The Holiness of God

God’s holiness is not just one of His attributes. It is the summation of all His attributes. Allow me to use an example I’ve heard from my pastor to describe this. Think of the attributes of God as being a diamond; multifaceted; none of His attributes can be separated from one another, and His holiness is the light that passes through the diamond. His holiness is what illumines the other facets or attributes for us to behold them, it permeates each facet or attribute. When thinking of the holiness of God we know that the word of God places such emphasis on His holiness. In fact, His holiness is emphasized to the third degree, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.” (Revelation 4:8) He is thrice holy in everything that He is. He is holy in power, He is holy in His faithfulness, He is holy in His sovereignty, He is holy in His justice, He is holy in His grace, He is holy in His mercy; He is holy, holy, holy.

Let us look at Isaiah chapter six. “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 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. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.’” (Isaiah 6:1-6)

When we look at that passage, we see that it was not enough for the seraphim to proclaim that God is only holy, but that He is holy, holy, holy. He takes it a step further, saying “the whole earth is full of His glory.” This holiness of God is unfathomable, witnessed by the fact that Isaiah coming into the presence of this thrice holy God, was left undone, stating, and I quote, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!”. Before we get too far into this, let me take it a step backwards, and ask what does holiness mean? Many are quick to say it’s a separation from sin but let us dive into the holiness of God a little deeper than that. When walking my family through this about a week or so ago now, I hit on three things that we should think of when thinking of God’s holiness. Those three are as follows, separation from sin, moral perfection, and absolute purity. We ought to think of His unparalleled majesty, His transcendence, and His unblemished absolute purity. The Hebrew word for holy is “qadosh”, which speaks or portrays to us the idea of being “set apart” or “distinct/separate”.

Because God is perfectly and thrice holy, because He is righteous, He cannot be associated with sin. We know that God cannot even stand to look upon sin. “Your eyes are too pure to see evil, and You cannot look on trouble.” (Habakkuk 1:13) God is not the author of sin as some believe, He is far too pure to look on it, condone it, or author it. He has given us a will, and because of our sin nature, we will to do that which is sinful, that which is rebellious toward God. However, God will use even our sin for His glory. With that in mind, any act of sin creates a separation or distance between a person and God. Quite properly thought of, it forms a void between us and God. “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) However, this separation from sin on God’s part, is not only referring to His separation from us when we sin, but it speaks of His inability to sin Himself. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” (James 1:13) We also know from the book of Numbers that, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?” (Numbers 23:19)

It is of necessity, based on who God is, that He should be morally perfect. This perfection could not be flawed, or He could not be God, and neither could He be perfect. He has revealed Himself as the ultimate source of morality, and He always chooses according to His character, that which is always morally right in every situation. He literally embodies the highest standard of goodness, and if we want to be theologically correct, there is no standard for Him, for He is the standard. He is always acting in complete righteousness and justice, without a thread of wickedness or imperfection in all that He does, says, or thinks. And this moral perfection ties in with the separation from sin, as it does with the absolute purity of God; there is no way to separate these three character traits from each other when considering the character and holiness of God. It is essential to understand, when stating what I’ve just stated, that morality would speak of goodness, whereas the opposite of morality would be wickedness or evil. I think we often label morality in such ways as good morals and bad morals, but morality would be goodness, whereas the opposite would be wickedness, not bad morals. It is therefore without any need to be said but let me say it again for the sake of clarity; if God was not morally perfect, then He would not be God. After all, God has stated in his word, “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.’” (Leviticus 19:2) And again, “Therefore, you shall set yourselves apart as holy and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God.” (Leviticus 20:7) We see this call time and time again throughout the canon of Scripture. God is thrice holy, and He is immutable, meaning He is unchanging, He literally cannot change.

As we come to the absolute purity of God, we know Him to be perfectly good, just, free of sin, and the source of all goodness or morality. His holiness encompasses and consists of this purity, moral perfection, and separation from sin. Holiness as described earlier, speaks of being “separate” or “set apart”, which means God would be separate from all creation. He is separate from the sinfulness of humanity, separate from all things, including but not limited to, any defilement, stain, or imperfection. Let us look to the word of God for a glimpse of His purity. “And this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3) We could go on and on with verses that speak to God’s purity and His call to those who are His to be pure. We see through a looking at His laws and His commandments, the reflection of His pure nature, and these serve as a standard for righteousness. However, let me take it a step further and say, God’s purity is a reflection of the moral distance between God and mankind. His holiness and purity entail the transcendence of God. It is when we look at how pure He is, how holy He is, we too are stricken like the prophet Isaiah with this overwhelming sense of our unholiness, our impurity and our defilement.

We hear often that God can do anything, but this comes from a limited knowledge of who God truly is. There are things God cannot do. Those things that He cannot do are that which go against His very nature or character. God cannot lie, He cannot fail, He cannot change, He cannot be unjust, He cannot cease to exist, He cannot be surprised, He cannot change His mind, He cannot learn, He cannot suffer, and much, much more. See, we often like to limit God based on a low view of God; we tend to liken God to ourselves, only bigger, and in this we do Him a great injustice. “These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.” (Psalm 50:21) Scripture makes it abundantly clear He is not like us, as quoted from the book of Numbers earlier; He is not like man, nor like a son of Man that He should lie or repent.

How does His holiness affect our daily lives? Well, it should keep us mindful that God is utterly incapable of lying to us, and incapable of doing any wrong. He is incapable of holding grudges, and He is incapable of failing us. He is incapable of promising that which He can’t deliver on. He is completely and utterly reliable in every way. What He speaks is true, what He promises will come to pass. What He wants for us, is what’s best for us, because He is holy. This doctrine should affect our daily lives in more than simple acknowledgement and trusting in these truths about His nature and character though. It should provoke and drive us to lead holy lives in light of who He is. “Therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not being conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct; because it is written, ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’” (1 Peter 1:13-16) So, here we have it, we have been given this absolutely unachievable standard to live by our whole life. Every day, I wake up and strive to climb more of this ladder. And what beauty there is in this, because it morally protects us; because every day I am confronted with the revelation of more of my own unholiness, ways that I’m not like God. I must cry out to Him, “Father, please help me to be diligent in taking another step toward my growth in Christlikeness, for You have called me to be holy as You are holy, and when left to myself I see how depraved I truly am, how wicked and rebellious I can be; please Father, please help me to pursue holiness and grow in it as You have desired all Your children to do.”

I wish I could say that I am holy in all that I do, all that I say, and in all that I think, for that is what I have been called to. However, I can’t, I would be lying if I said I was and deceiving no-one other than myself. I fail at times even in my desires, to align them with that of holiness and the pursuit thereof. But this is a prime place to be. Why? Because it drives me to my knees, to the cross of Jesus Christ, and serves as a fresh reminder that my only hope of ever being holy is through God’s grace. The only reason I could ever stand as holy, is not based on my own efforts, but solely upon Christ’s life – which was lived on my behalf, His death – which was also on my behalf, and His victorious resurrection. Therefore, I can stand before God as holy even though I am not. I pursue this holiness we are called to daily, and I pray that God would by His grace, help me to grow in this as I venture every day to obey His command to be holy. The doctrine of the holiness of God really ought to humble us and restructure the way we think of or perceive ourselves and our life.