-Here’s The Sunday School Answer!

So, where does God live? If you go with the Sunday School answer, it’s “heaven” right? But, it’s actually a bit more complicated than you might think! We sometimes speak about the “tension” in Scripture, where it seems like there might be a contradiction! Or, it seems like it communicates that two opposites can both be true! The Psalmist puts it like this:  “The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven” Psalm 11:4.  The Prophet Isaiah prayed:  “Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious habitation” Isaiah 63:15.  And, Psalm 103:19 says, “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His Sovereignty rules over all.”  So, YES, the Scripture teaches that God lives in heaven, doesn’t it?

-Heaven Cannot Contain Him!

But, at the same time, what do we do with King Solomon’s inspired words in 1 Kings 8:27?  “But will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.” The wisest man, who ever lived, said that heaven cannot contain God! So, heaven isn’t big enough for God to live! He’s BIGGER than heaven! And, he says that the temple he built was also too SMALL for Him; and, yet God is said to dwell in something much smaller than the temple! He dwells inside us:  “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16  The Apostle Paul wrote the Church of Ephesus; and, told them that they were, as a local church, “…being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” Ephesians 2:22. It almost seems like a contradiction, doesn’t it? So, what’s the answer?

-God Is Omnipresent!

The answer is that God is OMNIPRESENT! That means He is “All Present”; or, present everywhere at once! King David asked, “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” Psalm 139: 7-12.  Where can I go, where you’re not present, he asks? If I go to heaven…you’re THERE! If I go to hell…you’re THERE! If I move out east; or, out west, you’re THERE! Even if I hide, in the dark, you’re THERE! And, it’s not dark to You, God! Even more amazing? His Omnipresence is more than spatial! He created space & TIME!

-That Hurts My Brain!

That means God is Omnipresent in TIME also; because He’s outside of it! So, from our viewpoint, He is PRESENT in the PAST, PRESENT & the FUTURE all at the same time! Ouch! That hurts my brain to think about it! That’s certainly better & more interesting than any SciFi movie! Now, here’s the significance, of that, in regard to our salvation. For all eternity, God has determined to assemble a people with whom to dwell! From the beginning of Genesis, God has revealed to us the truth of His Gospel; that, He wants us to know the “good news” that He Himself is making a way to restore our relationship, with Him, that our sin had destroyed! Jesus’ atoning work on the cross was God’s final answer! So, one day, in eternity, “God’s dwelling will be with humanity, and He will live with them” Rev 21:3.  He will be Omnipresent with us! Amen!