Two big words that make it seem like God is too “much” to really understand! Just the sounds of those words makes me think of God’s Majesty and Holiness. But it’s actually much easier to get when you break things down a bit more.

Basic Definitions:

Transcendence: God exists outside of space and time. Isaiah 55:9: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Immanence: God is present in all of creation. while remaining distinct from it. There is no place where God is not. His Sovereign control extends everywhere simultaneously. Colossians 1:17: And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Jeremiah 23:23: Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away?

God is both “nearby” and “far away”. At the same time.

In John Frame’s Essay “Divine Transcendence and Immanence“, he says that both of these doctrines – or attributes of God can be used to express God’s lordship over all and His covenant relationship with us. Namely, God’s Transcendence is where He exercises both control and authority over His creation – outside of space and time. God’s Immanence then would describe God’s control and authority in creation.

In his chapter titled “Timeless Eternity” in the book “None Greater”, Matthew Barrett says: “God who is not limited by time, but transcends time, is external to time, and is timelessly eternal.” (pp140)

God is simply not bound by time or limited by each moment of time as we know it – rather, He sees all time at once. He’s not boxed in by spatial limits -He’s everywhere at once.

John Frame further explains that Transcendence and Immanence designate two kinds of relationships between God and us. (In view of God’s lordship), we say that he is high above us, exalted, beyond us! All that we know of space and time – He is greater and higher! There are many Scriptures that speak of God in this way. And He is intimately with us as His children.

Exalted: Psalm 57:5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! Psalm 97:9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

Dwells in heaven above: Deut 4:39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

Above the heavens: Psalm 8: 1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. (Psalm 57:5)

Enthroned on high: Psalm 113:5 Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?

Is the Most High: Psalm 97:9 For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

In each of these passages there is one thread that connects them all: God’s kingship – His royalty! On high, in heaven, enthroned ~ all speak to His authority and control over all creation as King who reigns! Isaiah 66:1 “This is what the Lord says: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” Of course, God is spirit so we know there is no physical throne, so when we confess that God is “high above the heavens” – it’s not about His presence in those places, rather “it is to speak of why He has the right to dwell in such places.” John Frame argues that when we speak of God’s Transcendence, it should be in reference to His kingship – with all the power, authority and rights as King. So what is meant exactly when we speak of God’s Transcendence in terms of control and authority? Control: This is his omnipotence: power to do anything to anyone or place or thing or event – this is His MIGHT Authority: This is His control over the moral sphere – or His authority over everything that happens. This is His RIGHT. And both = lordship.

Further, since the basic definition of Transcendence is God outside of space and time, we should look at the connection in the chapter Timeless Eternity, from Matthew Barrett’s book “None Greater”.

It’s easier to understand when we start with our understanding of time. Time for us: limited. Restricted by a succession of moments…..we can only take each moment as it comes. If we’re late for an appointment, we can’t speed time up. We might wish to transcend time! But it’s impossible. Time won’t speed up, slow down, or reverse, we can’t skip or bypass time. Limited. Everything has a beginning and an end. And this is why it’s so hard to for us wrap our minds around the idea of eternity – of timeless eternity! What does that even mean?

Just as I wrote in the previous blog post how God condescends to us in language we can understand so as to know Him with our limited, finite minds, so we also cannot compare our experience of time to how God experiences time. So here’s the rub: this is where all God’s attributes are inexplicably linked to each other. If we could try to understand God’s time as it were, it would limit God ~ who is limitless and infinite. If He was limited, He would have potential, which means He could change ~ and if so He could be measured by time (“I am 49 years old” or “you are getting so much bigger!”), and He would cease to be Immutable. We are always changing with time, always becoming ~ but if God experienced a succession of moments – He would be made of parts – and could change, but then He wouldn’t be Simple. Just by virtue of what time is, the fact that it always involves and includes motion and change – both would pose a problem if God were subject to time.

Herman Bavinck stated there are 3 marks of eternity: no beginning, no end, no succession of moments. This helps us understand God’s Transcendence! Eternity and time are entirely different ~ antithetical to each other. How so? “Eternity measures permanent existence and time measures change.” It is simply difficult to describe a time-free God, beyond just confessing God to be eternal, which we believe – and transcendent, outside of space and time. We simply cannot describe a timeless, eternal God using time bound language.

Tertullian once said, “Eternity has no time. It is itself all time.”

Thomas Aquinas said, “As the one who is timeless, God see all things together, and not successively.”

Stephen Charnock said, “Eternity is contrary to time, and is therefore a permanent and immutable state; a perfect possession of life without any variation. As the nature of time consists in the succession of parts. so the nature of eternity is an infinite, immutable duration.”

So, because of God’s authority and control – His lordship. God is also present or Immanent in all of His creation; God is present within time and space in His creation! This sounds like the polar opposite of Transcendence, but it’s not really when you really think of WHO God is! As John Frame says, His Immanence is a necessary implication of His Transcendence.

Immanence: literally ~ God is HERE. Wherever we are, God is there. Jesus – our Immanuel is God with us in the flesh, The aspect of God’s Immanence is seen throughout Scripture, not just in the “covenants” God made in Genesis with the patriarchs of old.

Exodus 3:12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sing to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (just a note that in Israel’s wandering, God’s Presence was there intimately in the Tabernacle).

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Matthew 1: 23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.” (which means “God with us”.

2 Corinthians 6:18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Revelation 21:7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

And of course, just as we await redemption, so does creation. (see Rom 8:18-22 and Col 1: 15-20).

In this way, God’s Immanence is present within time and space. His presence is everywhere ~ and yes, there is a close connection to God’s Omnipresence as well.

Herman Bavinck in his Reformed Dogmatics says, “While heaven and earth cannot contain God (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chron 2:6; Isa 66:1; Acts 7:48), neither can he be excluded from space. Rather, he fills heaven and earth with his presence. The omnipresence includes God’s being as well as his power.” (p. 191) Further on, he says, “Here again, we need to remind ourselves that in each attribute we speak of God in human terms. We always think in terms of “somewhere”, But God transcends all space and location; He is not “somewhere”, yet he fills heaven and earth. When Scripture uses language of infinite space with respect to God (Is 66:1; Ps 139:7; Amos 9:2, ; Acts 17:24) we confess that God relates to space as the infinite One who, existing within himself, also fills to repletion every point of space and sustains it by his immensity.” (p. 192)

A.W, Tozer said, “The truth is that while God dwells in His world, He is separated from it by a gulf forever impassable. He is transcendent above all His works even while He is immanent within them.” This is in response to two mistakes that are made. Pantheism says that God is the sum of all created things – meaning nature and God are one. The other mistake is Deism which says that God’s nearness is only a figure of speech. No! God is really and truly near to us! Isn’t that amazing? And JESUS – our Redeemer is God with us in the flesh!

Psalm 139 is the quintessential psalm that extols God’s Immanence:

The first part of the Psalm, verse 1-6 is about God’s Omniscience….He knows exactly where we are, where we go, what we say.

Verse 7-12, God’s Immanence:

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of he sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

Can you sense David’s emotions here? I can hear him singing this with urgency – with a feeling of being unable to hide. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, they tried to hide from God. Perhaps David had some similar thoughts about hiding or escaping from the Presence of God. However, he does praise God for the glory of His Immanence! Or maybe it was just the realization that his God is unfathomable!

A.W. Tozer says this in “The Pursuit of God“:

“What now does the divine immanence mean in direct Christian experience? It means simply that God is here. Wherever we are, God is here. There is no place, there can be no place, where He is not. Ten million intelligences standing at as many points in space and separated by incomprehensible distances can each one say with equal truth, God is here. No point is nearer to God than any other point. It is exactly as near to God from any place as it is from any other place. No one is in mere distance any further from or any nearer to God than any other person is.” (p. 62-63)

(read it again slowly. it’s remarkable!)

A good question to ponder, with direct implications for us as disciples of Christ Jesus is, if God is omnipresent – everywhere present at all times, why doesn’t the whole world celebrate it? When Jacob had his famous dream of a ladder going up to heaven with angels ascending and descending, he woke up and said, “Surely the LORD in is this place, and I knew it not.” That’s the problem. We, as humankind in a general sense do not know that God is right HERE. Imagine if everyone could see that? Imagine if you could see that every moment of every day? Our words and actions would be much different, I’d say!

Tozer also speaks of the difference between the Presence of God and the manifestation of His Presence. There can be one without the other. Even if we don’t see or are aware of the manifestation of His Presence, He is still here. “He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His Presence”. There needs to be a cooperation between us and the Holy Spirit who shows us the Father and the Son when we surrender to Him! God will make Himself know to us, and that manifestation will be “the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.”

Think of Moses on Mt. Sinai when he was in the Presence of God. God revealed Himself to Moses – proclaimed His name and also showed His very Self – such that Moses’ face shone so brightly head to cover himself with a veil! Talk about God’s Immanence! The Apostles Peter, James and John also saw a small glimpse into Jesus’s glory at the Transfiguration.

The universal Presence of God is a fact. God. Is. Here. The whole universe is alive with His life!