Nearness

Lately I've been noticing how often I run across the word "near" in the New Testament.

John the Baptist and then Jesus himself tell us that the kingdom is near (Matt 3:2, Matt 4.17) . Jesus instructs his disciples to preach the same message (Matt 10.7).

The power, the authority of the God of the Universe is close to us, is immediate, is imminent. The message seems to be, "Pay attention! Something BIG is going on right under your nose!"

Later on, Paul preaches in Athens and explains to his audience that God is not far from us. He too is telling his listeners, "You have the wrong idea about the Almighty God; he isn't up on Mount Olympus, sequestered in his palace. He is close at hand."

To impress this idea on us, Jesus emptied himself and came to this earth as a human. Emmanuel -- God with us!

Along with our other ideas about God -- omnipotent, omnicient, omnipresent -- we need to add the idea of nearness. Attentiveness. Involvedness. Immediacy.

When a family or friends have a strong relationship, we call them "close" and we mean that there is an intimacy between them. Our God offers us this kind of relationship with Him, and he has taken the first step, coming near to us.

He doesn't stop there. He works to move us closer to him. Eph. 2:13 mentions that we "who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."

This closeness changes our lives. We are to rejoice, be gentle, and not be anxious -- because the Lord is near and that gives us peace! (Phil 4:4-7) The writer of Hebrews advises us that by drawing near to God we can have assurance and hope (Heb 10:22-24) and can encourage each other.

And not only is God near us, but Christ's return is near too. And that nearness can help us be patient and stand firm, according to James (5:8).

John opens his Revelation (1:3) by saying that the time for Jesus' return is near. I hear this to mean more than hours/minutes of human time -- I hear this as comfort that our God has not abandoned us; He is near. Imminent.

His power is only lightly veiled from our consciousness. His love is juxtaposed against our daily decisions. Since God is omnipresent, being near can't speak just to physical proximity. Since God (and Jesus' return) is outside of the structure of time, being near can't just speak to days/months.

Perhaps nearness speaks more to accessibility. God is near.