God Ever Present

MINNIE SUCKOW

Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Philip's request indicates the erroneous belief of the ages, that God is afar off, absent, or separate from His creation. In spite of this quite generally accepted false sense, there were many, both before and after the Christian era began, to whom the presence of God was revealed, and their experiences are recorded in the Bible that we may profit thereby.

It was the mission of Christ Jesus to reveal to mankind the nature of God; hence his reply to Philip, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" The "me" referred to was not the personal Jesus, but the spiritual idea, the Christ, which he represented. Jesus demonstrated Christ, defined by Mary Baker Eddy as, "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 583). God is known only through that which expresses or manifests Him.

The omnipresence and omnipotence of God were abundantly shown forth throughout the earthly career of Christ Jesus. He therefore pointed to his words and marvelous works of healing, explaining that they were of the Father. To those who saw sin, disease, and death destroyed, and life and health restored by the Christ-power, the true nature of God was shown.

The eternal Christ, Truth, which reveals the presence of God, appeared in the way that was appreciable to the people of Jesus' day. When Jesus had fulfilled his mission of demonstrating Christ, Truth, and was about to ascend, or disappear to material sense, he promised that another Comforter should come. With a consciousness sufficiently pure to receive the revelation of Christ, Truth, Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science. The mighty works performed by Jesus are being repeated in some measure today by means of this Science. All who experience these healings realize that they are just what our Leader calls them (ibid., Pref., p. xi), "the sign of Immanuel, or 'God with us,'—a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

"To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised."

The utilization of the truth which Christian Science teaches, brings the consciousness of the presence of God, good, and with this enlightenment the disappearance of discordant conditions naturally follows. Every scientific healing is a proof that God is with us.

The statement that God is infinite—All—necessarily means that He is ever present. Since God fills all space, He is here and everywhere. Being incorporeal, God, Spirit, is invisible to the material senses; and so, He has been mistakenly believed to be absent. But spiritual sense sees God, and is aware of His presence. Christian Science enables every sincere seeker for Truth to cultivate spiritual sense.

As the true idea of God is gained, His presence is demonstrated in human experience. This proof brings with it the conviction that He is ever present. It satisfies the longing expressed by Philip, and common to us all; for healing of whatever nature in Christian Science gives a glimpse of reality, and the Father is thereby shown us. Thus is the magnitude of God's love revealed, and man found to be inseparable from Him.

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