The Holiness of God

Introduction

Tozer in The Attributes of God noted that when Leonardo DaVinci painted his famous Last Supper he had little difficulty with any of it except the faces. Then he painted the faces in without too much trouble except one. He did not feel himself worthy to paint the face of Jesus. He held off and kept holding off, unwilling to approach it but knowing he must. Then in the impulsive carelessness of despair, he just painted it quickly and let it go. “There is no use,” he said. “I can’t paint Him.” I feel very much the same way about explaining the holiness of God. I think that same sense of despair is on my heart. There isn’t any use for anybody to try to explain holiness. The greatest speakers on this subject can play their oratorical harps, but it sounds tinny and unreal, and when they are through you’ve listened to music but you haven’t seen God." Applied to the Supreme Being, holy signifies perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character; and man is more or less holy, as his heart is more or less sanctified, or purified from evil dispositions. We call a man holy, when his heart is conformed in some degree to the image of God, and his life is regulated by the divine precepts. Hence, holy is used as nearly synonymous with good, pious, godly."

AW Pink: Because God is holy He hates all sin

that when Leonardo DaVinci painted his famous Last Supper he had little difficulty with any of it except the faces. Then he painted the faces in without too much trouble except one. He did not feel himself worthy to paint the face of Jesus. He held off and kept holding off, unwilling to approach it but knowing he must. Then in the impulsive carelessness of despair, he just painted it quickly and let it go. “There is no use,” he said. “I can’t paint Him.” I feel very much the same way about explaining the holiness of God. I think that same sense of despair is on my heart. There isn’t any use for anybody to try to explain holiness. The greatest speakers on this subject can play their oratorical harps, but it sounds tinny and unreal, and when they are through you’ve listened to music but you haven’t seen God." Realizing then that any attempt to define "holiness" of God is fraught with potential for flaw and error, we note that the venerable Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines "holy" as "Properly, whole, entire or perfect, in a moral sense. Hence, pure in heart, temper or dispositions; free from sin and sinful affections. Applied to the Supreme Being, holy signifies perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character; and man is more or less holy, as his heart is more or less sanctified, or purified from evil dispositions. We call a man holy, when his heart is conformed in some degree to the image of God, and his life is regulated by the divine precepts. Hence, holy is used as nearly synonymous with good, pious, godly."

To be holy means to be set apart. To be completely different. One example that has been utilized by many preachers over the years is our sun. Our sun is holy in that it is set apart and it showcases its holiness for all to see. In fact, its holiness (light) spreads out to the planets in our galaxy and you could even say that the planets are made holy because of the sun. That same idea is there with God. God is holy. His very nature is holy. There has never been a time that God was not holy or an ounce more or less holy than He currently is today. What our text shows us today is that not only is God a holy God but He also purifies others. Instead of our unholiness spreading to God, His holiness spreads to us.

Our message today comes from a very popular passage from a very popular prophet: Isaiah chapter 6. This text is extremely powerful as it shows us how holy God is and how unholy mankind is. The only way that this chasm can be crossed is by the atonement of mankind’s sins - which we study in just a little bit.

Isaiah 6:1–8 NASB95

1 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. 2 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. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 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.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God is Holy (1-4)

This vision is very similar to another vision found in the New Testament book of Revelation. John had a vision in that shares much in common to what Isaiah describes here in . Both of these men have these incredible visions and see the throne with the Lord sitting upon it. This throne upon which the King of Kings sits is the center of the universe. The One who created the entire universe is before Isaiah. This is the very same One and the very same throne that humans have rebelled against. It is also the very same throne that we find salvation in through the Son of God. Isaiah has this vision in chapter 6 and it completely changes his outlook on ministry. I think this is understandable, is it not? If you woke up and God pulled back that veil just a little bit and allowed you to see even a glimpse of His holiness you would be forever changed! This is the situation Isaiah experiences. This is a time in the history of Judah that is turning point of sorts as we see that it transpires during the end of King Uzziah’s reign. This ends a period of time in which Judah was prosperous and Assyria was weak. Now that Uzziah has passed away, Ahaz will take the throne and if you know your Old Testament history you know that this man was a wicked king. War and weakness characterize his rule as Assyria becomes extremely powerful during his tenure as king.

The very first thing that you might be thinking is that Isaiah is making this story up because he says that he saw the Lord and we know from passages like and that it is impossible for a person to see God and live. The important distinction for us to make is that even though Isaiah saw the Lord, this was a vision. It was not the full manifestation of the Lord, it was limited in a vision. Isaiah does not describe absolutely everything that was present in this vision, instead he focuses very briefly on this account in a couple short verses. He says that the King was sitting on his elevated throne, the hem of his robe filled the temple, the seraphs were praising God and the building was shaking and filling with smoke. Do you see the mystery and majesty in this vision? From the very get go, we see that the Lord is high and lifted up. Not only is this King elevated and lifted up, but his robe fills up the temple! states that

Psalm 104:1 NASB95

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

The picture painted by Isaiah in this opening verse is both terrifying and awesome for us to read. It is almost as though the observer has come too close to the glory of the Lord. He sees this glory, this vision shows him the throne-room of God, and the very robe of this king is too long to fit inside this room. This is a mighty king who is holy. He is set apart from any other king that Isaiah would have known. This is a king unlike any other and verse 2 only serves to highlight that point even more as we see that there were these burning creatures called Seraphim (Hebrew word “serapim” means burning ones). These incredible creatures have 6 wings and they are literally burning because they are so close to the glory of the Lord and with 2 wings they fly and with 2 they cover their eyes and with 2 they cover their feet. These creatures cover their eyes and their feet because of the unapproachable glory of the one they were serving. The most important thing about these Seraphim is not their strange looks but instead what they were doing in this worship scene. Verse 3 shows us that they are declaring that God is holy. This is the only time in which Isaiah uses the triple declaration of “Holy, holy, holy” which can mean several different things. It can mean a continuous action, as in these creatures are doing this every single day without ceasing. Or it can mean a heightening meaning. Rather than simply “holy”, Isaiah could have used 2 “holy”’s back to back to increase the emphasis. The meaning would have meant something like God is very holy. Instead he uses 3 holy’s which is the most emphatic way of saying that God is holy! He is the holiest of holy. Holy is the essence of God’s nature and God is the supreme revelation of holiness! This attribute of absolute holiness separates God completely from all other aspects of the created world. Holiness does not mean sinless, but it does mean set apart. Because our world is full of sin, God’s holiness means that He is utterly removed from sin. He cannot stand it in His sight, He detests its presence. It must be eradicated!

How do we make sense of what comes next though as they say that the whole earth is full of His glory? How can our sinful, evil, rebellious world be full of God’s glory? The literal reading in the Hebrew is “The whole world full of His glory.” Do you hear the difference whenever you leave out the word “is”? The translator must supply the verb in this sentence. Because of this, some translators supply a future verb “will be” in this sentence to point to the day in which God will establish His kingdom and dwell with His people on the earth. At that moment the whole earth will be filled with His glory. Others use the present verb “is” and they state that creation reveals the existence and nature of God. I think that both present good arguments and would like to think that it could be both options. The whole earth is presently filled with God’s glory in creation and in His church as we are supposed to live a set apart life and be holy as He is holy. We see His glory in creation each and every day and even non-Christians can testify to this point. However, there is coming a day where God will dwell with His people. Even though the earth is filled with His glory right now, people have turned their backs on God. gives us an incredible foreshadow of the glory of God on the earth

Habakkuk 2:14 NASB95

14 “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.

There will come a day in which we are able to worship the Lord and Savior in our glorified, resurrected bodies and our only hope of this future is through the glory of God through Christ.

Verse 4 finalizes this opening portion regarding the holiness of God by showing that the foundations of the temple were trembling and the temple was full of smoke! There are several examples in Scripture of smoke or a cloud being associated with the presence or appearance of God as it serves to mask His majesty from human eyes. One such example is as it depicts the earth quaking because God was angry and how He came down with darkness being a canopy around Him. This goes to stress the infinite distance between the world of man and the realm of God. We know that there is a spiritual battle and war being raged around us right now and it can be difficult for us to see at times. Imagine being in Isaiah’s situation, though. This experience would strike awe into your heart! You are literally standing in the presence of the one true God. What on earth would your reaction be?

I think that many people, if asked about this situation, like to dumb it down. We try to get God on our level. We like to think of all the questions that we would ask God and how we want to satisfy our needs and ideas first. Others wouldn’t know what to do. They would be absolutely overwhelmed! Neither of these things take place in . In fact, Isaiah’s response perfectly encapsulates what our response should be.

Man must be purified (5-7)

Isaiah sees all of this and he is immediately aware of his unworthiness and his desperate need of atonement. In the presence of God’s absolute holiness, Isaiah was not struck with his puniness or his humanity but rather with his personal impurity, the impurity of his nation and the very sight of the Lord. Isaiah could not praise the King until he was purified. He simply cried out, “Woe is me. I am ruined!” A true vision and understanding of the holiness of God always results in conviction of sin on the part of sinners. Isaiah is afraid that He will perish because He is in the midst of the Lord and He is a sinner. He is afraid that the Lord will strike Him dead. It is interesting to see that he specifically notes his tongue - I am a man of unclean lips. It is interesting because Isaiah’s tongue would be the ministry vehicle to proclaim his message from the Lord. Yet, here, Isaiah states that he is a man of unclean lips. His lips seem to represent the expression of a sinful heart that is not pure and church that is us right now! That is us this morning. We gather to worship the Lord and whenever we come to a right understanding of who God is we should become very afraid because we are not holy. We have nothing to offer but filthy rags. Just as Isaiah stands here and says that he is ruined, so are we whenever we stand in the presence of God dressed in our own righteousness. We can’t do it! We are a sinful and unholy people. The worst part is that many people have no idea of their own sinful state. More than 50% of people think that good works and being a good person gets you into heaven! As we watched the American Gospel movie last Sunday evening I couldn’t help but feel both sorrow and anger in watching people promote a false Gospel message that has deceived millions of people around the world and telling them that they are actually fine or that they are good enough! Church, in the eyes of a holy God we are sinners. We deserve wrath and eternal separation from Him and we have no hope if it were up to ourselves.

This is the situation Isaiah finds himself in and the only thing he can do is say that he is ruined because he is a man of unclean lips and of a people of unclean lips. He is not holy! We are not holy today. Yet, instead of killing Isaiah (as he deserves), the Lord commands for Isaiah to be purified. This might sound very basic, but please notice who gives the order here. Is Isaiah responsible for or does he get the credit for purifying himself? NO! He is purified by God. That is how purification works today as well. The first step in this process is to confess our sin before Him because He is holy and we are not. The next step is to experience the grace of God. Isaiah did nothing to accomplish this atonement. He didn’t sacrifice anything. He did not promise to live his life for God or commit to being a Southern Baptist Missionary in China. He had no power to save himself from ruin. Yet, God saves him. We see this coal being taken from the altar. This is not a magical coal (nor is baptismal water special or magical either), rather they represent the miraculous accomplishment of God’s gracious purification and forgiveness.

Isaiah was in a position of alienation from God. He was in trouble because He was in the presence of the holy Lord of Hosts and he was an unholy sinner from a people of sinners, but now he was purified. His sins were forgiven according to verse 7. God had removed Isaiah’s guilt and his sin was atoned for. Sin no longer separated God and Isaiah! This experience shows us, thousands of years later, how we can have a relationship with a holy God even though we are unholy sinners. This passage illustrates how we are to identify our sin (have an understanding of God’s holiness), respond when sin is recognized (admit it), and know how God deals with confessed sin (removes it). God is not merciful towards “good” people just because they are good. He is merciful to those who acknowledge their guilt/sin and repent of it and turn to Him to be their Lord and Savior.

There was a line in the American Gospel movie that said, “People ask the question why do bad things happen to good people.” The response in the film said that this only happened one time -the cross of Jesus Christ! Church, we are not good people in the eyes of a holy God. The standard of good is perfection. We fall woefully short of that. We are all sinners. Yet, we are called to live a holy, set apart life. How on earth can we live this type of life? Because of the cross!

The Lord is a consuming fire. He removes unholiness and impurity in our lives rather than being made unholy by our presence. If you were able to watch the clip I shared on our church facebook page then you were able to see this fleshed out. Whenever someone is sick and contagious and they touch someone, their sickness spreads to the person they touch. This is a very simple concept for us to understand because it happens in our lives each day. With that said, we know that Jesus Christ was different. Christ came to the earth and he touched the leapers and the sick yet He did not get sick, instead the sick became healed. That is how holiness works with God. God IS Holy. We cannot make God unholy. God makes us holy. We are commanded to live a holy life and we are given the Holy Spirit to live that type of life.

Just as this coal acted as an atonement of sorts for Isaiah’s sin, we know that Jesus’ death on the cross serves as our propitiation/atonement for our sin. The Lord does not just deal with the action of sin, but He deals with the heart. As tells us

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB95

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

He deals with the inner sin. He deals with our sin nature. We still sin, but it is atoned for and forgiven.

Conclusion

There is an infinite chasm between ourselves and God. He is holy and we are not. This is not just a gap that we think of whenever we think of the gap between the rich and the poor, it is far greater. A very poor person can work extremely hard and get a couple of lucky breaks and end up becoming extremely rich - we know many examples of this in our world today with men like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc… With that said, the gap between unholy man and holy God is infinitely greater. You can be the best person, donate the most money, save the most lives and go to the most church services and never reach “holiness”. As discouraging as that can be, it also should be an awesome reminder for us because we see that even though we are sinners, God is rich in mercy and grace!

God is merciful towards sinners like you and I. He atones for sin - but you must confess it, repent of it, and trust in Him to be your Lord. As tell us, there is only 1 way and that way is Jesus Christ. I pray that you trust in Him today.

The question that the world usually asks is why do “Bad things happen to Good people?” The question that should be asked is “Why do good things happen to Bad people?” The only answer to that question is that we serve a God of grace and mercy. Look to Him today!