Attributes of God: Immensity and Omnipresence
Attributes of God: Immensity and Omnipresence
It is difficult to imagine an aspect of God’s being more gloriously unfathomable and at once more comforting and awful than the realities of God’s Immensity and Omnipresence. How can we truly get our minds around the idea that God is “without measure” (his immensity) or that he is fully everywhere, all at once, all the time (his omnipresence)? To be sure, accomplishing a short but helpful article on these two biblical truths seems beyond reach because they permeate and enable all the other attributes that begin with “omni.” For example, His immensity and omnipresence mean that he can exercise his omnipotence (all-powerfulness) anywhere, at any time, at the good pleasure of his will. Further still, these attributes provide the means for His omniscience (all-knowingness). However, understanding these truths is worth our pursuit because Christians find great comfort in them, Christ’s church relishes the glory of his presence, and sinners are faced with the terror of God’s justice.
An Immense God
Often, we use the word “immense” to talk about things that are overwhelming in size. Perhaps you had the experience of being on a boat in the middle of the ocean, atop a peak amidst the Rocky Mountains, or had the opportunity to gaze up at the cosmos on a dark night. Immense might be a word that comes to mind. Yet even this does not quite capture the fullness of the biblical picture of immensity when we think of it as something that describes God. Again, to say that God is immense is to say that he is immeasurable, uncontainable, and wholly transcends the limits of time and space.
A simple, yet again profound, scriptural starting point from which to consider this reality is Genesis 1:1,
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
While the implications of this verse by itself might be easily called immense, the reality it points to is even greater. God is the author of space and time as we know it. Before anything was, he was there. He stands behind creation, exists in it, and acts through it but by no means is constrained by it. In Augustine’s Exposition on Psalm 123, he writes, “Before God created heaven and earth, where did He dwell?... God dwelt in Himself, he dwelt with Himself, and God is with Himself.” The Lord also declares through the prophet Isaiah,
“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 things my hand has made, and so all things came to be, declares the Lord. (Isa 66:1-2a)
Further still, we are drawn to consider Jesus’ words, speaking as God the Son – creator of all things, to His apostles when he says,
“Though heaven and earth should pass away, my words will stand.” (Matt. 24:35)
We know our God as incomprehensibly immense, fundamental, and unshakeable, yet we find him not hopelessly distant but intimately present.
An Omnipresent God
Related to His immensity, few truths in Scripture carry with them the capacity for both comfort and fear as God’s omnipresence. Just as God’s immensity testifies to his limitlessness, Scripture’s testimony of his omnipresence reveals that all of God is present everywhere in space and time, working “all things according to the counsel of his will.” (Eph. 1:11). Perhaps nowhere in Scripture is this made more apparent than in Psalm 139:7-10,
“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, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there, you shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.”
King David stretches the limits of human imagination to make the point that there is not anywhere that God is not. Unlike philosophies such as Deism, which claims God to be distant and uninvolved in his creation, or Pantheism, which claims God to be creation itself, the Bible reveals to us a God who is everywhere present with and active in the universe without being confused with it The Apostle Paul even testifies of God the Son that,
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:17)
The glorious and awful truth is that nothing escapes the authoritative presence of the immense God of the universe. A sweet rest of the soul for his people and a terror for those who persist in sinful rebellion against Him.
Conclusion
For those who have found reconciliation with God through faith in the Son, Jesus Christ, the knowledge of his presence brings with it the deepest comfort and the fullness of hope in life and death. What greater anchor for the soul could there be than the promise that he is present with his people and his churches always? Or than to have Psalm 23:4 applied to us in Christ?
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your
rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Yet, for those outside of Christ, this means that every rebellion against God is committed under the very eye and in the very presence of the just judge of the universe. As the author of Hebrews writes,
“And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we
must give account.” (Heb. 4:13)
As Christians and members of churches let us allow these two great truths to stir our hearts to bold and joyful obedience to God through his word. He is with us and for us. At the same time, let our hearts be stirred with compassion and gospel urgency for our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and the nations for whom God’s immensity and omnipresence today bode the terror of judgment.
Augustine as cited by Wellum in, “Systematic Theology: From Concept to Cannon,” Vol. 1
John 1:3
Matt. 18:20; 28:20
