“Great is the Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5).
“There were false prophets among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you” (2 Pet. 2:1).
Some will be quite concerned that I would suggest that Open Theists are categorized as “false teachers.” This is because being labeled as a false teacher also carries the idea of being unsaved and without God.
I do not want to dogmatically proclaim the latter part, because I do not know, only God does. Judging the person’s heart is all up to the Lord. But He allows us to use His Word to discern the teachings that are being proclaimed behind many pulpits and books which Christians are listening to and reading.
One leading proponent of Open Theism said:
“God Himself risks a great deal in creating the world. The biblical perspective on God reveals a God who throughout history has suffered from the ill choices of human beings, and He suffers because He loves” – Boyd
“But to assume He knows ahead of time how every person is going to freely act assumes that each person’s free activity is already there to know—even before he freely does it! But
it’s not.”
To the Open Theists, God’s greatness is that God knows what God does not know.
“God does not know every detail about what will come to pass. . . The future is, to some degree at least, open ended and God knows it as such.”
Read again the passage above. God’s understanding is what? “Infinite!” God’s knowledge and understanding knows no end. It is boundless and limitless.
God knows and has even ordained for there to be a belief called “Open Theism” which would be man’s attempt to limit God in order to preserve the notion of man’s having free will.
Never mind the Bible says that we are born and “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Never mind that at the time Jesus died and paid the penalty for sin, man was “helpless,” “ungodly,” “sinners,” and “enemies” of God (Rom. 5:6-10).
Never mind that the Scriptures teach that “there is no one who understands. . .no one who seeks after God. . .no one who is good” (Rom. 3:10-12), “not even one.”
In other words, man has no free will. The only one who has free will is God. Our will is bound by our nature. We cannot choose beyond what we are. Sinners choose what? Sin. Saints choose what? Righteousness. But how does one go from being a sinner to a saint? It is God who chooses – foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies and glorifies (Rom. 8:29-30). Man responds in faith -- a faith that is provided by God alone (Eph. 2:8-9).
Listen. This is not going to sit well, but it’s nevertheless true. Life is one BIG PLAN and PURPOSE. It is all God’s plan and purpose from great and awesome events to the smallest details.
“But why doesn’t others see it this way,” you ask? Because it is God who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness” (Dan. 2:22).
Some truths are not learned in the traditional manner, they are revealed by God. When these truths are revealed, it is important that we first receive them by faith. If you seek to understand and make sense of it to your own personal satisfaction, you will elevate man and reduce God in the process.
Hey, Psalm 147 makes it clear: GOD IS NOT LEARNING ANYTHING NEW! His knowledge is infinite and so is His understanding.
Since life is one Big Plan of God, get on board and become part of the Big Plan. You do know (I hope you do) that this big plan of God not only encompasses the END, but also the MEANS. Your choice to submit to God and cooperate with Him is the means, even though the means of your cooperation, to whatever extent it may be, is all planned by God.
We have spend so much of our time reducing God to the level of human understanding so we can relate better and feel comfortable with Him. When we do talk about God as being God, it makes us uncomfortable and it forces us to really think. God forbid that we should think!
But unless we recapture the biblical view of God’s infinite greatness over all of life’s events, even our most smallest choices in life, we will not come to fear and reverence Him the way we should.
End of Part 7
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