The Holiness of God
Big Idea: God's holiness distinguishes him in majesty and purity, inspiring us to respond with awe, reverence, and worship, and to pursue holy living.
There have been a few people in history who have had a unique experience. It's an experience that we all look forward to, but these select few have experienced it already. It is best summarized by a verse in the Old Testament written about Moses.
The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. (Exodus 33:11)
Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. (Deuteronomy 34:10)
At some point in our lives, we are all likely to be amazed by God's greatness, power, and holiness. Eventually, you may find yourself asking, "What kind of God have I been reading and singing about all these years?" At various times, we've felt the greatness and holiness of God, making us uneasy.
But imagine for a minute actually meeting God. In Genesis 32:30, Jacob marveled after wrestling with God and exclaimed, "I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
Gideon just met the angel of the Lord, and the book of Judges says:
When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" (Judges 6:22)
One time Moses asked, Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." (Exodus 33:18)
And God replied: "But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." (Exodus 33:20)
God revealed a part of his glory to Moses, and when Moses came down from the mountain, he didn't realize his face shone from being with the Lord.
On every occasion in which people encountered the glory of God, there is a sense of mystery and awe. Words can't explain the transformation that took place. But on two occasions, human beings were able to witness angelic worship in heaven. In Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, we read very similar passages. Two men, Isaiah and John, both attended a heavenly worship service, and here is what they witnessed:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-4)
Revelation describes a song sung endlessly in heaven: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." What we witness here is spectacular. At different times, I've witnessed a performance of some sort that literally moved me to action. I remember clapping spontaneously, or crying, or even jumping out of my seat without any shame or self-consciousness. My reaction was a spontaneous expression of my admiration and appreciation.
Both passages show that seeing God's glory naturally leads to praise. Sooner or later, we realize that no "box" we've constructed for God can contain him. No mystery confuses him. No problem can stop him. No sin goes unnoticed by him. Sooner or later, we bow our knees and cry out with a pure heart, "Holy, holy, holy…there is no one else like you!" We will join the seraphim in saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." Or, with Moses:
Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you–majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? (Exodus 15:11)
Here, my friends, we've encountered God's central attribute. Tony Evans calls holiness the "centerpiece of God's attributes." Of all the things that God is, at the center of his being, God is holy. God's holiness is central to understanding who God is, and all that he does. Never in the Bible is God called "love, love, love" or "eternal, eternal, eternal" or "truth, truth, truth." In the Bible, God is uniquely described by his main attribute: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts."
On this aspect of his character, God has laid the most stress. In fact, I think the entire Old Testament can be summed up in the concept of God's holiness and his desire that we be holy.
I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:45)
Again and again in the Old Testament, it is stressed that we must keep our place and our distance in the presence of a holy God. You can't know God unless you know his holiness. Everything God does is holy; all that he is is holy. And our eternal song will be about his holiness.
Understanding God's Holiness
The word "holy" has two distinct meanings.
Otherness
The first, and the primary meaning, is "apartness" or "otherness." Being holy means being separate. When we say that God is holy, we're recognizing that he is profoundly different from all his creatures. He has a transcendent majesty, a superiority, which merits our honor, reverence, and worship.
For this is what the high and lofty One says–he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15)
God dwells in a high and holy place, because he is the holy or separate one. The Bible mentions holy places, people, and things set apart by God for a special purpose. God's holiness transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary and the common into the uncommon.
A couple was invited to the White House for a meeting with the president. Within the dining room, a deep voice announced, "The President of the United States." And in came the president, and his wife – at that time, the Bushes. As the couple approached him, he thought, "They look like an average middle-aged couple, just like many I see each week." He later reflected, "Upon first glance, it was their humanness; it was just their normalcy in appearance and countenance that struck me."
When we meet God, we'll immediately notice his holiness and how different he is from us. There is no one else like him! His uniqueness and holiness will amaze us, making us kneel and join the angels in proclaiming, "Holy, Holy, Holy, we've never seen anyone like You! You are in a category all your own! You are majestic! We are common. You are holy! We are sinful. You are the Creator! We are the creatures. You are worthy!"
The Bible says that not one of us will escape that day on our feet. All of us will be knocked to our knees in worship and adoration of God who is so great. The Bible describes God's holiness as his "otherness," meaning He is entirely separate and unlike anything else.
But there's another sense in which the word "holy" is used.
Purity and Righteousness
The Bible also talks about God's holiness in the sense of his purity and righteousness. God can do no wrong. God is completely separated from sin and evil. John writes:
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
He is perfect in holiness. James 1:13-14 says that God can't sin, can't be tempted to sin, and cannot tempt someone else to sin. In this sense, God is holy, and we are not. Unlike with us, there is no evil mixed in with his goodness. Somebody once said, "There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much evil in the best of us, that it's hard to know what to think of us".
With God, there's no doubt. He is holy; his actions are holy, and there is no evil mixed in with his goodness. God's holiness is seen as a strong argument against the idea that humans created the concept of God. Human beings might very well imagine a sort of deity who is loving, merciful, forgiving, and powerful. Human beings, prone to mistakes, would likely avoid creating a perfect God who would demand strict accountability to His holiness.
Can you imagine a "hole-y" golf instructor? One that could hit a hole in one every time and thoroughly expects you to do the same thing, holding you accountable if you miss? We would never invent a holy and righteous God who expects us to be holy, just as he is holy. But God is intrinsically holy. In eternity, we will naturally proclaim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!"
What This Means for Us
Let’s discuss some practical ways to apply God's holiness that you may not have considered lately. And the first is this:
Praise God for the blessing of his holiness.
We are profoundly blessed to be part of a universe governed by a holy and righteous God. Many find it hard to picture life under oppressive dictators who mistreat citizens and take lives. However, some among us have personally experienced the pain of oppression and poverty.
Friends, when was the last time we paused to thank God for His holy, just, and merciful rule? When did we fall to our knees and cry out, "Lord, thank You for using Your sovereign power with kindness and integrity. Thank You for not exploiting or oppressing the people You govern. Thank you for ruling with perfect justice and love, without imposing unfair expectations, favoring the powerful, or engaging in corrupt deals!"
When was the last time we thanked him for his divine standards of righteousness, that he gave to us as an extension of his holiness? Imagine a universe ruled by a corrupt God who writes unjust laws, accepts bribes, and neglects righteousness on Earth. Praise God for his holy rule over the universe! Praise God that he is on the throne.
That's the first practical way that God's holiness should affect us. It leads us to realize how blessed we are that we have a holy God, and it should fill us with praise.
There's a second way God's holiness should change our lives.
Praise God for the blessing of his law.
Second, when last did you thank God for his laws, which have provided us with a measure of protection in this world?
God's holiness in Leviticus and elsewhere leads to the laws he has given us, which reflect that holiness. The key thought in the book of Leviticus is the holiness of God. The word "holy" appears more times in Leviticus than in any other book of the Bible.
God's holiness, as shown in Leviticus and other texts, leads to the laws he provides, which reflect that holiness. God's holiness includes the command "Don't steal," which helps protect my possessions. God says, "Don't murder," and as a result of God's standards of holiness, I haven't been murdered yet. I don't know if you've thought of it before, but our moral code flows out of the holiness of God! There is a moral code, a sense of rightness, within each of us, and aren't you glad that God set this moral code rather than Satan? Maybe you haven't thanked God for that lately!
Praise God for his holiness, and praise God for his law. Finally:
Praise God for his commitment to make you holy.
When was the last time you thanked God for his commitment to making you holy?
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15-16)
God is involved in a quest to make every believer more and more like Jesus. It is our ultimate goal, that one day, when we appears, we will be like him. God is committed to making you holy.
If you are a Christian, you are experiencing the 24-hour a day ministry of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying you. Your entire life, he is chipping away at your character. His main role is to cleanse us from sin and make us more holy in our daily lives. If you are in Christ, you are called a "saint," meaning you are already set apart and will grow in holiness until you meet him.
Howard Hendricks wisely observed, "It is foolish to build a chicken coop on the foundation of a skyscraper". The Christian who fails to live a holy life is failing to utilize the foundation for his life that Christ has given him. God is willing to cleanse us. The holy God who created this world can give you a clean heart. When was the last time you praised God for this?
My prayer for you this morning is the same as that of the apostle Paul. He wrote:
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
Adapted in part from Our God is Awesome by Tony Evans
