God possesses complete universal knowledge of all things past, present, and future (without prior discovery of facts). This includes not only the actual, but also the possible. God’s total and immediate knowledge is based on his eternality (he has always and will always exist) and his omnipresence (he was, is, and will always be everywhere at the same time). While omniscience embraces the actual and the possible, it does not include the self-contradictory and the impossible because those are not objects of knowledge. So, for example, God does not know what the results would be if two and two made five! (See also Pss 104:24; 147:5; Isa 40:13–14; Heb 4:13.)

In essence, God knows everything completely, perfectly, independently, simultaneously, and innately.

a. The quantity of his knowledge—complete.

b. The quality of his knowledge—perfect.

c. The source of his knowledge—independent.

d. The timing of his knowledge—simultaneous.

e. The method of his knowledge—innate.

God’s omniscience is manifested in many ways.

One of our former teachers at Liberty University was conducting a men’s spiritual retreat in California and, upon attempting to call his wife in Virginia, was accidentally connected into an intense conversation between a man and woman who were apparently having an illicit sexual affair. The woman seemed greatly concerned that their sin would be discovered. But the man however brazenly assured her this could never happen.

“Look,” he said, “your husband doesn’t know, my wife doesn’t know, our kids don’t know. So just relax, for no one sees us.”

Unable to hold his peace, the professor literally shouted into the phone, “BUT GOD SEES YOU!” and quickly hung up.

It would seem safe to assume that affair was terminated immediately!

1. Our thoughts (Pss 44:21; 139:2b).

2. Our words (Ps 139:4; Mal 3:16).

3. Our deeds (Ps 139:2a; Rev 2:19; see also Ps 139:3a; Rev 2:2, 9, 13; 3:1, 8, 15).

4. Our sorrows (Exod 3:7).

5. Our needs (Matt 6:32).

6. Our devotion (Gen 18:17–19; 22:11–12).

To illustrate this, imagine yourself in the vicinity of the garden of Gethsemane on a warm April night some 2,000 years ago. As you watch, a man walks up to Jesus and kisses him. You would probably conclude, “How this man must love the Master!” Shortly after this you are shocked to hear another man bitterly cursing Christ. Now your conclusion would be, “How this man must hate the Master!” But both times you would be wrong. Judas, the man who kissed Christ, really hated him, and Peter, the one who cursed him, really loved him.

7. Our frailties (Ps 103:14).

8. Our foolishness (Ps 69:5).

What would life be like today if Judas Iscariot had not betrayed Christ? Or, if the South had won the Civil War? Or, if Adolf Hitler had died at birth? Or, if you had been born a boy instead of a girl, or a girl instead of a boy? Or, black instead of white, or white instead of black? One can only speculate, but God knows exactly what would have been the case! In fact, we are told what would have happened in three cases:

1. If Jesus had preached to three wicked Old Testament cities, Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom (Matt 11:21–24).

2. If Old Testament Israel had repented (Isa 48:18).

3. If New Testament Israel had repented (Matt 23:37).

A. W. Tozer waxes about the expansiveness of God’s knowledge: God perfectly knows Himself and being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn. God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all beings and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven [p. 460] and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell. (The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 62)