****WHO IS YOUR GOD? (part 4. The Holiness of God)

Who’s your GOD? 

A brief description of the Attributes of God.

We can know nothing about God, except that, and ONLY that, which He has revealed to us.  And those attributes are found in Scripture.  If the god you worship is less than, more than or different from the ONE TRUE GOD of the Bible, then your God doesn’t exist.

Ralph M. Petersen

THE HOLINESS OF GOD

I would proffer that most Christians, today, don’t really understand the word, HOLY.

Holiness is not about practicing or exuding a posture of humility.  It’s not about the appearance of being devout or religious.  Holiness is a demarcation of separation.  It means to be sanctified, marked out, set apart, or unique.

One aspect of God’s holiness is His ultimate purity.  All His decisions are righteous, and His judgments are perfect. He is without flaw or blemish.

His goodness is not just an acquired or practiced virtue.  He IS Good.  He cannot look on evil.  There is no sin or moral blemish in Him. 

“Infinite purity, even more than infinite knowledge or infinite power, is the object of reverence… ‘The Holy One of Israel’ is He who is to be feared and adored.”   Charles Hodge  

But beyond His spotless purity, His holiness exists in His “utter otherness.”  He is not like us.  He doesn’t act like us and He doesn’t think like us.  His ways are not our ways.  He is utterly indefinable. 

As a man, when I look at a slug on the ground, I might think how much different I am than that slimy, slow-moving mollusk.  But, I have things in common with the slug.  We are both created, mortal, physical beings.  

The difference between God and me are infinite.  I am mortal; He is immortal. I am a creature; He is the creator.  I am a physical being; He is Spirit.  There is nothing comparable to God. 

His holiness is overwhelming.  He is superior to and separate above all creation.   He is superlatively majestic and indescribable in His splendor.  His Glory is too stunning to look upon or understand.

“When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate.  He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us.”    R.C. Sproul   

Of all God’s attributes, revealed in scripture, His holiness is uniquely and superlatively emphasized.  He is thrice Holy.  The four living creatures surrounding His throne, raise up and honor Him by crying out continuously, day and night forever, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”   And that is what we, His Church will do also.  We will worship Him in His holiness forever as we bow before His throne and cry out, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will, they existed and were created.”  (Rev. 4:11)

So when Scripture uses the word, holy, to describe people, places, or things, as holy, we should be sober in the way we mark them out or set them aside for service to our God.

  

According to the Bible, Human life, Marriage, Sex, His Church, His Word, His Name, and His Worship are not to be profaned, manipulated, or abused for our convenience or pleasure.  They are to be set apart to Him and revered for His glory. 



(Some material presented here has been quoted from "The Attributes of God" as published by Ligonier Ministries and influenced by the companion lectures of Steven Lawson)