v. In front of
Exo 33:14 I will go with you, and I will give you rest
Psa 16:11 life; in your p there is fullness of joy
Psa 139:7 your Spirit? And where will I run from your p?
Jer 23:39 I will uproot from me for you and the
Jon 1:3 to go .. away from the p of Jehovah
Zep 1:7 be silent in the p of the Lord God, because
Luk 1:76 because you will go before the p of the Lord
Act 10:33 we are here in the p of God, to hear
2Co 10:10 plus the weak corporeal p, and the word
Phi 1:26 glory .. for my p again among you
(-> Immanuel). The key question of the Bible is not if there is a God (ontological problem), but if God walks and dwells with men. This is the central theme of Exodus (God walks with the Israelites, accompanying them on their way out of Egypt) and Deuteronomy (God makes a covenant with his people, dwelling with his own). This is the background motif of the temple tradition, so that God can be defined as Shekinah, that is, as a presence. The very “being of God” is defined, therefore, as a “being with”. Yahweh’s “I am who I am” (Ex 3:14) means “I am who am with you”. The messianic name of God is Emmanuel: God with us (Is 7,14). The question of the Israelites at the moment of trial, after leaving Egypt, is not whether there is God, but is God with us or not? (Ex 17.7). In this perspective, the later tradition of the Jews and Christians is understood. According to a central word of the Gospel, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of God” (Mt 18:18). Jesus, the Messiah, comes to present himself as a divine presence in the communion of brothers, who thus appear as a true temple, a sacred reality. That is why Jesus says to his envoys: “And I am with you until the end of time” (Mt 28,20). Some basic words of the rabbinical tradition* are also situated in this line: “Rabbi Simeon used to say: if three eat at a table and do not speak about the words of the Torah, it is as if they ate from the sacrifices of the dead, such as it is written: all the tables are full of vomit and filth… (Is 21,8). But if three eat at a table and speak words of the Torah among themselves, it is as if they ate from the table of God (= Maqom), as it is written: this is the Table that is before Yahweh (Ez 41,22) ” (Mishnah, Aboth 3,3). “Rabbi Khalafta… said: If ten sit and engage in Torah, the Shekinah is in their midst, because it is written: God (Elohim) is in the midst of the community of God (Adat-†™El; Sal 82,1)” (Mishna, Abot 3,6). In this way the table of bread and the table of the word of God are linked, according to a tradition that is at the bottom of Dt 8,3, resumed by Mt 4,4 par. Obviously, Jewish theology has not formulated the meaning of the presence of the Torah or Shekinah (Law or Glory) of God with the same terms used by Christians when they speak of the real presence of Christ, Son of God, in the Eucharist. But the two formulations are parallel. God is found where men eat together and talk. Rabbinic texts in C. DEL VALLE, Misná, Sígueme, Salamanca 2003, 843-844; Siddur. Ritual of prayers, Sigal, Buenos Aires 1976, 345-353.
PIKAZA, Javier, Dictionary of the Bible. History and Word, Divine Word, Navarra 2007
Source: Dictionary of Bible History and Word
God is the necessary horizon of all that we are and of all that we do. God is, at the same time, the center, the heart of all reality, therefore everything is in him and he is in everything. And Jesus, Son of God, being God himself, is the horizon of all history, of all our lives, of each day. The risen Jesus is here in our midst as the living center of our being Church. He is in us, not with the power of miracles (which he has been performing in a very sparing and moderate way) but with the constant presence —invisible and mysterious, typical of him! mystery of God—of that soft and almost imperceptible aura that is the mystery of God, and that, nevertheless, those who have been born of God know how to capture. Jesus is present in his word proclaimed from him in Scripture and in the voice of the Church. Therefore, when we hear this word, we are in real communion with the Risen One and our hearts jump for joy because we feel this intimate consonance, this unbreakable relationship that has been established between us and the Risen Jesus, and that the Word of God continually proclaimed awakens, like a powerful electric current, making our heart vibrate inside. Jesus is in us every time we receive the sacraments, every time we make those gestures and those simple words in which he makes himself feel alive and risen. Jesus is in the heart of every man who believes and who waits, he is in the heart of humanity, which belongs to him, in the heart of his Church. Jesus is where he is celebrated and loved; where there are two or three gathered in his name; he is in the little ones, in the sick, in the prisoners, in the marginalized, in the foreigner alone and without resources; in those who see themselves abandoned and helpless, in the poorest peoples on earth, in families where there is suffering, rejection, inability to endure, pain. Jesus enters into every suffering and can comfort and transform it with the power of his Holy Spirit. This is what it means: “We have seen the Lord!”
Carlo María Martini, Spiritual Dictionary, PPC, Madrid, 1997
Source: Spiritual Dictionary
The Greek word pa rou si a, usually translated “presence,” is formed with pa ra (next to) and ou si a (derived from ei mi, “to be” or “to be”) . Thus, pa rou si a literally means the “action of being together with,” that is, “presence.” In the Christian Greek Scriptures that word is used 24 times, most of them in relation to Christ’s presence in connection with his Messianic Kingdom. (Mt 24:3; see appendix to NW, p. 1576.)
Many versions differ in how this word is translated. In some texts they translate pa·rou·si·a by “presence”, but more often the translation is “coming”. This fact has given rise to the expression “second coming” or “second advent” of Jesus Christ (adventus is the way the Latin Vulgate translates pa·rou·si·a in Mt 24:3). Although Jesus’ presence necessarily implies his arrival at the place where he is present, translating pa rou si a by † œcoming† places the emphasis on the arrival and obscures his subsequent presence. Although lexicographers admit †œarrival† and †œpresence† as translations of pa·rou·si·a, they generally recognize that the main idea conveyed by that word is the presence of the person.
The Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (by WE Vine, 1984, vol. 1, p. 50) says: “PAROUSIA denotes both an arrival and a consequent presence with. For example, in a papyrus letter a lady speaks of the need for her parousia in a place in order to deal with matters relating to her property there. When used of Christ’s return, at the Rapture of the Church, it means not merely his momentary arrival for his saints, but his presence with them from that time until his revelation and manifestation to the world † . The Dictionary of the Bible (Serafín de Ausejo edition, Barcelona, Herder, 1981, col. 1451) explains that “in the Eastern Hellenistic world, the word is found as a classic term to designate the official visit of the king or emperor.” (See also Mt 24:3, JB, note.)
While secular Greek writings are of course helpful in determining the meaning of this Greek term, it is even more effective to examine its use in the Bible itself. For example, at Philippians 2:12 Paul says that the Philippian Christians obeyed “not only during presence, but now much more readily during absence.” Likewise, at 2 Corinthians 10:10, 11, after referring to those who said that “his letters were weighty and forceful, but his presence in person was weak and his speech contemptible,” Paul adds: “Take note this such a man, that what we are in our word by letters being absent, that same we will also be in action being present † . (Compare also Php 1:24-27.) So the contrast is between presence and absence, not arrival (or coming) and departure.
In view of the foregoing, JB Rotherham explains in the appendix to his English version (p. 271): “In this edition the word parousia is uniformly rendered †˜presence†™ (†˜coming†™ has been dropped as translation of this word). The meaning of †˜presence†™ shows itself so clearly in contrast to †˜absence†™ that the question that naturally arises is: why not always translate it like this?† .
It is clear from the words of Jesus recorded at Matthew 24:37-39 and Luke 17:26-30 that his pa rou siʹa is not simply a momentary coming followed by a quick departure, but rather a presence covering a period of time. In these passages the “days of Noah” are compared to “the presence of the Son of man” (“the days of the Son of man,” according to Luke’s record). Thus, Jesus does not limit the comparison to the coming of the Flood as a final climax during Noah’s days, although he shows that his own † œpresence † (or † œdays †) will see a similar culmination. Since the “days of Noah” actually covered a period of years, there is reason to believe that the foretold “presence of the Son of man” would likewise cover a period of years, culminating in the destruction of those who pay no heed to the opportunity given to them to seek liberation.
The nature of the “parousia” of Christ. There is no doubt that a pa rou si ao presence may be visible; In reality, on six of the occasions that the word appears, it refers to the human and visible presence of men such as Estéfanas, Fortunato, Achaico, Tito and Pablo. (1Co 16:17; 2Co 7:6, 7; 10:10; Php 1:26; 2:12) However, a pa rou siʹa can also be invisible, as indicated by its use Paul in the related verb form (pa·rei·mi) when he speaks of being “present in spirit” though absent in body. (1Co 5: 3) Likewise, the Jewish historian Josephus referred in the Greek text of his work to the pa·rou·si·a of God on Mount Sinai, mentioning that his invisible presence was manifested by thunder and lightning. (Jewish Antiquities, book III, chap. V, sec. 2.)
Jehovah’s words to Moses regarding the ark of the covenant that was in the Most Holy of the tabernacle, give biblical basis to the idea of an invisible presence. Jehovah said: “And there I will certainly appear to you, and I will speak with you from above the…