#7 The Nearness (Omnipresence) of God

My wife and I have three children, with the oldest being about 5 years older than the youngest. They are grown now, with my youngest being 22 years old. However, several years ago when they were younger and all living at home, it was sometimes hectic. Between sports, school, and recreational activities … and church activities life… was a constant blur. If there was any one lesson made clear to my wife by these events, it was that she cannot be at more than one place at a time.

However, with God, this is not the case. All six billion people on our planet could pray to Him at the same time and He would be able to give full attention to the cries of each one.

God created the universe. He brought into existence the matter which makes up the universe. As Creator, He created time and space. Hence, He is separate from time and space and not bound by nor limited by them.

He determines the physical limits of the universe, the universe does not in any way restrict Him.

God's knowledge is absolute. He knows the entire history of every subatomic particle in the universe throughout all time. This combined with His unlimited power, such that He can do anything He pleases at any place and any time, combine to produce omnipresence.

Thus, God is completely capable of sustaining the operation of a far away galaxy while simultaneously listening to separate prayers from every single individual on this planet, responding to them in accordance with His will, wisdom, and plan for the ages.

In 1Thessalonians 5:17 we are told to "Pray without ceasing." God wants us to pray to Him constantly. He is constantly accessible. No matter how many other people may be praying at a given instant, God is always available to hear my requests.

How different this is from the situation with man. I once wanted to talk to a member of the California State Assembly about some pending legislation. Before I could see him, I met twice with one of his aides. When I finally did get to see him, he had ten minutes allocated for me and then he had to see other people. Ten minutes was not really enough for me to communicate my concerns, but I was expected to be happy even to get that.

How refreshing it is to know that God is always available to hear me and that He does not need to cut me off so that He can go do something else.

There are a number of applications of God's omnipresence to my life. He is always accessible. No matter how far I may be from my home, He will be there to comfort me. And no matter how far I may try to go to escape from Him, I cannot succeed

In Psalm 139 verses 9-12 we read: "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall fall on me,' even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You."

No matter how far we go, God is there to lead us. His hand is there to hold us (protect us). He is there for us whether it is night time or daytime.

In Jeremiah 23:24 we read, "Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?" says the LORD; 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.'"

So, we cannot hide from God, no matter how we may try. Jonah found this out when he decided to go from Israel to Tarshish instead of Syria as God had commanded him to do. God fills heaven and earth. He is everywhere at the same time. There is no place we can go to escape His awareness.

Even though God is omnipresent, He also manifests Himself at a specific location. This place is sometimes referred to as the "Throne of God." It is from here that God directs His rule over the angels and over the universe.

Some people I have talked to have balked at the teaching that God is everywhere simultaneously while also showing Himself specifically at the Throne in Heaven. Their problem was trying to place on God the same limitations that you and I have as people. They failed to understand God's complete independence from the universe, that He is not limited by it but can act within it however He pleases.

The word "heaven" is sometimes used by the Bible to indicate the location of the throne of God. Actually, the Bible uses "heaven" in three ways. The first refers to the atmosphere surrounding the earth; the birds fly in this heaven. The second refers to that portion of the universe which extends beyond the earth's atmosphere; this is the realm of the stars, planets, and galaxies. The third refers to the Throne of God. Its location is not defined; inded, it may exist in a spiritual realm outside of our universe. The important thing is that it is real and that angels have access to it.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke (Isaiah 6:1-4).

God is God, He can do whatever He chooses. Just because He establishes a throne from which to relate to the angels does not deny His omnipresence, which is an innate part of His nature.

God's omnipresence is in sharp contrast to that of Satan, who is limited by both space and time.

In Job 1:6-7 we read, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."

Several things are noteworthy here. One is that apparently all of the angelic beings, here called the "sons of God," give regular accounts of themselves to God.

We assume that the place at which the accounting takes place is at the throne discussed in Isaiah 6, although this is not specified.

Notice, even Satan goes to give an account of Himself. His answer intrigues me. How many of you have or ever have had teenage children? How communicative are they most of the time?

You know how discussions go. "Dad, can I use the car?" "Where are you going?" "OUT." "When will you be back?" "WHEN I AM READY." "Is anyone going with you?" "I DON'T KNOW YET."

Now, Satan is THE chaos creator of the universe. He stays constantly busy, taking advantage of every minute he has before his time is cut short. So, you know that he has been up to something, just because of his nature and who he is.

"I've been going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."

Even though Satan was trying to admit to God as little as possible about his activities, his statement does reveal something to us: If he walks back and forth on it, then he is not omnipresent. He can only be in one place at a time. He may have so many demons under his authority that to us it appears that he is always wherever we are at, but this is a false perception. Satan is not omnipresent.

In fact most of the religions surrounding Israel during Bible times believed in national gods. These gods would protect them only to the borders of their country. When they left their country behind, they also left the gods behind that they worshipped. This was a tacit acknowledgment that the gods they worshipped were not omnipresent.

There is another comforting feature of God's nature. He does not sleep. He does not go away and sleep somewhere. When we call on Him, we do not need to wake Him up first: We read in Psalm 121:1

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; he shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.

Friends, because God is omnipresent, always available to respond to our needs, He is worthy of our trust and our service.

It is interesting that a number of the books written on the attributes of God have little if anything to say on the subject of God’s omnipresence.

A.W. Tozer comments about God’s omnipresence: Few other truths are taught in the Scriptures with as great clarity as the doctrine of the divine omnipresence. Those passages supporting this truth are so plain that it would take considerable effort to misunderstand them. They declare that God is imminent in His creation, that there is no place in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide from His presence. They teach that God is at once far off and near, and that in Him men move and live and have their being.[1]

What Bible-believing Christian would challenge the truth that God is omnipresent? And yet I fear that while we believe this doctrine to be true to Scripture, we do not sense it to be true to life, a truth which applies to the way we live. But it does affect our daily lives! I have approached the subject of the omnipresence of God as “The Nearness of God,” for as we shall soon discover the nearness of God is one of the Christian’s highest aspirations—the greatest good. This truth greatly impacts our attitudes and actions. Consider then the nearness of God, the constant presence of God in our lives.

The Fall of Man: Nearness Lost (Genesis 3:6-10)

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself” (Genesis 3:6-10).

It would seem that before the fall of Adam and Eve these two were privileged to enjoy intimate fellowship and communion with God. From verse 8, we can infer that God daily walked in the garden in the cool of the day, and that Adam and Eve enjoyed this time with Him. But when they chose to trust the devil instead of God and to disobey the command of God, they sinned. Their sin caused them to withdraw from God out of fear. They hid themselves from Him.

1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2).

The rest of the Bible is about the plan and purpose of God to deal with man’s sin so he can once again enjoy fellowship with God in His presence. In Genesis 3:15, the first promise of salvation is recorded in the Bible: 15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15).

The rest of the Bible is the story of how God fulfills this promise of salvation so that sinful men can once again draw near to a holy God.

The exodus was not just a time when God freed captive Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. It was a time when God set Himself apart from all other “gods” (especially the gods of Egypt) and when He set apart the Israelites from the Egyptians (Exodus 9:4-6; 11:7). God distinguished His people Israel from the Egyptians by the plagues, but most significantly, He distinguished Israel by His presence:

15 Then he said to Him, “If Thy 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 Thy sight, I and Thy people? Is it not by Thy going with us, so that we, I and Thy people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16).

7 “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? (Deuteronomy 4:7).

And so it was that God was to be near His people Israel. The great dilemma was that the Israelites were a stubborn and sinful people. His presence as a holy God would prove to be dangerous because His holiness required Him to deal with sin:

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 And I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, lest I destroy you on the way.” 4 When the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I will do with you’” (Exodus 33:1-5).

God promised to see that Israel possessed the promised land of Canaan, but He declined to promise He would be present among His people. This sinful people simply could not survive in the presence of a holy God. Moses, however, would not settle for anything less than for God to dwell in the midst of His people. This distinguished Israel from the other nations.[2]

Notice how Moses pleads with God, refusing the promise of God’s personal presence with him, and pressing for God’s presence among His people, Israel:

13 “Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found favor in Thy sight, let me know Thy ways, that I may know Thee, so that I may find favor in Thy sight. Consider too, that this nation is Thy people.” 14 And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Thy 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 Thy sight, I and Thy people? Is it not by Thy going with us, so that we, I and Thy people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:13-16).

If the problem of God’s presence was rooted in the sinful nature of the Israelites, the solution was to be found in the character of God. God is not only holy, He is also gracious and forgiving. Here was the key that Moses was looking for, and God held it out before Him as He manifested His glory to him on the mountain:

5 And the LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. 6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in Thy sight, O LORD, I pray, let the LORD go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate; and do Thou pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Thine own possession” (Exodus 34:5-9).

There was only one way a sinful people could possibly dwell in the presence of God, and that was by grace. God could dwell in the midst of a sinful people because He is a God who forgives sin. It was not yet clear exactly how this forgiveness would be accomplished, but the Mosaic covenant foreshadowed it (see Colossians 2:16-17). The Law of Moses defined what was pleasing and displeasing to God, what was clean and unclean (or defiling) to the nation.

Avoiding defilement was impossible, but the Law also made provision for man’s transgressions of the Law. The Mosaic covenant introduced the Tabernacle and the sacrificial system, whereby God could dwell in the midst of a sinful people by being separated by the barriers of the tabernacle. Only certain Israelites (the Levitical priests) were allowed to draw near to God in the performance of the religious rites and rituals of the nation. God’s presence was manifested in the holy of holies, where the gaze of men was prevented lest they die. And men were informed that only by means of the shedding of blood could they approach their God in worship. This whole system foreshadowed the coming of the Messiah, the “Lamb of God,” who would bear the sins of the world and whose shed blood would cleanse men from their sins.

The Nearness of God in the Psalms and the Prophets

In spite of the distance which the Israelites must keep from their God under the Law, the people of God looked forward to a future day when they would enter into an intimate communion with God.

This was symbolically represented by a meal, first anticipated in Exodus, and then frequently referred to in the Psalms:

9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they beheld God, and they ate and drank (Exodus 24:9-11).

5 Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23:5-6).

4 One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to meditate in His temple (Psalm 27:4).

It would be wrong to conclude that enjoying the presence of God was but a future hope for the Old Testament saint. Psalm 73 speaks of God’s presence in the midst of affliction. Asaph, after considerable agony over the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the saints (or so he supposed), came to understand that the ultimate blessing in life is not prosperity or the absence of pain, but the presence of God, even if that becomes real to us in poverty or in pain:

25 Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For, behold, those who are far from Thee will perish; Thou hast destroyed all those who are unfaithful to Thee. 28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Thy works (Psalm 73:25-28, emphasis mine).

Psalm 139 is David’s expression of his enjoyment of God’s presence in his life. It is one of the great psalms of the psalter and one in which we find comfort as well:

1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. O LORD, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. 3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, And art intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all. 5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, And laid Thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7 Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Thy hand will lead me, And Thy 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 Thee, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee. 13 For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from Thee, When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. 16 Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Thy book they were all written, The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. 17 How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with Thee. 19 O that Thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. 20 For they speak against Thee wickedly, And Thine enemies take Thy name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee? 22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way (Psalm 139:1-24).

The prophets spoke of the time when God would draw near to His people to save them from their sins and to dwell with them in intimate fellowship. The prophets exposed the hypocrisy of those Israelites who feigned nearness to God but whose hearts were distant:

13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote” (Isaiah 29:13, emphasis mine).

Mere ceremonial righteousness was not enough. Men would not experience nearness to God until they understood true religion. True religion was to possess and to practice the character of God, to live out the character of God in our conduct, rather than to repetitiously carry out rituals or make meaningless professions:

1 “Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me day by day, and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness, and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, they delight in the nearness of God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted and Thou dost not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and Thou dost not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. 5 Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed, And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 And if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. 11 And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. 12 And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell (Isaiah 58:1-12, emphasis mine).

The prophets warned that if the people of God did not repent, professing and practicing true righteousness, then they would find God drawing near to judge rather than drawing near to save:

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:5, emphasis mine).

God is ever near in the sense that He sees and hears what men are doing, and He will deal with men accordingly:

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. 25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ 26 How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?” (Jeremiah 23:24-27, emphasis mine).

2 She heeded no voice; She accepted no instruction. She did not trust in the LORD; She did not draw near to her God (Zephaniah 3:2, emphasis mine).

Those who would repent and trust in God’s coming Messiah were promised a God who would be near, dwelling in the midst of the New Jerusalem:

35 “The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The Lord is there’” (Ezekiel 48:35).

The Nearness of God in the Gospels

God drew near to men in the incarnation. Our Lord drew near to save His people in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, His name was Immanuel, meaning “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). The New Testament writers made it clear that Jesus was God drawn near to save (see Matthew 1:23; John 1:1-18; 1 John 1:1-3; 4:12-13; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:1-4). There were those who were drawn to Jesus as the Savior, but those who rejected Him as their Messiah did not want Him around (see Mark 5:17; Luke 4:28-29). At the cross of Calvary, the crowds yelled, “Away with Him!” They were more comfortable with a murderer than with the Prince of Life (Luke 23:18).

The Nearness of God in the Epistles

It is the writer to the Hebrews who makes so much of the superiority of the work of Christ to the Old Testament sacrifices. The Old Testament system could not remove a man’s sin, making him fit to enter into the presence of a holy God. It is the shed blood of Jesus Christ which provides the forgiveness of sins and enables one to enter into the presence of God with confidence:

16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16, emphasis mine).

19 (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God (Hebrews 7:19, emphasis mine).

25 Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25, emphasis mine).

1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near (Hebrews 10:1, emphasis mine).

19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22, emphasis mine).

Not only does the blood of Christ remedy the problem of man’s sin, allowing men to “draw near” to God, it also remedies the breech in men’s relationship with men, removing once and for all the barriers between those who are fellow-saints:

11 Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:11-22).

Heaven is not so much a place where the saints indulge themselves in God’s blessings as the place where the saints enjoy God’s presence:

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them (Revelation 21:2-3).

3 And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; 4 and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:3-5).

Hell, on the other hand, is the place where men are eternally separated from the presence of God:

10 Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty (Isaiah 2:10).

19 And men will go into caves of the rocks, and into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD, and before the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble. 20 In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, 21 In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, Before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble (Isaiah 2:19-21).

9 And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

15 And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17).

11 And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

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

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. If I say, ‘‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

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 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.

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.

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. 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. Revelation 6:15-17 describes the scene:

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can 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.

You can’t avoid him even if you try. This week I heard from a couple in our church whose children attend the local public schools. One of their sons had to write an essay about a person in the past who changed the world for the better. When he chose Jesus, the teacher said he had to pick another person because to write about Jesus you have to use the Bible and she said it wasn’t a trustworthy historical document. Now, before I say anything else, let me remark that the teacher was simply showing her ignorance. Her comments were pure prejudice—nothing more. I seriously doubt she has ever read the Bible. Even the secular experts agree that it is the most trustworthy ancient book in the world.

So the parents protested, called the principal, played phone tag with the principal, and then earlier this week the teacher relented under pressure. In fact, the principal said she thought it was marvelous that a young boy should know so much about his faith. When I discussed it with the mother, I asked what would have happened if one of the students had volunteered to write about Mohammed? Or Buddha? That would be okay, but not Jesus. "Jesus makes people nervous," she said. Yes, he does.

You can ignore him but you can’t avoid him! Every time you write 1997 you are giving testimony to his power. All history is divided by his birth.

God is always near his people. This promise is repeated many places in scripture. Hebrews 13:5b says, ‘‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." In Matthew 28:20b Jesus promised, "I am with you always."And in Deuteronomy 31:6, as he was nearing the end of his long life, Moses reminded his people, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

In our worship services we sometimes have a prayer called an "invocation," which means we pray and invite God’s presence in our midst. Now I know what is meant by that. We are praying for God’s manifest or powerful presence in our midst. However, I do think it’s good to remember that we don’t have to ask God to be with us because he is always with us. We don’t have to "invoke" God’s presence. He’s already here!

The Bible also tells us that he draws near to us in times of pain and suffering. Psalm 34:18 tells us that "the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Many of God’s choicest servants have experienced God’s powerful, uplifting presence in the midst of unspeakable sorrow. Often they look back later and marvel at how God brought them through when their own resources completely failed.

He is also near when we least expect him. In this regard I often think of Elisha and his scared servant at Dothan. Second Kings 6:8-18 tells how the mighty armies of Aram had completely surrounded the people of God at Dothan. When his servant saw the enemy drawn up on every side, he cried out in fear, "What will we do?" Elisha told him not to fear because, "those that are with us are more than those who are with them" (v. 16). Then Elisha prayed that the servant’s eyes might be supernaturally opened. They were, and as he looked up, he "saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (v. 17).

Something like that needs to happen to many of us. We need a glimpse of God’s presence all around us—even in the midst of difficult circumstances. Maybe you don’t need a new neighborhood or a new job or a new school. You need to see the angels of God surrounding you right now!

We also know that he draws near to those who approach him in humble faith. In Psalm 145:18 we read that "the Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." James 4:8 challenges us to "come near to God and He will come near to you." To quote Tony Evans once again, "God is with you if you are with God! If you are far from God today, who moved? He’s right where he always said he would be. If you aren’t conscious of his presence, perhaps it’s because you have moved away from him."

There is one final promise we need to remember. This is the most important promise of all. He promises to walk with us in the hour of death.

You will not pass across the threshold of death alone. In one of his sermons Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse illustrated that truth this way. Think about a mother with son serving in the military. She doesn’t know when he’ll be home, so she constantly speaks of him this way: "When John comes home, he’ll fix the window shade." "When John comes home, he’ll plant the garden," "When John comes home, he’ll sit in his favorite chair and eat dinner with the whole family." Why the third person? Why does she say "he" and not "you"? Because John isn’t home yet!

But when he finally comes home and she sees him for the first time, she cries, "John, you’re home." Why the change from "he" to "you"? Because John has come through the door.

Now listen to these familiar words: "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (Psalm 23:1-4). Why the change from "he" to "you"? Because even though the Lord is with us every day, we don’t always feel his presence right beside us. But in the moment of death, we are not left alone. The Lord Jesus comes for us and walks with us across the Great Divide. Thank God, I do not have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death alone. For he comes, he enters the room, the stands by the bedside, he reaches down and takes my trembling hand, and he walks with me from this life into life eternal.

The best two words in Psalm 23 are two little words in verse 4: "You are with me." The shepherd is no longer up ahead leading the flock. The valley is too dark for that. Now he is walking with us, step by step, walking side by side reassuring his sheep by his calm presence.

Death casts a frightening shadow over all of life. Visit any hospital or nursing home and you will see the fear on the faces of the patients. Go to a funeral and watch the faces of the mourners. One reason we hate funerals is because we don’t want to face the truth of our own mortality.

We can struggle with many other enemies but we can’t struggle with death. The grim reaper wins every time.

We’ll all eventually go through the valley of the shadow of death. We need a guide to help us find our way through that land of darkness to the light on the other side. Where will we find a guide who can take us through that valley? We’ve got to find someone who’s been there before, who’s gone through himself, who can take us by the hand and lead us where he’s already been.

Who can we get? Where can we find a guide like that? His name is Jesus! He’s been there before. He knows the way through. He’s been to the light on the other side and he’ll come for us.

But thank God, we don’t walk through that valley alone. Jesus will walk with us. He’ll lead us through to the other side.

Deep in my soul, I believe that the saints of God have nothing to fear in the moment of death. Though it may not be pleasant or painless, though it comes after long suffering or in a fiery crash, the moment itself will be filled with joy as the Lord himself escorts God’s children through the darkest valley of all. At that moment, all other guides must turn back. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can help us through. And he does.

Principles Concerning Omnipresence

While not an exhaustive study of the doctrine of divine omnipresence, we can summarize a number of principles taught in the Scriptures on this important and comforting doctrine.

(1) God is omnipresent in His creation, for He is ever mindful of all that is happening anywhere. He is constantly aware of injustice, of sin, of faithfulness. His eyes are ever watchful; His ears (speaking anthropomorphically—speaking of God in human terms) are always attentive to the cries of men, especially the oppressed and the penitent (2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 34:15; Proverbs 5:21; 15:3; Amos 9:8; Zechariah 4:10; 1 Peter 3:12).

(2) God sovereignly chooses some for eternal salvation, which draws them nearer than others, and thereby distinguishes the Christian from unbelievers (Numbers 16:5; Psalm 65:4; Exodus 33:16; Deuteronomy 4:7; Proverbs 18:24).

(3) God’s presence is not only among His people but is now in His people, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11; 139:7; John 14:17-18, 23; 16:7-15). I have often wondered how Jesus could tell His disciples it was better for Him to depart from them (John 16:7). I am finally beginning to understand why. While on the earth in His physical body, our Lord was present among His people, especially the disciples. But when the Lord ascended into heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in His people, so that He is ever-present with every believer, no matter where he or she might be. It is the Holy Spirit of God who conveys the presence of God in His people.

14 “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it” (Deuteronomy 30:14, emphasis mine).

151 Thou art near, O LORD, And all Thy commandments are truth (Psalm 119:151, emphasis mine).

(5) God is always present with His chosen ones (Psalm 139:7-12). He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

(6) God is especially near to us a certain times. He is ever near us in “time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).[3] He is near when we confess and forsake our sins (Psalm 76:7; Isaiah 59:2; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18). He is near the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18; compare Matthew 5:3ff.; 2 Corinthians 7:6). He is with us (even two or three of us) when we exercise church discipline in His name (Matthew 18:20). He is with us as we carry out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). He is with us when we are being disciplined by Him as a loving Father (see Hebrews 12:3-13). He is near when we call upon Him in truth (Psalm 145:18). He is near when we treat Him as holy (Leviticus 10:3). He is near to us when we “draw near” to Him (James 4:8).

The Practical Implications of the Nearness of God

Our study leads us to ponder several areas of application. First, I would like to ask you a question which I urge you to answer honestly in your own heart and soul: Do you believe the nearness of God is your highest good? If not, you are pursuing a goal less than the best. Moses was a man who had the most intimate fellowship with God of all the Israelites (see Exodus 33:11), and yet he was not content with this. He wanted to know God even more intimately, to be even nearer to Him (see Exodus 33:17-18). Let us examine our hearts to see if we desire to be near Him. If our desire to be near Him is lacking, it is little wonder that we have no great yearning for heaven. If we do not desire nearness to God, our desires are distorted at best and likely destructive.

Second, let me ask another question: Assuming you desire to have the kind of nearness to God of which the Bible speaks, do you actually sense God’s nearness to you? If not, the problem is really very simple—sin. Sin separates men from God. It may be that you do not enjoy a sense of God’s nearness because you are a lost sinner, doomed for eternal separation from God, apart from His grace. In Jesus Christ, God draws near to men to reveal Himself and to provide a way whereby the problem of sin can be remedied and fellowship between men and God can be restored. He, the sinless Son of God, bore the penalty for sin, the penalty for your sin. By receiving God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life in Christ, you can become a child of God and enjoy for all eternity the blessedness of being near to the heart of God.

If you are a genuine believer in Jesus Christ and yet do not feel the “nearness of God,” your problem is rooted in sin as well. The solution to this dilemma is simple: repent. These words, written to the complacent and loveless church at Laodicea, express the invitation which our Lord offers to all those who have trusted in Him and grown cold, grown apart. These words are the offer of intimate fellowship—nearness to God—for all who will repent and return to Christ as their first love:

14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’” (Revelation 3:14-22).

Over the years, I have observed that many Christians have embraced a false set of standards for determining the presence of God in their lives. Many television preachers (and others) teach that the test of spirituality and God’s presence in your life is health, wealth, and success in life. Our study should have indicated otherwise. God is near the brokenhearted, not necessarily near the beautiful people whose lives seem so “blessed.”

I am reminded of the stories of Moses and Elijah, whose experiences I had never actually compared. I believe there is a lesson for us to learn from Elijah after he fled from Jezebel and sought to find God and be reassured of His presence at Mount Horeb, where Moses had such a dramatic encounter with God:

2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.” 6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 Then he came there to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” 11 So He said, “Go forth, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 And it came about when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:2-14).

Elijah had been instructed by God to simply inform the king that the drought would shortly end because it was about to rain (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah seems to have thought up the great confrontation on Mount Carmel by himself.

It was a dramatic display of the power and presence of God, but it completely failed to bring the nation Israel to repentance. Elijah was devastated. He wanted to die. He was no better than his fathers, the prophets who had gone before him.

I have spoken on this text a number of times, but somehow I have always passed over the clearly stated fact that Elijah ended up on Mount Horeb, the “mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8). In the strength of the food which the angel of the Lord provided (19:5-8), Elijah made his way to Mount Horeb. Did Elijah want a rerun of the events of Exodus 19:16-20? It would seem so:

16 So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. 19 When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. 20 And the LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up (Exodus 19:16-20).

Moses and the Israelites had a spectacular view of God’s glory as He manifested His glory from atop the holy mountain. It would seem that Elijah wanted to reproduce this experience for his own reassurance:

11 So He said, “Go forth, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 And it came about when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13).

I believe Elijah thought if he could but get to that holy mountain and reproduce the experience of Moses he would be overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord in a spectacular way. But even though Elijah saw some of the same things Moses did, God was not in any of these dramatic events. God’s presence was revealed in a small, still voice. Occasionally, God may reveal Himself to us as He did to Moses but most often He will disclose Himself to us as He did to David (in Psalm 119) and Asaph (in Psalm 73). He will disclose Himself to us in the difficult times of our lives and in ways that we would not necessarily anticipate. Let us learn to rejoice in the presence of God in the little ways which do not seem as dramatic and exciting as we might wish.

Finally, the (omni) presence of God should inspire us to “practice the presence of God.” I must admit I have heard this expression often, but I have never truly grasped what it meant “to practice the presence of God.” As I now understand Paul’s teaching on this matter, practicing the presence of God is living each day as though God were present—which He is! Paul’s life was lived out before God and constantly viewed as being witnessed by our Lord (not to mention others). Let us remember that our conduct, our witnessing, our service, is always conducted before Him who is ever present (see Jeremiah 17:16; John 1:48; 2 Corinthians 2;17; 4:2; 7:12; 8:21; 12:19).

A bus trip through modern Israel will transport you back more than four thousand years and give you a glimpse of an unusual ancient phenomenon—the black goatskin tents of Arab desert dwellers known as Bedouins. Except for a periodic pickup truck, tractor, or television antenna, what you see has remained largely unchanged through the centuries. It is the same basic lifestyle as that of a godly old nomad named Abraham.

Uprooted from his ancestral home in Ur near the shores of the Persian Gulf, he wandered from one place to another, dwelling in tents, facing one adversity after another, never sure of what the next day would bring. His life was filled with uncertainty and insecurity, and he longed for something permanent (cf. Hebrews 11:9‑10). It was near a well in the town of Beersheba that he found what he was looking for. There God revealed Himself by the name of El Olam, which means “the eternal God,” the first time that name is mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 21:33). What an encouragement it was for Abraham to learn that in spite of the unsettled, unstable, and transitory character of his life, the God whom he knew and loved, who controlled every circumstance of life, had been around from eternity past and would be around for eternity to come.

Another godly Old Testament person named Moses lived to the ripe old age of 120, considerably more than the insurance tables would predict for him if he were alive today. But as he neared the end of his life, he became deeply impressed with the impermanence and brevity of life on this earth. He found his mind turning more and more to the same truth God had revealed to Abraham years before. He wrote a psalm about it, probably the clearest statement of God’s eternity found in the Bible.

LORD, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God (Psalm 90:1‑2).

Other Biblical writers picked up the same theme and we find it repeated throughout the pages of Scripture. Isaiah called God “the high and exalted One who lives forever” (Isaiah 57:15). Paul re

ferred to Him as “the King eternal” (1 Timothy 1:17). What does that mean? What are the implications of God’s eternity? What difference should it make to us that our God is eternal?

We shall learn as we progress through the study of God’s attributes that everything God is, He is to a perfect and ultimate degree. In other words, he is infinite—without limitation and without termination. Some consider eternity to be simply infinity in relation to time. That is true, but it seems to involve more than that. An eternal God is not only without beginning or end, but is also free from the succession of events and is totally sufficient in and of Himself. If we really want to know God and enjoy His fellowship it would be helpful for us to understand these truths which He has revealed about Himself.

He Is Without Beginning or End

Moses said, “. . . from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” Let us examine the first part of that statement, “from everlasting.” Periodically, children will come to me and ask, “Where did God come from?” We have all been taught to believe that everything comes from someplace. Every physical object has a maker. Every effect has a cause. Somebody made my watch. Somebody built my house. Humanly speaking, somebody was even responsible for bringing me into existence, a man and a woman I call my father and mother. We teach our children from their earliest days of understanding that the ultimate builder and maker of all things is God. He created the universe, of which every other tangible thing we know about is a part. The next question is a natural one. We set them up for it. They are surely going to ask it. They really cannot help themselves. “Who made God?”

The answer is difficult for them to accept. They have no frame of reference to which they can relate it. They have never heard an answer like this before. It may leave them puzzled and confused at first, but there is no other possible explanation. Nobody made God. He always was. The Bible never tries to prove His existence or explain where He came from. It merely assumes that He is there and that He has always been there. He had no beginning.

When we open the first page of the Bible, we read simply, “In the beginning God.” He is just there! And look at what He is doing—creating the heavens and the earth. He existed before all things and He Himself brought everything else into existence. If anybody existed before God and was responsible for making God, then He would be God, and we would have to begin our questioning all over again. Who made Him?

What we are really saying is that because God is eternal He is self existent, the only being there is who does not owe His existence to somebody else. He is independent of any other being or cause. He is over and above the whole chain of causes and effects. He is uncreated, unoriginated, without beginning, owing His existence to no one outside Himself. He has life in and of Himself. As Jesus put it, “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself” (John 5:26). Were it any other way He would not be God. An eternal being must be self‑existent.

Even our common sense tells us that ultimately, behind every other cause and effect, there has to be One who Himself is uncaused and self‑existent. The Israelites in their Egyptian bondage, feeling oppressed, forgotten, and hopeless, knew that in spite of their distress it had to be so, that behind all their caused circumstances, somewhere, somehow, there had to be a God who Himself was uncaused, who could make sense out of what seemed to be senseless suffering. When God told Moses to go back to Egypt and deliver them from their bondage, Moses hedged. “Who shall I say sent me?” he asked. “And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and He said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). When the children of Israel would hear that the One who sent Moses was the self‑existent God who simply is, they would recognize Him and follow Moses’ leadership. That would make sense to them.

Not everyone is that sensible, however. Some philosophers and scientists reject an eternal, self‑existent God because they cannot put Him in a test tube and examine Him or explain all His ways. But that is just subterfuge. If they could examine Him scientifically or explain Him fully, then He would not be God, and they know that full well. Their major problem is pride. To believe in an eternal, self‑existent, uncaused cause, we must admit that everything else owes its existence to Him. And that would include us. We too are then totally dependent on Him for everything right down to life and breath itself. Egotistical, self‑sufficient, self‑made men are not willing to admit that. They like to believe they need nobody but themselves.

Maybe they need to be reminded that the God who has no beginning also has no end. He is not only “from everlasting” but also “to everlasting” (cf. Psalm 102:25‑27). He has brought some other things into existence as well that will have no end, such as angels and human souls. That is great news for believers. We shall someday enter fully into the eternal life we already possess in Christ. All time pressures will be gone and we shall be able to relax with total joy and delight in the presence of the eternal God who made us for Himself. People who are rightly related to an eternal God will obviously enjoy Him eternally. As the Psalmist put it, “For this God is our God for ever and ever” (Psalm 48:14 KJV).

But eternity is not such good news for the unbeliever. The eternal God who made people with no end also made places with no end. One of them was prepared especially for the devil and his angels, a place of “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), a place of “torment day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). While God did not make this place for people, unbelieving people who reject His gracious offer of salvation will spend eternity there. “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). There is no way to escape it other than by bowing before the eternal, self‑existent God, admitting that we are unworthy of His favor, acknowledging our sin and our need for His forgiveness, and accepting the salvation He provided when He sent His Son to the cross. We are totally dependent on Him, totally at His mercy. It cannot be otherwise with a God who has no beginning or end.

He Is Free From the Succession of Events

One of the basic characteristics of time is the sequence of events: past, present, and future; yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We are bound to the fleeting succession of present moments. The moments before are but a memory with lingering results, and the moments to come are still an expectation which we cannot fully predict. We measure these succeeding moments by the rotation of heavenly bodies. We use clocks to help us and on some occasions, such as a hundred meter dash in the Olympic games, we break the succession of moments down into hundredths of a second. But we cannot escape the limitations of time, our bondage to the succession of moments, and the events that fill them.

We need to understand that eternity is more than the endless extension of time backward and forward. For convenience, we speak of eternity past and eternity future, but in actuality eternity supersedes time. It is a mode of existence that is not bound by this succession. There are no such things as past, present, and future with God. He created time and He can work within its framework, but He Himself is over and above it. He lives in one eternal now. Our tomorrows are just as real and present to Him as our yesterdays and todays because He has already experienced them.

Any human illustration of this truth will break down somewhere, but it might be helpful to try one. Imagine yourself watching the Rose Parade on a street corner in Pasadena. You view the parade one float and one band at a time—a succession of events. When it is finished you can look back on your experience and say, “I saw the parade.” Now imagine yourself in the Goodyear blimp, viewing the parade from start to finish. You are aware of the sequence, but you can see the end from the beginning. It is all part of your consciousness at once rather than merely a succession of events. That is the way God views our lives and, in fact, all of human history from the beginning to the end of time.

Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done (Isaiah 46:9‑10a).

He does not acquire His knowledge from a succession of events as we do, (float by float, band by band). He knows the end as thoroughly as the beginning because He has already lived it. It is eternally present with Him.

This is a truth for believers to rest in. God knows all our tomorrows. There are no surprises with Him. We may experience a great many surprises in life, but there are none with God. He already knows the pleasures that are in store for us. He knows the tragedies we shall face. He even knows the sins we shall commit and He is already grieved over them. But He has a plan that will work them all together for good. Knowing a God like that not only helps us want to please Him, but it helps us face our future with confidence and courage. God is going to be there tomorrow, whatever it holds, with the next page of our lives open, ready to reveal the next step He wants us to take in the perfect plan He has arranged for us.

He Is Sufficient In Himself

There is at least one more element of an eternal being that we need to discuss. Since He existed before time and space, before any created thing or created being, then obviously He can exist without anything or anybody outside of Himself. We know He can do it because He did it. He existed when there was nothing else in existence. God does not need anything or anybody. He is totally self‑sufficient. He is in Himself and has within His own being all that He needs.

That is not true of any other living organism. For example, we need things outside ourselves, things such as air, food, and water. Not God! If He needed anybody or anything outside Himself then He would not be complete, and if He were not complete He could hardly be God. But He is complete and He needs absolutely nothing. When Paul preached to the philosophers in Athens he declared, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:24‑25). God needs nothing outside of Himself.

It came as somewhat of a shock to me when I first realized that God did not need me. And you might as well face it too. God does not need you. He does not need our worship, our fellowship, or even our witness. He loves us and He wants us. In His grace He desires to use us and allow us to experience the satisfaction and excitement of being part of His eternal plan. But He does not need us. He did not create us because He needed us, but rather because He decided in His sovereign wisdom and good pleasure that creating us would be the best way to demonstrate His glory and grace (cf. Isaiah 43:7). That is no affront to our worth. Loving us and wanting us gives us more significance and security than needing us could ever provide. Rather than God needing us, we need Him. We are incomplete and unfulfilled apart from a personal relationship with Him. We can find true meaning only when we allow Him to have His proper place in our lives. We need God, but only God is complete in Himself.

God’s self‑sufficiency has practical application to our lives. If He possesses everything needful, and He has offered to come into our lives and share Himself with us, then obviously we can find all that we need in Him. That is exactly what the Apostle Paul stated about Him. Speaking of God the Son, he said, “For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete” (Colossians 2:9‑10). Jesus Christ is the God‑man, and thus is eternal as well. The prophet Micah declared,

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity (Micah 5:2).

The child who was born in a Bethlehem stable was the Son who existed from all eternity complete and self‑sufficient. And we can find our completeness in Him. How foolish we are to scrape, claw, fret, stew, cry, flatter, and manipulate a thousand different ways to get other people to meet our needs when the God who dwells within us in the person of His Son is all that we need. We are complete in Him.

Well, there He is—our eternal God without beginning or end, free from the succession of events, and sufficient in Himself. The eternal life He possesses is far more than an endless extension of life in time as we know it. It is a different quality of life, boundless life, all‑encompassing life, life marked by infinite richness, completeness, and satisfaction. And it is ours to enjoy, now and forever, through the person of His Son. “And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:11-12).

Does God’s Son live in us? It is a matter of admitting our sin and placing our trust in Jesus Christ as the only one who can pay sin’s penalty.

If we have done that, then we know an eternal God and we possess eternal life. We have something far bigger and better to live for than the temporal things in this world. We can live in the light of eternity’s values.

Mankind is striving for immortality. Politicians want to etch their names in the history books, athletes want to memorialize their feats in the record books, and businessmen want to build a financial empire that will endure for generations. But it seldom works that way. Politicians are forgotten, records are broken, and money has a strange way of evaporating. It is futile to live for the things of earth. Only what we build into people’s souls, our own and others, will endure for eternity. Some people have higher ideals and nobler goals than mere fame or fortune. They want to make the world a better place in which to live, to improve the quality of life on earth. That is commendable. But God has warned us that this entire world will eventually be consumed by fire (cf. 2 Peter 3:10). It seems futile to live for the things of earth when someday they will all be destroyed. It bears repeating: only what we build into people’s souls, our own and others, will endure for eternity. If God is eternal then no endeavor on earth has higher priority than knowing Him, loving Him, worshiping Him, serving Him, and sharing Him with others. That would be the most profitable way to spend our fleeting moments on earth. That has eternal value.

Have you ever felt as if you wanted to run away from God? Maybe you thought the responsibilities of the Christian life were too heavy for you, or you just could not be the person you were supposed to be and do the things God was asking you to do. If you could just get away, things would be better. Or maybe the model of a Christian husband or wife was too overwhelming and you could not live up to it. Or you knew how a Christian parent was supposed to treat his children but you seemed to fall short several times a day. Or you knew you ought to talk to those unsaved neighbors about Christ but you could not bring yourself to do it, and now they are gone and you are embarrassed and ashamed. Maybe you committed yourself to teach a class of children for a year but you just did not want to face them another Sunday. Or you knew God expected you to flee temptation but you could not seem to resist it, and now you feel as though God is on your back. If you could just get away from Him for awhile, go someplace where He could not see you, then everything would be all right.

That is exactly what the prophet Jonah thought. God told him to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness, but that was the last thing in the world Jonah wanted to do. Nineveh was the capital of a proud and powerful nation, and he was sure the people there would reject him, maybe even try to kill him for pointing out their sin. If they did repent God would probably hold back the punishment He had predicted and Jonah would become the laughingstock of the whole city. As far as he was concerned there was no way he would ever go to Nineveh.

“But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:3).

It is mentioned twice in that verse that Jonah wanted to get away from God’s presence. Somehow he had developed the ridiculous notion that God did not live in Tarshish (a city which some scholars believe was located on the Atlantic coast of Spain). Do you share his sentiments? Do you think there might be some place on this earth where you can hide from God?

The Explanation of God’s Omnipresence

Jonah should have known better. As a prophet in Israel he was certainly familiar with the inspired Psalms of Israel’s greatest king. David had written a powerful message about trying to run away from God’s presence:

Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Thy hand will lead me, And Thy right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to Thee, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee (Psalm 139:7-12).

If God is an infinite spirit then He is not only free from the limitations of time, but He is free also from the limitations of space. He is omnipresent, that is, present everywhere all the time. No other living being has that attribute. Every other being is restricted to a particular place at a particular time. I cannot be in Los Angeles and New York City at the same time. Angels cannot even do that. Satan cannot do it. But God is wholly present in every part of His domain at the same instant. He is not partly present in one place and partly present in another, but He is as fully present in every particular place as if He were in no other place. God cannot be split into little pieces. Wherever He is, He is in the fullness of His being.

This attribute of God is one of the most difficult for us to grasp with our finite minds. We can understand to some degree that God has infinite power and that He knows everything. But how can He be everywhere at once? The inability of the human mind to comprehend this doctrine may be one reason why so many people choose to worship some lesser being. They suspect that to be everywhere may really mean He is nowhere, and they want to worship a god who is somewhere, so they turn to a finite being or to an idol.

While I do not fully understand it, there is no question but that God claims omnipresence for Himself in His Word. David assured us that there was absolutely no place he could go to escape the presence of God, even if he wanted to. Not even pitch‑blackness could screen him from God’s presence, because God sees in the dark as well as in the light. Daniel confirmed that:

It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him (Daniel 2:22).

Jeremiah proclaimed the same truth to the people of his day. The land was filled with dishonesty, profanity, and immorality, and the false prophets of the day were not only condoning it but actually participating in it (Jeremiah 23:11,14). They assured the people that God would not judge them for their sin (verse 17). That is when God spoke through Jeremiah:

Those false prophets thought God did not know what they were doing and saying, that He was limited to one place at a time, that if He were near somebody else He could not be near them. Not so!

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 (verse 24).

He fills Heaven and earth, just as fully present in one place as another. There is no conceivable place where God is not completely present in the totality of His essence. If there were any place where God was not present He could hardly have said that he fills Heaven and earth. But He said it and He meant it. Just as light, or air, or sound, or odor fill a room so God fills His universe. Through Isaiah He said, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). There is no place to hide from His presence.

Solomon mentioned God’s omnipresence on the day that the temple was dedicated. It was a beautiful building where God would place His name, where He would personally dwell, and where He would meet with His people. But in Solomon’s majestic prayer of dedication he revealed a truth that we still misunderstand today. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27) God would dwell in that temple but He would not be restricted to it. We cannot limit God to a building. We cannot even limit Him to a universe. God is everywhere.

He is immanent, that is, right here, inhabiting and pervading His universe. But at the same time He is transcendent, that is, rising above and exalted supreme over His universe. Many people would rather not hear that. They would prefer to lock God in a building where they can visit Him when it suits them and get away from Him the rest of the time.

The Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem didn’t like it. They killed Stephen for quoting Solomon and Isaiah on this subject, along with a few other thoughts from the Old Testament Scriptures (Acts 7:48‑49). The Athenian intelligentsia ridiculed Paul on Mars Hill for daring to suggest the same thing. He had said, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). He cannot be locked in a building. Since He is everywhere, He is not far from any one of us (verse 27). In fact, we live and move and exist in Him (verse 28). Incredible! Just as a bird lives in the air and a fish lives in the water, so we actually live in God. Each of us, believer and unbeliever alike, lives in God’s sphere and in God’s presence every minute.

Philosophers since Paul’s day have not liked this doctrine any more than those on Mars Hill. They have devised interesting ways to pervert the truth. The pantheists have overemphasized God’s immanence. To them God is merely the impersonal forces and laws of nature. He is to be identified with the material universe, and consequently ends up being the trees, mountains, rivers, and sky rather than a personal, omnipresent being. The deists on the other hand, overemphasize God’s transcendence. For them, God is present in His creation only by His power, not in His being and nature. While He made the world He is not actively involved in governing it. He has left it to itself. English literature is filled with both distortions. The truth is that God is both immanent and transcendent. He is distinct from His creation yet present in every part of it, both in His power and in His essential being. God is everywhere!

Yet the Bible will not let us suppose that God is present in exactly the same sense everywhere. For example, He does not dwell on earth in the same sense that He dwells in Heaven (Matthew 6:9). He did not dwell in Gentile nations in the same sense He dwelled with His ancient people Israel (Exodus 25:8; 40:34). He did not dwell with the Old Testament Jew in the same sense that He dwells with the New Testament Christian (John 14:17). He does not dwell with the unbeliever in the same sense He dwells with the believer (John 14:23). And He does not dwell with the believer now in the same sense He will dwell with him in eternity (Revelation 21:3).

I am not sure how God can dwell with different people in different ways at different times, yet be fully present everywhere in His total being. Maybe He simply makes His presence known in a different measure. But He does claim to be everywhere and I, for one, believe it. I read somewhere about a little boy who believed it too:

He was just a little lad, and on a fine Lord’s day,
was wandering home from Sunday School and dawdling on the way.
He scuffed his shoes into the grass; he found a caterpillar,
he found a fluffy milkweed pod and blew out all the filler.

A bird’s nest in the tree o’erhead, so wisely placed and high,
was just another wonder that caught his eager eye.
A neighbor watched his zigzag course and hailed him from the lawn,
asked him where he’d been that day, and what was going on.

“Oh, I’ve been to Sunday school,” (he carefully turned the sod,
and found a snail beneath it). “I’ve learned a lot ’bout God.”
“M’m, a very fine way,” the neighbor said, “for a boy to spend his time.
“If you’ll tell me where God is, I’ll give you a brand new dime.”

Quick as a flash his answer came, nor were his accents faint,
“I’ll give you a dollar, Mister, if you’ll tell me where God ain’t.”

The Application of God’s Omnipresence

Jonah soon found out that David, the psalmist, was right all along. God is everywhere, and there is no way that we can hide from His presence. He went down into the hold of the ship, and God was there. He was thrown into the raging sea, and God was there. He was swallowed by a great fish, and he discovered that along with the tangled seaweed, stifling heat, and burning acids, God was there. Then he was vomited out on dry land and found that God was there. He finally decided that the smartest thing would be to obey a God who was everywhere. He would have saved himself a great deal of grief had he remembered that truth from the very beginning.

That seems to be one of our great weaknesses too. We hear these truths and believe them, but we tend to forget them when we need them. We become oblivious to God’s presence and begin to live our lives as though He were nowhere around. Jacob had that problem. He was running from his brother’s wrath when he stopped for a night’s rest at Bethel. During the night he had a dream about a ladder. The Lord stood above it and said, “And 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 promised you” (Genesis 28:15). God was with Jacob and would not leave him, but he did not realize it. The record states, “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it’” (verse 16).

Isn’t that just like us? The eternal, changeless, all‑powerful, all‑knowing, sovereign God of the universe is with us and we are not even aware of it. We ignore Him. I doubt that He is very happy about that—probably no happier than a wife whose husband pays no attention to her. So many lonely, grieving wives have sat in counselors’ offices and moaned, “He acts as if I weren’t even there.” God must feel that same grief.

Let’s remind ourselves of some of the places God specifically promised to go with us, then begin to acknowledge His presence in those situations, and learn to share them with Him. He will be pleased, and at the same time things will go better for us.

He Is With Us in Temptation. The Apostle Paul taught us that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit lives within us and goes everywhere we go. That should provide an added incentive for us to flee from sin. As Paul put it, “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:18‑19). The believer’s body is a mini‑temple, a sacred dwelling place for the omnipresent God, and we must treat it as such. Sexual relations outside of marriage defile the temple of God. They dirty up God’s dwelling place. To be conscious of God’s presence is to guard the purity of His home.

But respect for God’s home is not the only deterring power of this doctrine. If we love our Lord and want to please Him, the knowledge that He is with us is going to have an influence on where we take Him and what we do in His presence. We usually try not to offend someone we truly love. While we may be tempted to do something of which they disapprove when we are separated from their watchful eye, we seldom entertain the thought of doing it when they are standing right there looking at us. The next time you are tempted to disobey God’s Word and disregard His will, visualize Him standing there watching the whole scene. He is there, you know, so we might as well think about it. Sometimes we act like ostriches with our heads in the sand. We think that because we cannot see God, He cannot see us. But He does.

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3).

He Is With Us in Need. The writer to the Hebrews had something to say about God’s presence. Some of the folks to whom he was writing had lost their jobs because of their faith in Jesus Christ, and they were facing desperate needs. They were probably worrying about how their needs would be met and, worse still, they were envying people who had everything they needed. They would benefit from this pertinent exhortation: “Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

We may not have everything in life we want, but we do have the Lord. He is right there with us all the time. He sees all our needs and He will meet every one of them in His own time and in His own way. Some may be saying, like those Hebrew Christians of old, “But I have this bill due tomorrow that I can’t pay.” That situation could be God’s way of encouraging you to reevaluate your lifestyle. He wants us to be diligent, to work hard, to seek His wisdom about every penny we spend, and to stay out of debt. Unpaid bills sometimes reveal that we have been overly enthusiastic about gratifying our desires rather than merely meeting our needs. The next time you are tempted to spend money on something you do not need, remember that the omnipresent Lord of the universe is right there with you. Ask His advice before you move ahead. Then trust Him faithfully to supply every need. That is what He promised to do (Philippians 4:19).

He Is With Us in Loneliness. I want you to meet a lonely woman. Hagar was a slave, uprooted from her home in Egypt and taken to be the handmaid of Abraham’s wife, Sarah. She had gotten pregnant by Abraham at Sarah’s suggestion, and the resultant situation had brought such tension and turmoil to their household that she finally ran away to the wilderness—unloved, unwanted, pregnant, and absolutely alone in a strange land, the victim of someone else’s sin.

That was when the Lord appeared to her with tender words of encouragement and advice, and she called His name El Roi, the God who sees (Genesis 16:13). She had come to the comforting realization that God was right there with her, that He saw her in her loneliness, and that He cared. Ezekiel called Him Jehovah‑Shammah, the Lord who is there (Ezekiel 48:35).

He is the same God today. He sees us in our loneliness and offers us words of encouragement and advice. He is the God who is there, and He still cares. Most of us prefer a warm body near us when we are lonely, a hand we can touch, and a voice we can hear. God may provide that for us in His perfect time. But meanwhile, He is with us, and the very fact that we are physically alone can make His presence more precious than it would be if there were people around us. To believe that He is with us can help to dispel the aching loneliness.

He Is With Us Through Difficult Service. Many godly people in Scripture faced tasks which they believed were beyond them, but the confidence to carry on came through the assurance of God’s presence. For example, when Moses was called by God to return to Egypt and deliver the people from bondage, he shuddered at the enormity of the task. When he tried to beg off, God said, “Certainly I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12). That was just the encouragement he needed to go on.

Again, after the nation’s sin with the golden calf, God told Moses to lead the people on to their promised land. But he was afraid to go until the promise was reaffirmed. Finally it was: “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). The promise of God’s presence was the inspiration he needed to do the job he was called to do.

When Joshua took over the leadership of the nation after Moses’ death, he struggled with the same lack of confidence. But God was right there to encourage him: “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5). “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” (verse 9). If God would be with him, he could conquer the land against insuperable odds.

When our Lord’s disciples heard His commission to make disciples of all nations, they must have trembled at the vastness of what they were being asked to do until the Lord added, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). That would make all the difference in the world.

I can testify to you quite honestly that I would not be in the Lord’s service today were it not for the promise of God’s presence. The job is too big, the responsibilities too great, and my abilities much too weak and inadequate. But I have that promise—God is with me. And you have it too. God never asks us to do anything by ourselves. When he gives us a job to do He promises to be with us as we do it. Whether it is teaching a class, witnessing to a friend, sharing our testimony with a group of unbelievers, lovingly confronting another Christian with his sin, or anything else He might want us to do, He is right there with us, directing, assisting, and enabling us as we do His will.

He Is With Us in Danger. The Apostle Paul faced many dangerous situations in the course of his apostolic ministry, one of which was in Corinth. The Jews there were disturbed at the great numbers of people turning to Christ and the situation seemed to be as potentially explosive as a barrel of TNT beside a campfire. Paul seriously considered leaving. “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city’” (Acts 18:9‑10). The key to Paul’s courage was in those words, “I am with you.”

God said much the same thing to the tiny nation Israel when she was surrounded by giant world powers which threatened to destroy her.

Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

That is also His promise to us. There is nothing to fear for the child of God. He is present in all the places people sometimes fear. He is on that airplane, in that elevator, in that cramped room, on those high places, in that wild animal infested jungle, in that new and strange situation with people we do not know, in that operating room during delicate surgery, in the recovery room where the pain and discomfort are fierce. He was even in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished to see four people in the furnace instead of only the three he had cast in (Daniel 3:24‑25). It was a fulfillment of God’s promise to His people.

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 (Isaiah 43:2).

Why should we fear anything when God is there? The Psalmist put it so beautifully.

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea (Psalm 46:1‑2).

He Is With Us in Death. Death is the ultimate source of fear and anxiety for many people. But again, God is right there with us.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4).

When we face the death of a loved one, this thought brings greater consolation than all the well intentioned words of our human friends put together: God is with us. And when we face our own departure from this earthly scene there is no reason for alarm. God will accompany us right into Heaven’s glory.

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord and across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me, the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life there was only one set of footprints. I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life.

I questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You, You would walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why in times when I needed You most, You would leave.” The Lord replied, “My precious child, I would never leave you during your times of trial and suffering. When you see only one set of footprints, it was then I carried you.”

What more can we ask? Wherever we go, whatever we face, our omnipresent Lord is with us. Ignore Him no longer. Let Him be part of every situation and circumstance. The awareness of His presence will add an exciting new dimension to the quality of your life and to the confidence you enjoy in living.

Action To Take

Sit down right now, while it is fresh on your mind, and write out some goals for your life that reflect your knowledge of God’s eternality.

Begin to cultivate a consciousness of God’s presence. Greet Him at the beginning of each new day. Remember often through the day that He is right there with you. At bedtime rehearse the events of the day and think about how you could have allowed Him to be more a part of them, and what difference it would have made if you had. Say “goodnight” to Him before you drop off to sleep, remembering that He will be with you all night long.

[1] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (San Francisco: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1961), p. 80.

[2] I cannot help but wonder if we would have clung as tenaciously as Moses to the petition that God be present among His people. So often, God is but a means to the end. For Moses, God was the end. Moses did not want God’s blessings without God, for in his mind, the ultimate blessing was for God’s people to dwell in God’s presence.

[3] Note the instances in the Book of Acts when our Lord (or an angel) appears to the apostle Paul to encourage and strengthen him (for example, Acts 27:23-26).