The Christadelphian Instructor/Concerning The Spirit of God
16. In what way is God everywhere present if He dwell in heaven? Answer: God is everywhere present by His spirit which proceeds from Him, and which fills all space.
Proof:
Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. (Psa. 104:30).
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. (Psa. 139:7-8).
17. What is the Spirit of God?
Answer: It is His invisible power or energy breathed forth from His presence, and of like nature with His Glorious Person. By this, heaven and earth have been made and are preserved in being from moment to moment. In this we live and move and have our being in Him.
Proof:
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. (Job 33:4).
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. (Job 26:13).
Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. (Psa. 104:30).
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (Psa. 33:6).
Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: (Jer. 32:17).
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Gen. 1:2).
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:28).
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. (Job 34:14-15).
18. Is God separate and different from the Spirit of God?
Answer: No. God and His Spirit cannot be separated. They are both one. The sun and the light that comes from the sun are both one. So God, and the Spirit that comes from God, are both one. God is the centre and glorious substantial form of the Spirit that fills heaven and earth.
Proof:
The passaged quoted in answers 14 to 17, also the following:
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. (Isa. 48:16).
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (Gen. 6:3).
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. (Jer. 23:24).
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? (Psa. 139:7).
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24).
19. Do these things teach you any lesson concerning your conduct? Answer: Yes. They teach me that I am always in the presence of God though I do not feel it, and that He always sees me (even when it is dark) though I cannot see Him. Nothing can happen without His knowing it. Even my inmost thoughts and intentions He can discern, though I should seek to keep them secret.
Proof:
And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? (Gen. 16:13).
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Heb. 4:13).
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. (Psa. 139:12).
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)