2. Distinction Between Omnipresence and Immanence: It may be thought that "immanence" is but the restatement in another form, of the attribute of omnipresence in Deity—simply an affirmation of his every-whereness; and it must be admitted that there is at least a close resemblance if not identity between the two things for which the two terms stand. And yet there is a difference between immanence and omnipresence. The latter means merely the every-whereness of God, "present in all places and at the same time."[A]
[Footnote A: Century Dictionary.]
Immanence means that, too; but it means more than that. It means presence accompanied by power; or presence plus power; presence accompanied by doing, or act, leading to manifestations of God's power. In modern philosophy the word is applied to the operations of a Creator conceived of as in organic connection with the creation;[A] and we shall see presently that this is as true in theology as it is in philosophy.
[Footnote A: Century Dictionary. Joseph Le Conte, Professor of Geology and Natural History in the University of California, discussing what belief in God would be for rational philosophy, says: "It is the belief in a God not far away beyond our reach, who once long ago enacted laws and created forces which continue of themselves to run the machine we call nature, but a God immanent, a God resident in Nature, at all times and in all places directing every event and determining every phenomenon; a God in whom in the most literal sense not only we but all things have their being, in whom all things consist, through whom all things exist, and without whom there would be and could be nothing. According to this view the phenomena of Nature are naught else than objectified modes of divine thought, the forces of Nature naught else than different forms of one omnipresent, divine energy or will; the laws of Nature naught else than the regular modes of operation of that divine will, invariable because he is unchangeable. According to this view the law of gravitation is naught else than the mode of operation of the divine energy in sustaining the cosmos—the divine method of sustentation." ("Evolution and Its Relation to Religious Thought"—1902—pp. 300, 301.)]
3. Does Revelation Teach Immanence of God: Here we may as well consider the question whether or not the scriptures teach the doctrine of immanence as defined above. Of the doctrine of God's omnipresence there can be no question at all. David states it beautifully:
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."[A]
[Footnote A: Psalms cxxxix:7-12.]
Jeremiah is equally as clear in a statement of the same truth, even if less poetical:
"Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord."[A]
[Footnote A: Jeremiah xxiii:24.]