“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.'” (Luke 22:34, NIV).

At the Last Supper Jesus warned His disciples that He was going to be taken into custody and killed and that some of His followers would lose faith in Him. Impetuous Peter declared to Jesus that He would never be disloyal.

Then Jesus notified Peter that a few hours in the future–before the day was over–he would deny being a follower of Jesus not just once but three times!

You know the rest of the story. Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s future happened just as Jesus foretold.

What’s significant about this story for this discussion is that it reveals to us something very important about the character or nature of God: God knows the future!

If God knows what would happen six hours in the future, then why wouldn’t He know what will happen six days or six months or six years or even 6,000 years in the future?

God is holy. He is set apart from His creation. That means God exists outside the boundaries of space and time that constrain His creation.

For God there is no past or future, only the present. God revealed His timeless nature when He revealed His name to Moses:  “Moses said to God,  Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them? God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:13-14, NIV).

For God, the “I AM,” everything is in the present! God exists–He is–without regard to time.

Since God dwells outside of time, everything for Him is present. So, it’s not so difficult to comprehend how God could know our future. He is present in our future and He is present in our past just as He is present in our present.

In other words, God is ever-present! And, therefore, our destiny is under His control.

So, if God knows our future, then we can certainly trust God with our present.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us. (Romans 8:29-31, NIV)