The Attributes of God
Holiness
Isaiah 6:1-3
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”
Revelation 4:2-8
Holy, means sacred, hallowed, set apart or separate. The separateness of God is seen in the attributes of God we have studied. God alone is self-existent and eternal. There is no other that exists in trinity, no other omnipotent, no other omniscient, no other omnipresent. The defining features of His existence separate Him from everything He has created.
Isaiah 44:6
“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.
Holiness also connotes moral perfection. The moral perfection of God is inherent in His being. Morality itself depends upon the goodness of God. Anything God is or anything God does or anything God commands is morally perfect because He is good.
Psalm 19:7-10
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Some would accuse God of wrong in His command to drive out the Canaanites, Deuteronomy 20:16-18, but consider that God had withheld judgment from these lands for four hundred years before Israel became His instrument of justice. Should they have been left unchecked until the whole world was evil like in the time of Noah? Is there anyone that died who wasn’t going to die?
Habakkuk 1:2-4
O Lord, how long shall I cry,
And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, “Violence!”
And You will not save.
Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me;
There is strife, and contention arises.
Therefore the law is powerless,
And justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.
Not unlike our own times, the prophet lived in a time when it seemed like the wicked prospered and the righteous suffered. In the rest of the book of Habakkuk God reminds the prophet that ultimately evil will be judged and done away with and God’s people will be comforted. This is God’s holiness in judgment and justice.
God’s holiness has a paradoxical effect upon people. One the one hand, freedom from sin and its impacts would be a great relief but, it comes at the cost of recognizing our own moral failure. Owning our own sin has been the hardest thing to do since Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. Jesus told us,
John 3:18-21
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
All believers become somewhat separate from unbelievers.
Matthew 25:31-32
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
And although we do not have moral perfection in this life, we do have the power of the Holy Spirit enabling our pursuit of holiness and the encouragement of the promise that we will be eternally free from sin and its impacts in heaven.
1Peter 1:13-16
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
2Corinthians 7:1
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
brotherpayne 