Holiness of God

Alright, so you know we have been talking about the human’s original condition and the way of salvation.

From the bible, we confirm that all human’s condition is sinful and as a result we learned that the way of salvation is not in us, yet in God for we are under spiritual darkness.

Because of this spiritual blindness condition in us, the word of God says, there is none who seek God or desire Him.

For this reason, when Nicodemus asked Jesus how people can be saved, He says we must be born again through the word of God by the Spirit of God.

For the word of God and the Spirit of God are the ultimate powers of God in our salvation.

In the sense, you must remember that this time of listening of the word of God is one of the most important moment in our lives. Because the word of God changes your heart and provides you

new life in Him.

Now, from today’s message, I would like to look at this specific issue that the way of Salvation.

However, first, I would like to begin our message from a view on God. Because it teaches us the basic idea of our needy of our salvation.

I am pretty positive that probably some of you may wonder why do we need the salvation of God since we are not too bad sinner and you do not think you deserve eternal hell.

Right? In fact, that was exactly my thought until my age of 20.

Without knowing the proper view on God Himself, you will not realize the need of your salvation.

This is the reason why I am willing to share this subject, the holiness of God.

The holiness of God.

In the bible there are many passages shows us the various characters of God.

But, one of the important character that we must understand is the holiness of God.

Let us look at the book of Leviticus 11:44

For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.

Now, then what is the meaning of Holy?

The holiness of God is the most difficult of all God’s attributes to explain because it is one of His essential attributes that is not shared, by man.

We are created in God’s image, and we can share many of His characters such as love, mercy, faithfulness, etc.

But some of God’s characters, such as omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence, will never be shared by created beings.

Similarly, holiness is not something that we will possess as an inherent part of our nature;

we only become holy in relationship to Christ. It is an imputed holiness.

Only in Christ we “become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s holiness is what separates Him from all other beings, what makes Him separate and distinct from everything else. God’s holiness is more than just His perfection or sinless purity; it is the essence of His “other-ness,” His transcendence. God’s holiness embodies the mystery of His awesomeness and causes us to gaze in wonder at Him as we begin to comprehend just a little of His majesty.

Let us look at the book of Isaiah 6:3 says this.

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

In Hebrew culture, if someone says same word three times, it means perfect and complete idea of the word.

And as you see here, the prophet Isaiah says he saw a vision that the angels of the heaven praise God saying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts.

Isaiah was a firsthand witness of God’s holiness in his vision described in Isaiah 6.

Even though Isaiah was a prophet of God and a righteous man, his reaction to the vision of God’s holiness was to be aware of his own sinfulness and to despair for his life (Isaiah 6:5).

Even the angels in God’s presence, those who were crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty,” covered their faces and feet with four of their six wings.

Covering the face and feet no doubt denotes the reverence and awe inspired by the immediate presence of God (Exodus 3:4–5).

The seraphim stood covered, as if concealing themselves as much as possible, in recognition of their unworthiness in the presence of the Holy One.

And if the pure and holy seraphim exhibit such reverence in the presence of the Lord, with what profound awe should we, polluted and sinful creatures, presume to draw near to Him!

The reverence shown to God by the angels should remind us of our own presumption when we rush thoughtlessly and irreverently into His presence, as we often do because we do not understand His holiness.

But, now let us look at the 1 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.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Here, we see God commands us to be holy for He is holy.

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrew 12:14