:5). Proverbs 3:24 says the person who keeps God’s commandments can lay down and sleep in peace. Even Job’s friend Zophar encouraged Job to repent of his sins (even though Job was innocent) so that he would be able to once again sleep in peace (11:18-19). Isaiah had a similar thought, saying that God gives peace to those who trust Him: “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you (26:3).”

I believe that is why Jesus was asleep in the boat during an unusually violent storm. The disciples—many of whom were professional fishermen—were terrified, but Jesus was sleeping peacefully. It was His way of showing those young men that He was at perfect peace with the Father. We too can be at peace with God. Many can’t sleep because of the guilt they carry over their actions. Many can’t sleep because they know deep down they need to make some changes. Many can’t sleep because they know they aren’t right with their Maker. But those who are living right, who are at peace with God and man, can sleep soundly. I hope Leia allows us to sleep better tonight. Maybe your better sleep will come if you make peace with God. 

Christmas Peace

Waiting is hard, isn’t it? In our fast food society with instant gratification and next day shipping, we are not used to having to wait for anything. The more serious the event, the harder the wait. As a child waiting for Christmas was hard because it seemed like December 25^th would never get here (and as parents we can’t believe how quickly it comes back). But think about how hard it is to wait to see if you got the job you applied for, or to see if the cancer has spread. While we wait it is hard to be still or comfortable because there is something major hanging over us. We need to realize that is how people lived throughout the Old Testament, waiting for God’s Messiah to come. 

From the day that God told Eve her seed would crush the serpent, humans had waited with baited breath for the Promised One. There could be no real peace until He came. That is why in Luke 2 a multitude of the heavenly hosts joined in singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men.” Peace on earth is available because God finally came in the flesh. 

Like the Psalmist who said, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry (40:1)” the world waited in a profound way for the Messiah to come be the Deliverer. The Jews wanted primarily peace from their enemies—whether the Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, or Philistines in the Old Testament, or the Romans in the New Testament. We need to understand that peace is more than just the absence of conflict. Peace is more than just national tranquility. As Americans we have not had a real threat of being defeated since World War II, so we might not fully appreciate their desire for national peace. 

But the bigger idea is about us being at peace with God, with fellow man, and with ourselves. Philippians 4:7 says the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” We need this peace of God in our hearts and minds. 

First, we need peace with ourselves. So many people walk around feeling bad about themselves because of their faults or mistakes that they render themselves useless in the kingdom work. We need to appreciate the beauty of forgiveness. Hebrews 10:22 says we can have our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. God wipes the slate clean when we confess and repent. We need to do our best to live right, but we can walk upright knowing we are clean. 

We also need to be at peace with others. Leviticus 3 describes the peace offering as part of the law. This was also known as fellowship offerings because they were designed to keep peace with God and others through fellowshipping together. This offering was unique in that the family bringing the sacrifice got to take home most of the meat (normally the priest kept most of the meat). The idea is that the family takes the meat home and have a fellowship meal with other people. The New Testament is filled with commands to be unified with fellow believers, and reconciled if the relationships have gone south. Christmas is a great time to heal hurts. 

Finally, we need to be at peace with God. This is mankind’s greatest need. 2 Corinthians 5:18 says God has reconciled us to Himself. He fills the God-shaped void. We have real peace when we are at peace with God because we were created to be in a right relationship Him. Maybe this Christmas season you need to make peace with God or someone else. 

Gone Astray

An American couple had the once in a lifetime opportunity to take a European vacation, and they looked forward to visiting Capri, and island off the coast of Italy. When they left their hotel they accidentally typed Carpi into their GPS, which is a city in Italy about an eight-hour drive from Capri. Because they were tourists, they did not realize they were travelling in the wrong direction, and when they finally arrived, they were almost a day’s drive off course.

Isn’t that an unfortunately accurate picture of life? You’re driving through Italy so sure that you will soon arrive at your destination, only to find out how far off you really were. There are people going through life convinced they are doing everything right, but in the end they will learn that they put their trust in the wrong things. Isaiah 53:6 says all people, “like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned—everyone—to his own way.” We are born in our sin and separated from God; we have gone astray like wandering sheep. We are like that couple who ended up in Carpi when they were headed for Capri. That is what sin does to us all. Isaiah doesn’t say that is what happens to the worst of us, but to all of us. We are off course and unable to do anything about it.

If that describes you—still astray and off course—then let me share a story about an old 19^th century preacher. After he came into town and held a week of services, he went to the train depot to head to the next town where he would be doing the same thing. As he was boarding a man ran frantically up to him and told the preacher he needed to know how to be saved. The preacher told him he was going to miss his train, but if the man would read Isaiah 53:6, he would see how to be saved. The preacher told him, “Go in with the first all, and go out with the last all.” When the man found a Bible and read the verse, he realized it began and ended with the same word all. It begins, “All we, like sheep, have gone astray.” But it ends, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

We can all go in on the first all because we are all like those sheep who have gone astray. But we can all go out on the last all, because all of our sin has been placed on Jesus and dealt with at Calvary. You don’t have to keep wandering astray in your sins because Jesus is the Way to the Father. 

Why is the Bible so Bloody?

One of the strangest parts of Christianity, especially to those of us in the modern, Western Hemisphere, is the seeming obsession with blood. God commanded the slaughter of animals as part of the Old Covenant, and for centuries His followers slit the throats of goats and sheep without batting an eye. In order to appease God’s wrath, the animal’s blood was sprinkled onto the mercy seat atop the Ark of the Covenant. This was commanded and carried out for hundreds of years.

Even before the first Passover, where through Moses God instructed everyone to put lamb blood on the posts of their front door, God killed a lamb in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned and realized they were naked, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, but God made them clothes of animal skin. The only way to skin is animal is to kill it, and it is a bloody process. While the Bible does not specify the type of animal skin, I absolutely believe it was a lamb. This may seem unsettling to some. What is with all the blood in the Bible?

The gruesomeness of the blood makes it crystal clear to us that sin is a big deal. We may be tempted to downplay sin, especially in this era of grace, but sin leads to death. Our first parents were warned that if they ate from the forbidden fruit, they would surely die. Once they ate it, the ones who deserved to die did not die, and instead, an innocent animal died in their place. That was the first death in history, and it came about because of sin. Adam and Eve would forever remember the wages of their sin.

Animal sacrifices forever looked back to that sacrificial animal in Eden. When the Israelites deserved to die for their sin, God promised to transfer His wrath to a lamb; when they offered it as a sacrifice, God was punishing their sin by punishing an innocent animal. Again, the ones who deserved to die did not die, because an innocent lamb died in their place.

That takes us to Mount Calvary. When Jesus came on the scene John the Baptist introduced Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).” As we noted last week in Isaiah 53, God was pleased to crush His Son on the cross, for it was “by his wounds we are healed.” Calvary was the culmination of years of animal sacrifices, and now we “are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10).” Because of the cross, those of us who deserve to die do not have to because the innocent Lamb died in our place.

Some reject the idea of the Suffering Servant; they cannot comprehend the necessity of God’s Son dying on the cross. My question is, if the Messiah didn’t pour out His blood on the cross, then what are all the sacrifices about, and why did they end? Only Jesus explains the blood; just as the sacrifices looked back to the animal in Eden, they also looked forward to Christ on the cross. The only reason the sacrifices ended is Jesus rendered them unnecessary with His perfect blood.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

The Suffering Servant

Last week I wrote about the efforts to undermine the writings of the prophet Isaiah, and now I want to highlight what I think Isaiah’s critics ultimately want to do away with. In chapters 52-53 the prophet wrote of the suffering servant, a passage that any unbiased reader would have to conclude is a perfect description of the work of Jesus on the cross. For 1,700 years after Isaiah wrote, rabbis believed this passage to be a prophecy of the Messiah, but today many Jews ignore this passage altogether.

Isaiah wrote that the servant would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Many today have trouble with the death of Jesus, believing God would never allow the Messiah to be killed in that way, and that the people would welcome Him with open arms; Isaiah, however, portrays Messiah as one who is rejected and despised by His own people, something we clearly see happen to Jesus. The prophet continued: “Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” God didn’t just allow the crucifixion, He is foretold it.

It gets even better. Isaiah noted, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed…the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus was pierced on the cross by three nails and a soldier’s spear, and striped by the cat-o-nine-tails. This wasn’t some accident God could not stop, nor a heretic getting what he deserved; God knew our peace with Him could only come by crushing His own Son. That is why Isaiah could say, “Yet it pleased the Lord to crush him,” for “It was the outcome that pleased Him, not the pain[1].” Isaiah said he would die with the wicked and be buried with the rich (Jesus died between criminals and was put in a rich man’s tomb); he would make many people righteous (who else has done that?); and most notably, he would divide the spoil with the strong because he died (in other words, after death he would celebrate victory, a clear picture of the Resurrection).

Please take the time to read these two chapters on your own, for space does not permit me to comment on each line.

When we remember that Micah predicted the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (5:2) and Daniel said He would come before the temple was destroyed (9:26; this happened in AD 70), we are left with a clear picture of Jesus. He was rejected and humiliated, only to bear the sins of many, and make peace between God and all who trust in Jesus. If you are looking for a Savior, Isaiah points Him out to you.  

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[1] MacArthur, John, The Gospel According to God, Crossway, p.141

Three Isaiahs?

In recent years some liberal scholars have sought to remove the idea that one man named Isaiah wrote the Old Testament book that bears his name. Some have suggested there were two authors, while some have gone so far as to suggest there were three. Their reasoning for suggesting multiple Isaiahs is the degree of accuracy in the book: Isaiah prophesied about things hundreds of years in advance, and his imagery was spot on. These critics have suggested a later Isaiah wrote after the fact, writing history and calling it prophecy.

For example, Isaiah prophesied (ch.13) that the Medes would defeat Babylon, and that Babylon would remain uninhabited forever. At the time of his writing Babylon was the world’s superpower, and the Medes were but a blip on the radar. However, just as was predicted, Darius the Mede supplanted the Babylonian Empire, and it has remained uninhabited ever since (an area about 50 miles from Baghdad).  

This is what scoffers like to do. Whenever something in Scripture can only be explained by the miraculous, they cry foul. Instead of accepting that “all Scripture is God-breathed,” they invent Second and Third Isaiah. This exposes the real motivation. If they can establish that Isaiah was altered centuries after the real prophet spoke, then they can discredit parts with which they disagree. The ultimate goal is to remove Isaiah 53, a chapter that so clearly presents Jesus as the Messiah that “even the inclusion of His name could add but little more to the extent of its disclosure of Him[1],” but more on that next time.

Is there a way to prove that Isaiah has not been tampered with? Aside from the fact that there is no evidence to suggest that there were multiple Isaiahs, we have New Testament attestation to a single author. In Matthew’s Gospel he quotes Isaiah 6, 9, 29, 40, 42, and 53; in each occurrence Matthew and Jesus attribute the quotes to Isaiah. Similarly, John quotes from chapters 6 and 53, saying “the prophet Isaiah” spoke both passages. This destroys any notion that later authors went back and added to the original book.

Isaiah’s amazing fulfilled prophecies add to the Bible’s reliability. We can trust that the prophecies yet unfulfilled will come to pass—such as the return of Christ, the judgments, and the events recorded in Revelation. Don’t pay any attention to scoffers who try to dismiss the miraculous; instead, embrace God’s Word as the inerrant, infallible instruction book for life.     

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[1] Grogan, Geoffrey W., “Isaiah,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, ed., Zondervan, 1986, 6:305