Can A Transcendent God be With His People?
Some have argued that the transcendence of God means that He is so “other” that we cannot really know Him. The pagan gods do not have this problem, you can set one on your mantle if you so desire. Can we maintain our belief in the eternal attributes of the God of the Bible and still claim that God can be known? This, theologically, is the issue of immanence and transcendence. We have described God as transcendent beyond and above us. These descriptors normally are applied to geographical or spacial matters, but not in this case. God’s omnipresence means there is no place where He is not (see Psalm 139:7). God’s eternal nature, moral attributes, and personal attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence tell us that God is higher than us in all ways. He is of a greater order of being than all else, including humans. The opposite of transcendence is immanence God’s closeness and activity within His creation. Is God high and lifted up and exalted beyond the heavens; or is He a
