Holy God! Batman

Matthew 6:5 – 13

October 26, 2008

If you lived in the sixties or seventies you probably have memories of the TV show Batman and Robin. This insanely ridiculous show was outlandish yet entertaining as well. As we have just watched in this three minute clip Batman’s sidekick Robin had a lot of “holy” statements. In this clip alone there were 111 “holy” statements and these were from the first season alone. In all the seasons this show aired Robin has close to 400 holy statements!

Speaking of “holy” statements two other individuals some of you baseball fans may remember are the late NY Yankees announcer Phil Ruzzuto and Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Carey. Growing up as a young boy in NY state we used to get the NYC channel WPIX and I would faithfully watch Reggie Jackson and the Yankees play. Whenever I heard Phil Ruzzuto scream, “Holy Cow!” I knew something big just happened. The same goes for Harry, but he had a slight slur to his announcing as he seemed sometimes to be more interested in what was in his glass rather than what was happening on the field.

I feel like I say this every sermon but here it goes anyway, “What does all of this have to do with the Bible or better yet, with the Lord’s Prayer?” Last week we began our series on God… An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer and I talked about the first part of the prayer God… our Father in heaven.

Today we are going to continue in this series as we look at the next line of this prayer of Jesus, “Hallowed be your name.” Can anyone tell me what the word “hallowed” means? Hallowed in Greek is the word hagazio which comes from the root word hageos which has been translated as “Most Holy One”. In modern language then, the second line to this prayer would be translated “Most holy is your name”. The word I want us to look today is “holy”. This brings us back to the beginning of my sermon as we looked at the “holy” sayings of Robin, Ruzzuto and Carey.

There are three verses I want to look at that refer to God’s holiness. They are Revelation 4:8, and 15:4 and Isaiah 6:3. Let’s look at the first one (Read). In this verse the Apostle John is giving us a glimpse into heaven. He sees God seated on the throne with these strange angelic beings surrounding this throne as well as the twenty four elders in white garments, and the seven Spirits of God. These creatures ceaselessly proclaim day and night “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty”. In some ways, this is their primary job to proclaim God’s holiness.

Let’s move ahead to chapter 15:4 (read). This verse says the one thing that we should all know about God; He alone is holy. There is no thing that is as holy as God. He is the mere definition of holy.

Now turn to Isaiah 6:3, here we are introduced to another set of angelic beings (probably the same ones in Revelation) who proclaim “holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is filled with his glory!” Much like the Revelation4:8 passage we see God being referred as not just holy, nor holy, holy but holy, holy, holy. Sounds redundant doesn’t it? Not really… The threefold repetition of the word holy suggests supreme or complete holiness.[1] According to R.C. Sproul, “(The repetition) represents a peculiar literary device found in Hebrew forms of literature, especially in poetry. The repetition is a form of emphasis.”[2] He continues in his book The Holiness of God, “Only once in sacred scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree… 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.”[3]

Ok, I think we have established that God is holy and this is emphasized by its threefold proclamation. But when we talk about a holy God what are we saying?

Who would like to take a stab at what they think the word “holy” means? Is it more than a means of expression of excitement or is it much more? Hallowed is translated as “Holy One” in the Greek is Hagiazo which means to be separate from profane things. There is a complete and absolute purity about God and His name. He and his name are separate from everything and are to be considered holy. Looking even deeper into the word holy it is translated from the root word Hagos which means “an awful thing”. “What? Are you saying the Bible refers to God as an awful thing?”

Rudolph Otto refers to holy as mysterium tremendum or “the awful mystery”. Hear what he writes, “The feeling of it may at times come sweeping like a gentle tide, pervading the mind with tranquil mood of deepest worship. It may pass over into a more set and lasting attitude of the soul, continuing, as it were, thrillingly vibrant and resonant, until at last it dies away and the soul resumes its ‘profane,’ non-religious mood of everyday experience. It may burst in sudden eruption up from the depths of the soul with spasms and convulsions, or lead to strangest excitements, to intoxicated frenzy, to transport and to ecstasy… It may become the hushed, trembling, and speechless humility of the creature in the presence of whom or what? In the presence of that which is a mystery inexpressible and above all creatures.”[4]

This “awfulness” would be the fear that the holy provokes in us. I like how Sproul describes it “We have mixed feelings about the holy. There is a sense in which we are at the same time attracted to it and repulsed by it. Something draws us toward it while at the same time we want to run away from it. We can’t seem to decide which way we want it. Part of us yearns for the holy while part of us despises it. We can’t live with it and we can’t live without it.”[5]

When Isaiah was in the presence of God what was his first response? Was it praise? Was it joy? Was it a warm loving feeling? No, it was fear and acknowledgement of his unworthiness to be in the presence of a holy God. It was truly a Godly fear. Now does this mean we should be scared of God or fearful of Him? No, it means we not only need to but will give proper respect and honor to Him when we understand his complete holiness. Understanding his holiness (which we can never fully comprehend) changes us forever. We no longer approach God casually as our buddy from college who we haven’t seen in years; instead we approach him with reverence, respect and awe. In Isaiah’s encounter with God can see God’s grace and mercy present as well. God didn’t respond to Isaiah’s, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips” with a “Yeah, you’re right now get out of my presence.” No, He responded by sending an angel to place a coal on his lips to purify him and make him worthy to stand in the presence of God. God provided a way for the unclean to stand in the presence of a holy and pure God.

This is what God has done for us though Jesus Christ. We are unworthy to stand in His presence because God is separate from profane things, but He has cleansed us and made a way for us to stand in His presence in confidence and grace through Jesus Christ.

(Read Hebrews 4:14 – 16)

In Christ we can stand before a pure and holy God without guilt or shame. But we stand in confidence… not because of who we are, but because of what Christ has done for us. Because Jesus is our High Priest, our intercessor we may now boldly approach the throne of grace. Knowing this truth our response should be Holy Amen to that!

As I wrap this up there is one more scripture that I would like to look at that kind of brings this whole sermon together found in I Peter 1:15.16, “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.’” This is both a command and a proclamation. As believers we are called to live holy lives. This means we are to live in this world but we are to be separate from the influence of the world. Our conduct should be the kind to bring glory to the Father and not turn people away. This basically means whatever we say or do MUST line up with the God who we proclaim as our King! We cannot live lives of hypocrisy and falsehood. We are also declared holy by which we are set apart from the world through Jesus Christ. Jesus lives inside of us, through the Holy Spirit. As Corinthians says, “Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.” Christ himself dwells in us and this makes us holy but in the same way we have the command to keep from profaning the temple by keeping it pure and undefiled and holy through our actions and worship.

God is holy this is a beautiful and fearful truth. May we completely understand today we have a holy God who fills us with awe and wonder which is awful and incomprehensible yet in the same way it should draw us to Him in worship and adoration.

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[1]Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1:1045

[2] Sproul, R.C.: The Holiness of God. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1988 p. 38

[3] Ibid p.42

[4] Otto, Rudolph: The Idea of the Holy: Oxford University Press, 1950 pp.12,13

[5] Sproul, R.C.: The Holiness of God. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1988 p. 61