Why the Church Needs God’s Immanence and His Imminence
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The significance of immanence and imminence to the child of God is not just a play on words.
The revelation of God and His redemptive work is carried in the meaning of these two words immanence and imminence, and their companion eminence.
I am appalled and grieved by the level of distortion of God’s nature and character and the resulting syncretism that has crept into Christian theology.
Pantheism, Spiritism and Gnosticism have found their way into much of the preaching and teaching in Evangelical and Pentecostal circles.
I was saddened recently at a Christian event when they played a song about the “circle of life;” a doctrine that comes directly out of the Buddhist religion.
What is the meaning of imminence, immanence and eminence and their significant importance to your faith?
Immanence is the declaration of God’s omniscience and omnipresence. He is the creator and sustainer of all that exists.
“He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. Reconciled in Christ for it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20 NKJV).
This reveals the transcendence of God. He is not “in” all things but He is the creator of all things and He sustains all things by the power of His Word (Hebrews 1:1-4). He is eternal, everlasting to everlasting.
He has no mother no father.
He has no beginning or ending of days.
He exists outside of time and space which He created for mankind but He exists separate from it.
His immanence affirms His promised presence at every moment in our life. He said:
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “He is a very present help in the time of trouble.” “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:16-20 NKJV).
God is also imminent.
He entered the human race in the person of Jesus Christ, through the virgin birth.
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV).
As God in the flesh, He was the eternal sacrifice through whom mankind was redeemed from and sin, reconciled to Heavenly Father, and adopted in the family God.
Jesus Christ also promised He would come back a second time.
"’Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know’" (John 14:1-4 NKJV).
He declared His second coming would happen in a moment you least expected and without warning.
No one knows the day or the hour of His coming, except Heavenly Father (Matthew 24:36-37).
Imminence is the transliteration of the Latin word imminere which means an over-hanging or something that projects over.
The English word imminent refers to something that is about to happen or something that is always hanging over your head. It is something so on the precipice it could happen at any moment.
That describes perfectly the promise of Jesus Christ’s second coming.
First He will appear in the sky and catch the righteous ones away and take them to Heaven to celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 19:1-10)
He will come back to earth after the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and set up His earthly Kingdom for one thousand years (Revelation 19:1-20:5).
The righteous ones who were part of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will rule and reign with Him.
Jesus gave several parables warning of His imminent return and teaching the importance for a child of God to live righteous and prepared for His unexpected return.
The Apostle Paul wrote about His second coming being as “a thief in the night” so live spiritually ready for His return may happen at any moment.
There is a third significant word for the Church, eminence.
It refers to one’s stature, position or level of authority. Jesus Christ said:
“All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18 NKJV).
The Apostle Paul wrote of Jesus Christ, “You are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:10 NKJV).
Jesus Christ is sovereign Lord and answers to no redress and is not required to a reason why.
He carries the names, Lord of Host, Lord of Sabaoth, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-1 NKJV).
Jesus Christ’s stature as Lord of Host; His position as King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and His authority in Heaven and in earth assures every child of God victory over the enemy.
We are “more than conquerors” because He has already defeated our enemies and conquered the kingdom of darkness.
His eminence also assures us, while your obedience to His Word and His commands may be optional according to your volition, kneeling before Him and giving account of your attitude and your behavior will not be optional.
Every person will all bow at His throne and be held accountable to Him.
Our God is the only true living God. His immanence, His imminence, and His eminence assures us of that absolute truth!
