Fish Finder

Luke 5:6

A most amazing thing happened as verse 6 says, "When they had done this they enclosed a great multitude of fishes."  And the point that we made last time is Jesus knew where the fish were.  This is shocking.  He has supernatural knowledge.  He knows what nobody knows.  And the people knew that God alone was omniscient, that God alone knew this kind of information.  Man couldn't know this.  This is God. He knows where the fish are.

The great challenge in fishing is to find the fish because you can't hook them if you can't find them.  Ever used a fish finder from a boat? How about dynamite?

We talked about His omniscience, illustrated by the sparrows and the hairs of our heads. Oh, but there’s much more! In the gospel of Mark, Mark wants us to know that Jesus has the knowledge that only God has.  In 14:13, it was time for the Passover and Jesus wanted to have a place to celebrate the Passover because there were pilgrims in Jerusalem and they needed to rent a room.  And so He sent His disciples, two of them, into Jerusalem and He said "Go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water."  This is a man Jesus had never met.  This is a man Jesus had never seen.  But He says you're going to see a man with a pitcher of water. Follow him, just follow him.  Don't talk to him, just follow him and wherever he enters go in and say to the owner of the house. "The Master says where is My guestroom in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"  He knew about this house.  He knew that it had a proper room for them to have the Passover.  He knew about a man who would be going to that house with a pitcher that he was carrying and He said to the disciples, "Just go into town, when you see the man with the pitcher, follow him and everything else will fall into place."  This is supernatural knowledge.  He knows about a man who isn't yet where he's going to be. He knows about a place He's never seen. And so it’s nothing for Him to also control the response of this stranger, who will oddly agree to a business proposition with no basis of trust.

In the first chapter of John's gospel and verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him.  And He said to him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile." He identifies something about the character of Nathanael.  He's meeting him for the first time, seeing him for the first time humanly.  Yet He identifies him.  And Nathanael said to Him in verse 48, "How do You know me?"  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you,” before Philip even brought you, when you were out under that fig tree I saw you.  Well He didn't see him with His physical eyes, He couldn't.  "Nathanael answered and said, 'Rabbi, You are the Son of God.’  You literally have the life of God in you.'" He was saying, "You are God the Son. Only God knows that. Only God can see people who are out of human vision. Only God knows the character of somebody they've never met."

Over in chapter 2 of John, verse 24, Jesus on His part “was not entrusting Himself to them,” certain people, “because He knew all men and because He didn't need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man."  Jesus never needed information about people. He knew what they were like.  He knew what was in their mind, what was in their heart because He knew and knows everything.

In the 6th chapter of John and verse 64, Jesus says, "There are some of you who do not believe."  Now Jesus wasn't saying that in a general sense.  He was saying that, "For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn't believe."  He always knew who wouldn't believe.  From the beginning He knew who wouldn't believe.  He knows who won't believe. It’s foreknowledge.  He also knew who it was that would betray Him.  He knew who Judas was and He knew Judas would never really believe and He knew Judas would betray Him even though the other disciples didn't know it, even the night of the betrayal, and when it was announced that one of them would betray Him, they were saying, "Is it I?  Is it I?"  Jesus always knew who would betray Him.  [all the others called Him Lord when asking if it was them. Only Judas called Him Rabbi or teacher. Peter’s pride said I will die first, Lord]

Jesus always knew from the beginning who would not believe in Him because He knows everything that is to be known.

In John 13 He says, "From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, from now on,” He says, as of this point on I'm going to tell you things that haven't happened yet and I'm going to tell them to you “so that when it does occur you may believe that I am He," that is, that I am God, that I am the Son of God, the Messiah.  "I'm going to start telling you things before they happen."  He knows not only what is but what will be.

And then in 16:30, they say, "Now we know that You know all things."  That's right. They were finally awakening to the fact that He knew everything.  "And You have no need for anyone to question You.  By this we believe that You came from God.”  That You proceeded, as it were, out of the Trinity because You know everything.  This is characteristic only of God.

Is there anything He doesn’t know? I have a sermon on this subject, but it’s somewhat tongue in cheek, with points like:

God Doesn’t Know…

…A Sinner He Doesn’t Love
…A Sin That He Doesn’t Hate
…Any Way Of Salvation Except The Way Of The Cross
…An obstacle He cannot overcome…

…A bill He can’t pay

…A being He did not create…

…A believer He can’t use…

These aren’t really things He has no knowledge of…But there were times when Jesus truly imposed some limits on Himself, like the time of Mark 11:13, that He went to look at a fig tree to see if it had any fruit.  And there is a time recorded in the 8th chapter of Luke where there is someone who touches Him and He says, "Who touched Me?"  There's a very human response.  You see Him in His humanness going to see if there's fruit on a tree, turning around to see who it was who touched Him.  When man sinned in the garden, he hid. But God came looking and said, "Where art thou?" Those are the rare occasions when you see His humanness unaided for at least a moment by His deity.  And then that remarkable time in Matthew 24:36 when talking about His Second Coming He said, "No man knows the day nor the hour when the Son of Man comes, no, not even the Son of Man."  At this point He had willfully restricted that knowledge. He had set it aside as He had a right to do.  Well those were the rare elements and the rare occasions and the rare bits of information that Jesus restricted Himself from knowing.  Everything else to know He knew because as God He knew everything. From the beginning to the end of everything He knows it all. There's nothing He doesn't know.

And all of a sudden Peter is literally shocked by the realization that Jesus knows what nobody knows; He knows where the fish are.  Just like He knew where the fish was when He told Peter to go down and throw a hook into the water and pull out a fish that had a coin in its mouth that could pay their taxes.  Just like He knew where the fish were in John 21 when Peter tried to go back to his old fishing profession and couldn't catch fish and Jesus said, "They're on the right side of the boat, try there."  Indeed they were there.  Jesus knows where all His creatures are at all times. Doc wants a deer finder for Christmas.

There isn't anything that exists in the material or immaterial world that He doesn't know.  It's not that He has to learn it, or discover it. He knows it because it exists.  And He knows what hasn't yet come to pass.  He’s not waiting to see what happens. The cross wasn’t a reaction like, O no! He’s the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He's not searching for facts. He acquires no information.  He knows everything that is happening, has happened, or ever will happen.  And this is true of Christ.  And so we see Him as God by virtue of divine knowledge.

Now, how does this help us?

I don’t know what my test results will be. I don’t know why my head is hurting. I don’t know what that person is thinking.

I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know someone who does.

I have trouble with doubts about the future, but I know Who holds the future.