What does it mean that God is infinite and unlimited?

"But," Solomon adds, "will God indeed dwell on the earth?" David realized that God's dwelling in the darkness of the holy place did not by any means infer that God was confined there. In fact, "heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You" (v.27). God is infinite (unlimited) and omnipresent (present everywhere), yet in pure grace He specially signified the temple as the place of His dwelling in order to concentrate Israel's thoughts on Him as the Center of all Israel's interests.

God, who bounds everything else, is Himself without bounds. He sets bounds to the sea; Huc usque; "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further"; He sets bounds to the angels; they, like the cherubims, 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 needs be infinite (Isa. 40:22). "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" (Jer. 23:24). The humble heart is His throne, in regard to His gracious presence (Isa. 57:15); and heaven is His throne, in regard to His glorious presence (Isa. 66:1); and yet neither of these thrones will hold Him, for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.

But Solomon asks a pertinent question, "Will God indeed dwell with men on earth? (v.18). To do so would require an astounding act of grace, for the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain God. He is infinite, without limits, and omnipresent, present everywhere at all times. We cannot understand the greatness of His being. He cannot be confined anywhere, yet in a very real sense He dwelt in the temple, in the holiest of all, though in thick darkness. This is a paradox in which we may rejoice.

When the children of Israel were brought out from Egypt under shelter of the blood of the paschal lamb, on their way to Canaan, God could speak to them, as a redeemed people, concerning a sanctuary for Himself — God's dwelling-place with man on earth. He gave Moses a pattern of the Tabernacle; He revealed to him upon Mount Sinai His own thoughts about it, and directed him to make all things according to the pattern shown him (Ex. 25:8-9). The Tabernacle in the wilderness, which was thus made in accordance with God's command, is an appropriate and expressive type of the Church of God in its present wilderness condition during this dispensation — the dwelling-place of God in His redeemed, according to the Word — "I will dwell in them and walk with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (2 Cor. 6:16). "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him" (2 Chron. 6:18). What a vivid idea Solomon gives us of the infinitude of God in that expression! All created things are finite, unlimited as the spaces occupied by them may appear to us — heavens stretching beyond heavens in apparently interminable succession, but, in the nature of things, limited. Not so God; He is infinite. The Apostle John writes of the holy Jerusalem: "I saw no temple therein: for Jehovah God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" (Rev. 21:22). When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was God's dwelling-place (John 1:14). The redeemed are God's temple in which He dwells (Eph. 2:22); but God Himself is the temple in which they worship. Creation cannot contain His fulness; but those who love Him and abide in Him are filled INTO all the fulness of God (Eph. 3:19). God says, "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool." "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit" (Isa. 57:15; 66:1-2). Marvellous condescension of Divine and infinite love! God seeking the companionship of men! He desired to renew it with Israel, and, through them, with the rest of mankind. Broken by sin, He longed to renew it, and this He has done through redemption, as is here set forth in type. No sooner was the sanctuary provided, and everything accomplished according to God's word, than "the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle" (Ex. 40:34).

Following his unfair accusations against Job, Zophar now tells Job in effect that he is unable to discern the deep things of God. Certainly it was true that Job could not search out the depths of God's wisdom, or "find out the limits of the Almighty." Did Zophar think God has any limits? He is infinite, not limited in any way. Zophar applied his words only to Job, but they were just as applicable to Zophar too! But he thought himself so wise that he did not need to learn, as Job did. God's thoughts are higher than the heaven, deeper than Sheol (v.8). No one can know them unless God reveals them. Their height and depth are first mentioned, then their length and breadth (v.9). These things are all mentioned in Ephesians 3:18, as matters now revealed in Christ, yet still "passing knowledge," for indeed the actual glory of Christ is infinitely beyond our understanding, though revealed to us in a very real and wonderful way by the Spirit of God. We do know Him, yet at the same time realise how little we know Him.

Now if God be brought within the limits of man's thoughts as such, if by searching Him man can find Him out, then is He really not God at all, or man is. At least, his mind is equal to the divine infinity; for when it comes to power instead of presumptuousness, the difference is soon found out.

I remember looking at a busy ant colony on a broiling summer day in Australia. My thoughts ran as follows. The distance between a man and an ant is very great, but after all it is but a finite distance. You can weigh the substance of a man and that of an ant, and you can find out how much heavier a man is than an ant. But can an ant understand what is passing through a man's mind? Can an ant understand the achievements of men? We know it cannot. But the distance between God and man is infinitely greater than that between man and ant. God is the Creator. Man is the creature. The distance between them is infinite. No arithmetic is of any use here. Is it possible that the mind of man can understand and comprehend God? He is "the only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Tim. 6:15-16). We may well re-echo the words of Zophar, "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea" (Job 11:7-9).

One serious effect of sin entering the world was that mankind lost the true knowledge of God. Once lost, that highest and best of all knowledge could not be regained by any effort of man's will or intellect. "Canst thou by searching find out God?" (Job 11:7), was the question of Zophar, whilst in a previous chapter Job confessed his inability in that direction, saying, "Lo, He goes by me, and I see Him not: He passes on also, but I perceive Him not" (Job 9:11). Since, therefore, we cannot discover God, it is needful that He should make Himself known to us. Revelation becomes a necessity; and the crowning point of that revelation of Himself was touched when in Christ He made Himself known as Father.

God inhabits eternity. He fills all things. He is everywhere. He is the uncreated, self-existent source of all things, yet knowing no source for Himself. He created all things out of nothing. Such a conception satisfies because it is beyond conception. We bow before this glorious Being with holy joy. Our hearts trust Him, for He is utterly beyond the littleness and frailty and sinfulness of men. He is in one sense unmoved by any impulse, save that which springs from Himself. He is all goodness, all love, all righteousness, all holiness, all faithfulness. Every attribute and quality that we can admire is absolute in its fulness in Him. In short, a Being who is love, who is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, satisfies the cry of our hungry hearts for omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, all serve His love, and therefore serve us. This could not be known without revelation, nor fully known apart from the Cross, where God manifested Himself fully in Christ.

It stands to reason that no man hath seen God at any time. We can take account of a thing if it be a score of miles in length or breadth, and if it be a solid substance to be weighed. But can we imprison the wind to measure its dimensions, or tell where the light ends? God is a Spirit; and heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. He is everywhere present throughout this vast universe, greater than all He has created, not subject to change or break-up. Where could we begin to take account of Him? We may well ask this, as we read Job 38. He is "the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible" (1 Tim. 1:17, New Trans.).