The Omnipresent in a Manger

After finishing Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology a month ago with my Thursday men’s theology reading group, we’re planning on starting John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion early next year. Along with trying to memorize Hebrews 10:4-10, I’ve been studying the Institutes in my “personal” study time.

I came across this passage in the Institutes today: “They thrust upon us as something absurd the fact that if the Word of God became flesh, then He was confined within the narrow prison of an earthly body. This is mere impudence! For even if the Word in His immeasurable essence united with the nature of man into one person, we do not imagine that He was confined therein. Here is something marvelous: the Son of God descended from heaven in such a way that, without leaving heaven, He willed to be borne in the virgin’s womb, to go about the earth, and to hang upon the cross; yet He continuously filled the world even as He had done from the beginning” (2.13.4).

At least two Scriptures point us to the Son’s omnipresence (note that both of these are direct quotes from the Lord Jesus):
• “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that [as it says in Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15] by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father Who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:15-20).
• “…the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:16-20).

Of course, the Son is present with His covenant people by the presence of the Holy Spirit, Who is “the Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11) and “the Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7; Philippians 1:19). But He is also, because He is “God of God…very God of very God…being of one substance with the Father” (Nicene Creed) and “in this Trinity none are before or after another, none is greater or less than another…equal to the Father as touching His Godhead” (Athanasian Creed), omnipresent as God. We attribute to God omnipresence, and therefore, since the Son is fully God, we must attribute omnipresence to the Son.

We may stumble over this confession, especially during Advent, as we consider the mysterious wonder of the eternal, divine Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us (John 1:1,2,14). How could the Son be omnipresent and yet in a body dwelling as one of us among us during the years of His earthly life? How can the New Testament, after His ascension, locate Him at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Acts 2:33; 7:56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 3:21)?

Why is this strange? If we confess the Son to be fully God, are there not lessons from the Old Testament to learn about His omnipresence? God, Who cannot be contained in space or time, manifests His glorious, Personal Presence in places like the Tabernacle and Temple in the Old Testament. No one believes Him to be located solely between the cherubim, or solely even on the throne in Heaven. Just as God was manifest between the cherubim and yet omnipresent, the Person of God the Son is manifestly present in His human nature/body, and yet as God is omnipresent.

As Stephen preaches before his martyrdom: “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says [in Isaiah 66:1,2]: ‘“Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will you build for Me?” says the Lord, “Or what place is there for My repose? Was it not My hand which made all these things?”’” (Acts 7:44-50).

Hercules Collins, a 17th century Baptist pastor, gave his congregation a teaching on the Son’s omnipresence. After speaking of Christ’s ascension into heaven, Pastor Collins writes: “Q. 46. Is not Christ with us then until the end of the world, as He has promised? A. Christ is true God, and true man, and so according to His manhood is not now on earth, but according to His Godhead, His majesty, His grace and Spirit is at no time apart from us. Q. 47. Are not by this means the two natures in Christ pulled apart, if His humanity be not wherever His divinity? A. No. Seeing His divinity is incomprehensible, and everywhere present, it follows necessarily that the same [the Son’s divine nature] is without the bounds of His human nature which He took to Himself, and yet is nevertheless in it, and abides personally united to it” (Orthodox Catechism, 1680). 

This Advent, as we adore the baby in the manger, let us worship in awe at the reality of the omnipresent God the Son.

Marley was as Dead as a Door-Nail

A month ago I was preparing for my Thursday morning Berkhof reading group. The Dutchman was writing about fallen angels, and made this comment: “They are even now chained to hell and pits of darkness, and though not yet limited to one place, yet, as Calvin says, drag their chains with them wherever they go...” (Systematic Theology, pg. 149).

Well, this quote triggered two things in me: the unstoppable desire to hunt down the original quote (always find the source!) and a sudden yearning for the Advent season.

First, the source. John Calvin says what he says about dragging chains around speaking not of the fallen angels (as Berkhof used the imagery), but of the lost: “The lot of the reprobate is doubtless the same as that which Jude assigns to the devils; to be held in chains until they are dragged to the punishment appointed for them” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.25.6). A chilling image. Those who are without Christ in this world are already bound to hell by chains which they drag around everywhere they go. Billions of people going about normal everyday life (Matthew 24:36-42) bound by chains which find their anchor in eternal fire. I just read The Christian Atheist last night – there was a chapter in this book where he describes the person who believes in God but doesn’t share his/her faith. Groeschel does the important job of reminding the reader of the (unpopular) reality of hell in that chapter. And, as Calvin says, they’re already chained to that hell and dragging the rattling fetters about everywhere they go and in everything they do. The bride coming down the aisle, the fan cheering for the game, the soccer mom going about her ceaselessly busy life, the farmer in his tractor, the teacher, the...well, every type of person you can imagine...chained to hell...the noise in the spirit realm must be deafening. Powerful image. May God give the Church ears to hear it.

As I said, Berkhof sent me hunting for the Calvin quote, but it also made me long for the Advent season. Why? Because Charles Dickens once wrote a Christmas ghost story (A Christmas Carol, 1843), and Berkhof’s quote made me think of Jacob Marley (yes, I had to resist call of mental chaos to reggae-jump to Bob Marley): “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that... You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

I’m not a Halloween guy, and have never cared for A Christmas Carol (the line in 1963’s “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” about “scary ghost stories” has always seemed stupid to me), but culture’s a pretty powerful influence. So Berkhof made me think not just of Calvin, but of Dickens. “Marley was as dead as a door-nail.” But still he shows up in Scrooge’s room one night.

“After several turns, [Scrooge] sat down again. As he threw his head back in the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and communicated for some purpose now forgotten with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound; but soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house. This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. The bells ceased as they had begun, together. They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine merchant’s cellar. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door. ‘It’s humbug still!’ said Scrooge. ‘I won’t believe it.’ His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. Upon its coming in, the dying flame leaped up, as though it cried, ‘I know him; Marley’s Ghost!’ and fell again. The same face: the very same. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. His body was transparent, so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind.”

This is what Berkhof’s quote brought to my mind. Any excuse to be in an Advent frame of mind – even when it’s a stretch like this. But this whole collision of images made me look at the people around me differently. They are walking around right now as I once was. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:1-3).

More Dickens:

“Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands. ‘You are fettered,’ said Scrooge, trembling. ‘Tell me why?’ ‘I wear the chain I forged in life,’ replied the Ghost. ‘I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?’”

“Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity. He looked out. The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free.”

“Free will” is not free. We all sin (Romans 3:10-12,23), and sinners are slaves (John 8:34; 2 Peter 2:19). Your “free will” is enslaved and can only choose rebellion against God unless it is freed in Christ. It is the instrument by which you forge your chains to hell (Romans 6:1-23). The air is filled with phantoms. “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Lose the chains. Repent of your rebellion against God’s Law and put your faith in the free gift of salvation He has given in His Son, Jesus Christ. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:4-10).