God Is Holy

A.W. Tozer famously began his classic book The Knowledge of the Holy with this sentence:

“What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” [1]

What comes to your mind when you think about God? Which of His attributes rises to the top? Is it His mercy? His love? His wrath? His justice? His omnipotence? His omnipresence? His wisdom? His beauty? His immutability?

Although all those attributes are certainly essential to God’s nature, today I hope to convince that the holiness of God is His crowning attribute.

1) God’s Holiness Explained

A.W. Pink—God’s “holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement.” [2]

Wayne Grudem— “God’s holiness means that He is separated from sin and devoted to seeking His own honor.” [3]

John Frame— “Holiness… is God’s capacity and right to arouse our reverent awe and wonder. It is his uniqueness, his transcendence as our creator. It is his majesty, for the holy God is like a great king, whom we dare not treat like other persons.” [4]

John Gill—“It has been thought to be not so much a particular and distinct attribute of itself, as the lustre, glory, and harmony of all the rest; and this is what is called ‘the beauty of the Lord.’” [5]

R.C. Sproul— “When the word holy is applied to God, it does not signify one single attribute. On the contrary, God is called holy in a general sense. The word is used as a synonym for His deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is.” [6]

Joel Beeke— “God’s holiness means that he is set apart by his glory for his glory.” [7]

Holiness is like the sun. It is unique (at least in our solar system). It is powerful. It gives life and light. So in that sense, the sun is “holy.” Also, the whole area around the sun is holy. The power of the sun will annihilate anything that is not like the sun. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s good.

In an infinitely superior way, God is also unique. Even the sun was created with a mere word. God gives life and light. He is the Creator of all. He is other. He is holy! So too the area around our God is holy. His presence will annihilate anything that is not holy. Not because He’s bad, but because He’s so good!

One of the first places we see this in the Bible is in Exodus 3:2-5

“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Any questions about what God’s holiness means?

Okay, now is this understanding of God’s holiness true? It’s one thing to quote a few theologians. But what does the Bible say?

2) God’s Holiness Defended

Jen Wilkin—“The word holy appears almost seven hundred times in the Bible. It’s verb form, sanctify, appears an additional two hundred times. . . . No other attribute is joined to the name of God with greater frequency than holiness.” [8]

The Puritan theologian John Howe said that holiness is “an attribute of attributes” [9]

It’s ALL OVER the Bible!

Exodus 15:11—“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

1 Samuel 2:2—“There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”

Psalm 22:3—“Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.”

Psalm 71:22—“I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.”

Psalm 96:9—Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!”

Psalm 99:9—“Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!”

Isaiah 57:15—“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Ezekiel 38:23—“So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Revelation 4:8—“And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!””

One of the most vivid depictions of God’s holiness in all of Scripture is in...

Isaiah 6:1-5—“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne,...

Not Uzziah, not his successor, the Lord!

... high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple....

King Charles’ coronation and the long robe signified his power and authority

God’s robe filled the entire heavenly 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....

God creates His creatures with practical anatomy. What is practical about these wings?

... And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”...

Repetition in Hebrew poetry (Jesus says truly, truly, Paul repeats himself in Galatians 1)

R.C. Sproul— “Only once in sacred Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. Only once is a characteristic of God mentioned three times in succession. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love love; or mercy, mercy, mercy; or wrath, wrath, wrath; or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy.” [10]

... And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke....

The thresholds of the temple had the good sense to shake in God’s presence!

... 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 is even more profound. This man who’s already a prophet, already doing the Lord’s work realizes how sinful he really is!!!

Any questions?

Okay, now is this understanding of God’s holiness true? It’s one thing to quote a few theologians. But what does the Bible say?

3) God’s Holiness Applied

A) God Alone Should be Worshiped & Feared

John Frame— Because God is holy, “We are not to meet God as an ordinary friend or enemy, but as One who is radically different from us, before whom we bow in reverent awe and adoration. God’s holiness, then, indicates the fundamental distinction between Creator and creature.” [11]

Matthew 10:28—“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

2 Corinthians 7:1—“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Hebrews 10:31—“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

We should only worship God because He alone is holy!

We should approach God with reverent fear because He is holy!

B) Rejoice in God’s Righteous Judgments

2 Samuel 6 and the story of Uzzah

Why did God strike Uzzah down?

R.C. Sproul—“It was an act of arrogance, a sin of presumption. Uzzah assumed that his hand was less polluted than the earth. But it wasn’t the ground or the mud that would desecrate the ark; it was the touch of man. The earth is an obedient creature. It does what God tells it to do. It brings forth its yield in its season. It obeys the law of nature that God has established. When the temperature falls to a certain point, the ground freezes. When water is added to the dust, it becomes mud, just as God designed it. The ground doesn’t commit cosmic treason. There is nothing polluted about the ground. God did not want His holy throne touched by that which was contaminated by evil, that which was in rebellion to Him, that which by its ungodly revolt had brought the whole creation to ruin and caused the ground and the sky and the waters of the sea to groan together in travail, waiting for the day of redemption. Man. It was man’s touch that was forbidden.” [12]

Do not get angry at the passages in the Bible that talk about God’s righteous judgment. Rejoice because God is holy, and that the judge of the earth always does what is right.

C) Highlight God’s Holiness in Evangelism

When you tell people the Gospel, don’t jump to mercy and forgiveness and grace.

Spend time explaining God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness so the sinner understands his need for a Savior!

D) Rejoice in Positional Holiness

Explain the Great Exchange

2 Corinthians 5:21—“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11—“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

You have been declared holy in Christ! Now become who you are!!

E) Pursue Practical Holiness

Jerry Bridges—"True salvation brings with it a desire to be made holy.” [13]

Leviticus 19:2—“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Leviticus 20:7—“Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 20:26—“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

1 Thessalonians 4:7—“For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.”

1 Peter 1:14-16—“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””

Part of this means growing in an increasing hatred of sin

F) Receive the Lord’s Discipline

If we’re going to grow in holiness, we must receive the Lord’s discipline when we sin

Hebrews 12:7–14—It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

What is your default response to the Lord’s loving discipline? How should we respond instead?

G) Practice Church Discipline

1 Corinthians 5—It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,

Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,

Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,

Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;

Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,

Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;

Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!