Holiness of God

Read the Passage

Isaiah 6:1–7 ESV

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called 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 shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Definition

“set apart” - separate from sin, perfect, pure [ONLY A HOLY GOD LYRICS]

Slight more than that, disservice to put it in the list of attributes.

Holiness = deity.

Propose the Fullness of God’s character, that the culmination of his character is what set him apart.

As creator he is set apart from his creation in

Holy Love, Holy justice, mercy, holy wisdom, mercy.

More than just perfect, but rather the fullness of who he is in relation to us and his creation and to sin.

THAT is the God that we serve and the one who is SO worthy of our worship.

History

ISAIAH 6:5 “And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!””

Isaiah’s response to seeing God “I am unclean”

This makes sense. Levitical law, SO MUCH about clean vs unclean. Dead body, sickness, bodily fluids… required washing and sacrafice to become clean and thereby go into God’s presence - even then priests and only holy of holys. PROCESS

This idea - clean thing IMMEDIATELY is unclean if it comes in contact with uncleaness. 1 sincular touch fully unclean.

HElpful view of sin. SERIOUSNESS BEFORE GOD. one singular lie condemns you to hell. God holds this view of sin. this was purpose of levitical law. God is holy we are not.

Isaiah’s response GOOD

Isaiah 6:6-7 “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.””

WAIT A MINUTE shouldn’t the sin of Isaiah make the coal impure? we saw this in all of leviticus. This is revolutionary. A pure thing making an impure thing pure.

Let’s jump to jesus and his miraculous healings. he associates with sinners. take the bleeding woman. she touched him and instead of jesus becoming unclean because of her because of her impurity INSTEAD jesus as the pure burning coal touches the woman and makes her clean, he heals her.

This is the beauty of Gospel. We are so unclean. OUr sin is so invasive. we are stuck in our sin and totally incapable of saving ourselves. The Law failed. We could not live up to its standards. Instead of God leaving outside the city like the lepers that were cast out - cause he would be so just - disassociate with sin. Instead God sent Jesus to provide a way for us to be made holy. Instead of our impurity making Us and Jesus impure, his purity makes us pure. He took our sin to the cross and payed the penalty for our sin so that God would still be Just and the justifier. and he didn’t stay dead. Jesus rose from the grave defeating sin and death. This is the hope that we live in.

So what is our response? Can I invite you to wonder at the cross. Would you marvel with me that the soveriegn, loving, all-powerful, all-good, perfect Creator of the universe, the HOLY GOD would become sin for us.

Would you pray with me?

Wonder at the cross that a HOLY God would take on sin.

Hebrews 12:28–29 ESV

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

“Holy, holy, holy” Revelation 4:8-11