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How is Jesus omnipresent?
Email: When
Jesus ascended into Heaven, it is written that He is now at the right
hand of God our father. We know that God, who is Spirit, is
omnipresent. Is Jesus, who is in a glorified body, also omnipresent?
If so, does this mean when we are transformed into our glorified bodies,
we too will be omnipresent? If not, how exactly is Jesus with each one
of us?
Response: This is a good question. Is Jesus, who is in a
glorified body, omnipresent? The answer is yes. But, this involves a
little explanation.
The doctrine of the incarnation of Christ is that Jesus, who was the
Divine Word (John
1:1), became flesh and dwelt among us (v.14). This means that
the Word added
to his person a human nature. Now, this does not mean that the word has
two natures. What it means is that the person of Jesus has two natures.
In other words, Jesus the man is both the word and human. That is, he is
both divine and human. This is why Colossians 2:9 says "for in him
dwells all the fullness of deity in bodily form." Officially, this
doctrine is known as the hypostatic Union.
All right, so the Bible teaches that Jesus is both God and Man at the
same time. Remember, he has two natures. But we need to understand that
as a man, by definition, he can only be in one place at a time. There is
no instance of a human being omnipresent. Jesus, as a man (yes,
he
is a man right now, see 1
Tim. 2:5; Col.
2:9) is located in one place in
the heavens. But, since he has a divine nature and one of the attributes
of divinity is omnipresence, then we can say that Jesus is omnipresent. Let me
break it down a little more.
There is another doctrine known as the
Communication of the Properties.
This is the teaching that in the one person of Christ there are two
natures and that each of the two natures has attributes. Furthermore, it
states that those attributes of each nature are ascribed to the single
person of Jesus. Therefore, we say that the man Jesus, who is also divine,
can "claim"
the attributes of divinity. Likewise,
the attributes of humanity are "claimed" (ascribed) to Jesus as well. Let me give you
two examples that substantiate this.
In John 17:5, Jesus says, "And now, glorify Thou Me together with
Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world
was." How is it possible that Jesus, the man, could lay claim to the
glory that he had with the Father before the world was? Jesus the man
was born on earth and had a beginning. Yet, we see that Jesus was
claiming the glory he had with God the Father from ancient times.
How? Because he was claiming the attributes of divinity.
In Matt. 28:19-20, Jesus says,
"Go therefore and make disciples of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded
you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Notice
that in verse 20 Jesus says that he will always be with the disciples.
How can Jesus the man always be with the disciples? Obviously the
command of Christ is not just for the disciples but for all which claim
to be Christians as they carry out the command to
"make disciples of all
the nations." We find the answer when we realize that the divine
attributes of omnipresence, which is one of the properties of being divine, are claimed by Jesus. Therefore, even though he was a man
could also say that he would be with the disciples wherever they go and
whenever they go.
To summarize, Jesus in his human nature is not
omnipresent. But, in his divine nature he is.
All right, now back to the rest of the question. Will we also be
glorified as Jesus was glorified in his resurrection and be omnipresent?
No. We do not
share God's divine nature. Therefore, we will not be omnipresent.
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