Just as Christians often use “omnipotent” to speak of God possessing all power and “omnipresent” to describe how He is everywhere at the same time, Christians also use “omniscience” to speak of God knowing all things. His omniscience and omnipresence go hand in hand. Pervasive presence and perfect knowledge are complementary aspects of God’s essential nature. Psalm 147:5 puts it like this: “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” In short, God possesses infinite power, presence and knowledge.
We have thought in recent weeks how the qualities of God-ness include Him being eternal, Spirit, personal and triune. We also have noted that omnipotence and omnipresence are among God’s essential qualities along with omniscience. He has not acquired all these characteristics over time. They speak of what God is, has been and will forever be. These characteristics belong to His nature or being. For this week, what can we say about God being omniscient or all knowing?
As humans we may forget some things from the past. We may have imperfect or limited understanding of the present. We certainly do not know details about the future even though we sometimes can foresee possible or even probable outcomes. God’s nature as everlasting means He always knows what is past, present and future. No gap exists in His knowledge. God knows all things perfectly and completely. The confession of Peter in John 21:17 was right on target: “Lord, You know all things.” The assertion of 1 John 3:20 contains the same idea: “God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”
Among implications that flow from the truth of God being all knowing is the validity of biblical prophecy. Predictive prophecy is rooted in God’s awareness or knowledge of what lies in the future. God spoke through Isaiah, saying, “I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done” (Isa. 46:9–10). Something more must be said about God’s knowledge of the future. The truth that He knows what has not yet come to pass does not diminish human freedom of choice and resultant accountability. That God knows in advance what will happen does not necessarily mean that He causes it to happen. Foreknowing is not to be equated with “fore-causing.”
Godly living
Also among the implications flowing from this divine omniscience is the incentive for godly living. If we allow the truthfulness of Psalm 139:1–3, as we certainly should, then it intensifies our attention to what we do, where we go, what we say and even what we think: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.”
God’s omniscience qualifies Him to be the perfect Judge of all the earth. He knows and remembers not only human deeds but also the motivations that lie behind them. David addressed his son, Solomon, charging him, “Know the God of your father and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts” (1 Chron. 28:9).
Share with others: