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The Only Holy God


What does a fire do? It destroys the dead, purifies, and transforms the landscape. It is powerful, beautiful, and awesome. No one can stand up to the heat and fury of a firestorm. Nothing can bring regeneration like a forest fire.

 

God’s holiness has even greater power. Moses, who saw God’s holiness in the burning bush, asked, “Who else among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is glorious in holiness like you—so awesome in splendor, performing such wonders?” (Exodus 15:11).

 

We may also define holy as completely set apart from sin.[i] Holiness reflects a flawless, unblemished moral purity. God does not just match a standard of purity—He is the standard.

 

I feel totally inadequate to describe this attribute of God. How can I, or any sinful human being, find the right words to explain how pure and high God is in His holiness? How can I describe something that is so far removed from my experience and nature? However, if we desire to know God intimately and see our lives transformed, we must begin to grasp God’s holiness, His supreme attribute.

 

When I think of God’s holiness, I am convicted by the sinful nature of my own being. We are all like a man wearing a beautiful white suit who was invited to go down into the depths of a coal mine. In the darkness of the mine, he was not aware that his suit was becoming soiled. But when he resurfaced into the dazzling light of the noonday sun, he was fully aware that his suit had become sooty and dirty. The light of God’s holiness reveals the darkness of our sin.

 

Isaiah was a prominent citizen of Judah during the eighth century bc, a prophet who followed God’s commands and served his Lord. Today, we would consider him one of the “spiritual elite,” a man of integrity and honor. At one point, Isaiah had a vision of heaven and the holiness of the Creator:

I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Hovering around Him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. In a great chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the LordAlmighty! The whole earth is filled with His glory!” The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1–4)

 

Prior to his vision, Isaiah was focused on the sins of others, calling them to repentance. Now that he found himself in the very presence of our holy God, he became dramatically aware of his own sin and unrighteousness. Terrified, he exclaimed, “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!” (Isaiah 6:5).

 

When the angels surround the glorious throne of God, they sing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.” Stephen Charnock comments, “Do you hear, in any angelical song, any other perfection of the Divine Nature thrice repeated? Where do we read of them crying out, ‘eternal, eternal, eternal’ or ‘faithful, faithful, faithful’ Lord God of hosts?”[ii]

 

This repetition, “holy, holy, holy,” tells us that God’s holiness is the supreme attribute of His being, the foundation of His eternal existence. All His other attributes are marked by His holiness. His sovereignty and His role as judge are rooted in and flow out of His holiness. In fact, theologians speak of God’s holiness as His “central and supreme perfection.”[iii] It sets Him apart from everything and everyone.


By Bill Bright


[i] Nelson Study Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997), 2120.

[ii] Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, reprinted 1996), vol. 2, 112.

[iii] Louis Berkof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1941), 73.


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