Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?
Jeremiah aims this question at prophets who passed off their own thoughts as the word of the Lord. Behind it lies a simpler question: is God small enough to fool, so that a person can sin unseen?
The chapter runs from a promise of a coming righteous King to a charge against the men who claimed to speak for God. What they offered came from themselves, not from Him:
Instead of passing on the Word of the Lord to their hearers, "They speak visions of their own minds." They should have stood in the council of God and made His people hear His Word (v.22). Instead they go out according to their own thoughts. How dangerous is that unfaithfulness! It twists or even falsifies the message of God's Word by bringing in one's own opinions.
The question is God's own reply to those prophets:
Jehovah filled heaven and earth. He was not indifferent: He took note of those who prophesied lies in His name. If they had His word, let them speak it faithfully.
The question exposes an idea of God shrunk to a location. He is the One who sets limits on everything else and has none Himself:
God, who bounds everything else, is Himself without bounds. He sets bounds to the sea: "Thus far shall you come, and no farther." He sets bounds to the angels; they, like the cherubim, move and stand at His appointment (Ezek. 10:16). But He is infinite, without bounds. He who can span the heavens and weigh the earth in scales must be infinite (Isa. 40:22). "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" (Jer. 23:24). The humble heart is His throne, as regards His gracious presence (Isa. 57:15); and heaven is His throne, as regards His glorious presence (Isa. 66:1); and yet neither of these thrones will hold Him, for the highest heaven cannot contain Him.
Commentators are careful about how this is understood. One writer puts it this way:
As to omnipresence, God has no more to do with space than with time. He has created all things in a way we can grasp. In this creation nothing escapes Him. He is, morally speaking, omnipresent. He is not of it, or in it, but pervades it. He is "through all"! He upholds everything, as He creates everything.
The next verse presses this into the conscience. It reaches the person whose neighbours suspect nothing:
Jeremiah might well say, "Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD." The thief and the perjurer might flatter themselves that their wrongdoing was unknown. They had managed to cover it from every human eye. They might even be mixing with their neighbours without a known stain on their character. They might have gone further and said, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive."
after_note: DELETE But "He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see?" (Psalm 94:7, 9.)
Under the old order, God's answer to His own question carried both sides at once. He wanted to live among His people, but the terms of that nearness kept them back:
From the moment God redeemed Israel out of Egypt to be His people, He had made known His desire to dwell among them. Yet under the conditions that then existed He had to veil Himself in fire and cloud and awesome majesty. Man had to keep his distance. This was so with Moses, and with Aaron and his sons. It was so with Solomon too. He finished the Temple, and yet the priests could not enter, for the glory of the Lord filled the House. It was nearness in one sense, but distance in another.
The same writer finds the full answer in a person:
We open the New Testament, and all is changed. At once we meet JESUS, who is EMMANUEL, which means, "God with us." Here we have something entirely new. He who once dwelt in the devouring fire on Sinai was now among men in perfect manhood and in lowly grace. The One who is light, and who dwells in unapproachable light, had now appeared. He softened the piercing rays of His glory so that human eyes could take them in.
How we speak and behave shows how much we really live in God's presence:
All these things give sad proof of how little we live, move and have our being in the presence of God. If we could only keep in mind that God hears us and sees us! He hears our every word. He sees our every thought and every way. How differently we would carry ourselves! What holy watchfulness we would keep over our thoughts, our tempers and our tongues!
- Near — the question answers prophets who passed off their own thoughts as God's word.
- Nearer — He sets the limits of sea and angels, and has none Himself. The highest heaven cannot contain Him.
- Nearest — He fills heaven and earth, so the sin no neighbour suspects is already in full view.
- Near, yet veiled — under the old order God wanted to dwell among His people. He came in fire and cloud, so man kept his distance.
- God with us — in Jesus the distance closes. He softened His glory so that human eyes could take it in.
Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? saith Jehovah.
Jeremiah 23 charges men who claimed to speak for God while inventing their own message. God answers them with two questions, not an argument. No dark corner hides anyone from His eye. He fills heaven and earth. So every secret word and hidden act was always spoken and done in front of Him.
The question is aimed at prophets who ran without being sent. Their failure was not weak delivery but substituted content.
Jeremiah next reproached the prophets (23:9,16). Instead of passing on the Word of the Lord to their hearers, "they speak visions of their own minds." They should have stood in the council of God and made His people hear His Word (v.22). Instead they go out according to their own thoughts. How dangerous is that unfaithfulness! It twists or even falsifies the message of God's Word by bringing in one's own opinions. "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied" (v.21).
Hidden sin rests on one assumption: what people cannot see stays hidden. One writer applies the verse to the thief and the man who swears falsely.
The thief and the man who swears falsely might flatter themselves that their sin was unknown. They think they have covered it from every human eye. They might even mix with their neighbours without a known stain on their character. They might have gone further and said, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive." But "He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?" (Psalm 94:7, 9.) Sooner or later this verse warns all such people that their false security will be shaken.
The self-deception is not only in criminals. It sits in the ordinary heart that keeps up appearances before people.
The very thing God is dealing with us ALL about is the thought, "no eye will see me." A man can care about his character before people while not caring what God thinks. A man who would not cheat other people is cheating God all the time. We cannot, in reality; He knows it all.
The second question rests on what God is in Himself. He sets limits on everything else and has none of His own. And this same limitless God makes a lowly heart His seat.
God, who sets bounds to everything else, is Himself without bounds. He sets bounds to the sea: "Thus far shall you come, and no farther." He sets bounds to the angels; they, like the cherubim, move and stand at His appointment (Ezek. 10:16). But He is infinite, without bounds. He who can span the heavens, and weigh the earth in scales, must be infinite (Isa. 40:22). "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" (Jer. 23:24). The humble heart is His throne, as regards His gracious presence (Isa. 57:15). Heaven is His throne, as regards His glorious presence (Isa. 66:1). Yet neither of these thrones will hold Him, for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.
Filling heaven and earth is not a figure of speech about influence. It means there is no location where God has to arrive.
In omnipresence there is the presence of God in every place. If it be heaven, He is there; it is His home. And earth: "Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord" (Jer. 23:24). "Hell is naked before Him" (Job 26:6; Psalm 139:8). God is everywhere: He fills all places at all times. He fills space, earth, sea, and land. He fills our homes; with Him there can be no in and out, nor above and beneath.
For someone who trusts God, the eye that finds everything is not a threat but a service. What He uncovers, He uncovers to remove.
After all, dear friends, is it not a blessed thing to know that nothing can escape either the hand or eye of God? What a comfort that He discerns every thought of our hearts that would hinder blessing, or dim communion with Himself! Some secret evil may be working in my heart while I stay unaware of it. It may be one of the ten thousand things that, if indulged, would hinder the enjoyment of God. Well, God sends some circumstance that shows me the evil, so that it can be put away.
The chapter blames prophets who would not stand where God speaks. For the believer who does stand, these two questions give strength.
Failure at all times has been about standing in the truth. Ephesians 6 says, "having done all, TO STAND FIRM," and that is in the face of unseen powers of darkness. Let us remember the word of the prophet, and we shall be strong to stand in the truth: "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" (v. 24). We are to be strong in Him, not in ourselves; not in self-confidence, but in the Lord.
- Cause. The verse answers prophets who ran unsent and preached their own thoughts under God's name.
- Reach. God sets bounds to everything else and has none Himself; He fills heaven and earth, and the heaven of heavens cannot hold Him.
- Exposure. Hidden sin only fools people. The man who guards his good name while cheating God fools nobody but himself.
- Comfort. For the believer the searching eye is mercy: He shows up the secret evil so that it can be put away.
- Result. Remember these two questions and you will stand in the truth — strong in the Lord, not in yourself.