God’s Omnipresence (fully present in every place)

The word ‘Omni’ comes from the Latin word omnis, which simply means, ‘all’. The omnipresence of God simply refers to him being all-present, that is, present in all places at all times. 

Omnipresence is a unique characteristic because it isn’t shared with any other being. Human beings have been made in God’s image and angels have been made somewhat like God too, but neither share this divine attribute of being in all places at all times. Only God fills all things because all things have been created by God, and as we’re told in Colossians 1 (speaking of Jesus), in him all things hold together. 

One qualification we have to make is that although God fills all things, he is not bound by them or ‘contained’ in them. God is just as transcendent as he is immanent, which means he lives in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16) while at the same time he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:27–28). As one theologian has said, speaking of God, ‘He is from the height of the heavens to the bottom of the deeps, in every point of the world, and in the whole circle of it, yet not limited by it, but beyond it.’ 

God’s omnipresence means he’s present in every atom throughout the entire universe. He’s just as present in the realm of spirits as he is in the physical universe we inhabit. All things exist because God is present in all things. And God alone can do this because unlike us, God is not bound by a physical body. God became flesh when he sent his Son into the world as our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, but even that divine act did not limit God. God continued to fill all things and uphold them by the power of his word, even while his Son took on human flesh to be with us in a unique way. As is rightly affirmed in the Westminster Confession of Faith (written in 1646) in relation to God’s divine essence, he is a most pure spirit. 

God’s omnipresence becomes all the more important to us when we consider how this attribute relates to all the others. Because God is an infinite being (more on this in the article entitled ‘God’s perfection’)  then it makes sense that he’s all-present, because for God to be infinite means he is without limit, in all his attributes. Without limit spatially means he fills heaven and earth.

As God tells us in Jeremiah 23:23–24;

“Am I only a God nearby,”

declares the Lord,

    “and not a God far away?

Who can hide in secret places

    so that I cannot see them?”

declares the Lord.

    “Do not I fill heaven and earth?”

declares the Lord.

And this attribute becomes all the more awe inspiring when we consider the fact that God is all-present in all places with his whole being, at all times. Which means all of God is right there with you while you sleep, work, sin, serve, praise, pray and seek to be more like Christ. As David says in Psalm 139:7, Where can I go from your Spirit? We stand in awe when we realise that the God of all power is all-powerful in all places because he’s all-present. As it has been said, ‘If God’s eternity renders him King always, so his omnipresence (or immensity) renders him King everywhere.’

And yet, the Creator / created distinction remains intact, so that even though God fills all things, God is not a part of his creation. 

It can be tricky to think about the passages of scripture that speak of God being ‘near’ or ‘far’ from us, but we have to be mature enough to understand these references to be relational, not spatial. For example, to be ‘far’ from God is often a way to describe a distance between a person (or a people) and God’s loving-kindness; and to be ‘close’ to him often describes a security that allows us to come near to be loved by him, always by his grace.

And it’s here we come to the good news of God’s incarnation, and the understanding of how an omnipresent God ‘came near’ to us in the person of Jesus Christ. We are told in Colossians 2:9 that all the fulness of the Deity lived in Christ, in bodily form, which means that in some way, the divine essence of God was located in a divine person. In the Old testament God’s presence was to be in the form of a temple, but now that Christ had come, he revealed himself as the true temple. And that meant that we could know God as one man would come to know another, and see God the Father as we looked into the face of God the Son. 

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:18

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

In and through Jesus Christ, God has come near to us physically, so that he could bridge the gap that existed between us spiritually. Having been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus, we can now receive the Holy Spirit and become one with God ourselves. From this point God’s omnipresence becomes an everlasting comfort, because he now lives to bless us. And best of all, we can’t escape him.

In this Psalm, David reflects on God’s knowledge, power and presence. We could also read it as a description of God’s Aseity because it speaks of characteristics that God alone possesses, not by experience, but by nature, because of who he is in and of himself, as God. And yet, as David reflects on God’s awe inspiring character, he applies it to himself in a very powerful way.