Attributes of God = omnipresence
Notes
Transcript
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations (419 Epigram on Bible (Uses Of))
419 Epigram On Bible (Uses of)
• George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”
• John Quincy Adams: “So great is my veneration of the Bible, that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society.”
• Charles Dickens: “The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world.”
• Andrew Jackson: “That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests.”
• Abraham Lincoln: “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this book.”
• Horace Greeley: “It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.”
• Woodrow Wilson: “I ask every man and woman in this audience that from this day on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great Book.”
• Douglas MacArthur: “Believe me, sir, never a night goes by, be I ever so tired, but I read the Word of God before I go to bed.”
• Herbert Hoover: “The whole of the inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the Prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower: “To read the Bible is to take a trip to a fair land where the spirit is strengthened and faith renewed.”
• Warning: This Book is habit-forming. Regular use causes loss of anxiety, decreased appetite for lying, cheating, stealing, hating. Symptoms: increased sensations of love, peace, joy, compassion.
Consider your smartphone. With GPS, it can track your location anywhere in the world. God’s omnipresence is even more amazing; He’s not just tracking us, He’s actively with us, guiding us through life’s adventures. We can never text 'wrong location' to God!
Proposition - As we continue in our study of the attributes of God this day we will zoom in on the omnipresence of God. We will examine: 1) the explanation of the omnipresence of God, and 2) the preciousness of the omnipresence of God.
Interrogative question - In what ways does knowing that God is always with us shape our behaviors and decisions?
1. The Explanation of the Omnipresence of God -
1. The Explanation of the Omnipresence of God -
The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia (Omnipresence)
OMNIPRESENCE. Though neither the noun omnipresence nor the adjective omnipresent are found in Scripture, the Bible presupposes God’s presence everywhere. In order to guard against pantheism—the idea God is all and all is God—and so as not to confuse God and the world, it is advisable to define omnipresence by saying that everything is equally present to God and equally under His power and authority (1 Kgs 8:27; 2 Chr 2:6; Ps 139; Isa 66:1; Acts 17:28). He is exempt from all the limitations of space, both subjectively and objectively. He is both transcendent to the world and immanent in it. Liberalism places all its stress upon the immanency of God and ignores His transcendence; neoorthodoxy stresses His transcendence to the neglect of His immanence. At the same time we must be on our guard against theories that suggest God is merely present as either will or power and thus deny Him full personality (Jer 23:24, omnipresence and omniscience; cf. Ps 139:2, 9 f., 13 f.; 1 Kgs 8:27; Isa 66:1).
The theophanic appearances do not establish the localization of God in one place to the exclusion of another, but only that He chose to reveal Himself in a particular form at a certain place. The altars and places where God dwells (Num 10:35; 1 Kgs 8; Jn 1:14; Col 2:9; Jn 14:23; Eph 2:21–22; Rev 21:3) do not constrict Him to particular places, but are rather appointed places of worship. This doctrine is of great comfort to the believer, since it assures him of the personal presence of God to protect him from every temptation, foe, and danger (Isa 43:2; Dan 3:25, 27).
R. A. K.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (What Omnipresence Is)
That God is omnipresent is of course believed by all churches who believe in the Bible. I am not introducing anything new. Omnipresence means that God is all-present. God is close to (for that is what the word means—“close to, near to, here”) everywhere. He is near to everything and everyone. He is here; He is next to you wherever you may be. And if you send up the furious question, “Oh God, where art Thou?” the answer comes back, “I am where you are; I am here; I am next to you; I am close to everywhere.” That’s what the Bible says.
The Father’s omnipresence -
23 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “And not a God far off? 24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.
The Son’s omnipresence -
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The Spirit’s omnipresence -
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (What Omnipresence Is)
I believe what God says and leave those who do not believe with the problems. Scripture says, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there” (Psalm 139:8). I don’t understand it, but remember that John Wesley said not to reject something just because you can’t understand it. The omnipresence of God requires that wherever there is anything—even hell—the presence of God must be.
Why is it, then, that the world thinks of God as being infinitely remote, or as the song says, “far away, beyond the starlit sky”? When the world prays, as a rule they pray without any sense of God’s nearness at all. Always God is somewhere else. Always God is far away. Why is this?
A Survey of Bible Doctrine (What Is God Like?)
Essentially, it is this: Omnipresence says God is everywhere present (though separate from the world and the things in it), while pantheism says that God is in everything. Omnipresence says that God is present in the room where you are reading this, while pantheism affirms that God is in the chair and in the window, etc. Another important distinction is this: Even though God is everywhere (though not in everything), this does not contradict the fact that there are varying degrees of the manifestation of His presence. God’s presence in the Shekinah glory was an immediate and localized manifestation of His presence, while His presence in relation to unredeemed men is scarcely realized by them. Furthermore, the presence of God is not usually in visible or bodily form.
Systematic Theology (B. Infinitude of God in Relation to Space)
The infinitude of God, so far as space is concerned, includes his immensity and his omnipresence. These are not different attributes, but one and the same attribute, viewed under different aspects. His immensity is the infinitude of his being, viewed as belonging to his nature from eternity. He fills immensity with his presence. His omnipresence is the infinitude of his being, viewed in relation to his creatures. He is equally present with all his creatures, at all times, and in all places. He is not far from any one of us. “The Lord is in this place,” may be said with equal truth and confidence, everywhere.
Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Immensity and Omnipresence)
God is perfectly present with himself, transcending all limitation of space, and yet present with every point of space with all that he is. Transcendance means that God is greater than and independent of the creation. Immensity refers to the fact that God transcends and fills all space. And omnipresence indicates that God is present with every point of space in his entire being.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (Our Remoteness from God)
When it comes to personality, when it comes to spirits, when it comes to that which is not material, distance doesn’t mean anything. Jesus could go to the right hand of God the Father and still say to people on earth, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20) because Jesus Christ is God, and God being spirit can be instantaneously everywhere at the same time.
Turn with me to Ephesians - let us look together at Ephesians 2:1-3, and 4:17-19 - How do we understand the omnipresence of God in these verses?
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (Our Remoteness from God)
Could these verses describe Jesus, who is God incarnated, who is in character all that God is, perfectly? No! They describe the alienated sinner, having his understanding darkened. Do they describe the glorious Son of God—ignorant, blind in heart, past feeling, given over to lasciviousness, walking in uncleanness and greediness? Of course not! They describe exactly the opposite of Jesus.
These verses show that the sinner is so dissimilar to God that the distance is one of character, not space. God is not one inch away from a sinner. And yet He is far from the sinner. Am I contradicting myself? Not at all! Since God is omnipresent—close to anywhere, next to everywhere—then the distance is that of character, not space.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (Our Remoteness from God)
So it is with God and man. God is away from man, and man is away from God, and that’s why the world searches after God “if haply they might … find him” (Acts 17:27). They don’t find Him because God and man are dissimilar in their moral natures. God is in perfect holiness, man in perfect iniquity, and the two can never meet. That’s why God seems so far away.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (The Bliss of Moral Creatures)
The presence of God is even in hell, the Holy Spirit says in Psalm 139, but His manifest presence is only in heaven and where good souls are. Therefore, we are so close to God that He can hear our slightest whisper—and yet a person can have such a sense of alienation and remoteness that he or she will go to the river and commit suicide, thinking there’s no God in the universe anywhere.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (The Reconciliation of the Dissimilar)
But how can God say to the sinner, “I’ll move over halfway”? Can He say, “You’re blind, so I’ll move over and be half blind, and you’ll move over and be half blind. You’re dead and I’ll move over and be half dead, and you’ll move over and be half dead”? And thus by God coming halfway and compromising Himself, could He and man be reconciled? To do that God would have to void His Godhead and cease to be God.
I’d rather go to hell than go to a heaven presided over by a god who would compromise with sin, and I believe every true man and woman would feel the same. We want God to be the holy God that He is. God can never compromise; it doesn’t work that way. The prodigal son and his father did not meet halfway to the far country. The boy came clear back where he belonged. And so the sinner in his repentance comes all the way back to God, and God doesn’t move from His holy position of infinite holiness, righteousness and loveliness, world without end.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (Communion with God)
That’s why a soundly converted sinner, who has a conscious transplantation of the divine nature into his heart by faith in Jesus Christ, is likely to be explosively happy. He says with Jacob, “This is the gate of heaven. God is in this place and I didn’t know it.” God’s conscious presence has been restored to him.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (Communion with God)
What makes heaven heaven? The unhindered, unsullied presence of God! What makes hell hell? The absence of a consciousness of the presence of God! That’s the difference between a prayer meeting and a dance hall. The omnipresent God fills heaven and earth, contains heaven and earth and is present everywhere. But in the prayer meeting some little old lady kneels and says, “Oh Jesus, where two or three are gathered Thou art there in the midst” (see Matthew 18:20). God is there. In the dance hall they’d be embarrassed if the presence of God were to be manifest.
The Attributes of God, Volume 1: A Journey into the Father’s Heart (Communion with God)
That’s why conversions are such milk-and-water things these days. We pick them out of their shell and try rubbing their nose in red-letter texts to make them think they’re converted. They’ve not had an implantation of the divine life—there’s no similarity—and therefore God and man do not meet in the bush. But wherever God and man meet, there’s the joyous rebound of the human spirit. Similarity is restored, and instead of God being a million light-years away, the man can hardly believe his own heart when he cries, “Oh, God is in this place and I didn’t know it.”
Ah, for some of the old conversions again. I’ve not seen too many of that kind, but I’ve seen a few—conversions where a man would kneel in bursts of tears and agony, confess his sins to God, believe on Jesus Christ and get to his feet with a light on his face and walk around shaking hands with everybody, keeping back the tears the best he can and smiling through the tears he can’t keep back. What causes that kind of conversion is not only the conscious taking away of sin, but the conscious presence of God revealed to the heart inside.
That’s the joy of conversion—not bringing God from some distant star, but knowing God by a change of nature.
Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (What Does It Mean that God Is Omnipresent?)
Just as the omniscience of God suffers apparent paradoxes due to the limitations of the human mind, so does the omnipresence of God. One of these paradoxes is important: the presence of God in hell, that place unto which the wicked are departed and suffer the unlimited and unceasing fury of God because of their sin. Many argue that hell is a place of separation from God (Matthew 25:41), and if so, then God cannot be said to be in a place that is separated from Him. However, the wicked in hell endure His everlasting anger, for Revelation 14:10 speaks of the torment of the wicked in the presence of the Lamb. That God should be present in a place that the wicked are said to be departed unto does cause some consternation. However, this paradox can be explained by the fact that God can be present—because He fills all things with His presence (Colossians 1:17) and upholds everything by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3)—yet He is not necessarily everywhere to bless.
Just as God is sometimes separated from His children because of sin (Isaiah 52:9), and He is far from the wicked (Proverbs 15:29) and orders the godless subjects of darkness to depart at the end of time to a place of eternal punishment, God is still there in the midst. He knows what those souls suffer who are now in hell; He knows their anguish, their cries for respite, their tears and grief for the eternal state that they find themselves in. He is there in every way as a perpetual reminder to them of their sin which has created a chasm from every blessing that might be otherwise granted. He is there in every way, but He displays no attribute other than His wrath.
Likewise, He will also be in heaven, manifesting every blessing that we cannot even begin to comprehend here; He will be there displaying His manifold blessing, His manifold love, and His manifold kindness—indeed, everything other than His wrath. The omnipresence of God should serve to remind us that we cannot hide from God when we have sinned (Psalm 139:11–12), yet we can return to God in repentance and faith without even having to move (Isaiah 57:16).
Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Scriptural Evidence > Immensity and Omnipresence)
Scriptural Evidence. Biblical evidence for God’s immensity and omnipresence is visible in the following observations:
1. He is the Creator and possessor of all things (Gen. 14:19, 22; Deut. 10:14; Col. 1:16; Rev. 10:6).
2. Heaven and earth cannot contain him (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chron. 2:6; Isa. 66:1; Acts 7:48–49).
3. He fills heaven and earth, so nothing is hidden from his presence, and he is both close and far off (Ps. 139:7–10; Jer. 23:23–24; Acts 17:27–28).
4. He manifests himself variously in various places:
a. He dwells and has his throne in heaven (Deut. 26:15; 2 Sam. 22:7; 1 Kings 8:32; Pss. 11:4; 33:13; 115:3, 16; Isa. 63:15; Matt. 5:34; 6:9; John 14:2; Eph. 1:20; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:4–5).
b. He descends from heaven (Gen. 3:8; 11:5, 7; 12:7; 15:1; 18:1; Ex. 3:7–8; 19:9, 11, 18, 20; Deut. 33:2; Judg. 5:4).
c. He dwells in the midst of his people (Ex. 20:24; 25:8; 40:34–35; Deut. 12:11; 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; 1 Kings 8:10–11; 2 Kings 19:15).
d. He is far (relationally) from the wicked (Pss. 11:5; 50:16–21; 145:20).
e. He is close (relationally) to the righteous (Pss. 11:7; 51:19; Isa. 57:15).
f. Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9).
g. God indwells the church (John 14:23; Rom. 8:9, 11; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Eph. 2:22; 3:17).
Systematic Theology (1. Omnipresence)
By this we mean that God, in the totality of his essence, without diffusion or expansion, multiplication or division, penetrates and fills the universe in all its parts.
Systematic Theology (1. Omnipresence)
The atheist wrote: “God is nowhere,” but his little daughter read it: “God is now here,” and it converted him. The child however sometimes asks: “If God is everywhere, how is there any room for us?” and the only answer is that God is not a material but a spiritual being, whose presence does not exclude finite existence but rather makes such existence possible. This universal presence of God had to be learned gradually. It required great faith in Abraham to go out from Ur of the Chaldees, and yet to hold that God would be with him in a distant land (Heb. 11:8). Jacob learned that the heavenly ladder followed him wherever he went (Gen. 28:15). Jesus taught that “neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father” (John 4:21). Our Lord’s mysterious comings and goings after his resurrection were intended to teach his disciples that he was with them “always, even unto the end of the world” (Mat. 28:20). The omnipresence of Jesus demonstrates, a fortiori, the omnipresence of God.
Systematic Theology (1. Omnipresence)
(a) God’s omnipresence is not potential but essential.—We reject the Socinian representation that God’s essence is in heaven, only his power on earth. When God is said to “dwell in the heavens,” we are to understand the language either as a symbolic expression of exaltation above earthly things, or as a declaration that his most special and glorious self-manifestations are to the spirits of heaven.
2. The Preciousness of the Omnipresence of God -
2. The Preciousness of the Omnipresence of God -
God is omnipresent in that He is supreme over all limitations of space and is present in the fulness of His character in every place but in varying ways.
God is unparalleled to all spatial limitations -
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!
6 “But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?
4 The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. 5 Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high, 6 Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?
God is present throughout heaven and earth -
21 but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.
39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
1 Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?
23 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “And not a God far off? 24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.
2 “Though they dig into Sheol, From there will My hand take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down. 3 “Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.
God both sees and knows everything -
9 “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.”
3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.
10 “For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel—these are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth.”
God is near to all humanity -
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
God is close to the poor and needy -
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.
God is close to those who call on Him -
8 I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
8 He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who has a case against Me? Let him draw near to Me.
God is always present with His people -
15 Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”
5 There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation.
2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.
17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.
God’s promise to be present -
15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
45 “I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God.
12 ‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
1 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.
8 “The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
God's presence in believers through the Holy Spirit -
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
SO WHAT?
When you wear comfortable clothes, you feel at home anywhere you go, right? That’s like God’s omnipresence—He wraps us in His presence, making every situation feel more manageable. Whether we’re facing challenges or joy, we can rest easy knowing He’s always right there with us!
How can understanding God's omnipresence help us in our daily struggles?
In what ways does knowing that God is always with us shape our behaviors and decisions?
What personal experiences have you had that affirm God's omnipresence in your life?
How does the omnipresence of God give you comfort during times of anxiety or fear?
How can we actively practice being aware of God's presence in our everyday situations?
How can the teachings on omnipresence influence your relationships with others?
What steps can you take to create a more consistent practice of acknowledging God's presence in your life?
In what ways can the omnipresence of God encourage us to serve others?
How can understanding God's omnipresence help you cope with feelings of loneliness?
How can the reality of God's constant presence encourage accountability in your actions and choices?
