Chapter 03: A God Who Can’t Be Everywhere – Dake’s Denial of Omnipresence

The question hung in the air like a weight. Sarah, only seven years old, looked up at her mother with eyes filled with genuine fear. She had been taught from the Dake Bible that God the Father has a physical body that sits on a throne in heaven. Now, facing surgery the next morning, she wondered if God could really be with her or if His body was too far away to help.

This heartbreaking scene illustrates the devastating pastoral impact of one of Finis Dake’s most harmful teachings that God the Father has a physical body and therefore cannot be omnipresent. When we tell people that God has a body located in one place, we rob them of the comfort of His immediate presence in their darkest hours. We transform the God who is “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1) into a distant deity watching from afar through some kind of cosmic security system.

In this chapter, we’ll examine how Dake’s insistence that God has a physical body necessarily destroys the biblical doctrine of omnipresence the truth that God is everywhere present at all times. We’ll see how this teaching creates a limited God who must travel from place to place, who can’t hear all prayers simultaneously, and who relies on angels and the Holy Spirit to know what’s happening outside His immediate location. Most importantly, we’ll see why this matters for real people facing real struggles who need to know that God is truly with them.

What Dake Taught About God’s Location

Think about what Dake is actually saying here. He’s teaching that God the Father is not everywhere present. Instead, God has a physical body that exists in one location heaven and He experiences the rest of reality indirectly through the Holy Spirit, who acts like God’s eyes and ears throughout the universe. This makes the Holy Spirit God’s surveillance system rather than God Himself being present everywhere. Dake explicitly states: “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all present where there are beings with whom they have dealings; but they are not omnibody, that is, their bodies are not omnipresent. All three go from place to place bodily as other beings in the universe do.”⁹ He further clarifies: “Spirit beings, including God, Himself, cannot be omnipresent in body, for their bodies are of ordinary size and must be at one place at a time, in the same way that bodies of men are always localized, being in one place at a time.”²⁷

The Throne Room Limitation

According to Dake, God the Father sits on a literal throne in a literal throne room in the literal third heaven. This throne and throne room are physical locations with actual dimensions. God’s body occupies space on this throne, which means He cannot simultaneously occupy space elsewhere. As Dake explains in his notes on various passages:

Dake writes extensively about this throne: “God the Father has a throne in heaven where He sits to rule the universe. This throne is a real throne, not a symbolic one. God has a real body that sits on this real throne.”² He continues: “Since God has a personal spirit body with all the parts of a man, He can only be in one place at a time in His body. He rules from His throne in heaven and knows what happens elsewhere through the reports of angels and through the Holy Spirit.”³ In his definition of omnipresence, Dake clarifies his position: “Omnipresence then, is different from omnibody, and is governed by relationship and knowledge of God. Like the presence of someone being felt by another who is thousands of miles away, so it is with the presence of God among men.”¹⁰ He adds: “God personally dwells in Heaven, not everywhere. Jesus addressed His Father and referred to Him as being in Heaven. Eighteen times He said, ‘Father which is in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16, 45,48; 6:1,9; 7:11,21, etc.). Shall we conclude that Jesus did not know what He was talking about?”²⁸

Do you see the problem developing? If God has a body on a throne, He’s stuck there. He can leave the throne and travel somewhere else (which Dake says happened when God “came down” to see the Tower of Babel), but He can’t be on His throne AND with you in your bedroom at the same time. A body, by definition, has location and boundaries. It ends where the fingertips end, where the toes stop. If God has such a body, then He has such limitations.

The Travel Problem

One of the most revealing aspects of Dake’s teaching is his insistence that God must travel from place to place. Commenting on Genesis 11:5, where the Bible says “the LORD came down to see the city and the tower,” Dake writes:

This is like saying your dad has to drive home from work to see what you’re doing because his body is at the office. But the Bible teaches that God is nothing like that! He doesn’t need to travel because He’s already everywhere. When the Bible uses language about God “coming down,” it’s using human language to help us understand that God is intervening directly in human affairs. It’s not teaching that God literally travels through space. Dake insists: “God’s body is not omnipresent, for it is only at one place at one time like others (Gen. 3:8; 11:5; 18:1-8, 33; 19:24; 32:24-32).”¹¹ He further states: “God goes from place to place in a body just like anyone else (Gen. 3:8; 11:5; 18:1-22, 33; 19:24; 32:24-32; 35:13; Zech. 14:5; Tit. 2:13).”²⁹

Imagine if God really had to travel to see things. How long would it take Him to get from heaven to earth? Even at the speed of light, it takes light from the nearest star over four years to reach earth. Does God travel faster than light? If He leaves heaven to come check on earth, who’s watching heaven while He’s gone? These absurd questions show how ridiculous it is to think of God as having a body that must move through space.

The Information Problem

Since Dake’s God can’t be everywhere, how does He know what’s happening in places where His body isn’t located? Dake’s answer: God relies on reports from angels and information from the Holy Spirit. He writes:

Think about what this means. In Dake’s system, God the Father doesn’t directly know what you’re doing right now unless He’s physically present with you (which He’s not, since His body is in heaven) or unless an angel tells Him or the Holy Spirit reports to Him. This makes God dependent on others for information. He becomes like a CEO who only knows what’s happening in his company through reports from managers. Dake explicitly states: “God sends messengers on innumerable duties to help Him carry on His rulership of all things.”¹² He even suggests that “This is evidently one of the ways God receives information concerning many things.”¹³ Dake writes in his commentary on Zechariah: “These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth… the riders are explained to be persons whom the Lord sent forth as scouts to report on conditions in the various nations.”³⁰

But the Bible teaches that God knows everything directly, immediately, and perfectly. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13, NIV). God doesn’t need angel reporters or Spirit surveillance. He knows because He’s there everywhere, always, fully present.

What the Bible Actually Says About God’s Presence

Now let’s look at what Scripture actually teaches about God’s presence. The Bible is crystal clear: God is omnipresent fully present everywhere at all times. This isn’t a minor doctrine we can adjust without consequences. It’s fundamental to who God is and how He relates to His creation.

Psalm 139: The Classic Text on Omnipresence

David isn’t saying God can quickly travel to any of these places. He’s saying God is already there in heaven, in Sheol (the place of the dead), in the farthest parts of the sea. There’s nowhere David can go where God isn’t already fully present. This is impossible if God has a body located on a throne in heaven.

Notice that David mentions God’s “hand” and “right hand” in verse 10. Dake would jump on this and say, “See! God has hands! He has a body!” But this is missing the whole point. David is using anthropomorphic language (human descriptions) to communicate God’s care and guidance. The very same passage that uses this body language also teaches that God is everywhere present which is impossible for a body. This shows that the “hand” language is metaphorical, not literal.

Think about it this way: If your little sister says, “The sun is smiling today,” you don’t think the sun literally has a mouth with teeth. You understand she’s using human language to describe something non-human. The Bible does the same thing with God. When it says God’s “eyes” see everything, it means God knows everything, not that He has physical eyeballs.

Jeremiah 23:24: Filling Heaven and Earth

God doesn’t just see heaven and earth He FILLS heaven and earth. This is exactly what Dake denies. In his note on this very verse, Dake writes: “God is NOT omnipresent in body but in Spirit through the Holy Spirit.”⁶ But that’s not what the verse says! It says God Himself fills heaven and earth, not that the Holy Spirit fills heaven and earth while God watches from heaven. In fact, Dake repeatedly states: “God dwells in Heaven and persons on Earth that know Him and are in union with Him in spirit can feel His presence in their lives regardless of where they are on the Earth or under the Earth.”³¹

The Hebrew word used here for “fill” is “male” (pronounced mah-LAY), which means to fill up completely, like water filling a cup. God isn’t saying He can see heaven and earth from a distance. He’s saying He fills up all of space completely. There’s no cubic inch of the universe where God is not fully present.

This same truth appears throughout Scripture:

• “The heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain You” (1 Kings 8:27, NKJV)
• “He is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being'” (Acts 17:27-28, ESV)
• “He upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV)
• “In him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17, ESV)

How could all things hold together in Christ if He’s not present with all things? How could we live and move and have our being in God if God’s body is far away in heaven? These verses only make sense if God is omnipresent.

Matthew 18:20: Present Where Believers Gather

Jesus promises to be present wherever believers gather in His name. Not “I’ll watch you from heaven” or “I’ll send the Spirit to be with you,” but “there am I among them.” This is a claim to omnipresence. Jesus is claiming the ability to be present in thousands of gatherings simultaneously around the world. Yet Dake argues: “Christ is a true example of what we mean by omnipresence. He said, ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matt. 18:20). In what sense is He in the midst of so many gatherings? This could not mean that He is bodily present, for His body is in heaven seated at the right hand of God, as 24 scriptures declare.”³²

Think about Sunday morning. Millions of churches gather for worship at the same time across the world. If Jesus has a physical body in one location, how can He be present in all these gatherings simultaneously? He can’t unless He’s omnipresent, which is only possible if He’s spirit, not confined to a body.

Matthew 28:20: Always With Us

Jesus doesn’t promise to watch over us from heaven or to send representatives. He promises to BE WITH us always. The Greek word for “with” here is “meta,” which indicates close association and presence. Jesus is promising His actual presence with every believer at all times until the end of the age.

If Dake is right and divine persons have bodies that can only be in one location, then Jesus either lied or was mistaken. But Jesus neither lies nor makes mistakes. His promise requires omnipresence, which requires Him to be spirit, not limited by a body.

The Difference Between God and Angels

One of Dake’s fundamental errors is reducing God to the level of a super-powerful angel. He writes: “God has a personal spirit body…in the same sense that each human being, angel, or any other being has his own body.”⁷ Dake elaborates: “The Bible declares that God has a body, shape, image, likeness, bodily parts, a personal soul and spirit, and all other things that constitute a being or a person with a body, soul, and spirit.”¹⁴ He even claims that “All things in creation grain, fish, birds, beasts, man, angels, and even the planets have bodies, sizes, shapes, and forms.”¹⁵ By putting God in the same category as created things with bodies, Dake fundamentally misunderstands God’s nature. He explicitly states: “The only difference between men and spirits is that men have earthly, and ‘flesh and blood and bone’ bodies whereas spirit beings have spirit bodies which are not mortal and fleshly like the bodies of men.”³³

But the Bible makes a sharp distinction between God and all created beings, including angels:

Angels Are Created; God Is Eternal

Angels had a beginning they were created by God. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16, ESV). God, however, has no beginning. He is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2).

If God has a body like angels have bodies, what makes Him different from them? In Dake’s system, God is just the biggest, strongest, oldest angel. But that’s not the God of the Bible. The biblical God is qualitatively different from all created beings. He’s not the best being; He’s Being itself the source and ground of all existence. Dake even claims that “All things in creation grain, fish, birds, beasts, man, angels, and even the planets have bodies, sizes, shapes, and forms.”¹⁵ By putting God in the same category as created things with bodies, Dake fundamentally misunderstands God’s nature.

Angels Are Localized; God Is Omnipresent

Angels, having bodies (even spiritual bodies), can only be in one place at a time. When Gabriel appeared to Mary, he wasn’t simultaneously appearing to someone else elsewhere. When Michael fights the dragon in Revelation 12, he’s not fighting other battles in other places at the same time. Angels are localized beings.

But God is omnipresent. This is one of the attributes that makes God God and not a creature. When we pray to God in America while someone prays to Him in China, He’s fully present with both of us. He doesn’t have to split His attention or take turns. He’s 100% present with each person who calls on Him. Yet Dake states plainly: “Angels have always appeared in Scripture as men… They look like real men in real bodies.”³⁴ If God has a similar body, He has similar limitations.

Angels Are Servants; God Is Sovereign

Hebrews 1:14 asks about angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (ESV). Angels are servants powerful servants, but servants nonetheless. They serve God and minister to God’s people.

God doesn’t serve anyone. He’s the sovereign Lord of the universe. Yet in Dake’s system, God becomes dependent on angels to bring Him information about what’s happening where His body isn’t present. This reverses the relationship, making God dependent on His servants rather than them depending on Him.

Why a Physical God Can’t Be Omnipresent

Let’s think through the logical implications of saying God has a physical body. This isn’t just a theoretical exercise these implications affect real people’s faith and prayer life.

Bodies Have Boundaries

Every body, by definition, has boundaries. Your body ends where your skin ends. A spiritual body would still have boundaries it would end somewhere. If it didn’t end, it wouldn’t be a body but an infinite presence, which is exactly what Dake denies about God.

If God has a body with boundaries, then there are places where God is not. Outside God’s body, God is absent. This creates God-forsaken spaces in the universe places where God is not present. How horrifying to think you might be in one of those places! Dake himself admits this when he states that “God’s body is like that of a man, for man was created in His likeness and His image bodily.”¹⁶ If God’s body is like a man’s, then it has the same limitations it can only be in one place at a time. He adds: “God has a personal body, soul, and spirit like man… God has a personal spirit body with bodily parts like man.”³⁵

Bodies Occupy Space

A body takes up space. If God has a body on a throne, that body occupies a certain amount of space on that throne. It might be a large body Dake claims God’s body is proportioned to His throne, which is massive. But however large, it’s still finite. It occupies this space and not that space.

This means most of the universe is empty of God’s presence. The vast reaches of space, the depths of the ocean, the microscopic world none of these contain God’s body. In Dake’s view, God is absent from 99.999999% of reality. He’s only present in the tiny space His body occupies.

Bodies Can Only Do One Thing at a Time

If God has hands, those hands can only do one thing at a time. They might work quickly, but they still must work sequentially. If God has eyes, they can only look in one direction at a time (unless He has eyes all around His head, which even Dake doesn’t claim).

This creates a processing problem. How does a God with a body handle millions of simultaneous prayers? How does He govern the universe while sitting on a throne in one location? How does He uphold all things by the word of His power if He’s not present with all things?

Dake’s answer is that God delegates. The Holy Spirit and angels handle things where God’s body isn’t present. But this means God isn’t really omnipotent (all-powerful) or omniscient (all-knowing) Himself. He’s dependent on others to exercise power and gather knowledge where He’s not bodily present.

The Security Camera God: A Practical Disaster

Let’s think about what Dake’s theology means practically. If God has a body in heaven and only knows what’s happening on earth through the Holy Spirit and angels, then God is like a security guard watching monitors. He can see what’s happening through His cameras (the Holy Spirit and angels), but He’s not actually there. Dake even describes God’s omniscience as limited: “As to free moral agents, God learns certain things about them.”¹⁷ This suggests God discovers information He didn’t previously know. He adds: “God comes to know certain acts of free and sovereign wills, and He does not plan or try to know from all eternity past the infinite details regarding beings.”³⁶

The Prayer Problem

Think about what happens when you pray if Dake is right. You speak your prayer, and it has to travel to heaven where God’s body is located. But how does your prayer travel? Does it move at the speed of sound? The speed of light? However fast, it’s not instantaneous if it has to travel through space to reach God’s physical ears.

And what if millions of people are praying at the same time? Can God’s physical ears hear all those prayers simultaneously? Or must He listen to them one at a time, like checking voicemail messages?

The Bible presents a very different picture. When we pray, we’re not placing a long-distance call to heaven. We’re speaking to Someone who is right there with us. “The LORD is near to all who call on him” (Psalm 145:18, ESV). Not “will come near” or “will hear from afar,” but “IS near.” Present tense. Already there.

The Worship Problem

Jesus said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24, ESV). Why must we worship in spirit? Because God IS spirit. Worship is spiritual communion with the spiritual God who is present with us by His spiritual nature.

But if God has a physical body on a throne in heaven, worship becomes something very different. We’re not communing with God who is present with us; we’re sending worship from earth up to heaven where God’s body is located. Worship becomes a remote activity rather than intimate communion.

This affects how we understand corporate worship. When the church gathers, are we meeting WITH God or are we meeting to send messages TO God? The Bible says when we gather in Christ’s name, He is among us (Matthew 18:20). We’re not just talking about God or to God; we’re meeting with God. This is only possible if God is omnipresent.

The Comfort Problem

One of the greatest comforts in Scripture is that God is always with us. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4, ESV). This promise has strengthened countless believers facing death, persecution, and suffering.

But if God has a body in heaven, He’s not really with us in the valley of the shadow of death. At best, He’s watching us through spiritual surveillance cameras. The sheep is walking through the dark valley while the Shepherd watches on a monitor from heaven. That’s not very comforting!

Real comfort comes from real presence. A mother doesn’t comfort her scared child by watching him on a baby monitor; she goes to him, holds him, and is present with him. If human parents know how to be present with their children in times of need, how much more is our Heavenly Father present with us? But this requires omnipresence, which requires God to be spirit, not body-bound.

The Holy Spirit as God’s Surveillance System?

In Dake’s system, since God the Father isn’t omnipresent, the Holy Spirit serves as God’s way of being aware of and active in places where the Father’s body isn’t present. This creates huge theological problems and reduces the Holy Spirit to something like a divine surveillance and action system. Dake explicitly states that the Holy Spirit “is spoken of as moving upon creation (Gen.1:2), coming into the midst (2 Chr. 20:14), descending from heaven upon Jesus (Mt. 3:16; Mk.1:10; Lk. 3:21-22), and abiding with or departing from men (Jn.14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7-11).”¹⁸ These descriptions treat the Spirit as a mobile agent rather than the omnipresent God.

The Holy Spirit Is God, Not God’s Tool

Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit is fully God, the third person of the Trinity. He’s not God’s helper or God’s way of being places; He IS God. When Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, Peter said, “You have not lied to man but to God” (Acts 5:4, ESV). The Holy Spirit isn’t God’s representative; He is God.

But in Dake’s system, the Holy Spirit becomes the Father’s tool for omnipresence. The Father isn’t omnipresent, so He uses the Spirit to be present where He’s not. This makes the Spirit a means to an end rather than God Himself.

The Division Problem

If the Father isn’t omnipresent but the Spirit is, then the Father and Spirit aren’t really one. They have different attributes, different capabilities, different presence. The Father is limited to one location while the Spirit is everywhere. This divides the Godhead, creating inequality between the persons of the Trinity. Dake makes this explicit: “What we mean by Divine Trinity is that there are three separate and distinct persons in the Godhead, each one having His own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the same sense each human being, angel, or any other being has his own body, soul, and spirit.”¹⁹ He adds emphatically: “If there are THREE SEPARATE AND DISTINCT PERSONS as plainly stated in 1 John 5:7-8, then let this fact be settled once and forever… If these facts be true, then it is only logical and scriptural to conceive of each of the three persons in the Godhead as having a personal spirit-body, soul and spirit.”³⁷

Orthodox Christianity has always maintained that the three persons of the Trinity share all the divine attributes. The Father is omnipresent, the Son is omnipresent, and the Spirit is omnipresent. Not three omnipresences, but one omnipresent God in three persons. Dake’s theology breaks this unity, making the persons of the Trinity fundamentally different from each other.

The Knowledge Problem

If God the Father knows what’s happening on earth through the Holy Spirit’s reports, then the Father’s knowledge is indirect and dependent. He doesn’t know things immediately Himself but must receive information from Another. This makes the Father’s omniscience dependent on the Spirit’s communication.

But the Bible teaches that God knows all things directly and immediately. “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13, ESV). Notice it doesn’t say creatures are exposed to the Spirit who reports to the Father. They’re exposed to “his sight” God’s direct, immediate knowledge.

Angels as God’s Reporters?

Even stranger than making the Holy Spirit God’s surveillance system is Dake’s teaching that angels bring God reports about what’s happening where His body isn’t present. This reduces angels from worshipers and ministers to reporters and informants. Dake states that God uses “the riders on the other horses…persons whom the Lord had sent forth to walk to and fro through the whole earth as scouts, to report conditions in the various nations.”²⁰ He suggests this is how God gathers information about earthly affairs. He writes: “Such was God’s purpose in sending angels to Sodom. He told Abraham, ‘Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great … I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know’ (Gen. 18:20–21).”³⁸

Biblical Angels Worship, Not Report

When we see angels in Scripture, they’re usually worshiping God, not giving Him news reports. Isaiah sees seraphim crying “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV). They’re not saying, “Here’s what’s happening on earth today, Lord.” They’re declaring that the whole earth is already full of His glory because He’s omnipresent!

In Revelation, we see millions of angels around God’s throne saying, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12, ESV). They’re not briefing God on universe events; they’re worshiping Him for what He’s already done.

God Doesn’t Need Information

The idea that God needs angels to bring Him information assumes God lacks knowledge He needs. But Scripture teaches God knows everything: “His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5, NKJV). “He knows all things” (1 John 3:20, ESV).

God doesn’t discover things or learn facts. He doesn’t need briefings or updates. He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). This complete knowledge is only possible if God is omnipresent directly aware of everything everywhere always. Yet Dake claims: “God sends messengers on innumerable duties to help Him carry on His rulership of all things.”²¹ This makes God dependent on created beings for basic governance. Dake even states: “Angels Do Scout Work for God… When Zechariah asked the man in his first vision who the various riders were, he was told, ‘these are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth’ (1:10). After accomplishing their mission, they reported back to the angel of the Lord, saying, ‘We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest’ (1:11).”³⁹

The Problem of Evil

If God only knows about evil through angel reports, does that mean evil can happen without God knowing until an angel tells Him? Can Satan do things in secret that God doesn’t know about until later? This would mean evil has a head start on God it happens first, then God finds out about it.

But Scripture teaches God knows about evil before it happens. Jesus knew Judas would betray Him. God knew Satan would rebel. Nothing takes God by surprise because He’s present everywhere, aware of everything, sovereign over all.

The Genesis 18 Problem: God “Coming Down”

One of Dake’s favorite proofs that God has a body that must travel is the language about God “coming down” in various Old Testament passages. Let’s look at Genesis 18, where three visitors come to Abraham, and see what’s really happening.

The Three Visitors

In Genesis 18, three “men” visit Abraham. Chapter 19 reveals that two of them were angels who went on to Sodom. But who was the third? The text identifies him as “the LORD” (Yahweh). Abraham negotiates with him about sparing Sodom, and this figure speaks as God with divine authority.

Dake argues this proves God the Father has a body because He appeared as a man to Abraham. But there are serious problems with this interpretation:

1. This was likely a theophany or Christophany a temporary appearance of God (possibly the pre-incarnate Christ) in human form, not a revelation of God’s essential nature.
2. The appearance was accommodative God appeared in a form Abraham could perceive and interact with, not showing His true nature.
3. The same God who appeared to Abraham is omnipresent He was simultaneously present everywhere else while appearing to Abraham in this form.

Anthropomorphic Language

When the Bible says God “came down” to see something, it’s using anthropomorphic language describing God’s actions in human terms we can understand. It doesn’t mean God literally traveled from heaven to earth.

Think about these examples of anthropomorphic language:

• When we say “the sun rises,” we don’t mean the sun literally comes up. The earth rotates.
• When we say “the arm of the law,” we don’t mean the legal system has actual arms.
• When we say “the foot of the mountain,” we don’t mean the mountain has literal feet.

Similarly, when the Bible says God “came down,” it’s expressing God’s direct intervention in human affairs, not describing physical travel. God doesn’t need to come down because He’s already everywhere present.

The Babel Example (Genesis 11:5-7)

At the Tower of Babel, Scripture says, “The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the children of man had built” (Genesis 11:5, ESV). Dake interprets this literally God had to travel from heaven to earth to see the tower.

But this interpretation creates absurd problems:

• Did God not know about the tower until He came down to see it?
• Was the all-knowing God ignorant of human activities?
• Could humans do things in secret while God was elsewhere?

The passage is using anthropomorphic language to communicate God’s judicial investigation. Like a judge who “examines the evidence” (though he may already know the facts), God “comes down to see” to emphasize His careful, personal attention to human sin before bringing judgment. It’s not teaching that God literally traveled to gather information He didn’t have.

The Connection to Dake’s Other Errors

Dake’s denial of God’s omnipresence doesn’t stand alone. It connects to and reinforces his other theological errors, creating a web of false doctrine.

Connection to Tritheism (Three Gods)

If God the Father has a body in one location, and the Son has a body in another location, and the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, we don’t have one God but three separate Gods with different attributes and capabilities. This is exactly what Dake teaches:

Three beings with three bodies in three locations equals three Gods, not one God in three persons. Dake’s physical bodies doctrine leads inevitably to polytheism. He reinforces this by saying: “These three (individuals the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Ghost) are one…The only sense in which three can be one is in unity never in number of persons.”²² This explicitly denies the orthodox doctrine that God is one in essence while three in persons. He adds: “The only sense in which THREE can be ONE is the sense of unity, and ONE PERSON cannot be THREE PERSONS in any sense.”⁴⁰

Connection to Limited Omniscience

If God must rely on angels and the Holy Spirit for information about places where His body isn’t present, then God’s knowledge is limited and dependent. This connects to Dake’s teaching that God discovers things and learns information He didn’t previously know.

For instance, Dake interprets Genesis 18:21, where God says He will “go down” to see if Sodom is as bad as the outcry suggests, as God literally investigating to learn facts He doesn’t know. This makes God’s knowledge limited and growing, rather than infinite and perfect. Dake explicitly states that God “comes to know certain acts of free and sovereign wills, and He does not plan or try to know from all eternity past the infinite details regarding beings.”²³

Connection to Prosperity Theology

If God has a body and is limited to one location, then His ability to bless believers is also limited. This connects to Dake’s prosperity theology, which often treats God like a distant rich relative who sends blessings from afar rather than a present Father who is intimately involved in our lives.

The prosperity gospel often reduces God to a cosmic ATM machine put in faith, get out blessings. This mechanical view of God fits better with a distant deity than with the omnipresent God who is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives.

Real-World Impact: How This Affects Real People

Theology isn’t just academic theory it affects real people in real situations. Let’s look at how Dake’s denial of omnipresence impacts various aspects of Christian life and experience.

Impact on Prayer Life

Prayer assumes God can hear us wherever we are, whenever we pray. But if God has a body in one location, several problems arise:

The Competition Problem: If millions pray simultaneously, are we competing for God’s attention? Must our prayer wait in line while God processes others?

The Distance Problem: If God is far away, do our prayers take time to reach Him? Should we pray louder or longer to make sure they get through?

The Attention Problem: If God has physical ears, can He really hear a whispered prayer from earth while sitting on a throne in heaven?

These aren’t theoretical problems. I’ve counseled believers who, influenced by Dake’s teaching, actually worried about these things. One young mother told me she felt selfish praying for her sick child because she imagined God being overwhelmed with more important prayers from around the world. This is the prayer-destroying impact of denying God’s omnipresence.

Impact on Suffering

In times of suffering, we need to know God is with us, not watching from a distance. The difference between presence and observation is crucial:

• A security camera can observe your pain but can’t comfort you
• A distant observer can see your tears but can’t wipe them away
• A remote viewer can watch your struggle but can’t strengthen you

But the omnipresent God is WITH us in suffering. He doesn’t just see our pain; He shares it with us. He doesn’t just observe our tears; He collects them (Psalm 56:8). He doesn’t just watch our struggles; He strengthens us through them.

Impact on Children

Children especially need to know God is with them. When a child is scared at night, they need to know God is right there in the room, not far away in heaven. When they’re bullied at school, they need to know God is present with them, not just watching from a distance.

Children who grow up believing God has a body in heaven often struggle with feeling God is too far away to help with their immediate problems. They might believe in God but not experience His presence because they’ve been taught He’s not really present.

Impact on Worship

Corporate worship is transformed by our understanding of God’s presence. If God is omnipresent, then when we gather for worship, we’re not trying to get God’s attention or bring Him down from heaven. He’s already present, and we’re acknowledging and celebrating His presence.

But if God has a body in heaven, worship becomes an attempt to project our praise across space to reach God’s location. We’re not meeting WITH God but trying to communicate TO God across a vast distance. This makes worship feel empty and one-sided rather than the intimate communion Scripture describes.

Impact on Evangelism

When we share the gospel, we tell people that God loves them and wants a relationship with them. But what kind of relationship can you have with someone who’s not present? If God has a body in heaven, He’s offering a long-distance relationship at best.

The good news is better than that! God is not far from any of us (Acts 17:27). He’s as close as a prayer, as near as a whisper, as present as the air we breathe. This immediate availability of God is part of what makes the gospel truly good news.

Why This Heresy Is So Dangerous

Some might think this is a secondary issue an interesting theological debate but not essential to faith. This is dangerously wrong. The omnipresence of God is fundamental to biblical Christianity. Without it, everything else unravels.

It Destroys the Comfort of God’s Presence

Throughout Scripture, God’s people are comforted by His presence. From “I will be with you” to Moses (Exodus 3:12) to “I am with you always” from Jesus (Matthew 28:20), the promise of God’s presence strengthens believers through every trial.

Take away omnipresence, and these become empty promises. God can’t be with you if His body is elsewhere. At best, He can watch you from a distance or send a representative, but He can’t be personally present. This robs believers of their greatest comfort in times of trouble.

It Undermines Prayer

Prayer assumes God can hear us wherever we are. “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12, ESV). But if God has a body in one location, He can’t have His ears open to prayers from everywhere simultaneously.

This turns prayer into hoping our message gets through rather than confident communication with a present God. It creates anxiety about whether God is listening, whether He’s too busy, whether our prayers matter. This uncertainty undermines the bold confidence Scripture encourages in prayer.

It Creates Practical Atheism

If God isn’t omnipresent, then most of life happens without God’s immediate presence. We go through our days in God’s absence, hoping He’s watching from heaven but knowing He’s not really here. This creates practical atheism living as if God isn’t present because, according to Dake’s theology, He isn’t.

People influenced by this teaching often struggle with feeling God is distant, uninvolved, and uncaring. They believe in God intellectually but don’t experience His presence practically. They become functional deists believing God exists but isn’t actively present in the world.

It Leads to Other Heresies

Once you deny God’s omnipresence, other attributes of God begin to fall like dominoes:

• Omniscience falls: If God isn’t everywhere, He can’t know everything directly
• Omnipotence falls: If God isn’t everywhere, He can’t act everywhere
• Immutability falls: If God has a body that moves, He changes location
• Infinity falls: If God has a body with boundaries, He’s finite
• Simplicity falls: If God has body parts, He’s composite, not simple

Soon you don’t have the God of the Bible but a limited, finite, changing being who differs from us only in degree, not in kind. This isn’t just an adjustment to Christian doctrine; it’s an abandonment of it. As Dake himself states: “If the fact is revealed that there are three separate distinct beings in the Deity or Godhead, this would be sufficient to warrant the conclusion that each of them have separate bodies, souls, and spirits, like all other separate and distinct beings.”⁴¹

Answering Common Objections

Those influenced by Dake’s teaching often raise certain objections when confronted with the biblical doctrine of omnipresence. Let’s address the most common ones.

Objection 1: “But the Bible says God has hands, eyes, feet, etc.”

Answer: Yes, the Bible uses this language, but it’s clearly anthropomorphic (using human terms to describe God). We know this because:

1. The Bible also says God has wings (Psalm 91:4) and is a rock (Psalm 18:2). Should we take these literally too?
2. The Bible explicitly says God is spirit (John 4:24) and is invisible (1 Timothy 1:17)
3. The same passages that use body language also teach God’s omnipresence, which is impossible for a body

The body language helps us understand that God sees (knows), hears (listens), and acts (has power), not that He has literal body parts. Dake himself admits there are “a few figurative statements about God in Scripture”²⁴ but then inconsistently insists on taking body language literally. He even states: “He is a Spirit Being with a body (Dan. 7:9-14; 10:5-6, 9-19; Exodus 24:11; Gen. 18; 32:24-32; Ezek. 1:26-28; Acts 7:54-59; Rev. 4:2-4; 5:1, 5-7; 22:4-5); shape (John 5:37); form (Phil. 2:5-7)”⁴²

Objection 2: “But God appeared to people in the Old Testament”

Answer: God did appear in various forms (theophanies), but these were temporary accommodations to human limitations, not revelations of God’s essential nature. Consider:

• God appeared as a burning bush to Moses does this mean God is essentially a bush?
• God appeared as a pillar of fire and cloud is God essentially fire and cloud?
• God appeared as a still small voice to Elijah is God essentially a voice?

These appearances were God accommodating to human perception, not showing His true nature. God’s true nature is spirit, and He is omnipresent. As Dake himself notes, God has been “seen bodily by human eyes many times.”²⁵ But these were temporary manifestations, not God’s essential nature. Dake states: “He has eaten with men, as many as seventy-four at a time, who saw Him with their natural eyes and conversed with Him as literally as other persons at banquets (Gen. 18:1-22; Exodus 24:9-13).”⁴³

Objection 3: “But Jesus has a body, and He’s God”

Answer: This is true but misunderstood. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, took on human nature in the incarnation. He added humanity to His deity. But:

1. The incarnation was unique to the Son, not the Father or Spirit
2. Even in His humanity, Jesus claimed omnipresence: “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20)
3. Jesus’s divine nature remains omnipresent even while His human nature is localized

The incarnation doesn’t mean all of God has a body, only that the Son took on human nature while remaining fully divine.

Objection 4: “But God sits on a throne in heaven”

Answer: The throne imagery is symbolic of God’s sovereignty and rule, not a literal chair for a physical body. Consider what Scripture says about this throne:

• “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1) if literal, God’s body would be larger than the universe!
• The throne is surrounded by symbolic creatures with six wings and eyes all around (Revelation 4) clearly symbolic
• Jesus is described as a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes standing on the throne (Revelation 5:6) obviously symbolic

The throne represents God’s sovereign rule, not a physical seat for a physical body. Yet Dake insists: “God the Father has a throne in Heaven where He sits to rule the universe. This throne is a real throne, not a symbolic one.”⁴⁴

The Biblical Truth: God Is Spirit and Omnipresent

Having examined Dake’s error and its problems, let’s return to the beautiful biblical truth about God’s omnipresence. This isn’t just correct doctrine; it’s life-giving truth that transforms how we live.

God Is Spirit

This is Jesus’s own teaching about God’s nature. God is not “a spirit” (one among many) but “spirit” His essential nature is spiritual, not physical. This is why He can be omnipresent. A spirit isn’t limited by spatial boundaries like a body is.

This doesn’t make God less real than physical things; it makes Him more real. Physical things derive their existence from God; God doesn’t derive His existence from anything. He is the most real being the source of all other reality. Dake tries to argue that “No man, therefore, can say with Scriptural authority, that God consists of a kind of invisible substance which cannot be seen or touched by man. In fact, God will live among men in visible form for ever.”²⁶ But this contradicts Jesus’s own statement that God is spirit.

God Fills All Things

God doesn’t just see all things from a distance; He fills all things with His presence. There’s no corner of the universe where God is absent. He’s as present in the depths of the ocean as He is in the heights of heaven. He’s as present in a prison cell as He is in a cathedral.

This filling isn’t partial God doesn’t spread Himself thin. He’s fully present everywhere. The God who is with you is not part of God or an extension of God; it’s the complete, undivided God.

God Is Near to All

Paul told the pagan philosophers in Athens that God is not far from any of us. We exist within God’s presence. We’re surrounded by Him, upheld by Him, living within Him. This is true for believers and unbelievers alike God is near to all, though not all recognize or acknowledge His presence.

This nearness isn’t just physical proximity but personal availability. God is not just spatially near but personally accessible to all who call on Him.

God Is With His People Always

Throughout Scripture, God promises His presence to His people. This isn’t a promise to watch them from heaven or to send help when needed. It’s a promise of immediate, constant, personal presence. He goes with us. He stays with us. He never leaves us.

This promise is possible only because God is omnipresent. A God with a body in one location couldn’t make this promise to millions of believers simultaneously. But the omnipresent God can be fully present with each of His children all the time.

Practical Applications: Living in God’s Presence

Understanding God’s omnipresence isn’t just theological knowledge it should transform how we live every day. Let’s explore the practical implications of this glorious truth.

For Prayer

Because God is omnipresent:

• We can pray anywhere: In the car, at work, in bed God is already there
• We can pray anytime: God doesn’t have office hours or busy signals
• We can pray with confidence: We’re not trying to get God’s attention; we already have it
• We can pray honestly: God already knows our situation because He’s present in it

Prayer becomes conversation with a present Friend, not long-distance communication with an absent God. We don’t need to explain our situation to God; He’s already there. We don’t need to convince Him to care; He’s already involved.

For Times of Fear

Fear often comes from feeling alone and unprotected. But if God is omnipresent, we’re never alone. David understood this:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4, ESV).

Notice David doesn’t say “for you are watching me from heaven” but “you are WITH me.” God’s presence removes fear not because nothing bad can happen, but because nothing can separate us from Him.

When fear strikes, remind yourself: God is here. Right here. Right now. Not watching from a distance but present in this moment, in this place, in this situation.

For Temptation

Knowing God is present changes how we face temptation. Sin becomes not just breaking a distant law but grieving a present Person. You wouldn’t do certain things with your parent in the room; how much more should God’s presence affect our choices?

But God’s presence also provides power to resist. “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV). The present God provides present help against present temptation.

For Loneliness

Loneliness is epidemic in our world. Even in crowds, people feel isolated and alone. But the omnipresent God means we’re never truly alone. He’s not just aware of our loneliness from afar; He’s present in it with us.

This doesn’t mean we don’t need human relationships God Himself said it’s not good for man to be alone. But it means even in our deepest isolation, we’re not abandoned. The omnipresent God is our constant companion.

For Work and Daily Life

Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk, wrote about “practicing the presence of God” living with constant awareness of God’s presence in everyday activities. This is possible because God IS present in everyday activities!

• God is present at your workplace you can work as unto Him
• God is present in your home you can serve your family as serving Him
• God is present in traffic you can practice patience as a spiritual discipline
• God is present at the grocery store you can show His love to others

Every moment becomes an opportunity for communion with God because He’s present in every moment.

For Suffering

Perhaps nowhere is God’s omnipresence more precious than in suffering. The God who is present doesn’t just observe our pain He enters into it with us. He doesn’t just see our tears He collects them (Psalm 56:8). He doesn’t just know about our suffering He shares it.

This is the difference between sympathy (feeling sorry for someone from a distance) and empathy (entering into their experience). The omnipresent God doesn’t sympathize from heaven; He empathizes from within our situation.

Correcting the Error with Love

When we encounter people influenced by Dake’s teaching about God having a body, how should we respond? With patience, love, and clear biblical truth.

Start with Scripture

Don’t begin by attacking Dake or calling his teaching heresy (even though it is). Start by opening the Bible together and reading what Scripture actually says. Look at passages like:

• John 4:24 “God is spirit”
• Psalm 139:7-10 God’s presence everywhere
• Jeremiah 23:24 God fills heaven and earth
• Acts 17:27-28 We live and move in God

Let Scripture speak for itself. The Bible is clear that God is spirit and omnipresent.

Show the Practical Problems

Help people see the practical implications of believing God has a body:

• How can God hear millions of prayers simultaneously?
• How can God be with believers all over the world at the same time?
• How can Jesus promise “I am with you always” if He has a body in one location?
• How can we “live and move and have our being” in God if God is localized?

These practical problems help people see that Dake’s teaching doesn’t match biblical revelation or Christian experience.

Share the Comfort of Omnipresence

Don’t just correct error share the beautiful truth! Help people understand the comfort, peace, and joy that come from knowing God is truly present with them. Share testimonies of God’s presence in difficult times. Help them experience the reality of Emmanuel God with us.

Be Patient with Process

People don’t abandon deeply held beliefs overnight. Someone raised with Dake’s theology may take time to see its problems and embrace biblical truth. Be patient. Keep pointing to Scripture. Pray for illumination. Trust the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth.

The Connection to the Gospel

This isn’t just an abstract theological debate it affects the very heart of the gospel. The good news of Christianity is that God has come near to us in Christ. But if God the Father isn’t omnipresent, this good news is compromised.

Emmanuel: God With Us

Matthew tells us that Jesus would be called “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). This is the heart of the incarnation God didn’t just send help from a distance but came to be with us.

But if God has a body and isn’t omnipresent, then even in Christ, God isn’t really with us. At best, one person of the Trinity is with us while the Father remains distant. This divides the Trinity and diminishes the incarnation.

The Indwelling Spirit

The gospel promises that God’s Spirit will dwell in believers. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16, ESV). This indwelling is possible only if the Spirit is omnipresent able to dwell in millions of believers simultaneously.

If the Spirit has a body (as Dake teaches), He couldn’t indwell all believers. At best, He could visit them one at a time. The promise of the indwelling Spirit requires omnipresence. Yet Dake states: “The Holy Ghost Has a Personal Spirit-Body… If there was nothing in Scripture that says that they all have bodies, our intelligence and reason would convince us that they do have. No person can exist without a body or a shape.”⁴⁵

Access to the Father

Through Christ, we have access to the Father. “Through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18, ESV). But what good is access to Someone who isn’t present? If the Father has a body in heaven, our access is only to a distant God, not a present Father.

The gospel offers better than that immediate access to the omnipresent Father who is as near as our next breath, as close as our whispered prayer.

The Promise of Presence

The gospel ends with a promise: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, ESV). This isn’t a promise to remember us or watch us but to be WITH us. This promise requires omnipresence.

If we lose omnipresence, we lose this promise. If we lose this promise, we lose a fundamental comfort of the gospel. This is why Dake’s error is so serious it strikes at the heart of gospel comfort.

Chapter Summary

Prayer: Celebrating God’s Presence

For Further Study

If you want to study this topic further, here are some helpful resources:

Conclusion: The God Who Is Here

As we close this chapter, return to that scared little girl in the hospital we met at the beginning. Sarah, facing surgery, wondering if God is really with her or far away on a throne in heaven. What should her mother tell her?

If Dake is right, the best her mother can say is, “God can see you from heaven, sweetie. He’s watching on His spiritual security cameras.” But that’s not very comforting to a scared seven-year-old.

But if the Bible is right (and it is!), her mother can say, “Sarah, God is right here with you. He’s not far away in heaven He’s here in this room, closer to you than I am. When you go into surgery, God will be there. When you wake up, God will be there. There’s nowhere you can go where God isn’t already there waiting for you.”

That’s the difference between Dake’s limited, located God and the omnipresent God of Scripture. One watches from a distance; the Other is present with us. One observes our struggles; the Other shares them. One knows about our pain; the Other enters into it.

The good news of the gospel is not that God watches us from heaven but that He is Emmanuel God with us. Not God far from us, not God observing us, but God WITH us. This is only possible because God is spirit, not limited by a physical body.

When you pray tonight, you’re not placing a long-distance call to heaven. You’re speaking to the God who is already there with you. When you face tomorrow’s challenges, you won’t face them alone. The omnipresent God will be with you. When you walk through your darkest valley, you need not fear your Shepherd is not watching from a distant hillside but walking right beside you.

This is the comfort Dake’s theology steals from God’s people. This is why his error is so serious. This is why we must lovingly but firmly correct it wherever we find it. God’s people need to know that their God is not limited to a throne in heaven but is the omnipresent Spirit who fills all things, upholds all things, and is present with His people always.

The God of the Bible is not the distant, located deity of Dake’s imagination. He is the omnipresent God who is here really here, fully here, always here. And that makes all the difference.

---

Sources and References

© 2025, DakeBible.org. All rights reserved.