~Home~ ~Life Lines~ ~Study Surveys~ ~Bibliology~ ~Tracts & Articles~ ~Our Printed Materials~


God is Omnipresent

From Life Lines, a monthly publication of Victory Christian Center.

February, 1996

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

—Psalms 139:7-10

We move now in our study of the attributes of God to the fact that God is omnipresent. This is the third of those attributes which begin with the prefix “omni-” which means “all.” We have already studied the fact that God is omnipotent or all-powerful and that He is omniscient or all- knowing. Therefore, that God is omnipresent obviously means that He is all- or everywhere-present. And once again, even though the term itself does not appear in Scripture, the concept certainly does, as in our text. The questions the Psalmist asks—“Where can I go from your Spirit?” and “Where can I flee from your presence?”—imply their own answer, that one cannot go anywhere but that God is there. Whether one should rise to the highest heavens, descend to the deepest depths, or traverse the widest sea, the conclusion is the same—“You are there.” Just as His eternity means He has no limitations regarding time, His omnipotence that there are no limits to His power, and His omniscience that there are none regarding His knowledge, so His omnipresence means He has no limits spatially. Just as He is infinite regarding time, power, and knowledge, so is He infinite in spatial dimension. He is as immense as He is eternal, powerful, and knowing.

Perhaps the best definition of God’s omnipresence is that of the 16th Century English pastor Velerandus Polanus: “the divine essence is not ‘limited, circumscribed, or bounded by any place’ but penetrates and fills all places everywhere and is present to all things” (ISBE, Vol. 3, p.597). The Lord said through Jeremiah,

“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:23,24; all Scripture quotations from the New International Version)

There is no such thing as a “secret place” unknown to God where the wicked may hide. God will surely see them because He fills heaven and earth, a phrase meant to convey the sum total of all reality whether spiritual or physical—the entire universe, both seen and unseen.

This is the essential difference between polytheism and monotheism: instead of there being countless deities, each having its own particular sphere of dominion and influence, there is only one God who is present everywhere. The heathen had a god for almost every entity, every town, every country, and every heavenly body; but the one true God is God of everything and fills everything everywhere with Himself. Like the gods of the heathen, it is true, the Israelites had a local dwelling place for the Lord—the tabernacle, later the temple. But unlike heathen temples, it was recognized, at least by wiser Israelites, that God was by no means confined to this place. Solomon, who built the temple in Jerusalem after his father David’s death, acknowledged this at its dedication ceremony:

When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever....But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:10-13,27)

Paul rebuked the idolatrous Athenians for foolishly supposing that God dwelt in temples made by human hands:

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands....he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’” (Acts 17:24,28)

Although God dwelt in the temple at Jerusalem , as is evident from so many Scriptures, He was not confined there. Paul’s rebuke is aimed at the Athenians for supposing that God had this kind of spatial limitation. He is all around us whoever we are and wherever we may be, which clearly implies omnipresence.

As with other attributes we have studied, God’s omnipresence is implied in creation. He would have to have no spatial limitations in order to spread out so vast a universe, shaping and molding everything according to His design. His omnipresence is also linked with other attributes, most notably His omniscience. His knowing everything is due to His being present everywhere to observe everything that happens, including all the thoughts and deeds of men. This is evident from Psalms 139 which contains our text. In the verses both before and after the ones we quoted (7-10) the writer expresses his awe concerning God’s comprehensive knowledge of him, including his thoughts and words (before he speaks them) as well as all his actions (vv. 1-6). He also marvels at God’s ability to know everything done in darkness, including the formation of his body in his mother’s womb, and the number of days appointed for him before he was born. In other words, our text, which speaks of God’s omnipresence, is sandwiched between passages that tell of His omniscience. This link between omnipresence and omniscience is also evident in the passage in Jeremiah we quoted above (vv. 23,24). No one can hide his sin in secret because, the Lord says, “Do not I fill heaven and earth?”

God’s omnipresence is also linked with the fact that He is a Spirit. Omnipresence would be impossible if He were a corporeal being. Of course simply being a spirit would not necessarily include omnipresence, for there are many other spirit beings, none of which are omnipresent.

The four passages we have quoted—Psalms 139:7-10; 1 Kings 8:10-13; Jeremiah 23:23,24; and Acts 17:24-28—are sufficient to establish the doctrine of God’s omnipresence. However, a number of references in Scripture speak of God having a particular location, which poses a problem, philosophically at least, for omnipresence. Among these are 1) those passages that speak of God’s appearances to men, 2) references to His having His “dwelling place” in the tabernacle, the Temple, heaven, Christ, and the believer, 3) references to God’s “coming” and “going”, 4) references to His leaving or forsaking someone, 5) promises that He would go with or be with someone, 6) references to people entering, being in, or leaving His presence. How these might conflict with the concept of omnipresence may be readily seen.

First, God’s appearances (“theophanies”) to men, such as the eight we listed in our July, 1995, article, “God is a Spirit,” suggest that He has a localized existence. But how may this be harmonized with omnipresence? Some might suggest that these appearances were only visions, symbolic representations, and not visitations of God Himself in the strictest sense. But as we saw in that article, this does not seem to be the case. A few of the eight appearances may be regarded as “visions,” but that would not in itself mean they were not accurate depictions of God’s being. Most of them seem to be as natural and factual narratives of real events as anything else in Scripture. Second, how can the many references to God dwelling in certain, definite places, be harmonized with His dwelling everywhere? If He already dwells everywhere, what sense could be made of statements that He dwells in certain specific places? Wouldn’t this go without saying? But these are clearly meant to be statements of His special presence, that He is present in these places in distinction to others. Third, many passages in Scripture speak of God “coming” here or “going” there; but how would this be possible if He were already everywhere? Fourth, some texts speak of God leaving or forsaking someone; but, again, how could this be if He were everywhere? Wouldn’t this be the same as saying that there are places where He is not, since He has forsaken that place? Fifth, often God makes what is obviously intended to be a special promise to someone to go or be with him. But how would this be anything special if He were already everywhere? Wouldn’t His saying He was going to go with or be with someone mean that if He didn’t take this specific action, He would not go or be with him? Sixth, often Scripture speaks of a certain action that is done in God’s presence or, occasionally, of someone leaving or going out from His presence. How could this be if He were everywhere? Indeed, as the Psalmist says in our text, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Wherever he would go, no matter how remote, God would be there.

One of God’s appearances was to Abraham in Genesis 18. Two objections to omnipresence are encountered in this one instance. The Lord appeared to Abraham evidently in the form of a man, and then said, “I will go down [to Sodom] and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know” (18:20,21). This also poses a problem for omniscience. Is the Lord here simply condescending to human ways of speaking?

The Lord appeared to Jacob in Genesis 28 in a dream—

in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac....I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go....I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”...When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” (12-17)

Several of our noted problems with omnipresence converge here. The Lord appears to Jacob, implying He has localized existence, and tells him He will be with him and not leave Him.

Another of God’s appearances was to Moses and the elders of Israel at Sinai where, the Bible says, “the Lord descended on [the Mount] in fire” (Exodus 19:17), and “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel” (Exodus 24:9,10). That “the Lord descended” no doubt means He came down from heaven to earth to stand upon Mount Sinai. But how can this be reconciled with His being everywhere? If He were already everywhere, how could He “go” anywhere?

As we said, there are a number of specific places spoken of in Scripture as the dwelling place of God. The expressed purpose for the tabernacle or tent God commanded Moses to set up in the desert during Israel’s wanderings was to provide a means by which God could journey with and dwell among the Israelites. His presence was manifested there in a visible cloud by day and a fire by night. The specific spot in which He dwelt was in the most holy place above the ark of the covenant, a box over which two gold cherubim (angels) faced each other and arched their outstretched wings:

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)

“There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.” (Exodus 25:22)

“For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory. So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.” (Exodus 29:42-46)

Samuel was “given to the Lord” by his mother as she had promised before he was born and taken to Shiloh where the tabernacle rested to be raised under Eli the priest. The Bible says “the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:21), because the tabernacle was God’s dwelling place. And yet God makes it clear even as early as the book of Numbers that His glory was not restricted to the tabernacle but filled the whole earth (Numbers 14:21). Because we look back at the tabernacle from the New Testament, we usually think of it as being only a symbol or type of Christ or God’s dwelling place, but the Scriptures above as well as many, many others clearly show that it was more than this.

The Temple at Jerusalem, first conceived and prepared for by David, then built by his son Solomon, was a fixed, permanent form of the tabernacle—a house instead of a mere tent for God to dwell in:

After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.” That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.’” (2 Samuel 7:1-6)

A number of Scriptures speak of God’s dwelling place in the tabernacle and Temple as being “between the cherubim” (1 Samuel 4:4; Psalms 80:1; Isaiah 37:16). When Solomon dedicated the Temple, he was careful to acknowledge, as our passage cited earlier says, that although it was to be God’s house, He was by no means limited to this location but that “the heavens, even the highest heaven” could not contain Him. Solomon went on to state in his prayer that heaven was God’s “real” dwelling place:

And when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel—each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple—then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men)....For men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name....And if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. (1Kings 8:38-49)

Thus three “places” were acknowledged in this one narrative to be God’s dwelling—the Temple, heaven, and all space. The problem arising from all this is how can it be said that He is everywhere and yet also be said to dwell in specific locations? The specific dwelling places are obviously not meant to be simply inclusions in omnipresence but special places where the Lord dwelt in a way that He did not elsewhere.

“Heaven” is designated as God’s dwelling place in numerous Scriptures in both Old and New Testaments

For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)

But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. (Matthew 5:34-35)

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’” (Matthew 6:9)

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55,56)

For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. (Hebrews 9:24)

We know that God became incarnate in Christ and dwelt on earth as a man. Yet God retained both His dwelling place in heaven, as is evident from Jesus’ statements about Him and, we assume, His omnipresence. Of course this involves the doctrine of the Trinity; still, Christ was and is God. Most interpreters account for God being present in the person of Christ as part of Christ’s condescension or emptying of Himself (Philippians 2:7). Omnipresence is an attribute which the Son possessed but of which He temporarily divested Himself on becoming man. God is also said in Scripture to dwell in the believer, whose body, by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, becomes His temple (1 Corinthians 3:16,17; 6:19,20; 2 Corinthians 6:16). Surely all these mean more than aspects of omnipresence; otherwise, it would mean that He dwells in the sinner just as He does in the believer, and the statement that He dwells in the believer would be unnecessary and redundant.

Besides all these “dwelling places” of God mentioned in Scripture, we have statements concerning persons coming into or going from His presence or His leaving and forsaking them:

So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)

Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the Lord. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the Lord. (Exodus 28:30)

When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded. (Exodus 34:33,34)

The Lord said [to Elijah], “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. (1 Kings 19:11)

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. (Psalms 51:11)

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)

Likewise there are many, many texts in which God promises to go with or be with certain people. To Moses He said,

...“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then oses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?

What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:12-16)

And to Joshua:

“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5)

And to Gideon:

“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” (Judges 6:15,16)

Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. (Haggai 1:13)

Jesus said,

“Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:19-23)

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20)

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”(Matthew 28:19-20)

In Hebrews we read,

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” (Acts 18:9,10)

These are more than mere declarations of omnipresence; are promises that God would be with these people in a special way, a way in which He was not present elsewhere. But how can this be reconciled with omnipresence? The Bible writers seem unconcerned with any problems that God’s appearances, specific locations, promises to go with or be with certain persons, etc., pose to omnipresence. This in itself indicates that there must not be any real problem. They did not bother with philosophic speculations as we sometimes do.

A number of resolutions have been offered regarding omnipresence and specific location. 1) We may make a distinction between His general essence and His special presence. 2) His presence is not manifested equally in degree in all places at all times. 3) He is not manifested in all places at all times in the same way or for the same end or purpose. 4) God may be said to have both a localized presence in heaven and a general presence everywhere without contradiction. 5) God is strictly omnipresent, having no localized existence; He is spread equally throughout all space, and references to His making appearances, dwelling in specific places, etc., are only human ways of speaking.

Stephen Charnock, in his classic 17th Century work on God’s attributes to which we have often referred in our articles, offers illustrations from nature toward harmonization:

This influential presence [of God] may be compared to that of the sun, which though at so great a distance from the earth, is present in the air and earth by its light....That glorious body of the sun visits every part of the habitable earth in twenty-four hours by its beams, which reaches the troughs of the lowest valleys as well as the pinnacles of the highest mountains; must we not acknowledge in the Creator of this sun an infinite greater proportion of presence? Is it not as easy, with the essence of God, to overspread the whole body of heaven and earth as it is for the sun to pierce and diffuse itself through the whole air, between it and the earth, and send up its light also as far to the regions above? Do we not see something like it in sounds and voices? Is not the same sound of a trumpet, or any other musical instrument, at the first breaking out of a blast, in several places within such a compass at the same time? Doth not every ear that hears it receive alike the whole sound of it?...How far is the noise of thunder heard alike to every ear in places something distant from one another! And do we daily find such a manner of presence in those things of so low a concern, and not imagine a kind of presence of God greater than all those? Is the sound of thunder, the voice of God as it is called, everywhere in such a compass? and shall not the essence of an infinite God be much more everywhere?...Who would go about to prove the body or substance of the sun to be near us because it doth warm and enlighten us, when our sense evidenceth the distance of it? We live in the beams of the sun, but we cannot be said to live in the sun, which is so far distant from us.... (The Existence and Attributes of God, Stephen Charnock; Baker Books: Grand Rapids,MI; 1988 reprint, pp.369,371-373)

Charnock takes the view that God is omnipresent, but not equally manifested in all places at all times, drawing on the soul’s relation to the body as an illustration:

This truth is not weakened by the expressions in Scripture, where God is said to dwell in heaven and in the temple. He is indeed said to sit in heaven (Ps. 2:4), and to dwell on high (Ps. 113:5), but he is nowhere said to dwell only in the heavens, as confined to them. It is the court of his majestical presence, but not the prison of his essence; for when we are told that “the heaven is his throne,” we are told with the same breath that the “earth is his footstool” (Isa. 66:1). He dwells on high, in regard of the excellency of his nature, but he is in all places, in regard of the diffusion of his presence. The soul is essentially in all parts of the body, but it doth not exert the same operations in all; the more noble discoveries of it are in the head and heart. In the head where it exerciseth the chiefest senses for the enriching the understanding; in the heart, where it vitally resides, and communicates life and motion to the rest of the body. It doth not understand with the foot or toe, though it be in all parts of the body it informs; and so God may be said to dwell in heaven, in regard of the more excellent and majestic representations of himself, both to the creatures that inhabit the place, as angels and blessed spirits, and also in those marks of his greatness which he hath planted before, those spiritual natures which have a nobler stamp of God upon them, and those excellent bodies, as sun and stars, which, as so many tapers, light us to behold his glory (Ps. 19:1), and admonish the minds of men when they gaze upon them. [Heaven] is his court, where he hath the most solemn worship from his creatures, all his courtiers attending there with a pure love and glowing zeal. He reigns there in a special manner, without any opposition to his government; it is, therefore, called his “holy dwelling place” (2 Chron. 3:27)....It is from thence also he hath given the greatest discoveries of himself; thence he sends his angels his messengers, his Son upon Redemption, his Spirit for sanctification. From heaven his gifts drop down upon our heads, and his grace upon our hearts (James 3:17)....Heaven is the richest, vastest, most steadfast, and majestic part of the visible creation. It is there where he will at last manifest himself to his people in a full conjunction of grace and glory, and be forever open to his people in uninterrupted expressions of goodness, and discoveries of his presence, as a reward of their labor and service; and in these respects it may particularly be called his throne. And this doth no more hinder his essential presence in all parts of the earth, than it doth his gracious presence in all the hearts of his people. (Ibid., pp.385,386)

Concerning the harmonization that, although God is omnipresent, He does not manifest Himself everywhere for the same end or purpose, Charnock writes:

God is in the heaven, in regard of the manifestation of his glory; in hell, by the expressions of his justice; in the earth, by the discoveries of his wisdom, power, patience, and compassion; in his people, by the monuments of his grace; and in all, in regard of his substance. He is said also to dwell in the ark and He is equally present with the damned and the blessed, as he is an infinite Being, but not in regard of his goodness and grace. He is equally present with the good and the bad, with the scoffing Athenians, as well as the believing apostles, in regard of his essence, but not in regard of the breathing of his divine virtues upon them to make them like himself (Acts 17:27)....Nor do the expressions of God’s coming to us, or departing from us, impair this doctrine of his omnipresence. God is said to hide his face from his people (Ps. 10:1); to be far from the wicked; and the Gentiles are said to be afar off, viz. from God (Prov. 15:29; Eph. 2:17); and upon the manifestation of Christ made near. These must not be understood of any distance or nearness of his essence, for that is equally near to all persons and things; but of some other special way and manifestation of his presence....God is in a righteous man by a special grace, and far from the wicked in regard of such special works; and God is said to be in a place by a special manifestation, as when he was in the bush (Exod. 3), or manifesting his glory upon Mount Sinai (Exod. 24:16)....God is said to hide his face when he withdraws his comforting presence, disturbs the repose of our hearts, flasheth terror into our consciences, when he puts men under the smart of the cross; as though he had ordered his mercy utterly to depart from them, or when he doth withdraw his special assisting providence from us in our affairs; so he departed from Saul, when he withdrew his direction and protection from him in the concerns of his government (1 Sam.16:14); “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.”...God may be far from us in one respect, and near to us in another; far from us in regard of comfort, yet near to us in regard of support, when his essential presence continues the same....We do not say the sun is departed out of the heavens, passes on its course, though its beams do not reach us by reason of the bar [of clouds] between us and it....[A]ll the various effects of God towards the sons of men, are but divers operations of one and the same essence....When he comes to punish, it notes not the approach of his essence, but the stroke of his justice; when he comes to benefit, it is not by a new access of his essence, but an efflux of his grace: he departs from us when he leaves us to the frowns of his justice; he comes to us when he encircles us in the arms of his mercy; but he was equally present with us in both dispensations, in regard of his essence....(Ibid., pp. 372,373,387)

Because they were in constant battle with idolatry, early Christian writers leaned so much to God’s omnipresence they practically denied Him any local being. But to do this means to deny that God is a person, just as we saw concerning some people’s understanding of what it means that God is a Spirit. Saying that the representations in Scripture of God’s appearances and places of dwelling or movement are not strictly true but are only human ways of speaking so we can understand Him doesn’t do justice to most of those passages that speak of Him thus. They seem to be quite plain and straightforward statements, not figures of speech.

Another element that might be employed in harmonizing omnipresence with special manifestation or location may be the consideration of the Trinity. It is worth noting that in our text in Psalms 139, it is the Spirit of God that is specifically mentioned in connection with omnipresence—“Where can I go from your Spirit?” The Holy Spirit is not usually represented in a localized form, the nearest exception being at the baptism of Jesus:

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. (Luke 3:21,22)

The Holy Spirit is depicted in Revelation as “the seven spirits before [God’s] throne” (1:4), symbolically as seven lamps blazing (4:5), and the “seven horns and seven eyes [of the Lamb], which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (5:6). But in Stephen’s vision at his stoning as well as in other appearances of God, only the Father and Son are actually seen. However, we run the risk here of depersonalizing the Holy Spirit and making Him only an influence and introducing disharmony in the Godhead, attributing omnipresence to the Spirit alone and not the Father and Son except by their unity with the Spirit. Besides, when Jesus spoke of God being a Spirit, suggesting omnipresence in John 4, He plainly says He meant the Father, not the Holy Spirit (4:21-24). In addition, the problem of reconciliation remains unresolved because the Holy Spirit is spoken of as being “sent” from and “coming” from heaven as though He also has location.

The doctrine of God’s omnipresence, just as with His other attributes, is often abused. Some people misinterpret it as pantheism. They worship nature thinking that since God is everywhere, everything must be God or everything and everybody must have God in them. But this is false. God is omnipresent, but He remains separate and distinct from His creation. Others reason that since God is everywhere there is no need to go to church to worship. They can get take care of this while out in their fishing boat or cabin if they like! Who needs to waste time cloistered up in a building? But forsaking public worship is evidence of unbelief or spiritual lukewarmness, not superior spirituality (Hebrews 10:25). Others are content to meet with their family or friends and call it church, since Jesus said, “Where two or three come together, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). But there is no substitute for the assembling of the saints; there the presence of God is (or should be) manifested in ways not witnessed in any other setting. Some churches, out of a false estimation of this attribute, see no need for any such thing as the moving and demonstration of God’s Spirit in public worship and scoff at those who highly prize this as fanatics involved in emotionalism. Still others abuse omnipresence by simply claiming God’s presence to be with them without actively seeking to have His Spirit manifested in their lives in a conscious way. On the other hand, some have no confidence He is with them unless they feel a certain way, which is a practical denial of God’s omnipresence.

What should be our response to this attribute? No doubt it should be much the same as with omniscience, since omnipresence is so closely related to it. God sees and knows all because He is everywhere present, which is an incentive to fear Him and be holy. But it is also conducive to confidence and comfort as expressed in our text in Psalms 139. So often God admonishes us not to fear because He is with us to help us, protect us, and deliver us. If we commit our lives to Him, He has promised to be with us and never forsake us just as He promised Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Jeremiah, and Paul. God’s omnipresence means we have access to His presence in order to enter conscious fellowship and communion with Him wherever we may be. His general essence or omnipresence is the basis and grounds for earnestly seeking the special manifestation of His presence to us. Charnock writes:

How much is this attribute of God forgotten or contemned! We pretend to believe him to be present everywhere, and yet many live as if he were present nowhere. It is commonly forgotten, or not believed....In all transgressions there is something of atheism; either denying the being of God, or a dash upon some perfection of God;—a not believing his holiness to hate it, his truth that threatens, his justice to punish it, and his presence to observe it....There is no wicked man, but if he be an atheist, he is a heretic; and to gratify his lust, will fancy himself to be out of the presence of his Judge. His reason tells him, God is present with him, his lust presseth him to embrace the season of sensual pleasure; he will forsake his reason, and prove a heretic, that he may be an undisturbed sinner; and sins doubly, both in the error of his mind, and the vileness of his practice; he will [imagine] God with those in Job, “veiled with thick clouds” (Job 22:14), and not able to pierce into the lower world, as if his presence and cares were confined to celestial things, and the earth were too low a sphere for his essence to reach, at least with any credit. It is forgotten by good men, when they fear too much the designs of their enemies; “Fear not, for I am with thee” (Isa. 43:5). If the presence of God be enough to strengthen against fear, then the prevailing of fear issues from our forgetfulness of it....If we can forbear sin from an awe of the presence of man, to whom we are equal in regard of nature, or from the presence of a very [low] man, to whom we are superior in regard of condition, and not forbear it because we are within the ken of God, we respect him not only as our inferior, but inferior to the [low]est man or child of his creation, in whose sight we would not commit the like action: it is to represent him as a sleepy, negligent, or careless God; as though anything might be concealed from him, before whom the least fibres of the heart are [analyzed] and open, who sees as plainly midnight as noon-day sins (Heb. 4:13). Now this is a high aggravation of sin: to break a king’s laws, in his sight, is more bold than to violate them behind his back....The least iniquity receives a high tincture from this; and no sin can be little that is an affront in the face of God, and casting the filth of the creature before the eyes of his holiness: as if a wife should commit adultery before her husband’s face, or a slave dishonor his master, and disobey his commands in his presence. And hath it not often been thus with us? have we not been disloyal to God in his sight, before his eyes, those pure eyes that cannot behold iniquity without anger and grief? (Isa. 65:12), “Ye did evil before my eyes.” Nathan chargeth this home upon David (2 Sam. 13:9), “Thou has despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight;” and David, in his repentance, reflects upon himself for it (Ps. 51:4); “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” I observed not thy presence, I neglected thee while thy eye was upon me. And this consideration should sting our hearts in all our confessions of our crimes....How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to sinners! How foolish is it, to imagine any hiding-place from the incomprehensible God, who fills and contains all things, and is present in every point of the world! When men have shut the door, and made all darkness within, to meditate or commit a crime, they cannot in the most intricate recesses be sheltered from the presence of God....He is present with our hearts when we imagine, with our hands when we act....That God is present everywhere, is as much a comfort to a good man, as it is a terror to a wicked one, He is everywhere for his people, not only by a necessary perfection of his nature, but an immense diffusion of his goodness....The omnipresence of God is a comfort in all violent temptations...[and] sharp afflictions....Good men may be banished from their country, but never from the presence of their Protector; ye cannot say of any corner of the earth, or of any dungeon in a prison, God is not here; if you were cast out of your country a thousand miles off, you were not out of God’s precinct; his arm is there to cherish the good, as well as to drag out the wicked....The omnipresence of God is a comfort in all duties of worship. He is present to observe, and present to accept our petitions, and answer our [pleas]....This presence is not without the special presence of all his attributes....It is not a piece of God is here and another parcel there, but God in his whole essence and perfections; in his wisdom to guide us, his power to protect and support us, his mercy to pity us, his fullness to refresh us, and his goodness to relieve us: he is ready to sparkle out in this or that perfection, as the necessities of his people require, and his own wisdom directs for his own honor...so that if we are miserable, we have the presence of his goodness; if we [lack] direction, we have the presence of his wisdom; if we are weak, we have the presence of his power....Let us believe this truth, but not with an idle faith, as if we did not believe it. Let us know, that as wheresoever the fish moves, it is in the water; wheresoever the bird moves, it is in the air; so wheresoever we move, we are in God. As there is not a moment but we are under his mercy, so there is not a moment that we are out of his presence....(1) This will be a shield against all temptations....What soldier would be so base as to revolt under the eye of a tender and obliging general? or what man so negligent of himself, as to rob a house in the sight of a judge?...(2) It will be a spur to holy actions....Communion with God consists chiefly in an ordering our ways as in the presence of him that is invisible. This would make us spiritual, raised and watchful in all our passions, if we considered that God is present with us in our shops, in our chambers, in our walks, and in our meetings, as present with us as with the angels in heaven....God is everywhere about us, he doth encompass us with his presence....If the most sensual man be ashamed to do a dishonest action in the sight of a grave and holy man, one of great reputation for wisdom and integrity, how much more should we lift up ourselves in the ways of God, who is infinite and immense, is everywhere, and infinitely superior to man, and more to be regarded! We could not seriously think of his presence but there would pass some intercourse between us....The actual thoughts of the presence of God is the life and spirit of all religion....(3) It will quell distractions in worship....Let us endeavor for the more special and influential presence of God. Let the essential presence of God be the ground of our awe, and his gracious influential presence the object of our desire. (Ibid., pp.396-400,402-405)

Psalms 46:1,2 says,

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.

It quickens me deep inside as think of God’s omnipresence and serves as the grounds for my consciously entering His presence whether I am in church or alone. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22)

Come near to God and he will come near to you.... (James 4:8)

May the thoughts of His omnipresence fill you with hope and joy is my prayer for you. God bless you all!

 

Leon Stump, Pastor of Victory Christian Center


Home

Back to Life Lines

email

Sign Guestbook View Guestbook

Counter

See who's visiting this page.

Background from Greenfield Graphics.

1