Just as Christians often use the term “omnipotence” to speak of God being all-powerful, we also use the companion term “omnipresence” to affirm that God is everywhere present. By omnipresence, we actually think of God being everywhere present at the same time. His omnipresence is possible because of the fact that God is by nature Spirit and not physical, thus is not limited by time and space. He is present in every place at all times.
Recognizing this truth about God’s essential nature, David posed two related questions: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” In response to his own questions, David continued, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 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” (Ps. 139:7–10). The prophet Jonah experienced it just as David said. Though Jonah took to the sea, he did not escape God.
Comforting truth
Not only can humans not hide from God, nothing escapes God’s notice. This is a two-edged truth. For God’s obedient children, it is a comforting truth. God knows when life seems to be falling apart. He takes notice when tragedies and hardships befall us. God promised through Isaiah, “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” (Isa. 43:2).
However, the truth that nothing escapes God’s notice can be a discomforting truth. There are no absolutely secret sins. While others may not know, God always sees and knows. Through Jeremiah, God said, “Am I a God near at hand and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jer. 23:23–24).
We must take the idea that God is present everywhere a step further. God also exists outside or above the created order. In the language of Psalm 33:13–14 we are to understand that “the Lord looks down from heaven; He sees all the children of man; from where He sits enthroned He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth.”
Vast God
In the same vein, Isaiah 57:15 speaks of God as “the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place.” Job 26:6 takes God’s omnipresence even further, declaring, “Hell is naked before Him.”
When we begin to grasp something of the vastness of our omnipresent God, the particularity of His presence on earth in the person of Christ is all the more wondrous. God who is everywhere present compressed His fullness into a single Person at a particular place and at a particular time. As amazing as it sounds, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). In response to Philip’s request to be shown the Father, Jesus declared, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Furthermore, it is almost too good to be true that God, who is everywhere present, can be present in each of our lives. The vastness of the universe, which God created and inhabits, does not preclude His personal interest and presence in each of His children.
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