God’s presence

There are a lot of questions about something called “the presence of the Lord” or “the presence of God”. This topic came to my mind during a men’s Bible study a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking about it since. These are my answers to some common questions about God’s presence.

If you want a more in depth study, a classic book on this subject is The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.

What is meant by God’s presence?

Let me start with this note of clarity. I am talking about the presence of the God of the Bible, the Christian God, Jehovah, the self-existing One. This God is omnipresent, always everywhere at all times. He is outside of the time-space-matter continuum in which we live. As the Creator of everything, He must be fully present with everything.

If He’s already everywhere, why is there a distinction of His presence?

The presence of God (or the presence of the Lord) is a constant theme in the Bible. Adam regularly experienced the presence of God before he sinned. We know this because in Genesis 3:8 he and Eve “hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” He obviously knew what the presence of the Lord was or he would not have felt the need to hide from it.

The rest of the Old Testament is about Jehovah’s desire to be with His people, and man’s inability to be worthy of it.

How does God show His presence?

Abraham was in God’s presence when the Lord promised him in a vision that his family would be God’s people and He would be their God (Genesis 17:8). He then stood in the presence of the Lord manifested as a Man to intercede for the righteous people in Sodom (Genesis 18:22-23).

When they came out of Egypt, the Israelites recognized His presence as a cloud by day and a fire by night (Exodus 13:21, Numbers 9:15-16), and as thunder and lightning and fire on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:16). But Moses experienced the presence of God when “the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).

For the nation of Israel, the presence of the Lord was associated with the Ark of the Covenant, and David’s greatest desire was to bring it to Jerusalem and build a temple for it (2 Samuel 7:1-3; 1 Chronicles 22:7). He wrote a lot about the benefits of God’s presence such as joy (Psalm 16:11), gladness (Psalm 21:6), and protection (Psalm 31:20, 91:1). These verses don’t seem to be talking about the Ark of the Covenant, but about the presence of God in David’s life. His plea in Psalm 51:11 connects God’s presence with the Holy Spirit.

David’s son Solomon built the temple. At its dedication ceremony, the presence of God was displayed by a cloud and glory that was so awesome that the priests could not stand up to do their duties (1 Kings 8:10-11, 2 Chronicles 5:14).

One of my favorite Old Testament passages about the presence of God is Elijah’s experience:

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. 1 Kings 19:11-13

What do Christians mean when they talk about the presence of the Lord?

In the passage above, Elijah rightly discerned the presence of the Lord. It wasn’t in the loud displays of power, but in the quiet word.

This brings me to my definition of God’s presence:

The presence of God is a close awareness of His Person.

The presence of the Lord is personal. He is a personal God who desires a personal relationship with each of us. As Christians, that relationship is manifested by “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17)

What does it mean to feel God’s presence?

We know we are in the presence of God when He speaks to our hearts personally. While there are occasionally material manifestations of God’s presence (see Acts 2:2-3 and Acts 16:25-26), that is not how we are expected to sense His presence. It’s more personal than that.

Jesus told us the Holy Spirit would guide us into truth and tell us things to come (John 16:13). The word translated as Helper or Comforter means “one called to one’s side”. He is a personal guide, One with whom we can have a relationship of joy, peace, strength, and hope.

How do you enter God’s presence?

I don’t always feel the Holy Spirit, God’s presence, but that’s not His fault. He’s always here. My ability to get in the presence of the Lord is dependent on my faith. It’s not something I can earn, God’s presence is a gift of grace. His grace allows me to access his presence by faith.

Abide in Him

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15: 7-10

Jesus told us that abiding in Him will bear fruit in our lives and glorify God. That includes keeping his words and his commands. In the next verses he grants us His joy and gives us His command to love one another. (John 15:11-12)

Praise

David showed us the role of praise in entering God’s presence:

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. Psalm 95:1-2

A couple verses in Psalm 100 also instruct us to:

Come before His presence with singing… enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Psalm 100:2,4

Paul and Silas put praise to work in the dungeon of the Philippian jail, “praying and singing hymns to God”. His presence was in their hearts giving them joy, then He confirmed His presence in their praise with a chain-breaking earthquake (Acts 16:25-26).

Believe

“You believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1
It is only by faith in Jesus that anyone can come into the presence of God. It is by grace we believe by faith (Ephesians 2:8), and by faith we come to God (Hebrews 11:6) through Jesus (John 14:6).

Bold faith

Because we know and believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 6:69) we can speak his word boldly as we should (Acts 4:29,31; Ephesians 6:19-20). That same faith gives us bold access to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) and into the Holiest (Hebrews 10: 19).

The presence of God in eternity

The Bible tells us the beginning of man’s access to the presence of the Lord (Adam in the garden), why that access was broken (the fall), and what God did to restore us to His presence (the death and resurrection of Jesus through the family of Abraham). In Revelation, God shows us what the final access to His presence will be like:

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4

In describing the New Jerusalem, John explained the lack of a temple to denote God’s presence as a result of the open access to the Almighty through the Lamb.

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Revelation 21:22-24

These passages also depict a personal presence of the Lord with His people.

It’s personal

When we come into the presence of the Lord, it’s personal. Even when a group of believers experience His presence (Matthew 18:20) each person has their own experience (Luke 24:32, Acts 2:7-8). As a believer in Jesus, you always have access to the presence of God (Matthew 18:20). So apply your faith and enter into His presence.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

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