The Holiness of God

Introduction

Turn to Revelation 4 (Read Revelation 4:8-11).

In the last couple weeks we have discovered God is not like us, and that is a good thing.

For instance, God is Triune (three persons one being) and you are not.

God can do anything, and we cannot.

He knows everything, and we do not.

He is everywhere and we are not.

To try to make these characteristics our own is to listen to the serpent’s lie that we can displace God. Some truths about God have been revealed, not so we will copy them but so we will submit to the God who is totally different from us.

But these are not the only kinds of attributes of God that he has revealed to us. When it comes to his holiness, this is a part of God’s character that includes who he wants us to become (and who he is making us to be).

There is a clear emphasis given to divine holiness in the Bible. That is not say that God somehow has a greater degree of holiness and is short in other areas (making his other attributes less than infinite). Whatever God is, he is infinitely so.

Yet, repetition demands attention. And God’s Word reminds us of the holiness of God over and over again. The word holy is used in Scripture over 600 times, most often describing God, and its viral form is used another 200 times. There are several instances where the writers talk about God’s “holy name,” and in the Book of Isaiah alone he is called the “Holy One” several times. “The Bible wants our first thought about God to be that he is holy.”

The scene with which we began is reminiscent of Isaiah’s vision of God recorded in Isaiah 6. In both cases, God is referred to as the one who is “Holy, holy, holy…” This triple mention gives the holiness of God centerstage, as it was used to emphasize something through repetition. Jesus himself used this technique when he would begin a unit of teaching by saying “Verily, verily…” For God to be called thrice holy ought to get our attention.

I. What It Means

The words behind the English holy speak of one that is set apart or pure. For God to be holy means that he is set apart from his creation and all that is evil. It has been described as God’s “perfect and unpolluted freedom from all evil.” Without God’s holiness, all of his other attributes become greatly distorted: “his wisdom would be but subtlety, his justice cruelty, his sovereignty tyranny…”

God’s holy separateness from all sin can be put this way: he loves good and hates evil.

Since God’s holiness is infinite, we could frame it this way: he perfectly and unchangeably loves all that is good and perfectly and unchangeably hates all that is evil. This is what it means to say God is holy.

II. What It Implies

Why does it matter that God is holy? What are the implications of a God who is separate from all of us in his love for good and hatred of evil?

The fact of God’s holiness leads to at least three realities that flow from it: our admiration of his holiness, our loathing of our own unholiness, and our growth in the holiness he provides for his people. We see images of all three of these movements in Isaiah’s vision.

A. Because God is holy he deserves worship

First, because God is holy he has a right to our adoration of his character. Turn to Isaiah 6 (Read Isaiah 6:1-4). Isaiah’s first response in his vision of Israel’s holy God is to take everything in.

The prophet saw a vision of God’s throne, which would have blown his mind when compared to the throne of the king he was used to approaching. The train, or robe, filled the temple. Visually, the manifestation of God’s glory took up all the space so there was no room for anyone else. Isaiah also saw God’s angels. They were so overwhelmed with the holiness of God that they used most of their wings to cover themselves. Isaiah not only heard the amazing sound that shook the building, but smelled the amazing smells of the smoke that filled the temple. It was an experience that affected every part of his being.

The angels are doing what mankind should have been doing since Adam - what the Israelites at the time were failing to do - be in awe of God.

This scene and its amazement was Isaiah’s first response to God’s holiness. While a vision of the holy God changed how he thought about himself, his first inclination was not to think about himself at all but about God.

B. Because God is holy he hates sin

But recognizing God’s holiness not only changes our view of God, it transforms out views of ourselves. (Read Isaiah 6:5)

Isaiah 6 is the juxtaposition of two extremes. Two things were coming together: the awesome holiness of God and the woeful guiltiness of his servant. When he stood in that throne room and realized that he was caught in the middle, Isaiah was completely undone, totally shattered, absolutely broken, and utterly ruined. God is holy - I am not.

Isaiah’s guilt was not just this sin or that sin; it was his very identity as a sinner. He would never be holy enough for God. To glimpse the beauty of God’s holiness is to first admire and then to shrink back.

The ultimate evil in our sinful condition is its rebellion against God. This understanding of sin is what fuels genuine repentance for unbelievers and ongoing confession of sin for believers: we must see our sin for what it really is. The worst thing about sin is not that it makes the afterlife torment (although it does) or that it makes relationships with other humans difficult (though it does this as well). No, ultimately sin must be dealt with because it is first and foremost an affront to the holiness of God. Isaiah’s desire for cleansing was born out of his experience of God’s unholiness.

C. Because God is holy his salvation is to holiness

A third important implication of God’s holiness is that when he saves people, he saves them to holiness. This is pictured well in the next scene of Isaiah’s encounter (Read Isaiah 6:6-7).

God not only saves us from the penalty our sin brings (justification) but from the sin itself (sanctification). After all, it is only because of his holiness that punishment for sin does exist: Hell exists precisely because God is holy.

God is not simply against Isaiah’s sin, he is for Isaiah. So he makes restitution. Isaiah may not have understood all of the pictures, but looking back to the cross we understand: God loves impure people and sacrifices of himself to make them pure.

Salvation certainly does involve legal forgiveness: God treats us as if we were holy. But he does not stop with our positional holiness: he is not content with that. He will actually make us holy, and call us to behave accordingly:

Read Romans 6:1-13. Read Ephesians 2:8-10.

God not only makes atonement for our unholiness, he changes us to become new people: the kind of people that are holy.

III. Application

Deepen your admiration of God’s holiness. If you don’t take evangelism seriously, and you don’t regularly confess your sin, you may approach those deficiencies by simply trying harder. But perhaps there is something underneath. If we don’t take sin seriously, maybe it is because we don’t take God seriously. If this describes you, perhaps you should reflect on passages like Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. Meditate on the holiness of God.

Pursue personal holiness. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Often people get frantic over finding God’s will. What they often mean by this is that they are looking for specific answers for everyday decisions (like what car they purchase or what college major they select). We should not confuse good decisions with transformed characters. God will most likely not give you a dream or vision like the prophet Ezekiel, to show you who you should date, where to go to college, etc. Why? He has much bigger work to get to in your life. Following Jesus does not mean relinquishing responsibility to make basic choices. But it does mean that God is changing us into holy people. Salvation is transformation, not advice. When we take seriously the holiness of our God, the question “Who am I becoming?” comes before “What do I do?”

Pursue corporate holiness. God not only declares those in Christ holy, he makes them holy. He has not only given himself for us, he cleanses us (Ephesians 5:26). As a church body, we are not primarily a social organization or a way to find friends: we exist to put God’s glory on display. We exist to show a difference between people who follow Jesus and those who do not. We exist to demonstrate what it looks like to live according to the New Testament: not to canonize our preferences or surround ourselves with people we are comfortable with. As a member, are you doing things to help your brothers and sisters pursue holiness? Are you just enjoying friendships, or discipling one another to greater holiness? What do you do when someone confronts you about your own sin personally? We are a growing church, an active church, an exciting church, a worshipping church. But are we a holy church?