God’s Holiness
Having an accurate view of God from a biblical perspective is crucial if we are going to be able to know how to relate to Him and live in relationship with Him.
That’s why we’ve been looking at the way Scripture reveals the attributes of God throughout this blog series.
So far, we have see that God is self-existent and eternal, immutable, good, omnipresent, omniscient and omnisapient, omnipotent, and sovereign.
But another key attribute of God is His holiness.
Holiness is a very churchy word. It’s used all of the time about God and even to describe a manner in which Christians are to live their lives. But what does it really mean to say that God is holy?
GOD’S HOLINESS
Here’s the way Jerry Bridges defines God’s attribute of holiness:
“Holiness is a comprehensive term to denote all that God is in His transcendent majesty and infinite moral purity.” (Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness)
One of the places we see this in Scripture is in Isaiah 6.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)
Notice that in Isaiah’s vision, he says that the Lord is “high and exalted.”
This is really the first way to think about God’s attribute of holiness that we saw in Jerry Bridges’ definition. There is a transcendent majesty when it comes to God.
He is “set apart,” and “absolutely distinct from all His creatures and is exalted above them in infinite majesty.”
In Exodus 15:11, Moses asks this question:
Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? (Exodus 15:11)
And of course the answer is no one! God is so different than us. To be holy means that God is in a completely different category than us or anything else.
But not only did Isaiah see God as high and exalted, he also sees God sitting on a throne as a King, and he says “the train of his robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1)
In biblical times, the train of a king’s robe would symbolize his majesty and glory, power, and strength. Therefore, if it was really long and full then it symbolized even more majesty, glory, and power.
Well, Isaiah says that God’s train of His robe filled the entire temple! That’s a long train, and just another description of how fully majestic God is compared to anyone else. He is holy and high and exalted in infinite majesty!
Here’s the way Isaiah continues describing his vision:
Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. (Isaiah 6:2)
If you only need two wings to fly, why give these seraphim four more to cover their face and their feet?
Well, they were created to be in God’s presence bringing worship, glory, and honor to Him. But because of His holiness and His transcendent majesty, God knew they would need four more wings to cover their eyes and their feet if they were going to be in His presence.
God is so pure and bright that these angelic beings couldn’t look directly at him.
And look at what they were saying:
And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3)
Notice that they were not declaring that God is holy or even that He is holy, holy. No, they were saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.
In other words, this is like the Bible’s way of putting it in all caps, in bold, or with 3 exclamation points!
The Bible never says God is love, love, love; mercy, mercy, mercy; or good, good, good; but it does say God is holy, holy, holy.
In other words, this is an important concept the Lord wants us to understand about His nature. God is holy. He is set apart and absolutely distinct from us. He is exalted high above us in infinite majesty.
But there is another aspect of what it means to say that God is holy, and we saw that in our definition earlier. God’s holiness means that He is not just transcendent in majesty but also that He is morally pure.
God is completely separate from moral evil or sin and cannot just turn a blind eye to it. (Psalm 5:4)
So, when these seraphim are flying around in His presence and saying He is holy, holy, holy and the whole earth is filled with His glory, they are worshiping Him as being completely morally pure and also as being set apart, distinct, and high above them in infinite majesty.
With that in mind, look at what Isaiah says next as he hears them praising God and declaring his holiness:
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:4)
Picture an earthquake and a fire occurring at the same time. What is your reaction if there is fire and smoke all around you, and the ground you are standing on begins to shake?
Terror, right? You’d fall to the ground in fear and terror. Well, that is Isaiah’s response too.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)
In the presence of God and His holiness, Isaiah says “I am ruined!” He thought He was going to die!
In the presence of a God of infinite otherness, majesty, and moral purity, Isaiah realized the depth of his own sin compared to him and the only logical conclusion was that he would now have to die.
This is something we must all see about our own lives. God is the standard, and we don’t measure up to His holiness. As sinners, we cannot be in His presence without cowering in sheer terror for our lives.
But look what happens to Isaiah next after he said he was ruined.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6-7)
Isaiah understood that there was nothing He could do about his sinful condition in the presence of a holy God! The only way out would be for a Savior to come rescue him, and that is just what he got.
What we see here is a foreshadowing of what Jesus would come to do one day for us.
Look at how the apostle John puts it in the New Testament of our Bibles:
He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. (1 John 2:2)
Because Jesus took my sin, your sin, and all the sin of the world into Himself and died for them on the cross, paying the penalty for them, and rising from the dead three days later, He defeated the power of sin forever.
And Scripture tells us that since Jesus has atoned for our sins that we can receive forgiveness into our lives by faith and trust in Him to be our Lord and Savior.
This is the good news, but the even better news is that not only are we forgiven, but God shares His holiness with us in our moment of salvation!
GOD SHARES HIS HOLINESS WITH BELIEVERS
In 1 Peter 2:9, the apostle Peter is writing to those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus for salvation to have their sins forgiven, but look at how he describes them:
…you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (2 Peter 2:9)
He says they are a holy nation. How could they be made holy? Through their spiritual union with Jesus.
And this is true of every believer in Christ. When the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you, you are united to Jesus who is holy, and in Him you are made holy.
God shares His holiness with you. You are made morally pure in Christ, and you are set apart as different from the rest of the people walking around this world who haven’t received Jesus’ atonement for their sins.
As part of His holy nation, you get to be set apart and walk in holiness as Jesus expresses His life through you so that others see His light and goodness in this dark world and are drawn to it in their lives as well!
GOD’S HOLINESS AND PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Understanding God’s holiness will lead us to realize the depth of our sin and that we don’t stand a chance in His presence. There is no way we can stand before Him one day and talk about our good deeds as merit for salvation. They are nothing but filthy rags compared to a holy God who is high and exalted above all things.
This realization is what is needed, however, to see our need for a savior and why God had to send Jesus for us to be rescued from our sin.
The good news is that if you will put your faith in Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man comes to the Father except through Him, you will be saved. Jesus will forgive you and come dwell in you through the Holy Spirit.
But here is the practical application of God’s holiness if you are a believer: If you have put your faith in Jesus for salvation, understanding that God shares His holiness with you will help you to walk in holiness.
It’s not, “Oh I’ve got to try and act more holy.” It’s, “I’ve been made holy, so now I can act holy because it’s who I am in Christ!”
You are not who you once were. God has made you holy and set you apart to express His holiness through you in tangible ways to impact other people around you.
