The Omnipresence of God

So tonight we're on lesson number 10. We have 15 lessons, so after tonight we only have five left. So we're two-thirds of the way through. Congratulations for sticking to it and persevering. A lot of times people drop out after the Trinity or something like that. So I commend you for your diligence in being here each week. Tonight we're looking at the omnipresence of God. Next week we'll be looking at the omniscience of God. And the following week we'll be looking at the omnipotence of God. Those are the three omnis, and those are all big words. But what "omni" means is simply "all." When I graduated seminary back almost 30 years ago, I worked for a financial services company and I used to travel a lot. They'd send me out every weekend to teach training classes for two or three days. And they always put us up in really nice hotels. And the hotel that I enjoyed the most was called the Omni. I don't know if you've ever stayed at the Omni, but it's got it all, so to speak. It has every amenity, everything you can imagine. So that's what "omni" means. It means "all." And when we say the omnipresence of God, we mean that God is always present at all times. So let's start off with Bible point number one here.

God is omnipresent. He is everywhere present at all times. God's omnipresence speaks of His eminence or nearness to His creation. God is always near to us and is knowable. I'm going to repeat that. That's a lot of blanks there. God is omnipresent. He is always or everywhere present at all times. God's omnipresence speaks of His eminence or nearness to His creation. God is always near to us and is knowable.

Last week we spoke of God's immensity. And when we talked about His immensity, we talked about God being a transcendent God, a God who is higher than the heavens and a God who is higher than the earth. When we talk about God's omnipresence, we're speaking of God's nearness. God's eminence, His being close to us and His being knowable.

When we say that God is everywhere present at all times, what we mean is that unlike us, God can be both here and there at the same time. We can only be in one place at a time. It'd be nice if we could be at work and if we could be recreating at the same time. During the pandemic, a lot of people had to stay home from work and work remotely, and there were all kinds of genius devices that were created. One man sold online thousands of these little units that you put your mousepad on. And if your company was tracking your mouse movements to see if you were at your computer, it would randomly move your mouse. So your boss thought you were at your computer while you were out at lunch with your friends or out by the swimming pool.

We can't be everywhere at once. But God always is. Just as God is with us right here and right now, He is with the house churches tonight in China. He's with the Christians who are in Gaza tonight. He is everywhere, fully present at all times. He has no spatial limitations. He's a God who's not just above us and beyond us, but a God who is near to us. He's always near to us and is knowable.

Probably one of the greatest Psalms that speaks about God's presence being near to us is found in Psalm 139. It speaks also of God's omniscience and God's omnipotence, but we're going to be looking at verses 7 through 10. David the Psalmist writes, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?" Those are rhetorical questions. And the answer is what? Nowhere, right? You can't get away from God's presence. You can't get away from His Spirit. Verse 8, "If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell," that's the grave, Sheol, the place of the dead, "behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me and Your right hand shall hold me."

David speaking in poetic terms here, he's saying, "Wherever I go, if I could go up to the height of heaven, there God is. If I were to go down to the lower parts of the earth, there God is. If I go to where the sun breaks into the east, as far as I could go, God would be there. If you were in Israel and you wrote this as David did, if you went far to the west, you'd be in the Mediterranean Sea, wouldn't you? And isn't that what he says? "If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me." Isn't it good to know that God's hand is always with us? It's always leading us. He's always protecting us. He says, "And Your right hand shall hold me." Your right hand is the symbol of God's power, the symbol of His might. And he says that Your right hand will hold me. Not a better place to be than in God's hand, is it not? And so wherever you go, you're in the hand of God.

Flip over on the back.

Genesis chapter 28 tells us the story of Jacob and Esau. If you remember, Jacob and Esau were twin brothers, and Jacob's name means what? Usurper, right? And in this case, it was meant to be usurping his brother, who was older than him by just a few seconds, right? His twin brother. And if you remember, Jacob was pretty devious. He actually was able to buy or purchase his brother's birthright for a bowl of porridge, right? Esau had gone out hunting and was hungry and famished, and Jacob said, "Look what I got here."

Esau says, "Give it to me." He says, "Well, how about you give me your birthright?" And so Esau was so hungry, he sold his birthright, which would have been his entitlement to a larger portion of the inheritance, right? But he wasn't just satisfied with that. He had his eyes set on the blessing, which would go to the eldest brother in the family, the firstborn son.

And it wasn't just Jacob who was devious — his own mother, right? — concocted this plan, and she says, "Okay, your father is dying. He's getting old, and he's not going to know who's who. So he's going to send out Esau to go get some nice game, and he's going to bless Esau. But why don't I go ahead and cook up a portion of some of our livestock, and you dress up in Esau's clothes and put the skin of animals on your arms so you'd feel like you're hairy and you'd be able to trick your father." And so he does. And the father blesses Jacob and gives him the blessing that was normally reserved for the firstborn son. When Esau finds out about this, is he happy?

No, he's furious. And what does he say? He wants to kill Jacob. Here Jacob has already tricked him out of his birthright, and now he's lied and stolen his blessing, the blessing that was meant for him. And so his mother, who helped concoct the plan to steal the blessing, tells Jacob, "You need to get away from here, because Esau's going to kill you if you don't." And so she helps make a plan to go escape where he can be with her family.

So Jacob is on the run, and the Bible says that Esau was a man of the wilderness. He liked to hunt, a tough kind of a guy. But Jacob was a man who dwelt in what? Tents, right? Which would have meant he wasn't the kind of guy who would be living outside, roughing it on the land. He wanted to dwell at the Omni, right? Book a suite there. He wanted to be in tents where he'd be near other people. He was used to community. And that very first night, he probably wished his mama was there to tuck him in a little bit. "Hey Calvin, how are you, brother? Come on in."

And so we find this account here in Genesis 28. We have Jacob, who is on the run. It's dark. It's nightfall. He has no place to sleep other than outside. He has a rock for a pillow. And he knows somewhere lurking out there in the shadows, perhaps, is Esau, who is murderously intent on killing him. It says, verse 10, "Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven. And there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." So he sees this ladder, and angels are going up and down between heaven and earth on it. Verse 13, "And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am Yahweh, God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south, and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So He renews the same promise that He had made to his grandfather Abraham. He was now making to Jacob. And look what He says in verse 15, "Behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land, and will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

When Jacob laid his head down that night, he had no idea that he was not alone. He thought he was all alone in this world, running from his home, the only place he had ever known, running from the comforts and the community that he found there, the comfort of his family, going to a place he didn't know, and yet God was with him and he didn't even know it. God is always with His people. And just as God promised him in verse 15, "Behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go." That promise was made to Jacob, but that promise is just as well made to you, my friend. God will be with you and keep you wherever you go.

Flip over back on the front page. The application is this. We are to exalt and worship our omnipresent God. We are to exalt and worship our omnipresent God. We find in Genesis 28, the next verses, 17 through 18, says, speaking of Jacob, "And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Then Jacob arose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put at his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it." He took his pillow, his stone, and he made it an altar, and he worshipped God there. He made sacrifice, poured out oil on that stone, because He was the God who was with him. What was that application again? Yes, the application is to exalt and worship our omnipresent God.

So when he realized that God was with him at all times, even in the dark, even in a lonely place, he worshipped God. And in the same way, we need to always be worshipping and exalting our Savior, Jesus Christ. We all know John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." But many of us forget the end of John 1, where Jesus calls — I'm sorry, not Nicodemus — Nathanael, and He says, "I saw you under the fig tree." And Nathanael's amazed, and He says, "Well, don't be amazed." He says, "You're going to see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

What Jesus was saying is, "I am Jacob's ladder. I am the bridge between heaven and earth. I am the mediator between God and man, and what I would be doing on the cross would be able to bring God down to man and man to God." He would be able to reconcile that relationship. And we have a wonderful, mighty Redeemer who is always with us and is worthy of our exaltation, and He's worthy of our worship.

Number two, God is always fully present in every place. God is always present in all His essence and attributes. God is always fully present in every place. God is always present in all of His essence and attributes.

Have you ever been preoccupied with something? Maybe you're thinking about a problem at work, or maybe you're thinking about a problem in your personal finances, or maybe it's a family issue. Maybe it's not a problem. You're just preoccupied with what you're going to be doing this weekend. You're looking forward to some plans that you've made. Or maybe you're trying to wrap your mind around the omnipresence of God, and your mind is so heavenly that you're of no earthly good. And even though you're physically present at work or with your spouse or with your friends, you're a zillion miles away. Does that ever happen to you? Of course. We're finite creatures, right? We have a limited attention span, and we can only be in one place at once. Not so with God. He's always fully present in all of His essence and in all of His attributes. God's character is indivisible.

You can't have God in His love and not have God in His holiness. There are people today — you've probably heard them say, "Well, my God is a God of love. And with my God, all that matters is love. And whoever you want, however you want, whenever you want." And that's who God is. But God is also holy, is He not? Love can wish someone happiness and well-being, but only to the extent that it's in line with God's holy character, right? You can't separate God from His attributes. God does not change, right?

God is a God who's always true wherever He is. There's no such thing as my truth or situational truth. God is fully present at all times in all of His attributes. He can't leave behind His holiness. He can't leave behind His omnipotence. God is not one of these gods who's wringing his hands, hoping that everything is going to go right in this world. He's a God who sits on His throne and He reigns over all things, in every place and at every time. Jeremiah 23:24 says, "Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him, says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord?" God is fully present everywhere at all times.

We're to trust — this is the application — we're to trust that God is always attentive. We're to trust that God is always attentive. If you remember in week two, we talked about God being the living and true God. And we talked about Elijah. And Elijah was on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal, and he had a little bit of fun with them, mocking them. And remember, they tried to call down fire to consume their sacrifice. And those sad words are written here, 1 Kings 18:29, "And when midday was passed, they," the prophets of Baal, "prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention."

God is always attentive because He's always in every place. Flip over on the back. Psalm 121 is a beautiful psalm. It was a psalm of ascent when the people were making their journey to Jerusalem to worship there. They would often recite this psalm. Remember, Jerusalem was a city set on a hill. So wherever you were in Israel, you were going up to Jerusalem. And it says, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."

"The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth even forevermore." As a traveler on the pilgrimage to go to Jerusalem, wouldn't these words have been a comfort to you? Wouldn't you want to sing these words? And are not we pilgrims in this world? This world is not our home, right? So these words should encourage us so much. Verse 4 in particular, "Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Verse 5, "The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand." He is closer to you than the shadow is on my hand. That's how close God is to us at all times. He never sleeps. He never slumbers.

Number three, God simultaneously presides over all of heaven, earth, and hell. God simultaneously presides over all of heaven, earth, and hell. If God is not truly everywhere in creation, He could not be truly God anywhere. Let me read those to you again. God simultaneously presides over heaven, earth, and hell. If God is not truly everywhere in creation, He could not be truly God anywhere.

And then in Revelation chapter 4, a change of location happens. John is called up into heaven at that point. And we find that here. Let's look in Revelation 4, verses 1 through 2. "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.' Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne."

When John is transported into heaven, what's the very first thing that he sees? He sees a throne. The throne is emblematic of God's rule. You're sitting in a chair. God sits on the throne. He is Lord over all things. And to be on the throne of heaven means to rule over everything, over everything that is seen and unseen, over every realm, both in heaven and in earth below. God is always on the throne, okay?

Not just over heaven, but I want to mention earth too. Again, heaven encompasses all of His reign, but it's very good to be reminded that God is the one who is in control in this earth. There are many people who think they rule the world, right? Some business titans think that the world is their oyster and that they own the world. And they have great power, right? Some presidents or prime ministers or world leaders or people like UN leadership think that they own the world. But the world is not theirs.

Remember Jesus when He was being questioned before Pilate? What did Pilate say? "Why aren't you answering these charges that are brought against you? Don't you know I have the power to crucify you or let you go?" And what did Jesus do? He kind of put Pilate in his place. He says, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you." God raises kings, right? And He casts them down. No one rules this earth but God and God alone.

I'm going to go on a little soapbox here. That includes Satan, okay? There is a bad strain in evangelical circles that pictures Satan as a ruler of this world. And that could not be farther from the truth. Did Satan create this world? Did Satan hold your life together? Does he give you breath? Does he make your heart beat? Does he tell the oceans when to stop? Does he tell the sun when to rise and when to set? Does he make the world go around? Not at all. Remember, Satan is a liar. And when Christ was being tempted by Satan — and you'll find that in Luke 4 — what did Satan say? "Hey, if you bow down to me, I'll give you all the worlds and all the kingdoms." He's a con artist. He doesn't own those things. It's like the man who tries to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, right?

He sells it 10 times a day and then another 10 suckers the next day. Well, Satan does not have the deed to this world. It is God's and God's alone. Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein." It's all God's, right?

Now, granted, some people will be a little bit confused. They'll read, for example, in John — three different times in John's gospel, Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world. Paul, when he writes to the Ephesians, talks about the devil being the prince of the power of the air, right? And when Paul writes to the Corinthians, he says Satan "blinded those who do not believe." And they'll say, "Well, God called him ruler of this world and prince of this world — that must mean that Satan is in charge." No. The only power, the only authority that Satan has is by popular election.

In other words, the sinner who rejects the Savior, who rejects Christ, who rejects the King of kings and the Lord of lords — whether he knows it or not, when he rejects Christ, he is ceding authority to Satan. That's what the Bible tells us. You can read Ephesians 2, which we'll be reading very soon. Ephesians 2 says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and you walked according to this world, to the prince of the power of the air. You walked according to the flesh. We naturally, if we reject Christ, we serve the world, we serve the devil, and we serve the flesh. But the very moment that we turn to Christ, that dominion is broken, right? Isn't that what Romans tells us? That whoever you submit yourself to obey, he's your master, whether it's sin leading to death or whether it's Christ. So who's going to be your master, right? So it is God alone who rules over the heavens, who rules over the earth, and who rules over hell too.

We sometimes mistakenly think that hell is a place that has dominion over it by the devil. You'll see pictures of little devils with their pitchforks in hell, and then maybe a throne of Satan overlooking hell. Not at all. In fact, this time of the year we have Halloween, right? And sometimes you'll see comical depictions of the devil — a guy wearing a little red suit with a pointy tail and the little horns and the pitchfork. All that imagery goes way back, but it was actually compiled together in the Middle Ages. It was compiled together as a way of mocking Satan, depicting him as a cartoonish court jester. Because Satan has no crown. Satan has no throne. He only has the power that man gives to him.

Amen. That's the Lord's. He rules over everything. So the application is this. Know that God has all glory, honor, and power. Revelation 4:11 says, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." So John here is seeing God's throne, and he's hearing all of His worshippers in heaven ascribing glory and honor and power to God. "For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." God has dominion in all places at all times.

Let's look at number three on the back.

In Isaiah chapter 6, we have the historical account of King Uzziah dying. In ancient Israel, there were a good number of good kings, and there were a number of bad kings. Usually the bad kings outnumbered the good kings, right? David was probably the greatest king of Israel, but arguably the second greatest king of Israel would have been Uzziah. Uzziah came into power when he was only 16 years old, and he sat on the throne for 52 years. There were people who lived and died and only knew one king, and it was Uzziah. And Uzziah was a great king. God allowed him to have great military victories. Not only did he have great military victories, but he was a great negotiator, negotiating peace and getting other countries to pay tribute to Israel. So the money was flowing into the coffers, and he used that money to build great building projects — roads and aqueducts — things that blessed the people of Israel. So he was a good king, a loved king, and he was a godly man.

But all that success went to his head towards the end of his career, and he tried to take a role that wasn't his. He went into the temple, and he tried to burn incense. No doubt he loved God, but that was not for him to do. That was for the priest to do. And so he wanted to take on the role of priest, and God struck him with leprosy, and he finished the rest of his years in exile. When he died, Israel was heartbroken, because again this was the only king many of them had ever known.

When bad things happen, when the world is on fire, when the world is in tumult, it's good to know that God is on His throne. That's what we read in Isaiah 6. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple." Kings would wear long trains like a bride would wear to a wedding, and these were long because these were not clothes to be working in, right? This was symbolizing his grandeur, his regalness, his presiding over all things. It says, verse 2, "Above it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face." Remember, no one can look upon God and live, not even the seraphim. "With two he covered his feet," also in humility, the lowest parts of his body. "And with two he flew. And one cried to another, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke."

The picture is Isaiah standing at the doorpost, and as he's standing at the doorpost looking into this throne room, the voice of the seraphim shakes it. And the whole place is filled with the Shekinah glory of God, the glory of a God who reigns over all things, who is always present at all times, even when things seem really, really bad, like King Uzziah dying, right? So know that God is always present at all times.

Number four, God's omnipresence is a source of great comfort. God's omnipresence is a source of great comfort. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear, nor be dismayed."

Why would you fear when God is the one who's going into the room before you? Right? He is clearing the way. Back in the 90s, I was in seminary, and I used to watch the Dallas Cowboys play, and they had a running back named Emmitt Smith. And Emmitt Smith was fantastic, right? But not just him, though. He had a great offensive line, right? And they would block the defense coming at Emmitt Smith, and so he often had a nice path to be able to run, right? And he had an outstanding career because he had men who were going before him, who were clearing the way, who were blocking for him, right? We have a God who goes before us, a God who is always with us at all times. Isaiah 52:12, "For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard."

He hedges you before, and He hedges you behind. Have you ever walked through a dark parking lot or an alley at night by yourself? There's a little bit of fear, a little bit of trepidation, right? You never know who — what bad actor may be willing to jump out and shake you down or pull a gun on you or something. But it's a little bit different when you're in the company of friends, right? If you're with a group of five or six people, you kind of saunter through that alley, right? Because you're not alone, and who's going to jump five or six people? They may jump one person, but not five or six, right? Well, God is before you, and He's behind you. He's always with you at all times.

The application is this. We are to abide with God and trust Him for shelter. Abide with God and trust Him for shelter. Psalm 61:4 says, "I will abide in Your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the shelter of Your wings." Selah. Now, as we mentioned earlier in this discussion of God's attributes, lesson number one, God is a spiritual being. He doesn't have a body like men. He doesn't have hands. He doesn't have eyes. He's not a bird either. He doesn't have wings. But this is a poetic way of saying that, as a bird would protect its chicks under its wings, God protects us, right? He keeps us safe from all harm and all evil.

I want to share with you some of my favorite verses. It was hard trying to decide what verses to not include in this. But look on the back under number four. Psalm 46:1. My father got cancer when I was nine years old. He died within two weeks. It was a very fast-progressing thing. When he was in the hospital before surgery, they tried to remove it, but they found out it had metastasized. He was afraid, like most people are. He's a man with two young boys and a wife, and he's leaving them behind. And Psalm 46 was the verse he kept on repeating. Psalm 46:1.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." He's always with us. He's more than adequate to be our help in times of trouble. Psalm 23:4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." Look at Isaiah 43.

"But now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob," speaking of Israel, "He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you." Did not God lead Israel through the Red Sea? Did He not lead them through the Jordan, causing it to dry up? God is with us. "When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned." Think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right? When they were in the fire, there was a fourth one in the fire, likened to the Son of Man, right? And they were not harmed. "Nor shall the flame scorch you."

Isaiah 41:10 and 13, "Fear not," this is God speaking, "fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, I will help you." God's upholding us by His righteous right hand. We do not have to fear because God is always with us. So it's a source of great comfort.

Bible point number five, God's omnipresence is a source of great conviction. Yes, His omnipresence is a source of great comfort, but it's also a source of great conviction. To those outside of Christ, the omnipresence of God is terrifying.

Look in Hebrews chapter 10, speaking of those who reject the Savior. Verse 29 through 31, "Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy, who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is mine. I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God."

It's one thing to be in God's hand when you know that He is for you, right? But those who have rejected Him — God is not for them. The Bible says the wrath of God abides upon them. The application is this. Turn to Christ alone for peace with God. Turn to Christ alone for peace with God.

Revelation chapter 6, verses 15 through 17, is a scary picture of the wrath of God. It's calling into account Isaiah 2. Most of the book of Revelation is poetic recitations from Isaiah and from other parts of the Old Testament. And here it says in verses 15 through 17, "And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand?'"

The Lamb of God shed His blood, which was poured out for us before the foundations of the world. And it's a sweet thing to meditate on the Lamb of God as Christians. But those who are not in Christ, they face the wrath of the Lamb. And as sweet as the presence of the Lamb of God is to us, it's terrifying to those who do not know Him.

Flip over on the back. Number five in our reference verse is Revelation 14:10. Speaking of those who have rejected God, it says, "He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb."

Even in hell, God is present. He's not there in His gracious presence. He's there in His full, wrathful presence, always in eternity, meting out a just punishment on those who have rejected Christ. Second Thessalonians 1:9 — I have this here in the New King James Version. Some of your versions may have a slightly different translation of the Greek, which at face value sounds like it means something different. So I'm going to read this to you. Second Thessalonians 1:9 talks about when Christ will return to judge the world, when Christ will return to judge the wicked. It says, "These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." I would argue that that's the closest to the original Greek there, that the punishment and everlasting destruction flows from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. However, in the Greek, it could be translated as "away from the presence of the Lord." And so there are some who would say, "Well, in hell, there is a separation from God. God's not in hell." But even if you take that translation "away from," in its context, it's not talking about away from the totality of God's presence. The word "presence of the Lord" means the eye or the face of God. In Hebrew thought, the greatest blessing would be to see the face of God.

Isn't that why Moses prayed and asked God, "Show me Your glory"? I want to see Your face. Isn't that why Aaron in the great high priestly prayer would pray — and we find this recorded in Numbers 6 — "The Lord bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you"? Because to see the smile of God, the favor of God, that's life, right? And that's what we have in Christ. In Christ, we have the favor of God. We see the full face of God in Jesus Christ, right? But to be away from that for all eternity, and to have no chance of reconciliation, but to be in His full wrathful presence — that's terrifying, right?

Flip over on the back. Number six, God's presence is given to us in Jesus Christ. God's presence is given to us in Jesus Christ. Even the sinner who has rejected God, who is right now under the wrath of God, he or she has the opportunity to experience the gracious presence of God in Jesus Christ. As long as you have breath, you can call upon the Lord and you will be saved. Amen?

Matthew 1:23 talks about God's presence with men. "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel," which is translated, what? God with us. Christ is God with us. In Christ, we have the full presence of God in us and within us at all times.

Look what John the Apostle writes, 1 John chapter 4, verses 13 through 15. "By this we know that we abide in Him, that we dwell in Him, that we live in Him, and He in us." Every Christian who has put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ — Christ is said to be in him, and he is said to be in Christ. It's a mutual indwelling. It's the closest possible bond you can imagine. Paul writes to the Corinthians and says, "Don't you know that Christ dwells in you? That you are one spirit with Him?" That means that you are grafted into Christ, that you are made one with Him by the closest bond imaginable. And he says, "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God." Isn't that a wonderful promise? God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit dwell within the heart of every believer.

The application is this. We are to stand in grace and rejoice in hope. Stand in grace and rejoice in hope. Romans 5 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." It is through Christ. It is in union with Christ that we have peace with God. Verse 2 says, "Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." In Christ alone we find grace. In Christ alone is the glory and hope of God mediated to us. Turn to Christ, rest in Him, stand in Him, and rejoice in His grace.