Updated 1-07-14
The Holiness of God
"Who
will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For You alone are holy."
Revelation
15:4
“It
is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be
your dread.”
Isaiah
8:13
"Will
not His majesty terrify you, and the dread of Him fall upon you?
Job
13:11
Introduction
“Certainly it's apparent to you if
you're a Christian as it is to me that we live in a profane, godless,
secularized and for the most part atheistic culture. Even our religion is a
kind of atheism, for it attempts to erase the true God and substitute in its
place a God who makes men comfortable. And whenever I read that 50 million
people in America are supposed to be born again, and I see in comparison with
that statistic the constant ever-increasing secularization of our society, I
find that the two don't go together very well. We're supposed to be a Christian
nation. It's even popular to be born again. Yet the impact of Christianity on
our country seems to be weak, seems to be shallow, it seems to be superficial,
it seems to be saccharine. Being a Christian may be in but it doesn't seem to
be having much of an impact. We are caught up in a kind of self-indulgence and
self-centeredness that even views God only in terms of what He can do for us.
And God becomes sort of a utilitarian genie, you rub your little theological
lamp, He pops out and says three wishes.
The person who criticizes the teaching
of the Word of God by saying, ‘Well, it's too strong, it alienates people,’ is
really saying, ‘We want a God who makes us comfortable.’ And I guess what I really see in Christianity
as I look at it across our country is the absence of a theology. It just seems
to me that there isn't one…And I guess if there's one element of theology that
we really don't understand it is the theology of God, theology proper it's called,
we don't understand God, God's nature. The fundamental fact of our faith is
God. And the fundamental fact about God
is that God is holy…
The
absence of a clear understanding of God's holiness is the reason for our
shallowness, it is the reason for our impotence, it is the reason for our
selfishness, it is the reason for our weakness, it is the reason for our
disobedience…If we don't understand the holiness of God, we don't understand
our sinfulness…and the consequences of our sin.”
If we don't understand
the holiness of God, we don't understand our sinfulness…and the consequences of
our sin.
R.C. Sproul said this in his book, The Holiness of God:
“Though I was deeply impressed by the
notion of a God who created the universe from nothing, I was troubled by the
fact that the world we live in is a place filled with sorrows. My next question was, “How could a good and
holy God create a world that is such a mess?”
As I studied the Old Testament, I was also bothered by the stories about
God ordering the slaughter of women and children, of God killing Uzzah
instantly for touching the ark of the covenant, and by other narratives that
seemed to reveal a brutal side to the character of God. How could I ever come to love such a God?
The one concept, the central idea I kept
meeting in Scripture, was the idea that God is holy. The word was foreign
to me. I wasn’t sure what it meant. I made the question a matter of diligent and
persistent search, and today I am still absorbed with the question of the
holiness of God. I am convinced that it
is one of the most important ideas that a Christian can ever grapple with. It is basic to our whole understanding of God
and of Christianity.”
His name is Holy
“He
has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.”
Psalm 111:9
“For
thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell
on a high and holy place…”
Isaiah 57:15
Psalm
111:9 and Isaiah 57:15 say that the name of God is Holy. Holiness is not just an attribute of God, it is the
attribute of God. It is the attribute
that best describes Him, because it is used to describe all of His other
attributes: His holy name, His holy power, His holy justice, etc. This one word is what is celebrated before
the throne of heaven; the seraphim crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with
His glory" (Isaiah 6:3).
When
we want to emphasize something, we raise our voice. When we write something that we want
emphasized we make it bold, CAPITALIZE
it, underline it, or highlight
it. When the Jewish writers of the Old
Testament wanted to emphasize something, they repeated it. The Bible never says that God is love, love,
love or that He is merciful, merciful, merciful or that He is nice, nice, nice
or even that He is great, great, great.
What it does say is that God is “holy, holy, holy.”
This
attribute is to be emphasized over every other attribute of God. The very first thing we should think of God
is the word ‘holy.’ Today, too many people and too many churches
emphasize that God is love. They seldom or never mention that God is holy
or talk about God’s judgment or His wrath although Romans 11:22 tells us,
"Behold then the kindness and
severity of God."
To be holy is to be separate
The
fact that holiness is much more than moral purity is something that we need to
understand in America today, since we make God so common. Holiness means that God is not ordinary, He
is not casual, He is not common. He is unique. He is distinct. He is not like us. It does not matter if we can call Him, “Abba,
Father,” we must remember that He is not
ordinary, He is not casual, He is not common, and He is never to be taken lightly. He is God and He is holy.
Then
Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What
is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus
you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
Exodus 3:13-14
“I
AM WHO I AM” has always been
somewhat of an ambiguous phrase because, well, people don’t talk like
that. We have learned that it refers to
God’s pre-existence, but it actually means more than that. Let’s say an alien came from outer space and
asked me what I am like. I could point
and say, “I am like him, I am kind of like her, and there billions of examples
here of what I am like.” But God cannot
do this. He cannot point to anything
else that can be compared to Him. He is
so totally different from anything else.
He is beyond comparison. He can
only say, “I AM WHO I AM.” And then it was 2,000
years ago that He was able to point at Jesus and say, "Do you want to know
who I am? I am like Him!"
Theology
is not just for preachers, it is for everyone who is a Christian. The word holy comes from an ancient verb that
meant, ‘to cut,’ or ‘to separate.’ The
adjective holy that we use today means ‘separate, set apart, distinct
from the common or ordinary.’ When the
Bible calls God holy it means primarily that God is transcendentally
separate. That word transcendence is key
to our understanding of to the holiness of God.
Transcend means to fly above. His
holiness flies far above what we can even begin to comprehend. He is so far above and beyond us that He is
totally not like us at all. To be holy
is to be ‘other,’ to be separate, to be different in a special way.
In
Scripture He is frequently called "The Holy One." He is so because the sum of all moral
excellency is found in Him. He is
absolute Purity, unblemished by even the shadow of sin. "God is light, and
in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).
God’s
holiness is manifested in His works. "The Lord is righteous in all
His ways, and holy in all His works" (Ps. 145:17). Nothing but that which
is excellent can proceed from Him.
Usually
when we think about the word holy, we think about God being sinless. God is
sinless. He is pure, without stain,
without blemish or wrinkle, without spot.
He is holy, but not as we understand holy. He is not just pretty good, He is perfect.
To
be sure the Bible does use the word holy
to talk about His moral purity, but this is at best the secondary meaning of
the word in the Bible. When the seraphim
sang their song, they were saying far more than God was “purity, purity,
purity.”
Paul
Washer says in The Gospel's Power and
Message that holiness first refers to God's transcendence over all His
creation and, "Secondly, the holiness of God refers to His transcendence
over the moral corruption of His creation.
He is separate from all that is profane and sinful. He is impeccable and pure!"
"For
You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with
You. The boastful shall not stand before
Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity."
Psalm
5:4-5
That verse says that God hates all who do iniquity. Modern preaching wants to ignore this and distort
the teaching of God's character to fit what carnal man wants: a Santa Claus who
loves and is tolerant and apathetic toward sin.
One of the animated Christmas shows has a Santa Claus who is going
through his "naughty and nice" list until he gives up and says,
"Oh, they're all pretty good," and lets everyone on the good list. I saw that and realized, "Wow, that is exactly what the world wants, an unholy
God that does not make a big deal
about sin."
Paul reminded us that there are two
sides of the character of God in Romans 11:22: "Behold then, the kindness and severity of God," and Moses
reminds us in Numbers 14:18: “The LORD is
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...but He will by no means clear the guilty.”
Modern preaching has only half of the
story right: God does love, but God is
holy; and He is a holy God who has nothing to do with sin. A holy God must hate sin with a perfect
hatred and destroy all those who commit sin.
Man must understand the holiness of God in order to understand the rest
of the gospel—it is the key to the whole thing.
John
MacArthur says, “One day the disciples came to Jesus, you know it, they said,
"Teach us to pray." He said, "Here's how to pray. Our Father who
art in heaven...what?...Hallowed be Thy name." You know what hallowed
means? Holy. You want to pray? Start out by a recognition of the holiness of
God. God is holy.” We need to
acknowledge His holiness, for we sin when we do not fear Him or esteem Him as
holy.
Here
are some verses that give us a glimpse of the uniqueness, transcendence, and
holiness of God:
"Yours,
O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the
majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the
dominion, O LORD, and You exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You
rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to
make great and strengthen everyone."
1
Chronicles 29:11-12
“Who
is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who
is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?”
Exodus
15:11
“There
is no one holy like the LORD, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there
any rock like our God.”
1
Samuel 2:2
"The
LORD is God; there is no other besides Him."
Deuteronomy
4:35
“For
you are the LORD Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all
gods.”
Psalm
97:9
“The
LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let
the earth shake! The LORD is great in
Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples.
Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.”
Psalm
99:1-3
“The
LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is
enthroned on high?”
Psalm
113:4-5
“But
our God is in the heavens; He does whatever he pleases.”
Psalm
115:3
"But
He is unique and who can turn Him? And
what His soul desires, that He does. For
He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with him. Therefore I would be dismayed at His
presence; when I consider, I am terrified of him. It is God who has made my heart faint, and
the Almighty who has dismayed me."
Job
23:13-16
"The
pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at His rebuke. By His power He stilled the sea; by His
understanding He shattered Rahab. By His
wind the heavens were made fair; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Behold, these are but the outskirts of His
ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can
understand?”
Job
26:11-14
“For
I know that the LORD is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven
and in the earth, in the seas and in all deeps.”
Psalm
135:5-6
“Let
them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is
above earth and heaven.”
Psalm
148:13
“When
I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son
of man that You care for him?”
Psalm
8:3-4
"Let
all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe
of him! For He spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stood firm.
Psalm
33:8-9
“For
this reason You are great, O LORD God; for there is none like You, and there is
no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”
2
Samuel 7:22
“There
is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours.”
Psalm
86:8
“For
You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God.”
Psalm
86:10
“O
LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth
beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk
before You with all their heart.”
1
Kings 8:23
“There
is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might.”
Jeremiah
10:6
“But
the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the
nations cannot endure His indignation.”
Jeremiah
10:10
“It
is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom;
and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult
of waters in the heavens, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of
the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from His
storehouses.”
Jeremiah
10:12-13
“There
is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help, and
through the skies in His majesty.”
Deuteronomy
33:26
“Behold,
to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all
that is in it.”
Deuteronomy
10:14
For
the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and
the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
Deuteronomy
10:17
“But
will God indeed dwell on the earth?
Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less
this house which I have built!”
1
Kings 8:27
“Thus
says the LORD, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool…’”
Isaiah
66:1
“You
alone are the LORD. You have made the
heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is
on it, the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before
You.”
Nehemiah
9:6
“Hezekiah
prayed before the LORD and said, ‘O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned
above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the
earth. You have made heaven and earth.’”
2
Kings 19:15
“But
at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and
my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored
Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His
kingdom endures from generation to generation.
“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but he does
according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
Daniel
4:34-35
“I
make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and
tremble before the God of Daniel; for He is the living God and enduring
forever, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, and His dominion will
be forever.”
Daniel
6:26
“For
by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things
have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.”
Colossians
1:16-17
"The
God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human
hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life
and breath and all things."
Acts
17:24-25
"For
in Him we live and move and exist."
Acts
17:28
"In
His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind."
Job
12:10
"Holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with His
glory."
Isaiah
6:3
“And
the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes
around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘HOLY, HOLY,
HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.’”
Revelation
4:8
“The
twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will
worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the
throne, saying, ‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and
honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they
existed, and were created.’”
Revelation
4:10-11
"Now
to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen."
1
Timothy 1:17
“He
who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords who
alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has
seen or can see. To Him be honor and
eternal dominion! Amen.”
1
Timothy 6:15-16
“Who
has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens
by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed
the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?”
Isaiah
40:12
“Behold,
the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust
on the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands as fine dust.”
Isaiah
40:15
“All
the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing
and meaningless. To whom then will you
liken God? Or what likeness will you
compare with Him?”
Isaiah
40:17-18
“It
is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like
grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out
like a tent to dwell in.”
Isaiah
40:22
“He
it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth
meaningless...
He merely blows on them, and they whither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. ‘To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?’ says the Holy One.’”
He merely blows on them, and they whither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. ‘To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?’ says the Holy One.’”
Isaiah
40:23-25
“Who
does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.”
Job
5:9
"It is God who removes the
mountains, they know not how,
when He overturns them in His anger; Who shakes the earth out of its place, and
its pillars tremble; who commands the sun not to shine, and sets a seal upon
the stars; who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of
the sea; who makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the
south; who does great things, unfathomable, and wondrous works without number.”
Job
9:5-10
"He
quieted the sea with His power, and by His understanding He shattered Rahab. By His breath the heavens are cleared; His
hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. Behold,
these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can
understand?"
Job
26:12-14
“God
thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot
comprehend.”
Job
37:5
"The
Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power and He will not do violence
to justice and abundant righteousness.”
Job
37:23
“My
mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; for
I do not know the sum of them.”
Psalm
71:15
“Blessed
be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders.”
Psalm
72:18
"The
LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over
all."
Psalm
103:19
“He
has made everything appropriate in its time.
He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find
out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”
Ecclesiastes
3:11
“Lift
up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads
forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness
of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O
Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the
notice of my God?’ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of
the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.”
Isaiah
40:26-28
"Thus
says God the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread
out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and
spirit to those who walk in it."
Isaiah
42:5
“Before
Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no
savior besides Me.”
Isaiah
43:10-11
“Even
from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act
and who can reverse it? The LORD your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel…I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your
King.”
Isaiah
43:13-15
“Thus
says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am
the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it.’”
Isaiah
44:6-7
“Is
there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none.”
Isaiah
44:8
"Thus
says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, I, the
LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and
spreading out the earth all alone."
Isaiah
44:24
“I
am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. There is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One
forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these.”
Isaiah
45:5-7
"It
is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens
with My hands and I ordained all their host."
Isaiah
45:12
“And
there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none
except Me.”
Isaiah
45:21
"For
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have
not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish
all My good pleasure."
Isaiah
46:9-10
"I
am He, I am the first, I am also the last.
Surely My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the
heavens; when I call to them, they stand together."
Isaiah
48:12-13
“‘For
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the
LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your
thoughts.’”
Isaiah
55:8-9
"He
rebukes the sea and makes it dry; He dries up all the rivers…Mountains quake
because of Him and the hills dissolve; indeed the earth is upheaved (burned) by His presence, the world and
all its inhabitants in it. Who can stand
before His indignation? Who can endure
the burning of His anger? His wrath is
poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up by Him."
Nahum
1:4-6
“Oh,
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and
unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN
THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT
BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him
and through Him and to Him are all things.”
Romans
11:33-36
"(God)
who works all things after the counsel of His will."
Ephesians
1:11
“Now
to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works within us.”
Ephesians
3:20
"How
great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His
dominion is from generation to generation.”
Daniel
4:3
“For
He is the living God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which will
not be destroyed, and His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs
and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the
power of the lions.”
Daniel
6:26-27
“But
the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show
Himself holy in righteousness.”
Isaiah
5:16
“The
LORD roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and
the earth tremble.”
Joel
3:15
“For
behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what
are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places
of the earth, the LORD God of hosts is His name.”
Amos
4:13
“He
who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, who
also darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them
out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is His name.”
Amos
5:8
"O
LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms
of the nations? Power and might are in
Your hand so that no one can stand against You."
2
Chronicles 20:6
“But
the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you have not believed Me, to treat
Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring
this assembly into the land which I have given them.’”
Numbers
20:12
"The
mountains will melt under Him and the valleys will be split, like wax before
the fire, like water poured down a steep place."
Micah
1:4
“Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Deuteronomy 10:12
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our
God is a consuming fire.”
Hebrews 12:28-29
Further
reading: God puts Job in his place in Job 38-42:1-6
"In
the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and
exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six
wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with
two he flew. And one called out to
another and said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is
full of His glory.' And the foundations
of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple
was filling with smoke. Then I said, 'Woe
is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a
man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes
have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'"
Isaiah
6:1-5
Isaiah
was a servant and prophet of God. When
he said, “Woe is me,” he was saying a curse upon himself, that he deserved the
wrath and punishment of God for his sinfulness.
When he said, “I am ruined,” he was saying that he was destroyed; that
he was devastated by the holiness of God.
He now could only see his own filth and sin in comparison to a holy God. That day that he saw the holiness of God, he finally
saw how unholy he truly was.
Isaiah
saw how far his sin separated him from a holy God. God is separate from all things and all
creatures that are not morally perfect.
That is to say that God cannot tolerate sin. He can’t even tolerate a sin. How many times did
Adam and Eve sin before they were cast out of the presence of God? Once.
God has no tolerance to anything or anyone that contradicts or opposes
His nature. He is holy.
Habakkuk
1:13
Also,
I completed a series starting here on R.C. Sproul's book, The
Holiness of God, that goes in depth on the most important characteristic of
the God of the universe. If men do not
understand the holiness of God, they will not be able to see their own
sinfulness like Isaiah did, and they will not be able to understand how
terrible sin truly is in comparison to a holy God. Holiness must be preached, because men cannot
be saved without an understanding of the holiness of God.
The Holiness of God
"Who
will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For You alone are holy."
Revelation
15:4
“It
is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be
your dread.”
Isaiah
8:13
"Will
not His majesty terrify you, and the dread of Him fall upon you?
Job
13:11
Introduction
“Certainly it's apparent to you if
you're a Christian as it is to me that we live in a profane, godless,
secularized and for the most part atheistic culture. Even our religion is a
kind of atheism, for it attempts to erase the true God and substitute in its
place a God who makes men comfortable. And whenever I read that 50 million
people in America are supposed to be born again, and I see in comparison with
that statistic the constant ever-increasing secularization of our society, I
find that the two don't go together very well. We're supposed to be a Christian
nation. It's even popular to be born again. Yet the impact of Christianity on
our country seems to be weak, seems to be shallow, it seems to be superficial,
it seems to be saccharine. Being a Christian may be in but it doesn't seem to
be having much of an impact. We are caught up in a kind of self-indulgence and
self-centeredness that even views God only in terms of what He can do for us.
And God becomes sort of a utilitarian genie, you rub your little theological
lamp, He pops out and says three wishes.
The person who criticizes the teaching
of the Word of God by saying, ‘Well, it's too strong, it alienates people,’ is
really saying, ‘We want a God who makes us comfortable.’ And I guess what I really see in Christianity
as I look at it across our country is the absence of a theology. It just seems
to me that there isn't one…And I guess if there's one element of theology that
we really don't understand it is the theology of God, theology proper it's called,
we don't understand God, God's nature. The fundamental fact of our faith is
God. And the fundamental fact about God
is that God is holy…
The
absence of a clear understanding of God's holiness is the reason for our
shallowness, it is the reason for our impotence, it is the reason for our
selfishness, it is the reason for our weakness, it is the reason for our
disobedience…If we don't understand the holiness of God, we don't understand
our sinfulness…and the consequences of our sin.”
If we don't understand
the holiness of God, we don't understand our sinfulness…and the consequences of
our sin.
R.C. Sproul said this in his book, The Holiness of God:
“Though I was deeply impressed by the
notion of a God who created the universe from nothing, I was troubled by the
fact that the world we live in is a place filled with sorrows. My next question was, “How could a good and
holy God create a world that is such a mess?”
As I studied the Old Testament, I was also bothered by the stories about
God ordering the slaughter of women and children, of God killing Uzzah
instantly for touching the ark of the covenant, and by other narratives that
seemed to reveal a brutal side to the character of God. How could I ever come to love such a God?
The one concept, the central idea I kept
meeting in Scripture, was the idea that God is holy. The word was foreign
to me. I wasn’t sure what it meant. I made the question a matter of diligent and
persistent search, and today I am still absorbed with the question of the
holiness of God. I am convinced that it
is one of the most important ideas that a Christian can ever grapple with. It is basic to our whole understanding of God
and of Christianity.”
His name is Holy
“He
has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.”
Psalm 111:9
“For
thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell
on a high and holy place…”
Isaiah 57:15
Psalm
111:9 and Isaiah 57:15 say that the name of God is Holy. Holiness is not just an attribute of God, it is the
attribute of God. It is the attribute
that best describes Him, because it is used to describe all of His other
attributes: His holy name, His holy power, His holy justice, etc. This one word is what is celebrated before
the throne of heaven; the seraphim crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with
His glory" (Isaiah 6:3).
When
we want to emphasize something, we raise our voice. When we write something that we want
emphasized we make it bold, CAPITALIZE
it, underline it, or highlight
it. When the Jewish writers of the Old
Testament wanted to emphasize something, they repeated it. The Bible never says that God is love, love,
love or that He is merciful, merciful, merciful or that He is nice, nice, nice
or even that He is great, great, great.
What it does say is that God is “holy, holy, holy.”
This
attribute is to be emphasized over every other attribute of God. The very first thing we should think of God
is the word ‘holy.’ Today, too many people and too many churches
emphasize that God is love. They seldom or never mention that God is holy
or talk about God’s judgment or His wrath although Romans 11:22 tells us,
"Behold then the kindness and
severity of God."
To be holy is to be separate
The
fact that holiness is much more than moral purity is something that we need to
understand in America today, since we make God so common. Holiness means that God is not ordinary, He
is not casual, He is not common. He is unique. He is distinct. He is not like us. It does not matter if we can call Him, “Abba,
Father,” we must remember that He is not
ordinary, He is not casual, He is not common, and He is never to be taken lightly. He is God and He is holy.
Then
Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What
is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus
you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
Exodus 3:13-14
“I
AM WHO I AM” has always been
somewhat of an ambiguous phrase because, well, people don’t talk like
that. We have learned that it refers to
God’s pre-existence, but it actually means more than that. Let’s say an alien came from outer space and
asked me what I am like. I could point
and say, “I am like him, I am kind of like her, and there billions of examples
here of what I am like.” But God cannot
do this. He cannot point to anything
else that can be compared to Him. He is
so totally different from anything else.
He is beyond comparison. He can
only say, “I AM WHO I AM.” And then it was 2,000
years ago that He was able to point at Jesus and say, "Do you want to know
who I am? I am like Him!"
Theology
is not just for preachers, it is for everyone who is a Christian. The word holy comes from an ancient verb that
meant, ‘to cut,’ or ‘to separate.’ The
adjective holy that we use today means ‘separate, set apart, distinct
from the common or ordinary.’ When the
Bible calls God holy it means primarily that God is transcendentally
separate. That word transcendence is key
to our understanding of to the holiness of God.
Transcend means to fly above. His
holiness flies far above what we can even begin to comprehend. He is so far above and beyond us that He is
totally not like us at all. To be holy
is to be ‘other,’ to be separate, to be different in a special way.
In
Scripture He is frequently called "The Holy One." He is so because the sum of all moral
excellency is found in Him. He is
absolute Purity, unblemished by even the shadow of sin. "God is light, and
in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).
God’s
holiness is manifested in His works. "The Lord is righteous in all
His ways, and holy in all His works" (Ps. 145:17). Nothing but that which
is excellent can proceed from Him.
Usually
when we think about the word holy, we think about God being sinless. God is
sinless. He is pure, without stain,
without blemish or wrinkle, without spot.
He is holy, but not as we understand holy. He is not just pretty good, He is perfect.
To
be sure the Bible does use the word holy
to talk about His moral purity, but this is at best the secondary meaning of
the word in the Bible. When the seraphim
sang their song, they were saying far more than God was “purity, purity,
purity.”
Paul
Washer says in The Gospel's Power and
Message that holiness first refers to God's transcendence over all His
creation and, "Secondly, the holiness of God refers to His transcendence
over the moral corruption of His creation.
He is separate from all that is profane and sinful. He is impeccable and pure!"
"For
You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with
You. The boastful shall not stand before
Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity."
Psalm
5:4-5
That verse says that God hates all who do iniquity. Modern preaching wants to ignore this and distort
the teaching of God's character to fit what carnal man wants: a Santa Claus who
loves and is tolerant and apathetic toward sin.
One of the animated Christmas shows has a Santa Claus who is going
through his "naughty and nice" list until he gives up and says,
"Oh, they're all pretty good," and lets everyone on the good list. I saw that and realized, "Wow, that is exactly what the world wants, an unholy
God that does not make a big deal
about sin."
Paul reminded us that there are two
sides of the character of God in Romans 11:22: "Behold then, the kindness and severity of God," and Moses
reminds us in Numbers 14:18: “The LORD is
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...but He will by no means clear the guilty.”
Modern preaching has only half of the
story right: God does love, but God is
holy; and He is a holy God who has nothing to do with sin. A holy God must hate sin with a perfect
hatred and destroy all those who commit sin.
Man must understand the holiness of God in order to understand the rest
of the gospel—it is the key to the whole thing.
John
MacArthur says, “One day the disciples came to Jesus, you know it, they said,
"Teach us to pray." He said, "Here's how to pray. Our Father who
art in heaven...what?...Hallowed be Thy name." You know what hallowed
means? Holy. You want to pray? Start out by a recognition of the holiness of
God. God is holy.” We need to
acknowledge His holiness, for we sin when we do not fear Him or esteem Him as
holy.
Here
are some verses that give us a glimpse of the uniqueness, transcendence, and
holiness of God:
"Yours,
O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the
majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the
dominion, O LORD, and You exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You
rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to
make great and strengthen everyone."
1
Chronicles 29:11-12
“Who
is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who
is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?”
Exodus
15:11
“There
is no one holy like the LORD, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there
any rock like our God.”
1
Samuel 2:2
"The
LORD is God; there is no other besides Him."
Deuteronomy
4:35
“For
you are the LORD Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all
gods.”
Psalm
97:9
“The
LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let
the earth shake! The LORD is great in
Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples.
Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.”
Psalm
99:1-3
“The
LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is
enthroned on high?”
Psalm
113:4-5
“But
our God is in the heavens; He does whatever he pleases.”
Psalm
115:3
"But
He is unique and who can turn Him? And
what His soul desires, that He does. For
He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with him. Therefore I would be dismayed at His
presence; when I consider, I am terrified of him. It is God who has made my heart faint, and
the Almighty who has dismayed me."
Job
23:13-16
"The
pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at His rebuke. By His power He stilled the sea; by His
understanding He shattered Rahab. By His
wind the heavens were made fair; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Behold, these are but the outskirts of His
ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can
understand?”
Job
26:11-14
“For
I know that the LORD is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven
and in the earth, in the seas and in all deeps.”
Psalm
135:5-6
“Let
them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is
above earth and heaven.”
Psalm
148:13
“When
I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son
of man that You care for him?”
Psalm
8:3-4
"Let
all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe
of him! For He spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stood firm.
Psalm
33:8-9
“For
this reason You are great, O LORD God; for there is none like You, and there is
no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”
2
Samuel 7:22
“There
is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours.”
Psalm
86:8
“For
You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God.”
Psalm
86:10
“O
LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth
beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk
before You with all their heart.”
1
Kings 8:23
“There
is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might.”
Jeremiah
10:6
“But
the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the
nations cannot endure His indignation.”
Jeremiah
10:10
“It
is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom;
and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult
of waters in the heavens, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of
the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from His
storehouses.”
Jeremiah
10:12-13
“There
is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help, and
through the skies in His majesty.”
Deuteronomy
33:26
“Behold,
to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all
that is in it.”
Deuteronomy
10:14
For
the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and
the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
Deuteronomy
10:17
“But
will God indeed dwell on the earth?
Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less
this house which I have built!”
1
Kings 8:27
“Thus
says the LORD, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool…’”
Isaiah
66:1
“You
alone are the LORD. You have made the
heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is
on it, the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before
You.”
Nehemiah
9:6
“Hezekiah
prayed before the LORD and said, ‘O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned
above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the
earth. You have made heaven and earth.’”
2
Kings 19:15
“But
at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and
my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored
Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His
kingdom endures from generation to generation.
“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but he does
according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
Daniel
4:34-35
“I
make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and
tremble before the God of Daniel; for He is the living God and enduring
forever, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, and His dominion will
be forever.”
Daniel
6:26
“For
by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things
have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.”
Colossians
1:16-17
"The
God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human
hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life
and breath and all things."
Acts
17:24-25
"For
in Him we live and move and exist."
Acts
17:28
"In
His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind."
Job
12:10
"Holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with His
glory."
Isaiah
6:3
“And
the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes
around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘HOLY, HOLY,
HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.’”
Revelation
4:8
“The
twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will
worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the
throne, saying, ‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and
honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they
existed, and were created.’”
Revelation
4:10-11
"Now
to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen."
1
Timothy 1:17
“He
who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords who
alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has
seen or can see. To Him be honor and
eternal dominion! Amen.”
1
Timothy 6:15-16
“Who
has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens
by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed
the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?”
Isaiah
40:12
“Behold,
the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust
on the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands as fine dust.”
Isaiah
40:15
“All
the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing
and meaningless. To whom then will you
liken God? Or what likeness will you
compare with Him?”
Isaiah
40:17-18
“It
is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like
grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out
like a tent to dwell in.”
Isaiah
40:22
“He
it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth
meaningless...
He merely blows on them, and they whither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. ‘To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?’ says the Holy One.’”
He merely blows on them, and they whither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. ‘To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?’ says the Holy One.’”
Isaiah
40:23-25
“Who
does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.”
Job
5:9
"It is God who removes the
mountains, they know not how,
when He overturns them in His anger; Who shakes the earth out of its place, and
its pillars tremble; who commands the sun not to shine, and sets a seal upon
the stars; who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of
the sea; who makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the
south; who does great things, unfathomable, and wondrous works without number.”
Job
9:5-10
"He
quieted the sea with His power, and by His understanding He shattered Rahab. By His breath the heavens are cleared; His
hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. Behold,
these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can
understand?"
Job
26:12-14
“God
thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot
comprehend.”
Job
37:5
"The
Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power and He will not do violence
to justice and abundant righteousness.”
Job
37:23
“My
mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; for
I do not know the sum of them.”
Psalm
71:15
“Blessed
be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders.”
Psalm
72:18
"The
LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over
all."
Psalm
103:19
“He
has made everything appropriate in its time.
He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find
out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”
Ecclesiastes
3:11
“Lift
up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads
forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness
of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O
Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the
notice of my God?’ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of
the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.”
Isaiah
40:26-28
"Thus
says God the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread
out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and
spirit to those who walk in it."
Isaiah
42:5
“Before
Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no
savior besides Me.”
Isaiah
43:10-11
“Even
from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act
and who can reverse it? The LORD your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel…I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your
King.”
Isaiah
43:13-15
“Thus
says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am
the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it.’”
Isaiah
44:6-7
“Is
there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none.”
Isaiah
44:8
"Thus
says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, I, the
LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and
spreading out the earth all alone."
Isaiah
44:24
“I
am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. There is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One
forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these.”
Isaiah
45:5-7
"It
is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens
with My hands and I ordained all their host."
Isaiah
45:12
“And
there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none
except Me.”
Isaiah
45:21
"For
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have
not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish
all My good pleasure."
Isaiah
46:9-10
"I
am He, I am the first, I am also the last.
Surely My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the
heavens; when I call to them, they stand together."
Isaiah
48:12-13
“‘For
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the
LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your
thoughts.’”
Isaiah
55:8-9
"He
rebukes the sea and makes it dry; He dries up all the rivers…Mountains quake
because of Him and the hills dissolve; indeed the earth is upheaved (burned) by His presence, the world and
all its inhabitants in it. Who can stand
before His indignation? Who can endure
the burning of His anger? His wrath is
poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up by Him."
Nahum
1:4-6
“Oh,
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and
unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN
THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT
BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him
and through Him and to Him are all things.”
Romans
11:33-36
"(God)
who works all things after the counsel of His will."
Ephesians
1:11
“Now
to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works within us.”
Ephesians
3:20
"How
great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His
dominion is from generation to generation.”
Daniel
4:3
“For
He is the living God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which will
not be destroyed, and His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs
and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the
power of the lions.”
Daniel
6:26-27
“But
the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show
Himself holy in righteousness.”
Isaiah
5:16
“The
LORD roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and
the earth tremble.”
Joel
3:15
“For
behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what
are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places
of the earth, the LORD God of hosts is His name.”
Amos
4:13
“He
who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, who
also darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them
out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is His name.”
Amos
5:8
"O
LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms
of the nations? Power and might are in
Your hand so that no one can stand against You."
2
Chronicles 20:6
“But
the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you have not believed Me, to treat
Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring
this assembly into the land which I have given them.’”
Numbers
20:12
"The
mountains will melt under Him and the valleys will be split, like wax before
the fire, like water poured down a steep place."
Micah
1:4
“Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Deuteronomy 10:12
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our
God is a consuming fire.”
Hebrews 12:28-29
Further
reading: God puts Job in his place in Job 38-42:1-6
"In
the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and
exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six
wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with
two he flew. And one called out to
another and said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is
full of His glory.' And the foundations
of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple
was filling with smoke. Then I said, 'Woe
is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a
man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes
have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'"
Isaiah
6:1-5
Isaiah
was a servant and prophet of God. When
he said, “Woe is me,” he was saying a curse upon himself, that he deserved the
wrath and punishment of God for his sinfulness.
When he said, “I am ruined,” he was saying that he was destroyed; that
he was devastated by the holiness of God.
He now could only see his own filth and sin in comparison to a holy God. That day that he saw the holiness of God, he finally
saw how unholy he truly was.
Isaiah
saw how far his sin separated him from a holy God. God is separate from all things and all
creatures that are not morally perfect.
That is to say that God cannot tolerate sin. He can’t even tolerate a sin. How many times did
Adam and Eve sin before they were cast out of the presence of God? Once.
God has no tolerance to anything or anyone that contradicts or opposes
His nature. He is holy.
Habakkuk
1:13
Also,
I completed a series starting here on R.C. Sproul's book, The
Holiness of God, that goes in depth on the most important characteristic of
the God of the universe. If men do not
understand the holiness of God, they will not be able to see their own
sinfulness like Isaiah did, and they will not be able to understand how
terrible sin truly is in comparison to a holy God. Holiness must be preached, because men cannot
be saved without an understanding of the holiness of God.
