The attributes of God

The Omnipresence of God

An attribute of God · Psalm 139:7-10

The omnipresence of God means he is present everywhere at once, fully and personally. There is nowhere we can go from his Spirit, nowhere we can flee from his presence. If we ascend to heaven he is there; if we make our bed in the depths, he is there too. God is never far from any one of us, and for his children his presence is not a threat but a home that no place can shut out.

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.Psalm 139:7-10 (KJV)

What the omnipresence of God means

To be omnipresent is to be wholly present everywhere. God does not fill space the way water fills a jar, spread thin so that more of him is here and less there. He is present in his whole being at every point, near to all, contained by none. The heaven of heavens cannot contain him, Solomon said, and yet he dwells with the humble and contrite. He is above all, through all, and in all.

This nearness is personal, not just a fact of physics. God is not present the way gravity is present, an impersonal force. He is present as a Person, aware, active, and near. Yet Scripture also speaks of God drawing near or coming down, and of his special presence in the tabernacle, in his people, in Christ. There is a difference between his presence to sustain everything and his presence to bless and commune. He holds all things in being everywhere, and he makes his home in a particular way with those who love him.

How the Bible reveals it

Psalm 139 asks the question and answers it: Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. The psalmist searches the whole cosmos for a place beyond God and finds none.

Jonah tried to flee from the presence of the Lord and discovered on a storm-tossed sea that no ship sails past the edge of God's reach. Jacob, alone in the wilderness, awoke and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. Paul told the philosophers of Athens that God is not far from every one of us, for in him we live, and move, and have our being. And Jesus promised, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Wherever the believer stands, there God already is.

Common misunderstandings

Some picture omnipresence as God being spread out like a thin mist, a little of him everywhere. But God is not divided into parts; he is fully present at every point, the whole God near to you now. Others reduce omnipresence to God merely seeing everything from a distance, as if he watched from far off. Scripture says more: he is not far, he is here, closer than our own breath.

Others confuse the Creator's presence in all things with the idea that all things are God, which the Bible denies. God fills creation but is not creation; he is present within the world while remaining infinitely above it. And some, feeling abandoned in dark times, conclude God has left them. But the psalmist found God waiting even in the depths. The feeling of absence is not the fact of it. He has said, I will never leave thee; his presence does not depend on our sense of it.

Why the omnipresence of God is good news

Because God is everywhere, his children are never alone. There is no hospital room, no prison cell, no foreign land, no valley of the shadow of death where he is not already present. You cannot travel beyond his care or wander past the reach of his hand. Wherever tomorrow takes you, he is there ahead of you, and even there shall his hand lead you, and his right hand shall hold you.

This turns loneliness into companionship and fear into confidence. The same presence that no sinner can escape is the presence no saint can lose. In the darkest place, the light of his nearness is not put out. And it means worship is not confined to a building; we may seek and find him anywhere, at any moment, for he is always at hand. To know that God is with you, truly and personally, in this room and on this day, is to have a companion that death itself cannot take away.

How the omnipresence of God is seen in Jesus Christ

In Jesus, the God who is everywhere came to one place, took a body, and stood among us. In him we could see and touch the presence that had always filled the world. His name is Immanuel, God with us, the presence of God drawn near enough to hold a child, to weep at a grave, to eat with sinners. The omnipresent One became local, so that we might know him near.

When Jesus ascended, he did not become distant; by his Spirit he is present with all his people at once, in every land, keeping his promise to be with them always. Where two or three gather in his name, he is there in the midst. He fills all in all. And he goes to prepare a place where we shall be with him, and see his face, and dwell forever in the presence that has no shadow of leaving. The omnipresence of God has drawn near in Jesus, and he will never let you go.

A note offered humbly and for all Christians: God is one, simple, and undivided in his being, and these attributes are not parts of him but the one God seen from many sides. His holiness is loving, his love is holy, his justice is merciful, and his mercy is just. He is also greater than all our words, and no page can contain him. What we can say, we say only because he has graciously revealed it, above all in Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God.

Related: The Omniscience of God · The Eternity of God · Who is Jesus? · All the attributes of God