The Biblical Meaning of God's KNOWING His People

One of the most precious truths in all of Scripture is that the Lord not only knows about His people -- He knows His people. The difference is profound. God's omniscience means that He knows everything about every person. Nothing is hidden from His eyes. He knows every thought, every word, every secret motive, every sin, every sorrow, and every deed. Yet Scripture speaks of another kind of "knowing" -- a knowing that speaks of God's special, personal, and saving relationship with His own.

The Bible says of Israel, "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). The Hebrew word translated "chosen" is literally the word "known." God knew all the nations, but He had entered into a special covenant relationship with Israel. His "knowing" them was not merely intellectual knowledge. It was the knowledge of sovereign choice, covenant love, and personal relationship.

This same truth reaches its fullest expression in the words of Jesus: "I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me -- just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father -- and I lay down My life for the sheep" (John 10:14-15).

What an astonishing statement! Jesus does not merely say, "I know who My sheep are." He says, "I know My sheep." His knowledge of them is personal, intimate, saving, and everlasting. He knows them as belonging to Him. He knows them as those for whom He came into the world and laid down His life.

The shepherd knows His sheep.

Before we ever knew Him, He knew us.

Before we ever sought Him, He had set His love upon us.

Before we ever called upon His name, He knew us as His own.

This is why salvation is never ultimately founded upon the strength of our knowledge of God, but upon the certainty of God's knowledge of us.

"I have chosen him"

"Consider God's words concerning Abraham: "For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him" (Genesis 18:19).

The Hebrew expression literally says, "I have known him." The meaning is beautifully revealed by the context: God had chosen Abraham and entered into a special relationship with him. God's knowing was connected with His sovereign purpose, His covenant promise, and His gracious election.

This truth should humble us to the dust.

Why did God know Abraham in this special way? Why did He choose him? Why did He make him the recipient of such extraordinary promises? The answer is not found in Abraham's natural goodness. It is found in God's sovereign grace.

The same principle is seen throughout Scripture. Jeremiah heard the Lord say: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5).

Notice the order. Before Jeremiah was born, God knew him. Before Jeremiah had accomplished anything, God had set him apart. Before Jeremiah could perform a single work, God's purpose for him was already established.

God's knowledge was prior to Jeremiah's works.

Grace always comes first.

"The LORD knows those who are His"

This precious truth is brought into the New Testament with extraordinary clarity:

"Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and, 'Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness'" (2 Timothy 2:19).

"The Lord knows those who are His."

What a foundation for the trembling believer!

Our assurance does not ultimately rest upon our ability to understand everything about God.
It does not rest upon the perfection of our obedience.
It does not rest upon the strength of our emotions.
It does not rest upon our ability to maintain an unwavering confidence in ourselves.

It rests upon this: "The Lord knows those who are His."

The world may not know them.

Other Christians may not know them.

They may sometimes scarcely understand themselves.

But the Lord knows them!
He knows every one of His redeemed children.
He knows the secret work of grace within them.
He knows their struggles, their weaknesses, their fears, their temptations, their sorrows, and their desires.
He knows the difference between genuine faith and empty profession.
And because He knows them, He will never lose them.

"I know My sheep"

Jesus gives us the most beautiful picture of this relationship in John 10.

"I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me" (John 10:14).

A sheep may wander, but the shepherd knows his sheep.

A sheep may become frightened, but the shepherd knows his sheep.

A sheep may become weak, but the shepherd knows his sheep.

A sheep may become lost from the visible flock, but the shepherd knows exactly where it is.

The sheep does not preserve itself.
The shepherd preserves the sheep.

And Jesus continues: "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28).

Notice the connection. Those whom He knows are those to whom He gives eternal life. Those to whom He gives eternal life shall never perish. No one can snatch them from His hand.

The security of the sheep rests upon the Shepherd.

Our salvation . . .
  began in God's sovereign choice,
  was accomplished through Christ's substitutionary sacrifice,
  is applied by His Spirit,
  and is preserved by His almighty power.

The believer's confidence is therefore not, "I am strong enough to hold on to Jesus."

It is, "Jesus is strong enough to hold on to me!"

"Now that you know God -- or rather are known by God"

Perhaps one of the most remarkable statements about this truth is found in Galatians: "But now that you know God -- or rather are known by God -- how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" (Galatians 4:9).

Paul begins by saying, "Now that you know God."

Then he immediately corrects himself: "or rather are known by God."

Why does Paul make this correction?

Because the foundation of our relationship with God is not our knowledge of Him, but His knowledge of us.

Our knowledge of God is imperfect.

It grows slowly.

It is sometimes clouded by sin.

It is sometimes weakened by unbelief.

But God's knowledge of us is perfect.

He does not know us better today than He did yesterday.

He will not know us better tomorrow than He knows us today.

His knowledge is eternal, complete, and unchanging.

This is astonishing grace. The God who knows everything knows us completely -- and yet those whom He has chosen in Christ, He loves.

He knows the worst about us, and He has not abandoned us.

He knows every sin we have committed.

He knows every sinful thought we have entertained.

He knows every selfish motive.

He knows every secret failure.

He knows everything that others have never discovered.

And yet, for those who are in Jesus, His knowledge of our sin has not caused Him to cease loving us. Why? Because the sins of His people were laid upon His Son!

At Calvary, Jesus bore the judgment our sins deserved.

Therefore the believer's comfort is not that God has failed to see his sin. The comfort is that God has seen it all -- and Jesus has paid for it all.

"I never knew you"

This truth also makes Christ's warning in Matthew 7:23 solemn beyond words: "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!'"

These were religious people. They professed His name. They had performed impressive religious works. They expected entrance into His kingdom.

Yet Jesus said: "I never knew you."

This cannot mean that Christ lacked information about them. The omniscient Son of God knew everything about them.

He means that He never knew them in the saving, covenantal, relational sense in which He knows His sheep.

They had religion without relationship.

Profession without possession.

Works without saving faith.

They knew about Jesus, but Jesus did not know them as His sheep.

How solemnly this warns us against resting in religious activity.

It is possible to know doctrine and not know God.

It is possible to speak about Jesus and not belong to Jesus.

It is possible to perform religious works and yet remain outside of Christ.

The great question on the Day of Judgment will not merely be, "Did you know about Jesus?"

The question is whether Jesus knows you.

"Whom He foreknew"

The glorious chain of salvation in Romans 8 begins with God's foreknowledge: "For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son..." (Romans 8:29).

And then: "And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified" (Romans 8:30).

What a chain of sovereign grace!

Foreknown.

Predestined.

Called.

Justified.

Glorified.

There is no broken link.

The God who begins the work, completes it.

Those whom He foreknew, are predestined.
Those whom He predestined, are called.
Those whom He called, are justified.
Those whom He justified, are glorified.

The certainty of the believer's future rests upon the certainty of God's eternal purpose.

God's knowledge of His people did not begin when they believed.
His saving purpose did not begin when they first heard the gospel.
His grace did not begin when they finally responded in faith.
His gracious purpose reaches back into eternity.

Known by the Shepherd

There is something wonderfully humbling about realizing that our salvation rests upon being known by God.

We sometimes imagine that Christianity is primarily about our discovering God.

But Scripture takes us deeper.

God sought us.

God chose us.

God called us.

God gave His Son for us.

God gave us His Spirit.

God granted us faith and repentance.

God keeps us.

God will glorify us.

And underneath it all is this glorious truth: The Lord knows those who are His.

Believer, you may not always feel that you belong to Him.

You may sometimes question the genuineness of your faith.

You may look at your failures and wonder how the Lord could continue to love you.

You may pass through dark providences in which God seems distant and silent.

But your changing feelings cannot alter His unchanging love.

The Good Shepherd knows His sheep.

He knew you when you were wandering.

He knew you when you were dead in sin.

He knew you when He called you by His gospel.

He knew you when He brought you to repentance and faith.

He knows you now.

And He will know you throughout eternity.

The greatest comfort of the Christian, is not merely that we know God.

It is that God knows us.

And if the Lord knows us as His own, then nothing in heaven or earth can separate us from His saving love.

"The Lord knows those who are His." (2 Timothy 2:19)

What blessed words!

The world may forget us.

Friends may forsake us.

Our strength may fail us.

Our memory may fail us.

Our understanding may fail us.

But the Lord will never forget those whom He knows.

His knowledge is eternal.

His love is everlasting.

His covenant is sure.

His Son has finished the work.

His Spirit dwells within His people.

And His hand shall never release His sheep.

Therefore let every trembling believer rest here:
  I am not secure, because I know Him perfectly.
  I am secure, because He knows me perfectly.

And one day, when faith has become sight and the pilgrimage is finished, the believer shall discover the full wonder of what it has always meant to be known by God.

ADDENDUM: Here are several verses that the word KNOW or KNEW in Scripture often mean LOVE or LOVED, or suggest an intimate personal relationship. The word KNOW or KNEW in all of the following verses is the literal translation. But the meaning or dynamic of those words is LOVE or LOVED.

Amos 3:2, "You only have I KNOWN [loved] of all the families of the earth . . . "

Exodus 33:17, " . . . for you have found grace in My sight, and I KNOW [love] you by name.'"

Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I KNEW [loved] you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

Deuteronomy 34:10, "But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord KNEW [loved] face to face,"

John 10:14-15, "I am the good shepherd; and I KNOW [love] My sheep, and am KNOWN [loved] by My own. As the Father KNOWS [loves] Me, even so I KNOW [love] the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep."

John 10:27-28, "My sheep hear My voice, and I KNOW [love] them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."

Matthew 7:23, "And then I will declare to them, 'I never KNEW [loved] you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"

Romans 8:29-30, "For whom He FOREKNEW [foreloved],
He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son . . .
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called;
whom He called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

Romans 11:2, "God has not cast away His people whom He FOREKNEW [foreloved]."

1 Corinthians 8:3, "But if anyone loves God, this one is KNOWN [loved] by Him."

Galatians 4:9, "But now after you have KNOWN [loved] God, or rather are KNOWN [loved] by God . . . "

2 Timothy 2:19, "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord KNOWS [loves] those who are His,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'"
(The above article was AI generated.)