God Knows All of Our Motives, Thoughts, Words and Actions

A WING AND A PRAYER

Carlin Lawrence carlin@agairupdate.com

Some humans think that they can hide all their ungodly motives, thoughts, words, and actions from God, but that’s foolishness. “For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9). “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely” (Psalm 139:2-4). “Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord, how much more the hearts of men! (Proverbs 15:11). “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “And not a God far off? “Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:23-24).

“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). God is in absolute control of the future of His earth, nothing happens that God doesn’t allow. Jesus’ crucifixion was according to the determined purpose and for knowledge of God (Acts 2:22-23).

Isaiah wrote, “God says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please… “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places” (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1-3). Isaiah wrote this over 100 years before Cyrus was born!

The events mentioned above happened on the night that Belshazzar’s had an ungodly feast and desecrated the instruments that were used to worship God (Daniel chapter 5). The Persian army, using a basin dug earlier by the Babylonians to protect Babylon against Median attacks, diverted the Euphrates river into this basin so that the water level dropped “to the height of the middle of a man’s thigh,” which allowed the invading forces to march directly through the river bed and under the iron gates to enter Babylon at night. The Persian army entered and conquered the city of Babylon, killed Belshazzar, and took control of all Babylon’s treasures in October of 539 BC, about 173 years after Isaiah’s prophecy.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts” (Luke 16:15). “Jesus did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person” (John 2:25). Jesus said, “I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36). God’s Spirit dwells in every part of His universe and He knows everything about every human that’s ever lived on this earth.

If I told you that I know who the next 10 winners of the Texas State Lottery are going to be you’d say, “Come on Carlin, there’s no way you can do that unless it’s rigged.” And you’d be right, because the odds of doing that would be beyond the realm of chance. I would have to have some type of inside information. That’s the way prophecy is, God has inside information; He knows the future of His entire universe and every person and everything in it.

There are hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament that refer to the first coming of (Jesus Christ) the Messiah. Many of these refer to His birth, life, death and resurrection. These prophecies were written during an 1100-year period that ended 400 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. If you consider the odds of Jesus fulfilling just 17 of these prophecies during His life on this earth the odds are staggering.

The Old Testament says that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would be born in Bethlehem and from the tribe of Judah; that a messenger (John the Baptist) would precede the Messiah and He would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. That He would be betrayed by a friend (Judas Iscariot) for thirty pieces of silver and the money would be spent to buy a potter’s field. Jesus would be silent before His accusers, His enemies would wound him, He would be spit upon and beaten and His hands and feet would be pierced. He would be crucified with thieves, His side would be pierced but none of His bones would be broken and they would gamble for His garments. Darkness would cover the earth, He would be buried in a rich man’s tomb and His body would not decay.

The chance factor of one man fulfilling all of these 17 prophecies is 1 chance in 480,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000. Or 480 billion x 1 billion x 1 trillion to one that one man could fulfill these 17 prophecies. If we included all of the other prophecies Jesus fulfilled it would be totally absurd that anyone could have fulfilled all of them by shear chance. Faced with these kinds of odds, how can anyone deny that Jesus is not who the Bible says He is; the Son of God and the Savior of all who put their faith in Him. Are you willing to bet your eternal life against these kinds of odds?

We’re all guilty before God of committing sins in our life. But God says He’ll give us His righteousness if we’ll trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (2 Corinthians 5:21). Why not trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? The apostle Paul wrote, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Jesus really does love you; He proved it by dying on the Cross for the sins of this world (John 1:29). It’s your choice!