Another attribute of God is His OMNISCIENCE. Omniscience is a word that means “God knows all things.” He knows all that is knowledgeable; He knows all that is happening. We’ll look at the Old Testament at Psalm 147, verse 5: “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” And from the New Testament, we’ll look at Acts 15, verse 18: “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” So we see that He is omniscient. See also: Psalm 139; Proverbs 15:3; Isaiah 46:10; Matthew 10:30; Matthew 11:27; 2 Corinthians 2:14.

But, the fact that God knows all does not limit our “free will.” If man is not free to do as he wills, then he cannot be held accountable for his actions. God’s ability to see all, to know all—from eternity to eternity—does not take away from our free will. This sometimes causes people a problem. It’s difficult to comprehend—it’s difficult for us to understand. How is it that God can know all things—can see the future—and yet we are free to do as we please? Well, it is a difficult concept; there’s no doubt about that. How do we explain it? I’m not sure I can explain it satisfactorily, but one way that I think about this is in the sense of God being “outside of time.” God created time; He began time; and He will end time. So God is above that—He is not restricted by time. Sometimes I think about time as a “line.” Think about the beginning of this “time line” as Genesis 1:1 [“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”]; and the end of the “time line” is whenever God decides that is going to be. God is above that; He is able to see all of that. God knows when time began and He knows when time will end! He can view time, but we are free, within our freedom of choice, to do what we will do. God is not orchestrating or directing us. He is not a puppeteer, Who is making all of our moves. So God is omniscient—He knows all! But, He allows us to do as we will.

God is also OMNIPRESENT, which indicates that, “He is everywhere at one time.” He is not limited, as we are, to time and to space. God is inescapable. I think about that song that we sing, “The Providence of God:” “God is here, there and everywhere.” One of the lines of that song says, “you can’t escape the providence of God.” That is certainly true. While, on one hand, that is perhaps a frightening thought, on the other hand, it should be a comforting thought—comforting to those who love Him; comforting to those who obey Him; and comforting to those who are anticipating being with Him some day. So the thought of God being ever with us and being able to ever see what we are doing, etc., should not be something that would unnerve us. See: Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Acts 17:27-28; Romans 10:6-8.

The next attribute is the HOLINESS of God. The Holiness of God has two major thoughts. The first is that, God’s separateness from all evil declares His purity (Isaiah 40:25; Isaiah 41:20; Romans 11:33-36). The other aspect that is suggested of God’s holiness is the thought that He is high and above all men. That is, indeed, declared in the Scriptures. For example, let’s look at Romans, chapter 14, verse 11: “For it is written: ‘As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.’” Yes, God is high and above mankind, and whether in this life or on the day of judgment, as that Scripture says, “every knee will bow, every tongue will confess,” because God is the Most High. See also: Isaiah 6:5; Ephesians 3:14; Philippians 2:10; 1 Timothy 6:16.

Another attribute is the ETERNITY of God. As we’ve said before, God is without beginning and He is without end. He has always been; He will always be. God is the God of history, as far as the world is concerned, but He is not limited in history. In other words, God is not confined, nor is He limited to the history that we know about, or to the realm that we are a part of. Psalm 90 speaks of His eternal nature. [See Psalm 90:1-2, “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”] This is something that is very difficult for us as mortals to grasp, because all that we know, all that we have any familiarity with, is all governed by “time” and by “space.” God is outside of that. He is not limited by time, as Isaiah says in Isaiah 57, verse 15 [“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose Name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’”]. 2 Peter 3:8 says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Here is something to note: Eternity is not the extension of time, but eternity is the extinguishing of time!

Also, God is IMMUTABLE. Immutability simply means that God is “unchangeable in His nature.” He’s unchangeable in his essence; He is unchangeable in His purpose. This attribute relates to the faithfulness of God in the natural realm. For example, Genesis 8:22 tells us that “as long as the world exists, there will be seedtime and harvest.” [“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”] God has created a consistency to nature and to this world, and we can depend upon that consistency. So He is unchangeable in that regard. This also relates to His attitude toward sin and evil, and His attitude toward those who seek to do good. God is always faithful to keep His covenants and His promises. He may change the way that He deals with mankind. In a previous study of the first two books of the Old Testament, we saw two ways, or two dispensations, in the way that God dealt with mankind. The first was the Patriarchal, and the second was the beginning of the Mosaical dispensation. Now, of course, we live in the third and final dispensation, that being the Christian age. So God may change the way He deals with mankind, but God, Himself, does not and will not change. See: Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 Samuel 15:29; Job 23:13; Jeremiah 18:7-10; James 1:17; Romans 11:29.