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Attributes of God (Part 3) God is HOLY
In the last two lessons I have attempted to help you understand a little more about our awesome and wonderful God. He is not only the mighty creator of all things, He is completely sovereign and all powerful – omnipotent. He is eternal, existing forever and will forever exist, and beyond the limits of time. And because of this, all events of time are before Him in a moment. He is omnipresent or ever present, and hence all knowing. Nothing is hidden from Him.
Admittedly these attributes are hard if not impossible to fully understand or even imagine. Read what David wrote in Psalm 139:1-18. He basically wrote, ‘God where can I go from your presence? And then states, ‘I can’t, You are everywhere Lord, and know everything.’’
Our God is an awesome God!
Today I would like to touch on something very, very special and unique about our Lord and our God. It defines much of who He is and how He acts. It is the fact that God is HOLY.
This is a familiar term especially as we think about moral purity, but the Holiness of God is something so much more. It is a general term referring to God’s absolute (absolute) perfection and total glorious nature. In God’s case it does refer to His infinite and absolute moral perfection which crowns His infinite intelligence and power.
The Hebrew word translated Holy is qadach, and the Greek, is hagios, they mean: distinct, separate. Therefore nothing in the creation, no one in the creation, not even man created in the image of God compares to God in His essential nature. He is incomparable. He is infinitely (infinitely) perfect. His being transcends all because of His infinite perfection because so much has been spoiled, tainted, or influenced by sin.
As Habakkuk the prophet wrote, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil. You cannot look on wickedness.” Job 34:10 says, “Far be it from God to do wickedness, to do wrong.” In Revelation 15:4 it says, “You alone are holy.” And there lies the point I want you to see… Only God is truly (truly) holy.
That is why man cannot enter into His presence unless our spirit and soul are cleansed or purified by what God Himself has provided; the blood of Jesus.
Even though He loves us dearly, He will not defile Himself by being in the presence of, or exposing Himself to those who are dead spiritually because of sin. Do you want to know what new TV show that is now airing that I detest? The show, ‘Walking Dead’ about evil zombie like characters, half decomposed dead people who are still moving about.
But before we are cleansed and healed by Jesus, in my imagination that’s how I perceive those unsaved in God’s eyes, as the walking dead. In the OT those who came in contact with a dead body or even those who had some kind of nasty skin disease had to stay out of the camp, or God’s presence. (Num. 5:1-4)
His holiness is a difficult attributes to explain or fully understand. Why? Because it is one essential attributes that is not inherently shared by man. We are created in God’s image, and we can share many of His attributes, to a much lesser extent, those attributes like love, mercy, faithfulness, etc. But only God is absolutely, perfectly Holy in every way.
Holiness is not something that we will possess as an inherent part of our nature; we only become holy in a sense when we enter into a relationship with Christ. But this is an imputed or an assigned holiness. Only in Christ do we “become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” .
God’s perfect holiness is what separates Him from all other beings, what makes Him separate and distinct from everything else. It is another reason why He is totally unique.
God’s holiness is more than just His perfection or sinless purity; it is the essence of His majesty. Because of it He transcends all other beings as well as everything else created. And because of it those who come in contact with Him are awed.
Isaiah firsthand witness of God’s holiness in his vision described in Isaiah 6. Even though Isaiah was a prophet of God and a righteous man, his reaction to the vision of God’s holiness was that of feared for his life because he recognized his own sinful nature in light of one SO HOLY. Read Isaiah 6:1- 5. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.””
Even the angels in God’s presence, those who were crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty,” covered their faces and feet with four of their six wings.
Covering the face and feet no doubt denotes the reverence and awe inspired by the immediate presence of God almighty.
The seraphim stood covered, as if concealing themselves as much as possible, even recognizing their unworthiness in the presence of the Holy One.
And if these pure and holy angelic seraphim exhibit such reverence in the presence of our Lord, how should Isaiah or anyone else having been polluted by sin dare to draw near to Him without fear and awe!
The reverence shown to God by the angels should remind us of our own presumption when we rush thoughtlessly and irreverently into His presence, as we often do because we do not understand His holiness, simply thinking of our own needs. Shame on us when we refer to Him as the big man in the sky or even refer to His name as a curse or swear word. John’s vision of the throne of God in Revelation 4 was similar to that of Isaiah. Again, there were living creatures around the throne crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” in reverence and awe of the Holy One. John goes on to describe these creatures giving glory and honor and reverence to God continually around His throne. (Click on and Read Revelation 4)
God’s holiness influences His entire being and shapes all His other attributes. His love is a perfectly holy love. His mercy is a perfect holy mercy. And even His anger and wrath are perfectly holy forms of anger and wrath. These concepts are difficult for humans to grasp, just as God is difficult for us to understand in His entirety.
To be holy is to be set apart. And God is. He’s one of a kind. He’s not common, but rather He’s sacred. He’s higher and greater than anyone or anything else.
What is the proper way for us to respond to the holiness of God? Make no mistake about it. The way we respond has eternal implications.
What did people who encountered God in the Bible do?
In Exodus 3:6 Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
In Isaiah 6:1-7 Isaiah: Isaiah realizes his own sinfulness.
In Ezekiel 1:28, we read that Ezekiel fell on His face before the Lord.
In Matthew 17:5-6 The Apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration fell on their face because they were afraid.
In Revelations 1:17 The Apostle John fell at His feet as if he were dead when he saw the Lord.
In Revelation chapter 4, 5, and 7 we see that the 24 elders fell before the throne on their faces, and they worshipped God.
Our God is that awesome. And Glorious. He deserves praise and worship whether you see Him face to face or not.
As we come to know God in this manner…
#1. we should think of God and approach Him with a whole new perspective. No this life, this existence is not all about us. He is the one that deserves glory, and honor, and praise, and worship, as well as our love and obedience, because His holiness stirs something inside us. C. S. Lewis wrote, “How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets real thing, it is irresistible.”
There is no on like Him. Because of His holiness we are told that one day every knee will bow before Him. I don’t think we will have the strength to do much else other than bow and prostrate ourselves before Him.
#2. His Holiness should open our eyes as to how imperfect and wrenched we really are, and how much we need His mercy and grace in our life. We have no right to approach Him or even be in His presence. It should open our eyes as to how really important Jesus sacrifice was, because without it we would never be able to enter into heaven or in His presence in Glory. Isaiah 64:6 says “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” So even our best is not good enough without Jesus!
So many people out there think that Just because they live a so called ‘good life’ and they don’t kill someone, or if they do kind and charitable things God will welcome them into heaven. But Isaiah is letting us know that this is not so. Without Jesus even our best is this verse here is compared to a dirty, filthy menstrual rag.
#3. Knowing about God’s holiness should produce a humble and thankful heart knowing that in all creation, and considering all the things, our Lord God who has created and continues to hold together stopped to provide an opportunity for salvation and cleansing for you personally.
What greater gift in all the universe could one receive than the opportunity of one day being able to come into His Holy, eternal presence in the glory of Heaven itself without fear of being cast out or destroyed.
#4. Last of all I believe this should have an effect on how you live your life. Let me read what the Apostle Peter has to say concerning this very subject in 1 Peter 1:1-16. (Click on and READ)
My final challenge for you is to take some time to learn more about this subject of God’s holiness. Today I’ve only scratched the surface, for our God is such an AWESOME GOD!
For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566
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