Is God Everywhere?

God is described as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. What’s omnipresent mean? Is God everywhere?

What does it mean that God’s omnipresent?

God doesn’t have a size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.

Is God everywhere?

Yes, Jeremiah 23:24 says He fills heaven and earth. It’s impossible to hide from God. From the top of Mt. Everest to the bottom of the Marianas Trench to the edge of the universe.

God is fully present, everywhere with His whole being (Acts 17:28; Colossians 1:17). In this moment while I wrote this He is with me in Arkansas, my editor in Nevada, my best friend in Mississippi, and you, even if you’re in India, the Philippines, Romania, Ireland or South Africa.

Can we put God in a box?

No, He doesn’t have spatial dimensions. I can’t pull out a tape measure and fit Him for a suit of clothes. He’s everywhere and can’t be contained (1 Kings 8:27; Isaiah 66:1-2; Acts 7:48).

Does God exist in a space outside of the universe?

This is a mind-bender, but try to not think spatially. Since God exists without size or dimensions before there was any space, He relates to space in a different way.

He isn’t the same as the universe or a part of it; that is pantheism. The analogy Dr. Grudem uses is a water-soaked sponge. The water is ever-present yet distant.

Is God present in different ways in different places?

Yes, He’s present to punish, sustain, or bless. Sometimes it is to punish (Amos 9:1-4). Other times it is to bless (Psalm 16:11). He is always present sustaining…well…everything that exists, keeping it functioning (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3).

A lot of the time in the Bible, God’s presence was there to bless, like with the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:22; 1 Samuel 4:4). That was where God made His presence known and acted in a special way at the Ark in the tabernacle’s (and later the temple’s) Most Holy Place.

With the New Covenant we can worship God anywhere (John 4:20-23).

So God doesn’t live in Heaven?

Heaven is the place where God manifests His presence more fully than anywhere else. It is where the presence of His blessing, character, and glory is most prominent.

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Doctrine of the Bible Posts
How Did We Get The Bible?
Is The Bible The Word of God and Does It Matter?
Is The Bible Inerrant?
Is The Bible Necessary?
Is The Bible Sufficient?

Doctrine of God Posts
Is There A God? 
How Can We Know God?
What Is God Like?
Does God Depend On or Need Anything To Exist?
Does God Change?

How Can God Be Both Infinite and Personal?

How Does God Relate to Time?

 

Sources
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem
Chapter 11: Incommunicable Attributes of God