God’s omnipresence does present some interesting challenges, especially when we are faced with BIble verses which make it appear like God is “more present” in certain areas and “not present” in others (Gen 1:2, Psalm 33:13-14, Prov 15:29). Let’s face it, due to the limitations of our human understanding, the omnipresence of God appears to suffer from some apparent paradoxes. A prime example of this apparent paradox is the presence or absence of God in Hell. I can tell we are about to topple one of those “Sacred Cows” we hold dear, so hold on tight.
Most Christians understand Hell to be a place of both eternal torment and separation from God (Matt 25:41). If Hell includes eternal separation, one would think God can not be said to be present there. So how can God be omnipresent and yet be absent in one location? Do you see the problem we are facing?
If you look back to our definition of omnipresence (look here) you will find the solution to our apparent paradox. From our definition we see that God is not restricted by such things as time, space, or audience. God might be present everywhere, but He acts differently in different places. For example He can be present in the life of a sinner, leading them to repentance, while simultaneously being present in the life of a believer, assuring them of their salvation. This understanding will help us resolve our apparent paradox.
Could it be that God is present in Hell, but He is not there to bless the occupants? Many times when the Bible speaks of God’s presence it is referring to his presence to bless (Psalm 16:11). On the other hand, when the Bible refers to God removing his presence it is usually speaking of punishment (Isaiah 59:2, 2 Kings 17:18-23), and never the literal vacancy of his presence. Therefore, when the scriptures refer to eternal separation from God it is really speaking of eternal punishment. This seems to be backed up by Revelation 14:10-11, which tells us of the eternal torment of the wicked in the presence of the Lord. Did you catch that? The presence of the Lord means God isn’t absent from Hell, but rather He is present to pour out his wrath on the wicked. His presence is indeed everywhere, but it is not necessarily everywhere to bless.
Likewise, we can use this knowledge to understand God’s “presence” in Heaven. He is also in heaven, manifesting his love and blessings to a degree that we cannot even begin to comprehend. It isn’t that God has chosen to locate “more” of himself in Heaven. Rather, He has chosen to make his presence known in a “special way”, such that Heaven will be the focus of the manifestation of his character and glory. Indeed, in Heaven God will manifest everything that his Word promises, other than His wrath.
In conclusion, we shouldn’t allow the complexity of God’s omnipresence to become a stumbling block in our faith. Can someone wrap their mind around what it means for God to be omnipresent? Likely not. However, the fact our God is ever-present should excite worship in his children. Ultimately the omnipresence of God will inform us of his greatness, highlight the love expressed in the incarnation, and serve as a source of comfort that He is always near to us.
To Be Continued
More In The Series
1) Intro to the Attributes of God
9) Infinite God
Excellent summary dispelling a misconception. God may choose to make His presence known or not known, but He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He communicates to us who He is, but we cannot truly understand the infinite nature of all of His attributes. We will spend an eternity walking with Him and never come to the know ALL of Him.
Great post!
P.S. – I was doing upkeep for my father’s blog when I ran across this, so the website address is his!
Yes God’s presence is important but so is His freedom to freely choose for Himself. I have to ask if I would really be holding to a high and exalted view of God if I declared that His nature is such that He has no say in the matter and must maintain his presence absolutely everywhere whether He wants to or not? If I denied the infinite God of the Bible the freedom to completely remove His presence from where He does not want for His presence to be then I would obviously be holding to a high view of God’s presence but a low view of God’s freedom to freely choose at the same time. I did a google search a time or two to see how much thought people give to the subject of God’s freedom to choose for Himself and the results confirmed to me what I expected. In quotation marks to keep it specific I typed in such themes as “God’s control”, “God’s presence”, God’s knowledge”, “God sees all”, “God’s love”, “God controls everything” and saw a great many links to connect to. Next I typed in, “God has a sense of humor” and saw a huge number of links to link to. Last of all I typed in “God’s freedom” and the number of links was few in comparison to the other results. Even if God didn’t have a sense of humor He would still have the freedom to respond to our prayers. Without freedom one has to wonder if He can really respond to prayer so God’s freedom obviously deserves more attention then it gets. When we come to realize the importance of God’s freedom we begin to ask ourselves questions like, “What if God does not want to control certain things? Does He have to even if He doesn’t want to? What if God didn’t want to be seeing for a time being what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah before He told Abraham that He would go down to see if things were as bad as what He had been hearing? Did He have to be there all along and be seeing it all whether He wanted to be there and see it or not? and last but not least “What if He doesn’t want to know what color of socks I’ll be wearing tomorrow? Does He have to know it whether He wants to or not?”. It seems to me that all too often our theologies reduce God down to the point where He does not have the freedom to freely choose for Himself how much control He is going to exercise, where He will and will not be, what He will and will not see, what He will and will not foreknow, and unfortunately gets left facing a future that is so unalterably and completely written in stone that even He cannot make any changes to it. Well for what it is worth this is how things seem to me.
I appreciate the comment Michael. You bring up a very interesting topic; the freedom of God. As it turns out God’s freedom is one of his divine attributes, and I would have posted on it as I worked through my series the Attributes of God. It wasn’t necessarily next on my list of attributes to tackle, but given your comment I am motivated to explore it. I apologize for the short response. I would discuss things further with you, but I am about to take the family to the beach. Hurray for days off! God bless.
Hi Jason, Good to hear from you. One thing that does have to be pointed out is that there are some things that God cannot do as a result of His perfection. Although being all powerful and having all of the power that He needs to be able to commit a massively evil act yet He cannot freely choose to do so due to the fact that He is a morally perfect being. Absolute freedom is a myth but He does have great freedom. Although I do believe that He takes risks, I only believe that He takes wise risks. The scriptures speak of God’s wisdom or understanding as being infinite. An unwise risk would run contrary to His being a God of infinite wisdom so that is something that He would not and could not do. God bless and have a good day.
I have finished my post on the freedom of God. You can check it out here: http://tippingsacredcow.com/2013/08/attributes-of-god-freedom/
Thank you so much for writing about God’s omnipresence, because this is what i’ve been really struggling with, but what i really got to understand is that we cannot comprehend it, but I was wondering if you had any more on God’s omnipresence, because you gave me a clearer vision/thought of it, but what my mind is struggling on is how God can see us inside buildings…my mind is trying to understand I guess how does God get inside, if that makes sense?
Thanks for your comment Jennifer. I will see if I can bring some more clarity to your understanding of God’s omnipresence. I think the difficulty you are having comes from the fact that you still view God as having spatial boundaries. Everything in creation has boundaries, a limited and defined area in which it exists. For example, both you and I are limited by the boundary of our bodies. Because of this limitation you can, for example, be in your home in Woodstock, or you can be in our car driving though Toronto, but never simultaneously. Although you, and all creation for that matter, exist within defined spatial boundaries God does not. He is equally present everywhere at all times. He is equally present in your house, outside your house, as well as 5000 miles away. When you leave your house you don’t bring God with you, He is already there. In your question you asked, “How does he look inside buildings?” That would imply He was bounded somehow and outside trying to look in. The truth is he doesn’t have to look in, because He is already inside the building as well as outside it.
Let me try and give you an analogy that might make things a bit clearer. If you take a sponge and submerge it in the center of the ocean what happens. Well, miles and miles of water would completely surround the sponge. Not only would the water surround the sponge it would saturate and fill the sponge. The sponge is not water, it is still distinctly a sponge, but water would be found in, around, and throughout the entire sponge. There would not be one single space in or around the sponge devoid of water. We are that sponge and God is that ocean. Now my analogy has limitations in the fact the ocean in which that sponge is submerged has boundaries and shores, but God does not. He is so completely boundless there is not one single speck of space in the entire universe that is void of his presence. The universe is one giant sponge submerged in a boundless ocean. God completely surrounds and saturates everything. I hope this helps.