“How big is your God? When I say God is bigger than big, I don’t just mean bigger than Earth or Jupiter or [the radio galaxy] Alcyoneus. God is bigger than the whole kit and caboodle. He’s got the whole world in His hands! He’s got you!”- Mark Batterson
“In him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”- Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV)
Mark Batterson continues in Chapter 3 of A Million Little Miracles as he talks about the transcendence and immanence of God. The Hebrew word paniym describes these attributes. One can translate paniym as ‘face’ or ‘surface’ or ‘presence’ or countenance.’
Thus, in regard to space, paniym refers to the space in front of and the space behind. In 2007, A. W. Tozer explained this in his book The Attributes of God. Tozer wrote:
“God is above, but He’s not pushed up. He’s beneath, but He’s not pressed down. He’s outside, but He’s not excluded . . . inside, but He’s not confined. God is above all thing presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing, and inside of all things filling.”
In conclusion, in 1964 an Irish physicist developed something now referred to as Bell’s theorem. Bell’s theorem disproved the principle of local causes. Hence, regardless of distance, in some way every atom connects to every other atom. For example, if you cut a quark in half and reverse the spin of one of the halves, the other half reverses its spin at the exact same moment. A phenomenon called instantaneous nonlocality. Therefore, that link defies time and space.
In a similar way, Paul’s words in Colossians 1 provide us with context clues into the nature of God. A peek into the structure of reality. Or, as Mark refers to the above passage, it’s Paul’s TOE — theory of everything.
Today’s question: What most helps you understand that God’s bigger than the whole kit and caboodle? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Holy confidence vs. self-confidence”