KNOWING GOD MESSAGE 5

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KNOWING THE GOD WHO IS , WILL HELP US UNDERSTAND WHO GOD IS.

A} DOCTRINAL TEACHING.

OUR GOD IS… OMNIPRESENT

This is an eminently practical attribute of God which describes His presence in every place at the same time!

As a result there is nowhere in the universe that lies outside of God's cognition and care.

God can be scoffed at, mocked at, disbelieved, impugned, spurned, blasphemed, etc, but ultimately He is unavoidable!

Every man must prepare to meet God now through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ as Savior or later in Christ as Judge ( 2 Tim 4:1 -note, John 5:22-27 )!

2 Timothy 4:1 KJV 1900
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
John 5:22–27 KJV 1900
22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

As William Secker put it "A man may hide God from himself, and yet he cannot hide himself from God."

Tozer adds that "The notion that there is a God but that he is comfortably far away is not embodied in the doctrinal statement of any Christian church."

GOD IS NOT NOWHERE but NOW HERE

Spurgeon succinctly defined God's omnipresence - 

God is everywhere. His circumference is nowhere, but his center is everywhere.

(Spurgeon goes on to say)

I heard the story of a man, a blasphemer, profane, an atheist, who was converted singularly by a sinful action of his. He had written on a piece of paper, “God is nowhere,” and ordered his child to read it, for he would make him an atheist too.

The child spelled it,

“God is n-o-w h-e-r-e—God is now here.”

It was a truth instead of a lie, and the arrow pierced the man’s own heart He is no petty deity, presiding, as the heathen imagined their gods to do, over some one nation, or one department of nature.

Wherever thou art, and whatever thou lookest upon, thou art in God’s workshop, where every wheel is turned by his hand.

Everything is not God, but God is in everything, and nothing worketh, or even existeth, except by his present power and might.

Is it not a sad proof of the alienation of our nature that though God is everywhere we have to school ourselves to perceive him anywhere?

His circumference is nowhere, but his centre is everywhere.

Distance is no distance in the sight of God.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones rightly said that

"This is the fundamental thing, the most serious thing of all, that we are always in the presence of God."

Question: What does it mean that God is omnipresent?

Answer: The prefix omni- originates in Latin and means “all.”

So, to say that God is omnipresent is to say that God is present everywhere.

In many religions, God is regarded as omnipresent, whereas in both Judaism and Christianity, this view is further subdivided into the transcendence and immanence of God.

Although God is not totally immersed in the fabric of creation (pantheism), He is present everywhere at all times.

God’s presence is continuous throughout all of creation, though it may not be revealed in the same way at the same time to people everywhere.

At times, He may be actively present in a situation, while He may not reveal that He is present in another circumstance in some other area.

The Bible reveals that God can be both present to a person in a manifest manner (Psalm 46:1Isaiah 57:15 ) and present in every situation in all of creation at any given time (Psalm 33:13-14).

Psalm 46:1 KJV 1900
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
Isaiah 57:15 KJV 1900
15 For thus saith the high and lofty One That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Psalm 33:13–14 KJV 1900
13 The Lord looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men. 14 From the place of his habitation he looketh Upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

Omnipresence is God’s characteristic of being present to all ranges of both time and space.

Although God is present in all time and space, God is not locally limited to any time or space.

God is everywhere and in every now.

No molecule or atomic particle is so small that God is not fully present to it, and no galaxy so vast that God does not circumscribe it.

But if we were to remove creation, God would still know of it, for He knows all possibilities, whether they are actual or not.

God is naturally present in every aspect of the natural order of things, in every manner, time and place (Isaiah 40:12Nahum 1:3 ).

Isaiah 40:12 KJV 1900
12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, And meted out heaven with the span, And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, And weighed the mountains in scales, And the hills in a balance?
Nahum 1:3 KJV 1900
3 The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked: The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of his feet.

God is actively present in a different way in every event in history as provident guide of human affairs (Psalm 48:7; 2 Chron 30:27 ; Daniel 5:5-6 ).

Psalm 48:7 KJV 1900
7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
2 Chronicles 30:27 KJV 1900
27 Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.
Daniel 5:5–6 KJV 1900
5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6 Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

God is in a special way attentively present to those who call upon His name, who intercede for others, who adore God, who petition, and who pray earnestly for forgiveness ( Psalm 46:1 ).

Psalm 46:1 KJV 1900
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

Supremely, He is present in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ ( Colossians 2:19 ), and mystically present in the universal church that covers the earth and against which the gates of hell will not prevail.

Colossians 2:19 KJV 1900
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

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 ( Matt 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  Rev 14:10  speaks of the torment of the wicked in the presence of the Lamb.

Matthew 25:41 KJV 1900
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Revelation 14:10 KJV 1900
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and 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.

Colossians 1:17 KJV 1900
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Hebrews 1:3 KJV 1900
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Just as God is sometimes separated from His children because of sin ( Isaiah 59:2 ), 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.

Isaiah 59:2 KJV 1900
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Proverbs 15:29 KJV 1900
29 The Lord is far from the wicked: But he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

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 ). 

Psalm 139:11–12 KJV 1900
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; Even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; But the night shineth as the day: The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Isaiah 57:16 KJV 1900
16 For I will not contend for ever, Neither will I be always wroth: For the spirit should fail before me, And the souls which I have made.

B} DETAILED TRUTH

Allow me to offer this simple definition of omnipresence (courtesy of John Bisagno):

The Lord Our God is everywhere at once.

He is everywhere present all the time.

That is a truly awesome thought.

Most people are not comfortable with an omnipresent God.

That's why they have idols.

They want a god they can see and feel and touch.

A god they can understand.

A god they can control.

A god made by their own hands. 

But you can't fully understand the God of the Bible.

And you certainly can't control him.

God is Not Limited by time or space

- Perhaps the greatest statement of omnipresence is found in the inspiring words of Psalm 139:7-12 .

Psalm 139:7–12 KJV 1900
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; Even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; But the night shineth as the day: The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

As David contemplates how God knows him inside and out, he wonders where he might go to hide from the Lord.

Heaven, hell, east, west, the far side of the ocean—it doesn't matter for the Lord is already there.

What about the darkness of the night?

The darkness will not deter God, for "darkness is as light to you."

There are several important implications of this truth.

First, God cannot be contained in a building.

Solomon said as much in the dedication of the First Temple in Jerusalem.

Sometimes I hear well-meaning people call the church the "house of God," as if his presence somehow specially dwells in a building made by the hands of man.

But a church is not a holy place in the sense that the temple was a holy place.

Today God dwells among his people and in his people wherever they are and wherever they go.

Second, God cannot be localized in a city or a nation.

This truth should keep us from boasting too much in our supposed moral superiority.

God is not an American nor does he exist to defend and perpetuate our form of government.

Third, God cannot be reduced to an image or a statue.

This is why the Second Commandment warns against making "graven images."

It is also why the Jews refused to make any pictures, drawings or statutes of God.

The danger of idolatry is so great that J. I. Packer in Knowing God warns against the danger of religious pictures, even innocent drawings of Jesus.

The truth is, we don't know what he looked like and any picture or statues meant as an "aid to devotion" may somehow lead to superstitious worship.

Fourth, he is always present whether we believe it or not.

In the early days of space travel, one of the Russian cosmonauts returned from orbiting the earth to announce that he had looked out his space capsule and had not seen God anywhere.

To which Dr. W. A. Criswell of the First Baptist Church of Dallas replied, "Let him take off his space suit for just one second and he'll see God quick enough."

Fifth, he is present even in the worst moments of life.

God's omnipresence means that he is there in the midst of suffering, pain, sickness, sorrow, anger, grief, bitterness, divorce, betrayal, murder, rape, sexual abuse, cancer, AIDS, abortion, warfare, famine, earthquakes, fires, floods, every natural disaster, accidents, personal loss, and at the moment of death.

Sixth, he is always available to us wherever we go, 24 hours a day.

We always have his full attention, we don't have to make an appointment, he's never too busy to hear us when we pray, he's never preoccupied with other problems.

Can you imagine what it would be like if we prayed only to have a angel tell us, "I'm sorry, but God is busy handling a major crisis in the Middle East.

Leave your name and number and someone will get back to you as soon as possible."

That will never happen because all of God is completely available to you no matter where you are.

Though there be a thousand wars in a thousand places, our God hears you as if you were the only one praying.

Seventh, we may rely fully on him no matter how desperate our situation may be.

This week I spoke with two of our senior adults. One has just been diagnosed with cancer.

When I talked with her, she said, "Pastor, don't worry about me.

The Lord has been so good to me." She's 80 years old.

Later I spoke with a woman who is 90, very weak and frail and eager to go to heaven.

Her voice quivered, but her faith was strong.

"I'm just trusting in the Lord," she told me.

These dear saints have learned through a lifetime of walking with God that he will never leave them for he is always present with his people.

God is always present everywhere in the universe -

Most of us struggle to understand omnipresence because it is so foreign to our experience.

The doctrine teaches us that God is wholly present everywhere.

"God is not like a substance spread out in a thin layer all over the earth—all of Him is in Chicago, in Calcutta, in Cairo, and in Caracas, at one and the same time" (Paul Little).

God's presence is not like a layer of peanut butter on a piece of bread.

All of God is completely present at every point in the universe all the time.

He is present as fully as though He were nowhere else.

Furthermore, his presence extends to all three Persons of the Godhead.

That's a relief because what if I needed to talk to Jesus and found out that he was over in Indonesia and wouldn't be back in Oak Park for a month?

Or what if the Spirit were in South Dakota when someone needed him in Turkey?

Thank God, all three Persons of the Trinity are everlastingly available to all the children of God.

I have already commented that he is present even though we do not realize it.

One writer said that God's presence is like the air we breathe.

Air is odorless, tasteless, invisible (when it's not polluted).

Most of the time we don't even think about the air we breathe, yet we depend on it for our very existence.

Even so God's presence is everywhere with us, and if it were withdrawn, none of us could survive for even one moment.

Or consider radio waves.

They are invisible yet everywhere.

We don't realize that in this room there are thousands of signals floating through the air. Microwave, short wave, AM-FM, TV, cellular phone, CB, police, fire, ultra-low frequency and ultra-high frequency.

Tens of thousands of signals float through the ether all around us.

They are there all the time.

We aren't aware of them because we don't have a receiver tuned in to the right frequency.

Likewise, God is always there, but we're not tuned in to his frequency so we don't sense his presence all the time.

God can be ignored but he cannot be avoided

- You can ignore God but you can't avoid him. This should be a serious warning to the unconverted.

That's why Genesis 16:13 calls him (in Hebrew) El Roi, which means The God Who Sees.

Genesis 16:13 KJV 1900
13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

At the end of this age, in those terrible days leading up to the return of Christ, the unconverted will suddenly realize the error of their ways.

But then it will be too late. Rev 6:15-17 describes the scene:

Revelation 6:15–17 KJV 1900
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Think of it!

Every sin you commit is committed in the presence of God.

He hears every white lie, he knows when you cheat on your taxes, he listens when you swear under your breath, he takes note of every broken promise, he records the evil men do under cover of darkness.

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