The Lord Is There

When we consider the attribute of divine infinity in light of place or location, we are thinking of God’s attribute of omnipresence. Our Creator is present everywhere in creation in all His fullness even if we do not notice it or remember it. After all, there is no place that we can flee from the Spirit and escape God’s presence (Ps. 139:7–12).

As we consider the divine attribute of omnipresence, we also need to think about passages that speak of His presence in a special or unique way. For example, Exodus 29:45 features God’s pledge that the Lord will “dwell among the people of Israel” in the promised land. If our Creator is present everywhere, what can it mean that He would dwell with them in the land He was giving them? Also, in today’s passage, Ezekiel says that the name of the city of Jerusalem in the new creation will be “The Lord Is There” (Ezek. 48:35). If the Lord is omnipresent, how can a specific place bear such a name?

To answer these questions, we need to remember the reality of divine immanence and in particular the idea of God’s special, blessed presence. The truth of divine immanence means that although God is transcendent, distinct from creation and ruling over all, He is also close at hand in every place. This is a necessary consequence of divine omnipresence, of course, and Jeremiah 23:23–24 connects the two ideas of immanence and omnipresence. God always remains distinct from creation, but He is also closer to every aspect of creation than we can possibly imagine.

God’s special, blessed presence is an aspect of His omnipresence and immanence. Our Lord is not more present in one place than in another if the fullness of His essence is everywhere present, but He can make His presence known more clearly in one place than in another. He can be present everywhere and yet not bring blessing or the fullness of blessing in every place or in the same way. Thus, Scripture explains that during the old covenant, God was present in a special way in the tabernacle and then in the temple (Ex. 40:34–38). In the incarnation, the Lord came among us in the most direct way possible by taking on our very flesh (John 1:1–14). Now, by His Holy Spirit, God dwells in His church and in individual believers (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 3:16). Matthew Henry comments, “It is true of every good Christian; he dwells in God, and God in him; whatever soul has in it a living principle of grace, it may be truly said, The Lord is There.”