What Does It Mean That God Is Holy?
Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord
In one of the most central texts in all of Scripture on God’s holiness, we are invited to learn from our brother Isaiah’s unique encounter with God.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:1-5).
Not once, not twice, but three times those heavenly beings who know God from a sinless state call out to one another in awe, wonder, and worship saying, “Holy! Holy! Holy! is the Lord!” Echoing like the roll of mighty peels of thunder through the halls of heaven this truth resounds with such a harmony that the very foundations of the thresholds shudder at the revelation.
Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, even as sincere Christians, our own hearts do not often share the same response. All too often we find ourselves struggling to experience the glory of the One whom we have come to love and trust. Yet we must recall that Jesus’ ministry was not merely one of saving sinners from death, but even more so one of bringing sinners into a right relationship to God, (Jn. 14:6). When God saved you, you did not immediately come into a full knowledge of God. No, it is God’s design that His children grow in such knowledge, more and more, as they walk with Him by faith.
However, very much unlike the heavenly beings who gaze upon God with eyes unencumbered by sin’s deceptions and with hearts undistorted by sin’s corruption, we look up to heaven through the faulty perspective of this fallen world. Although we have been saved from sin’s penalty through Jesus Christ, we have not yet been fully restored from sin’s effects. When we approach God, we find that our misconceptions, wrong beliefs, and even polluted ambitions are still right there with us. This is why need the continual revelation of God’s Word and the renewing grace of God’s Spirit to restore our hearts, more and more, to a right knowledge of the almighty God. Knowing and enjoying God is the chief end of our existence and the climax of every eternal joy promised to the Christian.
So What Does It Really Mean That God Is Holy?
In our Midweek Discipleship time on Wednesday evenings, we are currently studying a classic book by R.C. Sproul called, “The Holiness of God.” As we are making our way through the book, we have tried to begin unraveling the beautiful and sundry facets of God’s holiness. Sproul explained the difficulty we face in defining what it means that God is holy by saying that when the Bible reveals God as holy, we are learning a concept that is almost completely foreign to us as finite and fallen creatures. The challenge may indeed be difficult, but by the grace of God’s self-revelation in His Word we are invited to wade out into the ocean of His eternal majestic glory.
The author identified three primary aspects which are central to understanding God’s holiness. Let’s explore each of them together below.
1. God’s holiness means He is SEPARATE. (Helpful Synonyms: other, distinct, unique)
This means that God is unlike us; He is unique to Himself; He is in a category of His own.
Examples of God’s Uniqueness/Otherness Include His:
Eternality — God is without beginning or end; God exists outside of time; He is, He was, He evermore shall be.
Aseity — God is uncreated; His existence is grounded in Himself; God is neither derived nor dependent.
Simplicity — God is not the sum of parts, he is indivisible; God is all that He is all of the time.
Tri-unity — God is three distinct and equal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, existing eternally as one God.
Omniscient — All things are known to God from all eternity; God does not learn.
Omnipotent — God is all-powerful; for God, nothing is strenuous, tiring, or beyond His ability.
Omnipresent — God, in His fullness, is fully present everywhere.
2. God’s holiness means He is TRANSCENDENT. (Helpful Synonyms: glorious, incomprehensible, inscrutable)
Every individual aspect of who God is so uniquely glorious that it cannot be fully measured or comprehended. He is beyond the limits and borders of every other thing; He is greater in every way than all else.
Consider God’s Transcendence In Relation to His:
Goodness — The goodness of God is higher and greater than all goodness; it is the source of all goodness.
Creativity — The creativity of God is incalculable in its scope, specificity, grandeur, complexity, uniqueness, and perfection.
Wisdom — The wisdom of God is supreme, only and always enacting that which is impeccable.
Knowledge — The knowledge of God is complete; all is open and bare before the face of God, fully known from all eternity
Authority — The authority of God is without equal, rival, or hinderance. Whatsoever God wills is done.
Counsel — The guidance of God for His people is pure, perfect, comprehensive, and circumspect.
Righteousness — The Law of God is utterly clean, pure, right, proper, good, wholesome, equitable, and morally supreme.
Justice — The justice of God is true, fair, impartial, devoid of misperception, and altogether accurate and balanced.
Faithfulness — The faithfulness of God is unwavering, unfailing and resolved; He is the promise-keeping God who never lies.
Compassion — The tender compassion of God acknowledges, pursues, embraces, mends, and restores the broken hearted.
Mercy — The mercy of God forgives offenses which are unforgivable, makes peace with enemies, and saves the undeserving.
Grace — The grace of God renews the irreparable, salvages the unsalvageable, and grants the incalculable inheritance of eternal life with God to sinners who only ever deserved His wrath and curse.
3. God’s holiness means He is PURE. (Helpful Synonyms: impeccable, perfect, proper, faultless)
This means that every aspect of God’s being is altogether faultless, proper, and impeccable.
In summary, to say that God is holy is to say that:
God is uniquely and incomprehensibly preeminent in every flawless facet of His eternal being, and therefore worthy of whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of His creatures.
Let us learn to say in our hearts together with holy Scripture:
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen, (Romans 11:33-36)