As God is unbounded by time, so He is eternal; and as He is unbounded by space, therefore He is everywhere or omnipresent. God's omnipresence can then be defined as: God fills all space and pervades everything there is at any given moment with His invisible, immaterial and distinct presence. In short, God is simultaneously everywhere at once and is present at all times.
This attribute is clearly taught in the Holy Scripture, as follows:
- In Psalm 139:7-10 where the Psalmist asks, "Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol (Hell), 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."
- "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?"" (Isaiah 66:1) So immense is He that He sits upon the one, and treads on the other
- But nowhere is the omnipresence of God more explicitly affirmed than in Jeremiah 23:23,24. "Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 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."
- Solomon spoke of the temple He built for God in 1Ki 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!"
The omnipresence of God can also be proved from His power, as evidenced, not only in the creation of all things--the entire expanse of heavens and the earth and all that is in them-- but also in His providence, in sustaining them, "for by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, … --all things were created through Him and for Him. … in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). God must be near all His creations for "He upholds the universe by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3); they have their being from Him, He provides for them and preserves them all.
It may as well be argued from the distributions of His goodness to all, especially to His saints, who share of His special favors; and to all men on earth, to whom He bestows His kindness by providing their daily needs, and all things abundantly to enjoy. He is ever present among them, generously opening his hand and freely imparts to them, as well as governing the world by His wisdom. And as He is everywhere by His power, wisdom and providence, He is also by his knowledge, all things being laid bare before Him And since these attributes of power, wisdom, and knowledge, are no other than His Himself, therefore He must be everywhere by His essence.
"No place can be imagined that is deprived of the presence of God; and therefore, when the Scripture anywhere speaks of the presence of God, it joins heaven and earth together: He so fills them, that there is no place without Him" (Stephen Charnock).
There are passages of Scripture that may initially seem to contradict this particular doctrine as in the case of Jonah who “rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord“ (Jonah 1:3) in an attempt to escape the commission given him to preach to the Ninevites of the impending destruction of their city in judgment of their evil ways, but he soon discovered of his mistake, learning that God was everywhere and could meet with him by sea and by land. Similarly, God is sometimes represented God as descending from heaven, as at the construction of Babel (Genesis 11:5,7), at the cry of the sin of Sodom (Genesis 18:21), and on Mount Sinai, (Exodus 19:18,20), but these only denote the extraordinary demonstration of His presence or exertion of His power, as at Babel, where He confused the speech; at Sodom, where He destroyed the city along with Gomorrah; and at Sinai, where He gave the law out of the fire amid lightning and thunder.
How can this doctrine apply to our lives? When we are in God, He dwells within us by His Spirit; it would be very encouraging to know that God is always near every time and every place we are, never leaving nor forsaking us. And knowing that He is everywhere, we can take comfort from the fact that we have a personal friend whom we can always depend on for our strength and peace. The omnipresence of God may also be a doctrine that would bring security to the believer that nothing, not even Satan, can separate us from God, who is infinitely more powerful than Satan. God is truly awesome in all His attributes, He is certainly worthy of our praise and worship! God is great, immense, boundless, and yet He desires to dwell among His people.
“When you wish to do something evil, you retire from the public into your house where no enemy may see you; from those places of your house which are open and visible to the eyes of men you remove yourself into your room; even in your room you fear some witness from another quarter; you retire into your heart, there you meditate: He is more inward than your heart. Wherever, therefore, you shall have fled, there He is. From yourself, whither will you flee? Will you not follow yourself wherever you shall flee? But since there is One more inward even than yourself, there is no place where you may flee from God angry but to God reconciled. There is no place at all whither you may flee. Will you flee from Him? Flee unto Him.“ (Quote from an anonymous source in “The Doctrine of God“ by Herman Bavinck)
