The God Who Knows Everything!

In John 17:3, Jesus, praying to the Father, says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Knowing God means loving God, treasuring and honoring him, trusting him, believing him, prizing and prioritizing his glory and praise above everything else in life. To know God is to rejoice in who he is and what he does. The true, saving knowledge of God that Jesus speaks of here is to enjoy him, to find a deep delight in him above and beyond all earthly treasures. To know him is to be satisfied with all that he is for you in Jesus. To “know” God is to obey God, joyfully and spontaneously.

Eternal life is best seen not as everlasting life but as knowledge of the Everlasting One. To know God transforms a person and introduces him to a life he could not otherwise experience. Knowledge of God is eternal life; to know God is to have eternal life.

To speak of God knowing all things in theological terms is to refer to his omniscience.  A.W. Tozer wrote in The Pursuit of God, “He is omniscient, which means that He knows in one free and effortless act all matter, all spirit, all relationships, all events.”

Psalm 139:1-18 contains some of the most significant teaching on God's omniscience and omnipresence in all of Scripture. In 139:1-18 David gives us three stanzas of meditation on the “omnis” of God - his omniscience (139:1-6), his omnipresence (139:7-12), and his omnipotence (139:13-18). Omniscience (all-knowing) is not formulated as a doctrine but confessed in adoration. There are eight references to divine knowledge in verses 1-6: (know ... knows ... discern ... sift ... take account.. . know ... encircle... knowledge. All the verbs associated with Yahweh in verses Ps. 139:1-5 are perfect tense expressing unvaried, fixed habit.

Psalm 139 is gripping in its descriptions of how close God wants to be to us. He is not satisfied to be simply the reigning King, exalted in heaven, enthroned before a sea of angels. He desires to have a personal relationship with us on the deepest level. He searches and knows us (Psalm 139:1); His eye is always upon us (139:2-3). He hears all that we say (139:4), and His hand is upon us (139:5). All of this staggers the psalmist (139:6). Moreover, God's presence is always there, in heaven or hell, in darkness or in light (139:7-12). But why is it that God knows us so intimately? The answer is that He has created us (139:13-16). He knows us the way a painter knows his picture, or a sculptor knows his statue. As a result of all of this, God's thoughts are precious to the psalmist (139:17-18), and he hates those whom God hates (139:19-22). He concludes with an invitation for God to search him, try him, know him, and lead him "in the way everlasting" (139:23-24).

1. The Truth About God’s Knowledge

A. God Knows Himself Perfectly

God’s omniscience includes perfect knowledge of Himself, the triune Godhead. The three persons of the Trinity know each other fully, with no gaps in their knowledge (Matt. 11:27; John 10:15). If God didn’t know himself he would be under the greatest ignorance because he would be ignorant of the greatest object.

B. God Knows All Things Instantly and Effortlessly

He knows our works – 139:2; our ways – 139:3; our words before we say them – 139:4. He knows our mind, motives, and members – 139:13-16.

God knows everything possible, everything actual; all events and all creatures, of the past, the present, and the future. He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and in hell. “He knows what is in the darkness” (Dan 2:22). Nothing escapes His notice, nothing can be hidden from Him, nothing is forgotten by Him. We can all identify with David, the Psalmist as he exclaims, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6). His knowledge is perfect. He never errs, never changes, never overlooks anything. “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:13).

C. God Knows All Things Independently and Intuitively – Isaiah 40:13-14

God knows all things instantly and simultaneously. God has never needed anyone to instruct or counsel Him (Rom. 11:34; Isa. 40:13–14). God knows all things as they truly are. He never learns anything new. He knew all things before there was anything. Nothing ever surprises God or takes Him off guard. There is never any confusion, mistakes, or misunderstanding in his knowledge.

Our knowledge comes by way of observation, reasoning, comparison, induction, deduction, etc. In other words, we learn. But God's knowledge is intuitive, by which is meant that it is innate and immediate. God does not learn: He simply knows. He neither discovers nor forgets.

God's knowledge is simultaneous, not successive. He lives in the eternal now! He sees things at once and in their totality, whereas we know only as the objects of knowledge are brought before us, one bit after another. With God the act of perception is complete and instantaneous. God thinks about all things at once.

D. God Knows All Things Infinitely and Infallibly

As Ronald Nash has said, "Divine omniscience means that God holds no false beliefs. Not only are all of God's beliefs true, but the range of his knowledge is also total; He knows all true propositions". God is always correct in what he knows. God's knowledge is infinite, not partial- "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18). God's knows exhaustively all his own deeds and plans. He also knows us thoroughly and exhaustively. No secret of the human heart, no thought of the mind or feeling of the soul escapes his gaze. Nothing ever catches God off guard.

His knowledge is clear and perfect. “We see through a glass, darkly;” and only “know in part.” He knows all things clearly and distinctly, intimately and thoroughly, infallibly and perfectly. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” “His understanding is infinite.”

God’s knowledge penetrates the depths of the human heart. He knows us far more intimately than we know ourselves (Ps. 139:1-4). But most incredibly, even though God is fully acquainted with the depths of our sin and depravity, He does not withhold His love and forgiveness from us!

E. God Knows Immutably

Some argue there are things God dose not know, indeed cannot, know. There is a teaching called, "Open Teism" which states that God knows both the past and present in exhaustive detail but knows the future only to the degree that the future is logically knowable.

One advocate of “Open Theism” states, "God can't foreknow the good or bad decisions of the people He creates until He creates these people and they, in turn, create their decisions, therefore God is learning billions of new certainties every hour, and is adjusting his plans continually to deal with these new certainties. This is a very serious departure from the glorious, biblical vision of God who knows infallibly all that shall come to pass.

In other words, God cannot know what we, humans, will do until we do it. God knows the range of possibilities and potentialities but not actualities, insofar as the latter do not exist as objects of knowledge until such time as free moral agents bring them into being. Hence the future is truly “open” for both God and humans.

Others advocate a view that God “simply” knows what is going to come to pass. The future is not “open” from God’s perspective, but neither is God’s foreknowledge based on his foreordination. God “simply” foreknows what free agents will do.

But my understanding of scripture compels me to believe that God knows every detail of the future, not because he foresaw what men and nature would do or cause, but because he foreordained the future. God foreknows everything that will come to pass in the future because he has foreordained everything that comes to pass. Humans are free moral agents insofar as they act voluntarily according to their fallen natures. But all such desires and subsequent volitional activity fall within the sovereign and eternal purpose of God. I believe the future is fixed and it’s fabulous!

2. The Trauma of God’s Knowledge

The awareness that our whole life is laid bare beneath the omniscience gaze of a thrice-holy God is traumatizing and threatening to the unbeliever.

Although he is invisible to us, we are not so to Him. Neither the darkness of night, the thickest of curtains, nor the deepest dungeon can hide any sinner from the eyes of Omniscience. The trees of the garden were not able to conceal our first parents. No human eye beheld Cain murder his brother, but his Maker witnessed his crime. Sarah might laugh derisively in the seclusion of her tent, yet it was heard by the Angel of the Lord – Jesus. Achan stole a bar of gold and carefully hid it in the earth, but God brought it to light. David went to murderous lengths to cover up his wickedness, but before long the all-seeing God sent one of His servants to say to him, “Thou art the man”! What Moses wrote several thousand years ago is just as true and certain today - “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num 32:23).

Men would strip God of His omniscience if they could. Truly, “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom 8:7)! The unbeliever wishes that there might be no Witness of their sins, no Searcher of their hearts, no Judge of their deeds. They seek to banish such a God from their thoughts: “They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness” (Hosea 7:2). How solemn is Psalm 90:8: “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” 

But to the believer, the fact of God’s omniscience is a truth loaded with great comfort. In times of perplexity he says with Job, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.” It may be profoundly mysterious to me, quite incomprehensible to my friends, but “He knows”! In times of weariness and weakness believers assure themselves, “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). In times of doubt and suspicion believers should appeal to this very attribute, saying, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa 139:23,24). In time of sad failure, when our actions have call into question our hearts, when our deeds have repudiated our devotion, and the searching question comes to us, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”, we say, as Peter did, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (John 21:17).

3. The Treasure of God’s Knowledge

A. There is the Comfort of Knowing that there is Purpose in Life’s Puzzling Events.

Psalm 142:3, “When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.”  

When you face challenges or difficulties, you can be encouraged that God understands what you are going through. He knows about your pressures and problems, and He also knows the purpose for your trials. God promises, “I know the plans I have for you… They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT).

B. There is the Comfort of Knowing that in Light of God’s Omniscience, He Loves You!

He knows our deepest, darkest secrets and dirtiest inner thoughts; yet He still chose to love us with His infinite love!  God in His perfect knowledge looked at us and deemed us lovable. He saw us and desired for us to be His bride to be His children.  Amazing – mind-boggling!

Pastor John Piper writes, “If you have succeeded, as I have, in not telling everybody or anybody about everything, you haven’t succeeded with Jesus. He knows absolutely everything about you. There are no secrets. You are totally, completely known by Jesus. That’s amazing. The person who matters most, knows most. The person whose judgment is all-important, knows all. Let that sink in.

“Therefore, there is always one person you must relate to who knows everything about you. Think about it. There’s always one person you must relate to who knows everything about you. Everything.

“Isn’t it scary to you that all your relationships are contingent on whether people don’t know certain things about you? So you tremblingly walk through life, hiding yourself from one relationship to the other, because if you do or say certain things, it might ruin the relationship. But isn’t it sweet to know that if that happened to everybody in your life, it wouldn’t happen to Jesus? That’s a rock I live on.”

C. There is the Comfort of Knowing that Nobody Can Tell on You!

How inexpressibly sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us, no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to embarrass us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us. “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee” (Isaiah 54:10).

The truth of God’s infinite knowledge should fill the Christian with adoration. The whole of my life stood open to His view from the beginning. He foresaw my every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding; yet, nevertheless, fixed His heart upon me. Oh, how the realization of this should bow me in wonder and worship before Him!

4. Thankfulness for God’s Infinite Knowledge

Psalm 139:6, “ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” I cannot grasp it. I can hardly endure to think of it. The theme overwhelms me. I am amazed and astounded at it. Such knowledge not only surpasses my comprehension, but even my imagination. “It is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

Romans 11:33-36, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” 

The infinite knowledge of God should fill us with amazement. How far exalted above the wisest man is the Lord! None of us knows what a day may bring forth, but all of the future is open to His omniscient gaze. The infinite knowledge of God ought to fill us with holy awe. Nothing we do, say, or even think, escapes the knowledge of Him with whom we have to do: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Pro 15:3). What a curb this would be unto us, did we but meditate upon it more frequently! Instead of acting recklessly, we should say with Hagar, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” (Gen 16:13). The apprehension of God’s infinite knowledge should fill the Christian with adoration.

All knowledge, wisdom and all riches originate in Christ, and are held in existence by him, and are for the purpose of making him known. Therefore, nothing can be fully or rightly known that is not known in relation to Jesus Christ.

“In [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Treasures. Wisdom. Knowledge. “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and the knowledge of God” (Romans 11:33)!

The riches are finally Jesus Christ himself offered to us as our all-satisfying Treasure (Colossians 1:27). “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing [deeply, personally, joyfully knowing] Christ Jesus my Lord [my Treasure, my Riches]” (Philippians 3:8).

God’s unfathomable knowledge is in Christ Jesus. All facts and events arise from him, are sustained by him, and point to him. He is the meaning of all knowledge. There is no true knowledge that is not related to Christ. Every thought in a human mind, or in the mind of a demon, about any fact or any event in the world, that is not truly connected to Christ, is a thought in rebellion against the Truth and against God. There is no true knowledge apart from Christ. That is how radically Christ-exalting all of life should be.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!” May the revelation of the Son and the revelation of his ways move you to stand in awe of him, and make him the beginning, the middle, and the end in all you think and feel and do. Oh, come let us worship and bow down!