The Bible Teaches That God Knows Everything
Christians Think it's Impossible to Hide From God
Oct 14, 2009
Christians believe that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them, including people. As creator, God is said to be intimately aware of each person’s strengths and weaknesses, words, behaviors and thoughts. As Adam and Eve discovered in the Garden of Eden after they had eaten the forbidden fruit, many believers feel it is impossible to hide from God.
Scriptures Tell of God’s Knowledge of Specific People
Many Bible stories describe King David as a great man of God. He wrote most of the Psalms and in Psalm 139 he talked about how God knows him, “God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking." (Psalm 139:1-6, The Message)
The prophet Isaiah warned his people that they couldn’t hide from God because God knew their thoughts and plans just as a potter knows his or her clay. (Isaiah 29:15-16)
God's "all knowing" nature didn't apply to only David and Isaiah; it's thought to apply to every Christian. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations — that's what I had in mind for you." (Jeremiah 1:5, The Message)
God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn the people that unless they turned from their sins, they would be destroyed. But, Jonah didn’t want to do as he had been told, so he traveled in the opposite direction and tried to run away from God. It didn’t take long for Jonah to discover it was impossible. (Jonah 1:1-10)
In the last years of his life, while exiled on the island of Patmos, the apostle John had a vision in which Jesus Christ told him things that God had spoken concerning future events (Revelation 1:1). God said, “I see right through your work. You have a reputation for vigor and zest, but you're dead, stone-dead." (Revelation 3:1, The Message)
Jesus Knew What Other People Were Thinking
The New Testament often states that Jesus, who Christians believe is the son of God, knew the thoughts of people or knew in advance what would happen. The following illustrations are selected from more than forty Biblical examples:
- The Pharisees, Jewish religious leaders during Bible times, were usually described as self-righteous or hypocritical. They often plotted against Jesus, which was pointless because he knew their thoughts. (Matthew 12:25, Luke 6:8)
- Nathanael hid under a fig tree, but Jesus knew about it. (John 1:45-50)
- Jesus knew that the fickle followers who wanted to crown him one day would forget about him the next and eventually yell, “Crucify him!” (John 2:24-25)
- Some people who listened to Jesus teach doubted what he said was true because at times, his teachings were radical and difficult to embrace. Jesus knew they were only pretending to follow him. (John 6:64-66)
- Jesus knew his death would happen soon and warned his disciples. When he told them what was about to happen, they discussed it amongst themselves; Jesus knew they were afraid to ask him questions about it. (John 13:1, 16:19)
- At the Last Supper, Jesus identified the disciple — Judas Iscariot — who would betray him a few hours later. (John 13:11, 18-28)
God is Omniscient and Omnipresent
The word "omniscient" means "knowing everything or having absolute knowledge." Christians believe that God is omniscient. The Bible also teaches that God is omnipresent, or able to be everywhere at the same time, and as a result, he sees everything. (Matthew 28:20)
When a child is young and wants to do something that he or she has been told not to do, the youngster will often hide during the prohibited act. After, the child may try to cover up what has occurred, though to an adult’s eyes, the efforts are often transparent.
This idea is similar to the way the Bible expresses how God sees people. Christians believe that God knows what is happening and human attempts to hide behavior or events from God are portrayed in the Bible as naive and useless. What Scripture stresses is that even though God knows each person intimately, and clearly sees not only behavior, but also the motivation behind it, God also loves every person with an absolute and unconditional love that will never end.
The Purpose of Being a Christian has more information about how believers think God sees and cares about people.
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