Those who think they can “connect” with God walking in the woods on Sunday are wrong. While God is essentially present in the woods, He is not graciously present as He is among His people when they gather around His Word. God is present in His church through Christ. He is the One who walks “in the midst of his candlesticks.” The incommunicable attribute of omnipresence is clearly attributed to Christ.

“Mom, where is God?”
“Well, He’s everywhere sweetheart!”
That answer frequently given by mothers to their children is true, but what does that mean?
We do not give much thought to God’s omnipresence, do we? We take it for granted that God is “everywhere,” though we do not really understand what that means. Does omnipresence mean occupying all the space that exists, or is there more to it? Is God everywhere present in the same way? For example, how is He present when the church gathers? This can be a very practical question when we think about Sunday worship. It has become increasingly common for professing Christians in our Western world to neglect church meetings. Perhaps you have heard people reason along these lines: “I believe in God, but church isn’t really my thing. I’m not interested in singing, and I find sermons boring. Besides, I can connect with God just as well when I walk in the woods, in the mountains, or on the beach as I can in a church service. After all, God is everywhere.” How do we respond to that?
The issue of omnipresence also arises when we engage oriental spiritualities and their pantheistic vision of God. They claim that God is “everywhere,” but they mean something very different from what Christians mean. How is the biblical and Christian notion of divine omnipresence different from theirs?
When we try to answer these questions, we find that seventeenth-century Reformed theologians are very helpful because they drew careful distinctions that we often fail to draw, and they used helpful philosophical categories, while always subordinating them to Scripture. No one among them is more helpful than the English Puritan Stephen Charnock (1632–80) in his famous treatise on the existence and attributes of God.
Several biblical texts are traditionally used by orthodox theologians to argue for God’s omnipresence, in particular 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 139; and Jeremiah 23:23–24. Charnock chose Jeremiah 23:23–24 as a starting point: “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” Charnock helpfully set the text in its context (see vv. 16ff), namely, the denunciation of false prophets who prophesied to Israel when the Lord had not sent them. That allowed him to make an important distinction between God’s omniscience and His omnipresence. God knows and sees everything (“Can a man hide himself?”) because He is immediately present everywhere (“Do I not fill heaven and earth?”), so His omniscience can be inferred from His omnipresence. The verb “to fill” is key because it cannot properly refer to understanding, knowledge, or will. It must refer to what Charnock called the “essential presence” of God: “By filling heaven and earth is meant therefore a filling it with his essence. No place can be imagined that is deprived of the presence of God and therefore when the Scripture anywhere speaks of the presence of God, it joins heaven and earth together.”1
Charnock’s exegesis of these verses is significant for a number of reasons: it shows that God is essentially present everywhere, not only in heaven, as unorthodox teachers argued at that time.2 As Charnock said, “Heaven is the court of his majestical presence, but not the prison of his essence.”3 It is also very helpful to refute the pantheistic notion that God is identified with nature that Baruch Spinoza, the influential Dutch philosopher, famously expounded at that time4 and that is so prevalent today. God does “fill heaven and earth,” but, as a consequence, He is “at hand” and He “sees” us so that no one can hide from Him. He is therefore personal and distinct from nature.
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Overture 21 is an attempt to satisfy the objections of last year’s Overture 8 thus enabling additional presbyteries to vote in favor to receive the 2/3 required. Overture 22 is a bit technical, but this overture is constructed in such a manner that there are no loopholes; the only thing it allows for is a minority report from the CCB on the reviewed minutes of the SJC in matters of procedural error, and that alone!

As the moderator of the session (First Presbyterian Church of Montgomery, AL), placing Overture 21 and Overture 22 before the Presbyterian Church in America’s (PCA) 50th general assembly, I thought it might be helpful if I offered our fathers and brothers some of the rationale behind our session’s recommendation of these overtures. My comments are organized around two main points: 1) why the lack of Presbytery support, and 2) why vote yes anyway.
Why the Lack of Presbytery Support
As mentioned to me at last week’s Review of Presbytery Records (RPR) Committee meeting, Southeast Alabama Presbytery (SEAL) is respected and admired for its history of wisdom and stability in affirmation of both PCA doctrine and practice. As an adopted son of the PCA (since Sept. ’08), I affirm with hearty gratitude and rejoicing that this reputation continues among the fathers and brothers that make up SEAL today. With some hesitancy then, I offer the following opinions as to why SEAL did not support these overtures, and why our Session thought it wise to forward them to PCAGA50, nevertheless. The following are based on my recollection of the deliberation at our presbytery’s meeting on March 7, 2023 (hosted at our church facility).
Overture 21
This overture is in effect a replacement for PCAGA49’s Overture 8 which barely failed the 2/3 majority presbytery vote this past year. Overture 21 is an attempt to make the provisions of this prior overture palatable to enough additional presbyteries that it passes the 2/3 requirement (see further, below).
At the SEAL March 7, 2023, called meeting, the main argument offered against Overture 21 was that it would result in too much intrusiveness into the ministry of teaching elders (TEs). The argument was made that O21 would make it easier for ‘charges’ to be brought against a TE.
Agreeing that nuisance charges are unhelpful and contrary to Presbyterianism, our session disagrees with this opinion. Note that some presbyteries, agreeing with the need for clarification on a better definition for “refuses to act” (BCO 34-1; see O2023-21 p. 2.19-24), expressly voted against last year’s Overture 8 (Item 7 before the presbyteries this last cycle) because they believed that its proposed change of the threshold to 10% of presbyteries requesting original jurisdiction was too high! Furthermore, in the history of the Standing Judicial Commission (SJC), the current standard of two presbyteries has not resulted in the SJC assuming original jurisdiction over a case. Noting that SEAL overwhelming voted to approve last year’s Overture 8, we respectfully believe that they got the vote on our session’s replacement proposal wrong.
A secondary argument against Overture 21 was that the 1/3 SJC signature provision (p. 2.12) might be deemed unconstitutional. The Committee on Constitutional Business having vetted Overture 21 negates that concern.
Thus, with respect, our session thinks SEAL should have approved of sending Overture 21 up to PCAGA50.
Overture 22
This overture arose in response to last year’s ruling from the chair that a minority report from the Committee on Constitutional Business (CCB) was out of order. Our session sees Overture 22 as a companion to Overture 21. It also serves the goal of strengthening the functioning of the SJC (see further, below).
At the SEAL meeting on March 7, 2023, the arguments offered were in effect the same as those offered at PCAGA49 defending the chair’s ruling, to wit: the CCB is merely a review of procedural constitutionality, and therefore it is improper for minority reports to arise from its work.
Why didn’t this pass our Presbytery? Our Presbytery is a strong supporter of proper procedures being followed in our courts. As PCAGA49 declined to allow minority reports from the CCB, the sense among the elders at SEAL’s March meeting was that it was proper to vote against this overture as well.
Why does our session disagree with our fathers and brothers? Quite simply,  while we agree that the PCAGA49 chair got this decision right, there is nevertheless the need for a minority report procedure from CCB, when there is an egregious procedural failure in the SJC. Agreeing with our fathers’ and brothers’ sentiments to protect procedures, we believe Overture 22 actually supports that conviction and protects the SJC’s processes when there is such a procedural error.
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Written by Daniel C. Timmer |
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
When Zephaniah describes how God supernaturally transforms human hearts and turns their desires to him, the prophet consistently integrates the relational, behavioral, and internal dimensions of this change. Those who holistically embrace his will pursue righteousness (v. 3), unity (3:9), proper worship (vv. 9–10), and humility (2:3; 3:11). In the end, God’s saving work will completely remove the pride that motivated his people’s rebellion (3:11) along with their corrupt desires that produced sinful words and deeds (v. 13).

Apart from Zephaniah’s depiction of God’s exuberant joy over his redeemed people (3:17) that John Piper has popularized in his preaching, the book of Zephaniah hasn’t received the attention it merits. This neglect is unwarranted not only because the prophecy is God’s Word but because Zephaniah’s bold, broad, and beautiful presentation of God at the center of redemptive history makes his book as relevant to contemporary readers as it was to its initial audience.
The prophet’s presentation of sin and its remedy is particularly potent. Zephaniah’s message moves far beyond predictions of judgment against the sins prevalent in Judah in the late seventh century BC. It also presents glorious salvation promises of salvation and the superlative restoration of God’s repentant people (vv. 14–17).
Three facets of the book’s message capture this redemptive movement.
1. Sin and Its Consequences
Zephaniah’s diagnosis of the world’s fundamental problem is bold. The book begins with a blunt announcement that God will meet humanity’s rebellion with the direst consequences imaginable (1:3). And more immediately, Zephaniah makes clear that due to Babylon’s rise and the predations of Judah’s neighbors, severe judgment is no idle threat; it’s standing at the door.
In his first chapter, Zephaniah emphasizes Judah’s violations of the first commandment as the grounds for God’s judgment (vv. 4–6). Rather than trusting that God would protect and preserve his people when they remained faithful to him, Judah responded to geopolitical threats by attempting to ensure its stability and success outside the boundaries of the covenant: by looking to other nations for help. Many in Judah assumed God would do neither good nor ill in response to this sinful autonomy (v. 12). They’d turned God into an abstract idea with no relevance for their daily lives or for the future. But this way of thinking and living was tragically mistaken.
God refutes Judah’s rebellion in absolute terms, weaving announcements of judgment into the litany of Judah’s sins (vv. 4–13). Then, Zephaniah 1 culminates in the foreboding day of the Lord that’ll bring the irreversible destruction of sinners worldwide (vv. 14–18). Contrary to the mistaken belief of many Judeans, divine justice will bring their imagined self-sufficiency and immunity from the covenant crashing down on their heads.
Zephaniah’s uncompromising and unflattering evaluation of humanity at large, and of God’s old covenant people in particular, reminds believers they must take their sins seriously and practice repentance habitually. Zephaniah’s message also refutes visions of justice and liberty that look to social or political efforts to bring the transcendent change only God’s saving power can deliver.
2. Grace and Repentance
In light of these dire threats, it’s surprising that Zephaniah offers hope in the very next section (2:1–3). But God’s immense patience makes a way for rebellious Judah to escape his punishment. Zephaniah calls the people to repentance, and his call is uncompromising. It demands a radical reorientation of the heart, for the Lord to be made absolutely central by the “humble of the land, who do his just commands.”
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