We’d do better to say that hell is to be outside of God’s blessing rather than outside his presence. Job concludes in chapter 26 verse 6, The realm of the dead is naked before God, he sees it all.ĭeath, or hell is not to be away from God. You might hear Christians say that “to be in hell is to be outside of God’s presence.”īut God is in all places and in all dimensions. We sometimes imagine that God is absent from the realm of the dead. It’s not exactly the same as the New Testament concept of “hell”, but in that it’s the realm of the dead, a place of punishment, there’s certainly some overlap? We’ve got the heavens, which we typically associate with God, and Sheol, the realm of the dead. We’re talking about places that are real, but you can’t just travel to them in a plane or whatever. This is where the idea of different dimensions comes in. If you have an English Standard Version you’ll see they just transliterate the Hebrew word “Sheol.” The depths doesn’t just mean, down in a deep valley somewhere. The first possibility to find somewhere where God is not is the heavens and the realm of the dead. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I go up to the heavens, you are there
See verse 7, 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad at the moment because we never see anyone!īut normally! Being known that well is quite confronting, isn’t it!Īnd so David begins to wonder, is there’s somewhere he could go, where this God who knows him so well, is not.
Imagine if your every thought was projected onto the walls around you so other people could see. Or verse 4, Before a word is on my tongue See verse 2, You know when I sit and when I rise The title of this Psalm tells us that it was written by David, king of the ancient nation of Israel,Īnd he’s been thinking about God’s knowledge of him. God is in all places and in all dimensions simultaneously. So that’s our definition, and it’s what we find taught in this middle section of Psalm 139.įlick back there if you’ve closed your Bible, or device. There is nothing in the universe outside the presence of God. Obviously, it’s got something to do with God’s presence, but when we say this, we mean that God is in all places and in all dimensions simultaneously. So we begin this evening with God’s omnipresence.
We’ll start with one Bible passage to, kind of lay the foundation, and then we’ll think a bit more broadly about what God says about each aspect of his character, and how we see it ultimately expressed in Jesus, all the while asking, “why is this stuff important? So for 3 weeks, we’re going to be looking at what God says in his Word about himself, in particular about 3 attributes of God. We think it’s better to hear from the person themselves, than through a chain of other people, each with their own perspective.Īnd yet when it comes to knowing God, it’s very easy for us to spend all our time listening to other people’s ideas,Īnd imagining things for ourselves, instead of turning to what God himself has told us about himself.Ĭertainly there’s benefit in seeking the wisdom of others,īut the best place to turn to find out about God, is God himself, and what he’s revealed to us about who he is. It’s why 128 million people follow Barack Obama and less than half that follow CNN. If we want to find out about someone, yes, there’ll be things we can learn from others who know the person, or have researched them, or have spoken to them,īut without a doubt, the best way to really know someone, is to listen to what they say about themselves! Of course, it’s not rocket science, is it?! It’s a question for us to think about for a moment!ĬNN Breaking news tells us a lot about Obama, he was all over their coverage of the inauguration.Īnd yet more people follow Obama, than the organisation which will tells us about Obama. That’s not the beginning of a joke, though it sounds like one! Why does Barack Obama have 128 million Twitter followers and CNN Breaking News only 60 million.
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