Does God Know Everything?

Yesterday I saw the last few minutes of “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” Jesus was before Pilate and Herod. Then He was scourged and crucified. While on the cross He uttered words that have always held a bit of mystery for me. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” As a young Christian, I wondered, “Did Jesus not understand why He was there?” Even though God the Son humbled and limited Himself, I thought surely He fully understood His mission and the events that would occur.

As I have grown in my faith, God has revealed answers to many such mysteries. Here, Jesus is not confused about His purpose. He knew well beforehand the gravity of the suffering He would endure. In fact, He was so aware of what would happen that He prayed for His Father to do something else “if it is possible.” With full knowledge of the task at hand, He expressed His genuine fear and dread.

Since before Creation…before time in fact, God the Son has known intimacy with God the Father. We, however, have rare moments of real intimacy with God and are overwhelmed by the experience. Jesus lived there…24/7. What we have difficulty imagining, Jesus counted as normal. When He hung there on the cross, He took on the guilt and responsibility of the sin of the whole world. And God the Father turned away.

Some translations use the word “abandoned.” God the Father turned His back on sin, and in doing so He abandoned His Son. For the first time ever, God the Son felt the utter despair of full and complete separation from God the Father. Like we are overwhelmed by intimacy with God, Jesus was overcome by separation. It was worse actually. When Jesus cried out, “My God, my God…” He was not confused about the work. He was expressing His shock and confusion, His despair, His aloneness. He was crying out, “Where are You?”

Does God know everything? Yes, He does. He knows my sin. He knows the penalty. He knows the shame, the despair, the separation. He knows these things and more…so that I don’t have to.