THE HOLINESS OF GOD

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord

“As well might a gnat seek to drink in the ocean, as a finite creature to comprehend the Eternal God.” Charles Spurgeon

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!””

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.”

What do we mean when we say that the Lord is Holy? It carries the idea of being morally and physically pure; without sin… We would also call it sacred. In the New Testament, the Greek word that is translated holy literally means “an awful thing”. Awful: That strikes with awe; that fills with profound reverence; as the awful majesty of Jehovah.

The Purity of God

1 John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The word holy also has idea of being set apart. When we say that God is set apart, we mean that He is set apart from sin. Not only is He set apart from sin, but He is set against it.

Habakkuk 1:13 “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”

Isaiah 5:16 “But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.”

The Lord is Higher than Us

Isaiah 55:8-9 “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 40:25 “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.”

Psalm 50:21 “These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.”

1 Timothy 6:15-16 “which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

Exodus 33:20 “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.””

Like the spokes of a bicycle wheel flow out of the hub, so God’s holiness is the hub from which the rest of His attributes flow from.

Being Confronted with the Holiness of God

Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

In the Bible, when people came face to face with angels, they were typically terrified. They often lost their strength and fell on their faces. How much more when we see the Holy God of the universe in all of His holiness!

Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.””

Revelation 1:17 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,”

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.”

Matthew 5:8 ““Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

John 6:68 “Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,”