God’s expression of his spiritual being. God shows himself to people in different ways. Even though God is spirit and cannot be seen, believers can still feel his presence. God also reveals himself through nature. Sometimes this happens through powerful natural events like fire, lightning, and earthquakes (1 Kings 19:11–13). At other times, God appears in the form of a human (Genesis 18; 32:22–32). In these ways, God helps people know he is real and present with them.
The Presence of God in the Old Testament
The Angel of the Lord
The angel of the Lord was God's messenger and special protector of Israel. The Bible mentions this angel many times, though it may not always be the same angel (Exodus 14:19; 23:20; 33:2).
In several stories, this angel seems to be God himself appearing in the form of an angel. When the angel disappeared after speaking to Hagar, she said she had seen God himself (Genesis 16:13). When the angel spoke to Jacob, he spoke as if he were God (31:11–13). In Genesis 21:18, 22:11, Numbers 22:35, tthe angel uses "I" in a way that shows God's presence.
Sometimes, the stories switch from God to an angel and back to God (Exodus 12:23; Genesis 48:15–16). In these stories, God was choosing to appear as an angel for a time. This helped show his people that he was truly present with them.
The Glory of God
Glory is what God possesses in his own right. It is a visible extension of his nature. The heavens are a visible form of God’s presence, for they are his glory (Psalms 8; 19:1–6; 136:5). The glory that appeared to Israel as a consuming fire on Sinai also filled the tabernacle (Exodus 29:43; 40:34–38). By it, God set apart the tabernacle as the place of his presence. In Isaiah 6 the glory appears as the normal expression of the divine presence. In Ezekiel, the glory is identical with God (Ezekiel 9:3–4). Throughout the Old Testament, the glory of God is the God who is beyond human understanding making his presence and nearness visible to his own people.
The Face of God
In the Old Testament, “presence” is used to represent the Hebrew word for “face.” When “face” is used with a preposition, it means “in the presence of.” In Genesis 32:30, Jacob saw God “face to face.” A human's personality and character are made visible on his or her face. In this sense, a person’s face is the person. So, “the Angel of His Presence [face]” in Isaiah 63:9 may mean “the angel who is his face.” The prophet Isaiah may have intended the identification.
The face of God is God showing his grace. So, when he "hides his face," he is withholding his grace. But when he makes his face shine, there is blessing (Psalm 31:16;44:3). The face of God, then, is the presence of God (Exodus 33:14). To pray to God in a holy place was to “seek God’s face,” his personal presence (Psalm 24:6). This describes temple worship and private prayer in Israel (63:1–3; 100:2). People were blessed when God showed them his kindness, which the Bible describes as God's face shining on them (Numbers 6:25; Psalm 80:3, 7, 19).
The Name of God
Among the people who spoke Semitic languages, such as Hebrew and Arabic, the equation of the name and the person was a common idea. The name of God was also an interchangeable term for God himself. It was a symbol of his activity in revelation. When people worshiped using God's name, they experienced his power (Psalms 44:5; 89:24; Is 30:27). It was a way of describing the power of God that spreads help and energy to everyone.
God could act by his name. The angel of the Lord’s authority and power functioned because God’s name was in him (Exodus 23:20–21). As one who carried the divine name, the angel made real the hidden presence of God. The temple was the dwelling place of the name (1 Kings 11:36). People prayed to God in the temple, but it was more than just a place of prayer. It was where God chose to live among his people.
The Spirit of God
The Holy Spirit helps people experience God's presence. Even though God is beyond human understanding, the Holy Spirit helps bring him close to his people. God’s presence becomes real among his people through the Spirit (Isaiah 63:11–14; Zechariah 7:12). By the Spirit, God’s gifts and powers are at work among his people (2 Chronicles 15:1; 20:14; 24:20; Zechariah 4:6; 6:1–8).
The Spirit was the presence and power of God with his people. God himself acts by his nature. The sinner cannot be in the presence of God without the aid of God’s Holy Spirit. To be without the Holy Spirit is to be without God’s presence (Psalm 51:11). Without the Spirit, communion between God and humans is not possible.
The Presence of God in the New Testament
In the New Testament, God showed himself to people in a new way through Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to live among people, he showed them what God was like (John 1:14–18; 17:6, 26). Jesus’s mission was to reveal God to humanity. He did this through his whole life’s work and his words.
The name "Jesus" itself was important because it means "The Lord Saves." This name showed what God does: he saves people. Through Jesus, people could fully understand the meaning of God's name.
In earlier times, people met with God at the temple. Now, Jesus became like a new temple where people could meet with God (John 1:14; 2:21; Colossians 2:9). God was fully present in Jesus. This was just the beginning of how God would show himself to people in new ways.
In the New Testament, the church becomes God's temple in a new way. Christianity as a religion is about being close to God and having a relationship with him. The body of Christ (that is, the church) is like a spiritual temple (Ephesians 2:22). It is made of “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5). It is the residence of the presence of the glorious God.
And now, the individual Christian is also a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16–17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16). God is especially present in the Christian’s spirit. There God reigns, because there is his kingdom. There, God is worshiped. In the individual Christian, God's glory and presence have set apart the inner person into a temple (see John 14:23).