Omniscience

Omniscience is the perfection by which God knows himself and all things perfectly, eternally, and immediately — things actual and possible, past, present, and future, the outward act and the inward thought. "Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure" (Psalm 147:5). His knowledge is not gathered by observation nor learned over time but belongs to his infinite being; he is the one who is "perfect in knowledge" (Job 37:16).

The Psalmist marvels that God's knowledge is at once exhaustive and intimate: "O LORD, you have searched me and known me! ... you discern my thoughts from afar ... even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether" (Psalm 139:1–4). Nothing in creation escapes him — "the eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3); "no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13). He knows the future as surely as the past, "declaring the end from the beginning ... saying, 'My counsel shall stand'" (Isaiah 46:9–10).

God's omniscience is not a vast store of facts lying outside him, nor mere advance information about a future he passively foresees. He knows all things because all things hang upon his will and wisdom, and his knowing is one with his eternal purpose; so Scripture weds his knowledge to his wisdom — "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments" (Romans 11:33). Above all he reads the heart, which no human can: "God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything" (1 John 3:20).

In the incarnate Son this divine knowledge was unveiled. Jesus "knew all people and ... needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man" (John 2:24–25); he saw Nathanael under the fig tree before they met (John 1:48), and the restored Peter could only answer, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you" (John 21:17). The same Lord assures his own that "even the hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30).

Omniscience is at once searching and comforting. It leaves no sin hidden and summons us to integrity and repentance, for we must give account to the God who sees all. Yet to the believer it is sweet assurance: the Lord who knows our frame and numbers our sorrows also "knows those who are his" (2 Timothy 2:19), and no trial, no need, and no faithful deed is ever overlooked by him.