God's omniscience also requires that God must also be “all present”, not just in the physical realm, but He has a presence in the hearts and minds of men and angelic beings -- an awareness of what we are even thinking. To be "All Knowing" God has to know what is "happening everywhere", "everywhen" and therefore He has awareness or "presence" everywhere.
God is Omnipresent
God is outside of spatial boundaries In and through creation but not part of it. While we are....finite, spatially limited, insignificant. As finite beings this is true of all of us:"Wherever you go, there you are" ~ Yogi BerraPantheism expresses the belief that God is the universe and that everything in the universe is God. This implies that God is not transcendent, or that God comes "from" the universe, and is part of the matter and energy in temporal space and time.
Even modern scientists have referred to the Cosmos as having the attributes of God and often substitute the "universe" for Deity in their conversations. This view is opposed to God's attribute of Omnipresence, which states that while God permeates all of reality (literally the force holding the universe together), He is distinct, superior to, and the Creator of all things we call the universe.
Scripture teaches that God is omnipresent:
Acts 17:24-25 The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. HCSB
Jeremiah 23:24 Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him?”—the Lord’s declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” HCSB
Psalm 139:7-10 Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there Your hand will lead me; Your right hand will hold on to me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”— even the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You. HCSB
God transcends space and time and locality – being wholly everywhere, all at once, but not “part of” the fabric of space. God is aware of all reality everywhere all at once and is somehow "present", but He is not necessarily local to a specific place either (like a church or a shrine). This is an understandably difficult concept, and several errors can be committed about God's omnipresence –
- that he is localized somewhere here in space and time,
- that He is “out there” somewhere in heaven and not present here
- that "parts" of God are spread out through the universe.
The Scriptures are not clear whether God transcends space or permeates – being everywhere throughout space. But it is clear God is immediate and present in the present:
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.” HCSB
This is the same mystery we face with God and time. God cannot be “part” of space, as space is finite, but clearly the Scriptures indicate He can interact with us in time and space. It would be incorrect to say God is “spread out” among space because at no point would God be entirely 'there'; God clearly can manifest Himself in a single location and yet remain everywhere and yet remain distinctly different from anywhere.
What this means to Christians is that God is present – at all times and in all places. We should live out our lives conscious that God is "in the room". Take God with you. Invite Him to participate in your daily lives. It should also be a source of comfort to know you are never alone, even when you don't feel He is there...
What this means to Christians is that God is present – at all times and in all places. We should live out our lives conscious that God is "in the room". Take God with you. Invite Him to participate in your daily lives. It should also be a source of comfort to know you are never alone, even when you don't feel He is there...
Psalm 23:4 Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me. HCSB
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Scripture citations are from: Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN
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