SPECIAL TEXT: "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? 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" (Jeremiah xxiii:23, 24.)
DISCUSSION.
1. Possible Attributes of the Immanent Spirit: So far I have refrained from ascribing any attributes, quality, or characteristic to the Immanent God not directly warranted by the phraseology of the modern revelations which teach the doctrine of immanence; creative and sustaining power; vital force, and intelligence-inspiring power.[A] Yet if the Immanent God is the spirit proceeding from the presence of Divine Beings, to fill the immensity of space, and called for us men "the Light of Christ," it may well be regarded as true that the Spirit carries with it the whole nature of God, and in some way, reflects all characteristics and attributes of Deity, the moral attributes of wisdom, holiness, truth, justice, love, and mercy as well as the four powers before noted.
[Footnote A: See the revelations quoted in preceding lesson.]
2. The Mission of the Christ: Manifestation of the Immanent Spirit: It was part of the mission of the Christ to manifest this Immanent God, as well as God the Father. He came to reveal the whole of the divine nature. He was God manifested in the flesh;[A] in him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;[B] it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;[C] he was the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person.[D] But he was also the manifestation of, "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."[E] Light of Christ, the God Immanent; the invisible made visible; the "Unknown God" of the Greeks made known in Jesus Christ through the preaching of Paul unto them; for whom they ignorantly worshiped declared he unto them by preaching Christ; saying that God whom he preached was not afar off—"not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being,"[F] making direct reference to that Spirit which fills the immensity of space, the "Unknown God" of the Greeks—the God Immanent, now manifested by the Christ whom Paul was preaching—from whose presence David could not flee; and to whom the darkness was the same as the light—to whom the night shineth as the day.[G]
[Footnote A: Tim iii:16 and marginal rendering of "manifest" in Oxford Bible.]
[Footnote B: Col. ii:9.]
[Footnote C: Col. i:19.]
[Footnote D: Heb. i:3.]
[Footnote E: St. John i:9.]