“The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you.”

This was big…really big: a house for God, the Creator of the whole universe!  Solomon had seen his father, King David, gather the building materials for some time.  But God would not permit David to build the Temple because of fighting and subduing Israel’s neighboring enemies (1 Kings 5:3-4).   So it fell to Solomon in a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity to build the Temple, the house of God.

As one reads the accounts of the construction process, it quickly becomes apparent that there was a great deal of precision involved—in the measurements of objects, in the details of the work, in the specifics of the planning.  Everything had to be exact.  This was, after all, God’s house!  Likewise, there would be a lot of pressure for those involved in the opening celebration.  Just prior to the dedication service God’s presence filled the Temple with a cloud (2 Chronicles 5:13b-14).  At that, Solomon began the service with a speech, followed by a prayer (chapter 6).  I can’t help but think that the young king was caught up in the formality, in the incredible moment that it was, dedicating the one building on planet earth where God’s very name and presence would be associated, where God would condescend to be with fallen man.  Amazing!  As Solomon prays, the thought suddenly strikes him in verse 18:  “But will God really dwell on earth with men?  The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you.  How much less this temple I have built!”  There it is; the lights go on.  God is bigger than a building, even his own house.  He is much bigger, so big, in fact, that we say he is infinite.  The academic way of saying it is omnipresence—present everywhere all the time.

A formal definition of omnipresence is “not limited by the bounds or rules of space.”  A friend pointed out to me that before God created space, even the rules for space did not exist.  So imagine, for a moment, creating some space and the rules or boundaries that go along with it.  That in itself would be a miraculous achievement.  But to create space is to exist beyond it, to live outside of its limitations.  Human beings are space-bound creatures.  Along with omnipotence and omniscience, omnipresence (what I call the “big 3” facts of God) is hard to get our minds around.  Even the concept is beyond us.  It makes us feel terribly small and sometimes quite insignificant.

God demonstrated omnipresence in a number of ways.  On the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) when the high priest would take the blood into the Tent of Meeting and pour it onto the atonement cover (mercy seat), God’s special presence would be seen “over” or above it (v. 2).  It was a special demonstration of his glory veiled in a cloud.  God didn’t appear on the cover, where he could be measured.  His presence is limited neither by definition nor by measurement or calculation.  It was the same in the Temple in Solomon’s time.  Ditto in our day.

Some might be tempted to ask, “OK, if God is present everywhere, how does he show up in a particular way, like when his presence was manifested in the cloud?”  That’s a great question, but it’s one that we have no answer for.  Frequently God doesn’t tell us how he does things; he tells us that he does things.  Even if he did tell us, it would become another thing we couldn’t wrap our minds around.  But there is a much better question to ask, and it involves the word why: “If he’s already here, or there, why doesn’t he make his special presence known more often?”  Ah, now that’s a question we can work with.

To answer this question, I want to suggest a particular application of omnipresence.  God is omnipresent spatially.  Similarly, God is the creator of all people, having a Creator-creature relationship with them, and “not far from each one of” them (Acts 17:27).  Most of mankind has at least an inkling of this fact.  But God shows up, or makes his presence known in a special way, to those who seek him in relationship.  This special arrival of God, his attending presence, could be called “relational omnipresence.”  He’s everywhere present all the time, but he only shows up particularly to, for and in his people.  Jesus said as much.  Speaking of one who loves him, he said, “…I will…show myself to him…[My Father and I] will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:21, 23).  Generally present everywhere, but showing up specifically and relationally to those who love him, regardless of where they are.

How is it with you?  Is God around you only generally, or has his presence personally shown up in your life lately?  Is Jesus showing himself to you?