God Is Omnipresent

Let’s come to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that we are able to gather together tonight. We thank you for your word to us. And Lord, we do ask now that as we come to approach your word, to consider it, as we seek to learn about you and to know you better, we ask, Lord, that you would reveal yourself to us. Give us minds to understand the things that you’ve shown us in your word. And Lord, give us hearts to receive these things, to cherish them as we ought to, and Lord, to apply them into our lives. Change us, Lord, and make us more like Christ.

Bless every heart that is here tonight, Lord. Bless our study, but also bless our time of prayer together that is to follow after. Be with us in all that we do, and we ask that, Lord, you would glorify yourself now in all that we do here. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Our subject for this evening’s study is, as we’ve been going through the attributes of God, tonight we’ll be looking at God’s attribute of omnipresence, the omnipresence of God. But really, we’ll be looking at slightly more than just God’s omnipresence, as we’ll see. I’ll introduce that as we come along. As we come to consider this topic, as we consider God himself, we have to be careful about how we think about God. We have to be careful about how we talk about him.

I’m not going to spend much time on introduction because I know this isn’t the first part in this series. But just as a way of reminder, we have to remember that God is not like us. He is the Creator. We are creation. We ought not, but we are prone to so often create him in our image, think of him as if he is like us, where we project our own characteristics, our own attributes onto God. And we have to remember that God isn’t a person like us who is just bigger, a giant in the sky. He’s not just a person who is perfect in every way. He’s not like us times infinity and perfect. No, he’s a different being altogether. He is in a category all on his own. He is the Creator. We are creation.

Therefore, we can’t just make assumptions about God. We have to come to his word to learn about what he reveals of himself.

There are things in this world that we struggle to understand. There are complex things in this world. You ask me how a car works, I can give you a couple of ideas of what I understand, but even that, it’s not that complex a thing if you really know about it, I can’t explain it to you. There are way more complex things: biology, physics, science, all kinds in nature. Other things that people have made even are hard to understand. And we’d be foolish really to act as if we know everything, wouldn’t we? If I came to you and started saying, oh yeah, I know how a car works. You just put the diesel in the windscreen wiper. You know, it would be silly of me.

So how foolish would it be for us to talk about God as if we’ve got him all figured out? We’ve categorised him and we’ve got God sorted. That’s old news. We’ve been studying God for thousands of years. We know all about him. No, we’ve only begun to begin to know who the Lord is, because he has revealed himself. Psalm 145:3 says:

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Unsearchable. It’s beyond finding out, beyond comprehending fully. The Lord is incomprehensible. Comprehending something means you’ve understood it completely. It’s like you’ve put your hands all the way around it. We cannot put our hands all the way around God. He is incomprehensible.

So we need to approach him humbly. These are things we need to keep in mind as we think about God, even tonight and for the rest of the series as well. He is transcendent. He is above us. He is beyond. Even our words fall short, really. But the Lord has been good to reveal himself in our language, to give us words to say about him. But we have to remember that the way we understand certain things doesn’t always apply to God in the same way. And we need to be aware of that.

So he has revealed himself to us in creation. We see throughout the Bible that the heavens proclaim the glory of God’s handiwork. He has made himself known in the world. He’s also made himself known in the word, and that is why we come to his word.

So tonight, as I said, we’ll be considering his omnipresence, and I’d like us to have two simple (well, I hope they’re simple enough) two main points. And first of all, we’re not going to start with omnipresence, but instead we’re going to start with God’s infinity. And then we’ll look at God’s immensity and his omnipresence. And as I’ll explain, those are really two sides of the same coin.

1 God’s infinity

So as we come to our first point, God’s infinity, that God is infinite. What do we mean by saying that, that God is infinite? We as people, we are finite. We have limits. There is an end to us. You can measure a person, how tall they are, how much they weigh. We live for a certain period of time. We know a certain amount of things. There’s a certain amount of things in our head. There’s a limit to every aspect of us. How smart are you? How good are you to others? How angry are you? All of you, everything of who you are has limits. We are finite in every sense of the word.

So when we look at God, we know that he is infinite. He is not finite. Notice that we’re saying something that God isn’t. We’re not coming and saying what God is, because true infinity, the way we use that word, is beyond us. But we can begin to say something. He is not finite. He does not have limits. He is not like us in this way. He is infinite.

One theologian says this, and I found this helpful in using this word infinite to talk about God. He says this:

“Occasionally, when referring to something of which the limits are known, we refer to infinity in a hypothetical sense, as when we speak of the total number of grains of sand, blades of grass, or stars. We also define as infinite that to which something can always be added, which for instance is true of a number.” You can always add more and more numbers, right? “Regardless of how long one counts, the ultimate sum will either be even or uneven, a reality which changes as soon as one number is added.” Even if you were to count during your entire lifetime, “When we define God to be infinite, however, we do so in the literal sense of the word, thereby conveying that his being is truly without any parameters or limitations. His power is infinite, his knowledge is infinite, and his very being is infinite.”

I know that was a long quote, but all that to say, even the way we use this word of God, infinite, we have to be careful what we realise we’re saying. We’re not talking about him as if he’s so large that he could be added to like a number. You can always count for all of your life and you can always still be adding numbers, and you say that there’s an infinite amount of numbers. That’s true, there’s an infinite amount of numbers, but whatever number you say, there’ll always be one to add. However, God has no measurement. There is no number with him that you end up reaching, that you get to eventually. No, he is truly, in the truest sense of the word, infinite. He is infinite in every single way.

And God’s infinity, him being infinite, ties in with his perfection. If he were not infinite in his power, if there was a limit to his power, that’s really what it would mean, that he has a limit to his power. You could always conceive of someone or something with one more percentage of power, couldn’t you? If he’s extremely great, let’s say, but not infinitely, but extremely great, well, you could always say, that’s not perfection, because there could be something greater than how great God is, how good he is, how powerful he is. But because God is perfect, and perfection means it can’t be improved upon, that means God is infinite. His power, his goodness, his wisdom, all of these attributes, all who God is, his very being, is infinite. Turretin says, “He embraces every degree of every perfection, without limitation.”

Job 11:7 says this:

Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

And like we said, his greatness is unsearchable. God is infinite.

As a side note, and something beautiful to see about God’s infinity, is that this is what makes the atonement possible. The fact that we have sinned against God, and because our sin has brought on us the weight, the debt of sin, which is an infinite debt because we’ve sinned against an infinite being. How could we have that atoned for? Who could pay for this infinite debt? Possibly none of us. All of us are finite. But God himself, God the Son, who is the second person of the Trinity, who possesses this infinite being, this infinite nature, died for us and paid an infinite price for us. How amazing.

So you might be saying, “Robert, why are you talking about infinity? Why are you bringing this up if we’re supposed to be talking about omnipresence?” Well, really, because when we think about God’s omnipresence, really what we’re considering is God’s infinity when it comes to space, God’s infinity in regards to space. Because you can think of God’s infinity in different ways. God is infinite in all these ways.

So when we consider his infinity in regards to our understanding, he is incomprehensible, like we said. In regards to his being, we think of his aseity, as Glenn talked about last time, his being sufficient of himself. In regards to time, we think of him as being eternal. And when it comes to space, as we said, we’ll see now that we think of God’s omnipresence, his immensity.

2 God’s immensity and omnipresence

We’ll begin now with God’s immensity. God’s immensity is the idea that God cannot be limited to created space. Just as God’s infinity in regards to time means that God is eternal, he’s not bound by time, he’s before the beginning, he’s after the end, he’s beyond time. He transcends time.

So when we think about God’s infinity in regards to space, we see he is not bound by space. He transcends it. He is above it in a sense, we could say. He doesn’t live in and operate in space as we do as creatures. He created space. He created time. He cannot be bound by them. He was before those things existed.

This is what Solomon says after he built the temple in Jerusalem, in 1 Kings 8:27:

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

Isaiah 66:1 says something similar:

Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.’

We have to remember, God is not a physical being. He is a spirit. He does not have a body like we do. He is not bound by space in any way. He is infinite. He is immense. He is not bound by space. There is no place that could possibly contain him.

But maybe this sounds a bit like I’m saying that God is not present in the world, right? Maybe that’s what it sounds like, but that is not what I’m saying. His immensity refers to the fact that he is not bound or contained by space. And now as we think of his omnipresence, this term, his omnipresence, refers to the fact that God fills all of space as well. He is not bound by space, but according to his omnipresence, he fills all the space that there is. All creation. Think about all creation. God fills all creation. God is fully present everywhere, all the time. At every point in time, God is fully present in all of creation. That is what his omnipresence means.

As we read to begin with in Psalm 139, this is what we learned there in verse 7:

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

There’s nowhere to go.

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

There’s nowhere to go from God’s presence. If I went to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I fly in the morning to dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me. Jeremiah 23:24 says:

Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

Before God created all things, he was unbound, as we said, by time and space. And after creating all things, the Lord fills all of space, fills all of creation, and he is now present in all that he has made. He fills heaven and earth, as we saw there in Jeremiah. There is nowhere that man can go and the Lord will not be there. There is nowhere you can go to hide from him, to escape from him if you were trying to escape.

And because God’s being is not made up of parts, he is fully present in every place that he is. He is not just 50% present in some places. No, he’s fully present. It’s not like when I say that I’m in two rooms at the same time, when I go and stand with one foot in the kitchen and one foot in the hallway. No, the Lord doesn’t have a body. He’s not to be divided like that. You could say his foot is over here in Lisburn, his head is up in the Antarctic. No, he doesn’t have a physical body. He’s also not made up of parts. We can’t say that God’s goodness is over here and his wisdom is somewhere else in space. No, we can’t do that to God. He’s not made up of parts.

He is fully present everywhere that he is. He is fully present with us right now. He is fully present in all the earth. That’s what the psalmist says. Wherever I go, you are there. Not part of you is there. Not, “You can still see me. I’m far away, but you can still see me.” No, you are there. That’s what the psalmist says.

This is something truly amazing to consider, isn’t it? That God is everywhere. God is everywhere, always. However, in Scripture, we read that there are some places where God isn’t. God seems to not be. 2 Thessalonians 1:9, for example. This is one example. Talking about those who will go to hell, it says:

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

What about passages where it says that God comes down to earth? For example, in the story of the Tower of Babel.

And the Lord said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do.’

And then on to verse 7:

‘Come, let us go down and there confuse their language.’

Let us go down. That sounds like God is not down already, right? It sounds like he’s not there already, to go and confuse their languages. But the right way for us to understand this: there isn’t a contradiction between Psalm 139, where the Lord is present everywhere, and this, where it says that the Lord has to go down, or that he is not present in hell.

The right way for us to understand these passages, where we see the Lord present in some other sort of way, is that there are two categories of God’s presence in the world. And I’m sorry to introduce two more categories, but these are the last ones, I promise. First of all, and this is what we’ve considered so far, he has his essential presence in the world. That is the presence we’ve talked about. He is everywhere all the time in his being. Who he is, what he is, is present everywhere, his essential presence. And we also have his special presence. This is how theologians have termed these things.

We saw Scripture clearly speaks of God being everywhere, but we also see Scripture clearly speak of God being present in different ways at different times in different places. And when it comes to these different occasions of God being present in a special way, what we are to understand is that God is present in a way that he operates differently. He manifests himself in a certain way that he does not elsewhere. He manifests himself in a particular way, in a particular place. And that is what we call the special presence of God.

When he went down to Babel, it wasn’t that God physically moved from point A in heaven down to point B on earth. No. Rather, what happened is that God manifested his power there, didn’t he, to confuse the languages? God became present there in that specific way. Essentially, he was present there in judgment, as we see in other places of Scripture. The Lord is present in judgment.

Other times, and here are a few examples of his special presence, other times we see this in Scripture. For example, in the burning bush with Moses, God is said to be in the bush. But is he physically there? No, he’s there in his special presence, manifesting himself as a burning bush, making himself known to Moses at Mount Sinai. This is a clear example where God is said to be on the mountain manifesting himself, showing his glory, showing his grace and making a covenant with Israel. He’s present in his grace to bless his people. All throughout Scripture we see this. Psalm 34:18:

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

That is God’s special presence. He’s present everywhere. He’s near to everyone in his essential presence. But to us, brothers and sisters, he’s near when we are brokenhearted, in his grace. He is near to us. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus says this:

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

The Lord is present in a special way to bless his people. In the Old Testament, he was present in the tabernacle, in the temple, to bless his people there in their worship, in their sacrifices, in all of those things. And he’s present even in the New Testament. In the worship, the public worship, in our worship services, he is present in a special way. He’s present again in another special way at the Lord’s Table. All of these things are special ways that the Lord is present. He is present in all of us through his Holy Spirit. This is another way that he is present. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, aren’t we? He is present with us always. What a great comfort that is.

And in hell, as we saw, he is not present. But in what way is he not present? It’s not his essential presence, as we’ve said. He’s essentially present everywhere, but he’s not present in his grace. He’s not present in his mercy. There he’s present in his judgment. He’s present in his wrath and his anger. His special presence and his essential presence.

We’ve seen his infinity, we’ve seen his immensity, we’ve seen his omnipresence and those two categories. And as we come to a close, I’d just like to mention a couple of points of application for us to take away from this. What is it about the omnipresence of God that should encourage us and that we should stick with and remember and let comfort us?

Well, first of all, not a comfort, but a warning. The presence of the Lord, the fact that he is everywhere, ought to be a warning for us that we do not sin against him. Proverbs 15:3 says:

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

So often we would be kept from sinning, wouldn’t we? If we would just really grasp, if we would really be aware that the Lord sees and the Lord is actually with us in those moments when we sin. Joel Beeke says that cultivating this awareness of God’s presence will do much to promote godliness in our lives. That’s so true, isn’t it? If we would just realise God is with me right now. Stephen Charnock says this: “Men will commit that in the presence of God which they would be afraid or ashamed to do before the eye of man.” It’s true, isn’t it? So many things that we wouldn’t do if someone was present with us. If I was in public, if I was with my friends, whatever it might be, I might not say certain things, I might not do certain things. But the Lord is present with us always. The Lord is watching us. The Holy Spirit is within us. Oh, that we would be more aware of this and have this in the forefront of our minds, that we would live Coram Deo, that we would know that we are living before the face of God. He watches us. He sees us, that we would live in the light of that reality truly.

And secondly and lastly, the omnipresence of God ought to encourage us to rely on him completely. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says this:

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

Amazing, isn’t it? His eyes go to and fro. He doesn’t have eyes. But do you see what’s being communicated here with our human language? He is actively looking to see who needs help right now. He is watching to keep his promises of blessing and keeping his people. Psalm 34:17 says:

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not.” Why?

For I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

These things ought to be such an immense comfort for us, shouldn’t they? Such a great encouragement that there is nowhere that I can go that the Lord won’t be with me, because he’s everywhere. He’s already there in the darkest pits, in the valley of the shadow of death. He is with us. He is with you. He’s near to us in those moments. He’s near to the brokenhearted. What a great blessing that is.

Let us draw near to him. And when I say draw near to him, I hope we know now. I’m sure you do already, but, you know, after this study, we’re reminded it’s not a physical drawing near to him. I’m not trying to get closer to heaven or anything. It’s a relational drawing near to him, and he will draw near to us. Just like I can be near to someone, a good friend of mine, but when we’ve had an argument, when we’re upset with each other, we’re not very close, are we? Even if we’re in the same room, even if we’re in the same car driving back home, if we’ve had an argument, if we’re upset, we can be miles apart. So with the Lord, it’s not about our location physically, but relationally that we would be near to him.

I pray that this is a blessing to us and that the Lord would really open our eyes to comprehend these things more and more, because he is so great and glorious. It is only by his help that we will come to know anything else of him.

Let’s pray.

Lord God, we thank you that you are omnipresent. We thank you that you are everywhere, Lord. You are infinite in all that you are. Well, this is so great. This is so glorious that we can hardly begin to fathom what this truly means. But Lord, I ask that by your Holy Spirit you would open our eyes to see your glory more and more.

Lord, help us take these things and remember them, that, Lord, we would be warned against sinning, that we would be aware that you see us, that you are with us, that we would cultivate the fear of the Lord in our lives, that we would have a reverence for you, a respect, a love, that we would cherish you and not devalue you by sinning and going against you.

Lord, forgive us. And Lord, help us to always be comforted by this truth in the times where we feel lost, when we feel alone, far from all our friends and those who would comfort us usually. Lord, we know that you are always with us and that you, Lord, are the one who can give true peace, true joy, true strength in all of it. We thank you, God, that you care for us, that you actively are with us in a special way. We praise you, Lord, the one true God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.