Holy Means Good: How God Defines His Holy Name

On Mount Sinai, God defined his holy name with goodness.

Holy means good. That is one of the most important things you need to understand about God’s holiness (and we’ve been digging into this for several weeks: post one, two). So, let’s look further at how the Bible links God’s holiness and goodness.

God’s signature on Mount Sinai

In the Old Testament, Mount Sinai is probably the most significant revelation of God’s holiness. There God gave his holy Law on tablets of stone. There he revealed how to construct the holy tabernacle and how to set Aaron and his sons and the Levites apart as holy priests to make holy sacrifices so that sinful people could become a holy nation. There he revealed his holy glory in clouds, lightning, thunder, earthquake, and fire. There he spoke so that Israel could hear his holy voice.

And there on top of holy Mount Sinai, Moses asked to see even more of the holy God. What God then revealed to Moses is crucial for all who want to understand God’s holiness. God told Moses he would answer his prayer in part. God said he would make his holy glory pass before Moses, and he would reveal his name to him. That meant he would reveal his identity.

Here is how that scene unfolded:

“Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’

“And he [God] said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name “The LORD”’” (Exodus 33:18–19).

Notice two crucial things.

First, when God agreed to reveal more of his glory to Moses, God said he would reveal “all my goodness.” God’s holy glory is especially his goodness.

God’s holy name

Second, what accompanies this revelation of God’s goodness is his revelation of his name. In the Bible a person’s name is not simply a label to use when you want to address someone. Name meant identity. Name meant self. Name meant who you are. So, when God said he would reveal his name to Moses, he was saying he would enable Moses to know more of his holy character and ways.

Elsewhere God told the prophet Ezekiel, “Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name” (Ezekiel 36:22).

Elsewhere God instructed Moses that the priests must be careful that they “not profane my holy name: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 22:2).

God’s name defined

Now we’re ready to read what happened next, and it’s awesome, as God reveals his goodness and his name:

“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’” (Exodus 34:5–7)

God defines his holy name—he fills his name with its holy meaning—by describing himself as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (vv. 6–7).

God knows himself and knows what holiness is, and it is goodness: mercy, grace, patience, steadfast love, faithfulness, forgiveness. Holy means good.

When you praise him

When you praise God for his mercy, you are praising his holy name.

When you praise God for his grace, you are praising his holy name.

When you praise God for his patience, you are praising his holy name.

When you praise God for his steadfast love, you are praising his holy name.

When you praise God for his faithfulness, you are praising his holy name.

When you praise God for his forgiveness, you are praising his holy name.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We may be indifferent or complacent about how God defines his name.

God’s way: God loves his name and its meaning. He loves who he is.

As for the end of verse 7, which speaks of God’s justice, stay tuned, for in a few weeks we will look at the relationship between his goodness and justice. Until then, we have much more to see about the relationship between God’s holiness and kindness.

August 20, 2018December 29, 2020

Holy Means Good: God Gives Waves of Holy Blessings

When God comes near in holiness, he comes near with holy blessings.

Let’s talk more about the all-important idea that holy means good. When we say God is holy, that means God alone is perfectly good. Last week we saw that when the super-holy ark of God came to the property of Obed-edom, it brought blessing and good.

Hundreds of years prior to that event Moses taught the same principle, that a right relationship with the holy God brings waves of good into a person’s life:

“¹If you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ⁶Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

^“7The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

^“9The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

^“12The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ¹⁴and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” (Deuteronomy 28:1–14)

Holy blessings

God is good, abundantly good. People who walk in his holy ways experience wave upon wave of his goodness. (You might ask, does this mean God promises material prosperity to holy people today? That question is not my point here. My purpose is only to show the relationship between God’s holiness and goodness.)

Holy means good. In the center of this expansive promise of blessing, Moses said, “The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself” (v. 9). That is what makes blessing possible. God is holy, and he makes his people holy. Holy brings good, because holy means good.

Moses said in verse 10 that when the other nations of the earth saw the blessings on Israel, they would also take note that Israel was “called by the name of the LORD.” The nations would associate blessing on a nation with God’s name, which the Bible emphasizes is a holy name.

God’s holiness and goodness are one.

Let’s explore the relationship between God’s holiness and goodness further next week in a story that is one of the greatest revelations of God’s character in the Bible.

August 13, 2018December 29, 2020

Holy Means Good

If we love what is good, we should love God’s holiness, for his holiness is goodness to perfection. Holy means good. The holy God brings wholly good.

When we say that God is holy, we are saying that only he is good.

Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19).

The connection between God’s goodness and holiness is illustrated by one story about the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant was the chest that God commanded Moses to make on Mount Sinai, in which he was to put the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. This was the ark that God commanded Moses to place in the Holy of Holies. It was the only furniture in the holiest place of the Tabernacle. On its cover were two carved statues of cherubim. They symbolized the cherubim that surround God’s presence on heaven’s throne. So, God’s special, manifest presence rested above the ark.

Therefore, it was the holiest article in the holy tabernacle. During Israel’s 40 years of desert wanderings, when they would dismantle and later set up the Tabernacle again, most of the workers were to take care not to touch or even look at the ark, so holy was it (Numbers 4:4–20).

What the ark reveals about the goodness of God’s holiness

At one point King David tried to bring the ark to Jerusalem, but the leaders mishandled the operation, breaking some of God’s clear rules and leading to a tragic death (I’ll write about how this relates to God’s goodness soon). Second Samuel 6:9–12 says:

“David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, ‘How can the ark of the LORD come to me?’ So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

“And it was told King David, ‘The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.’ So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.”

The holy brought the good

God’s holy presence brought blessing when the people treated him with proper reverence and protocol. Because of the presence of the super-holy ark, God blessed the man Obed-edom, blessed every person in his household, and blessed all that belonged to him, all his possessions.

That means they experienced a sudden, unmistakable wave of health and abundance when the super-holy ark came to their house (such as Deuteronomy 28:1–14 describes). Sick children suddenly got well. The crops suddenly grew better. The vines grew better, bigger grapes. Pests disappeared from the fields. The perfect amount of rain fell softly on the fields. More sheep and cattle conceived, and the animals delivered healthy young.

This was because the holiest article in Israel’s religion—the ark—was perfectly good. God’s holiness brought blessing and life to his people.

Our ways and God’s ways

Our ways: Fallen people think they are good. But they question whether God is always good, in particular as they try to reconcile human suffering and the presence of evil in the world with God’s goodness. And they are especially dubious about God’s holiness being good and attractive.

God’s ways: God is holy. That means God alone is good, and he is infinitely, perfectly good in all his ways.

I have more to say about the goodness of God’s holiness and crucial Scriptures to see both in the Old and New Testaments. So, let’s resume this topic next week.

August 6, 2018December 29, 2020

As Clean as Sunlight

In our defiled world, how refreshing and attractive is God’s purity and moral excellence.

When the Bible says God is holy it means he is morally pure. Not 95 percent pure, nor 99 percent pure, nor 99.99 percent pure, but 100 percent, absolutely, perfectly pure in every way, every action, every thought, every intention, every emotion. He is moral excellence.

Ethically, God is as clean as sunlight, as pure as fire.

“Far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong” (Job 34:10).

Daniel had this vision of God: “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire” (Daniel 7:9).

Mark writes, “Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them” (9:2–3).

John writes, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

God’s purity in what he loves and hates

In holiness God loves, enjoys, and finds infinite delight in what is pure. He loves his own righteous ways and delights in doing good. His pleasure is in justice.

Likewise, he rejoices to see goodness in us. God promotes what is morally clean, teaching people his ways. He honors and rewards people for being clean, pure, and good.

The flip side of that is, in holy purity, he has absolutely no pleasure in moral evil. He has no evil desires. God has never had an evil thought. He cannot be tempted by evil, and he tempts no one (James 1:13).

Not only does he have no pleasure in evil, he hates, abhors, and abominates it. For example,

There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16–19)

God reacts to evil the way we react to the worst smells. He recoils from evil the way we recoil from the smell of dead animals, dung, or rotten food in a dumpster.

God testified concerning Jesus, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness” (Hebrews 1:9).

Not only does he hate evil, he condemns and burns it. He is never complacent about evil, but sooner or later takes action to purge it from existence. He is absolutely pure, and this is his universe, so despite his great patience, mercy, and love, eventually what is evil and defiled must perish in flames (Revelation 21:8). Because God is the pure, clean housekeeper of the earth, what is corrupt and defiled is doomed.

God’s purity washes the unclean

God taught Israel over and over again in his law and in the procedures of worship in the tabernacle that his holiness meant being clean.

The Tabernacle provided a crucial object lesson:

You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations. (Exodus 30:18–21)

Because God is holy, as pure as sunlight, he told the priests that one of their most important jobs was “They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean” (Ezekiel 44:23).

The law divided food into the categories of clean and unclean, and therefore into what could and could not be eaten.

Even Israel’s soldiers had to pay attention to cleanliness:

You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. (Deuteronomy 23:12–14)

Knowing God’s nature firsthand, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Finally, knowing all this, the apostle Paul wrote, “Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Our ways versus God’s ways

Our ways: Fallen humans can be tempted by and find pleasure in evil, in thinking about it, doing it, and experiencing it vicariously through books, movies, gossip, music, and the real actions of others.

God’s ways: God delights in purity and recoils from corruption. There is no shadow in him, nor moral indifference, only holiness as intense as fire.

That being the case, here is good news:

Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24).

We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).

What a relief! Thank you, Jesus! Only he can make us holy enough for our holy God!

July 30, 2018December 29, 2020

Intimate Separation (part 3)

The New Creation teaches us that someday God will be nearer to us than he is today, but he will still be as holy as ever. God does not want to be separated from us. Rather, God’s holiness in the New Creation will require that we draw near with worship, reverence, love, obedience, surrender, and devotion, as he requires today.

In my two recent posts we have been exploring the meaning of God’s holiness with regard to his being set apart and separate from us. Here are the questions I’ve wrestled with. If God’s holiness always necessarily requires separation, as at Mt. Sinai and in the temple, why is the story line of the Bible about God’s efforts to bring us near? How could Jesus come near and touchable? How could the Holy Spirit live in us if God must be separate? How could Jesus promise, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23)?

We saw in the last post that God does not always require separation, but he does always require to be set apart in our hearts. He is holy because he is worthy of continuous reverence, worship, obedience, surrender, love, and devotion. That is the response Jesus calls for in John 14:23, quoted above.

We have seen how the incarnation of Jesus, and his atoning death, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Pentecost revolutionized God’s separation from humans. In this post we look at one final revolution, for God intends to come closer still. In the New Creation he plans to end the separation of heaven and earth.

The climax of the story: God’s holiness in the New Creation

Revelation 21:1–5 says:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new….”

Revelation 22:3–4 says,

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

In the Old Covenant era, God had told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). But in the New Creation “they will see his face.” What a change from Mount Sinai! God’s holiness hasn’t changed, but we are changed.

Because of the perfect redemption brought about through Jesus Christ and completed in the New Creation, God’s holiness will not require distance from his holy people. The holy Father will be with his holy children before his throne.

God will be set apart on his throne of glory for worship, reverence, love, devotion, obedience, and surrender, but he will be with us forever. And all his people will see his face.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: Fallen people do not want to set God apart for the unique worship, reverence, love, obedience, devotion, and surrender that he alone deserves. Fallen people want other gods. They want to treat God as little different than his creation. They want to approach God on their terms. Fallen people want to bring God down to their level. They do not want to treat God as unique and special.

God’s way: God wants to be with us, but he always requires a respectful distance, as a king on his throne. He is always set apart over anyone or anything in his creation, though he is near and dear. This is part of what we mean when we say God is holy.

July 23, 2018December 29, 2020

Intimate Separation (part 2)

God wants to be near to us, but we must always set apart God in our hearts as the Lord we must obey, as the God we must worship and reverence, and as the beloved whom we adore above all. God deserves this, and it is part of the meaning of his holiness.

In part one of this post, we saw last week that one meaning of God’s holiness is he is set apart from fallen humans.

God resembles a king set apart from his subjects on his throne. Although God is not utterly separate, humans must treat his holy presence with great reverence. In thoughts and actions, we must set God apart for highest respect.

But this does not mean God wants to be distant. The story line of the Bible begins with intimacy in the Garden between the holy God and humanity, which is ruptured by the disobedience of Adam and Eve and their rejection from the Garden of Eden. As a result, God was not only set apart but separated. Those are not necessarily the same thing. God’s holiness means he must always be set apart, but it does not mean he must be separated.

Under the Old Covenant with Israel, the stress was on God’s holy separation from fallen humans. God drew near to his people in the temple, but he almost always had to be separate.

But with the coming of Jesus the story shifts dramatically. Last week we saw that when God’s Son became a man, the holy God came nearer still to fallen humans. Second, when Jesus died on the cross and atoned for our sins, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Torn with it was the separation it symbolized.

The third revolutionary event

The third revolutionary event in the story of God’s holy separation in relation to fallen humans was Pentecost, which occurred 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4)

This signified not simply a temporary experience but rather that the Holy Spirit was coming into his church collectively and his people individually to make them a temple for God’s abode. God would not be separated far away, or nearby but curtained away; rather, he would be in his people. They themselves would be his temple. They would be one with God.

1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you [referring to the whole church collectively] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body [referring to each individual Christian’s body] is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”

It was not as though the Holy Spirit had never come upon fallen humans before. During the Old Covenant he came upon priests, leaders, and prophets for special purposes. But he did not come on everyone.

Under the New Covenant, God’s visible glory is separate in heaven, but he is one with us and present within and among us by his Holy Spirit.

What God’s holiness must require

Notice that the very name of the third person of the Trinity includes the word Holy. That is so even though he is as near and intimate with us as he could be! What that means is that God’s holiness does not fundamentally mean separation but rather being set apart. God is set apart in three crucial ways that never become obsolete.

1. God is set apart as Lord.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord” (ESV). The NIV translation of that verse says it this way: “In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy.”

God is sovereign, controlling all, ruling over all. He is a king on a royal throne who must be obeyed above all. We set him apart to obey him as we obey no one else.

2. God is set apart for worship and ultimate reverence.

Although we honor others, we worship only God. Although we reverence others, we give ultimate and wholehearted reverence only to God.

Quoting the Old Testament, Jesus said, “You shall worship the lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10).

3. God is set apart for ultimate love and devotion.

God has a place in our hearts that no one else can have. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

Jesus also said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37–39).

These three attitudes of the heart are fundamental to what it means for God to be set apart as holy.

Next week we will continue with part 3 on the subject of God being set apart in holiness, looking at what we learn from the New Creation.

July 16, 2018December 29, 2020

Intimate Separation (part 1)

God’s holiness means that in both the old and new covenants and in the new creation to come our holy God is always in some way set apart from humanity even though he draws near in loving intimacy. We can always draw near but must keep a respectful distance.

The holy God is set apart

One of the most prominent meanings of God’s holiness is separation. God is set apart from the profane and common.

The idea of separation fills the Old Covenant. The Holy Tabernacle, for example, had three sections. A curtain separated the Holy of Holies, where God’s glory dwelled and where only the High Priest could enter once a year, from the Holy Place, where other priests could enter. Another curtain separated the Holy Place from the courtyard, where the people could enter to make sacrifices. Another curtain separated the courtyard from the rest of the camp.

Priests and Levites became holy to God by being set apart from the common and profane through elaborate rituals of sacrifice, donning priestly uniforms, and being anointed with unique, holy oil.

When God prepared to come down on Mt. Sinai, he commanded Moses, “You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’” (Exodus 19:12–13)

But even in the Old Covenant, God in his holiness wanted to be near to us. He wanted to bring himself and his holiness near, as near as possible to people who were not holy. That is why he provided the tabernacle/temple and the priesthood and sacrificial system.

The holy God set apart in a different way

When Christ comes, there is a dramatic change in how God wants to be set apart. Although the Father is set apart completely in heaven, invisible and unapproachable by us, he sends his unique Son to be God with us, Immanuel. In Jesus, God came arm’s length from fallen humans. Humans could actually touch the holy God.

This is one of the greatest wonders of the incarnation. That God could somehow become a human and remain God is one of the greatest of all mysteries. But as any Jew of Jesus’ time would understand, the idea of the holy, set-apart God coming among men without any separation, without dark clouds and lightning surrounding him as though he were a walking Mount Sinai, without being kept away and shielded from view by a curtain and approachable only by one very holy high priest, was unthinkable. How was that possible?

I think it was this: Somehow the pure human body of Jesus enabled him to maintain the holy separation that God requires from fallen humans. Jesus was fully God and fully man, and the body of his manhood served as a temple for God in which he maintained the measure of separation that he requires. Jesus called his body God’s temple. He said the Father dwelled in him. Jesus became the new temple of God on earth, absolutely holy, set apart but tabernacling among mankind.

The holy God makes holy people

The second revolutionary event was his death on the cross and shedding of holy blood for sinners. This is the turning point, the hinge, of human history. And it is a turning point in how God is separate in holiness. For at his death, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matt. 25:50–51). God tore the curtain separating the holy of holies. God signified by this that the shed blood of Jesus enabled God to be set apart as holy but with his people in a new way.

What happened was that God atoned for our sins by Jesus’ blood and made us holy, blameless, and acceptable to him through faith in Jesus (see Colossians 1:19–22). Thus, the holy God could be with holy people, which is what God wanted all along. The fact that God is separate does not mean he wants to be far from us. Definitely not. Rather it means we had a problem, and that problem was sin. And that problem Jesus solved.

Is the holy God intimate or separate?

Let’s continue this crucial subject next week. How is God now set apart as holy? And how will he be set apart as holy in the New Creation?

This post and next week’s address one of the big points of uneasiness that we may have with God’s holiness. The New Testament encourages us with the idea that God wants to come near in intimacy with us, yet the idea of God’s holiness and separation seems to undermine intimacy. God’s holiness does not feel loving, at least his holiness as seen in the Old Covenant with Israel. His holiness does not feel like a dear Father. His holiness does not feel approachable. Which is it? Is God someone to whom we can draw near, or is he the God atop Mt. Sinai?

July 9, 2018December 29, 2020

Awesome God

Our creator is an awesome God. His majestic glory can be thrilling, awe-inducing, terrifying, or even overwhelming.

We saw in the previous two posts that God’s holiness means he is incomparable and infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way. Now we will see that the meaning of God’s holiness is that his majestic glory is awe-inducing. Depending on several factors, his majestic glory can be thrilling, awe-inducing, terrifying, or even overwhelming.

Awesome God

For example, Paul the apostle stood before one Roman king and described the event on the road to Damascus that changed his life:

“At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.’” (Acts 26:13–15)

So, the manifestation of the glorified Jesus knocked Paul and his companions to the ground. The apostle John had an even stronger reaction:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not.” Revelation 1:12–18

Three reasons for differing reactions to God’s majesty

Several factors determine what effect God’s holiness has on a human.

1. A person’s level of holiness or profaneness. Under the Old Covenant, priests could come into the presence of God in the temple because they were consecrated to God in an elaborate ceremony requiring animal sacrifice, the shedding of blood, and the sprinkling of that blood on the priest and on the altar. The priests were required to bathe in holy water and wear special holy garments and be anointed with holy oil. They had to follow elaborate rules about who they could be around and what they could eat. God restricted the holy places of the temple to the priests, while the masses could enter only the outer courtyard.

2. Mortality. Angels and other holy, heavenly beings are made for God’s presence, so they can see God’s glory and live to enjoy it. Humans, on the other hand, in our fallen state, can handle only so much of God’s glory, unless he gives special grace, such as Moses had on top of Mount Sinai in the cloud of glory when he received the 10 Commandments. Somehow he did not die; he saw God’s glory partially but not his face; and God gave him special grace to experience such majesty and live.

First Corinthians 15:50 says “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20).

When God’s full majesty meets our fallen condition, it is like an electric line designed to carry 120 volts of electricity that suddenly gets a surge of 1,000,000 volts. You get a short-circuit, a meltdown, an electrical fire.

3. How much God unveils his glory. God reveals more or less of his majesty in different situations. For example, the human body of Jesus usually concealed his glory, but on the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus unveiled more of his majesty, as “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2).

So, depending on the interplay of these three factors, God’s manifest glory can be the most wonderful, exciting, thrilling experience of a lifetime, or it causes a person to be overwhelmed with fear even to the point of passing out. Yes, God is holy.

Do you want this?

This may not sound appealing. But Moses knew better. Aside from Jesus, Moses experienced God’s awe-inducing, majestic glory more than any other human. He saw God in the burning bush. He conversed with God in the cloud of glory atop Mt. Sinai for 40 days. He consulted with God regularly in the Tent of Meeting, and when he would leave the tent he had to cover his face with a veil because his countenance glowed like a light bulb.

Moses enjoyed these experiences so much that on one occasion, after God told him, “You have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name,” Moses asked, “Please show me your glory.” Moses had already seen much of God’s glory, but he knew there was much more.

God answered:

“I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:19–23)

Moses knew God’s holiness. God’s holiness means his majesty is great, even terrifying to mortal sinners, but thrilling and worth pursuing above all when we have the righteousness of Christ making us acceptable to God.

Our ways versus God’s ways

Our ways: Fallen humans generally want God to be out of sight and out of mind. Let him be helpful but someone we can ignore if we choose. If he insists on having our attention, let his glory be like a 60-watt bulb rather than a supernova.

God’s ways: God plans to put on a July 4^th fireworks show for our eternal pleasure and worship. His holy majesty is good, wonderful, and truly awesome. He wants to display his holy glory to humans who have been recreated with the capacity to enjoy his holiness continually forever. As Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24). Someday God will give you a resurrection body and perfect spirit ideally made to enjoy the presence of God.

July 2, 2018December 29, 2020

Holy, High, and Lifted Up

God is infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way.

In last week’s post we explored the first aspect of what makes God holy: he is uniquely divine, different from us and creation, special, not common, not everyday. Today we focus on the second aspect of God’s holiness, which is closely related: his infinite superiority. He is not just unique and special; he is superior.

Isaiah 6:1–4 says, “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. ²Above 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!’”

God is superior to us.

He is infinitely superior to us.

God is infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way.

God is superior to us

Regarding architectural design and materials, the Willis Tower is superior to the Greyhound bus station.

Regarding food, a Michelin three-star restaurant is better than McDonald’s.

In communication, a smart phone is better than to two paper cups connected by a piece of string.

Regarding transportation, an F-16 fighter jet is superior to a pair of roller skates.

God is superior to us. He is superior in nature. That is, he is not just a better brand of roller skates than another brand, with higher-quality ball bearings, better-designed straps for attaching to the feet, higher-quality steel and durability. No, he is a superior kind of transportation altogether, a jet airplane.

He is divine, uncreated, immortal, eternal, sinless, perfect, transcendent, that is, outside of time and matter, able to do anything, knowing all things, Creator of all that exists. That’s for starters.

We are human, created, mortal, temporarily living in bodies made from the dust of the earth, sinful, imperfect, limited in every way, knowing little. That’s for starters.

Isaiah 57:15 says, “Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place’”

So, God is superior in kind, in nature. That means, for example, that he not only knows more than you do; he knows it in a divine way that you simply cannot.

God is infinitely superior to us

It’s one thing to be superior; it’s another to be infinitely superior.

If we compare the Willis Tower to the Greyhound Bus station, we can compare the differences in square footage, height, architectural sophistication, beauty, number of rooms, cost, materials, and prestige. All these factors are finite and generally measurable.

But the difference between God and humanity is beyond measure. God’s superiority to us is so great that we cannot grasp how great it is. God has no limits. So, the gulf between us and him is unlimited.

You know what it’s like to be impressed by someone who is superior to you in what you do best. If you play piano seriously, for example, you are not just impressed with the great virtuoso players, you are awed by their superiority. You have a teeny tiny grasp of what it takes to play as well as they do.

How much more should we be stunned by the infinite superiority of God. He is so superior we cannot even grasp how superior he is. In the ways that he has created us to be similar to himself, such as having the ability to know things, he is not only superior in degree, he is infinitely superior in degree. He does not merely know ten times more than you, or a hundred times more than you, or a million or a trillion times more than you know; he knows infinitely more than you know.

God is infinitely superior to us in every imaginable way

When we compare ourselves to other humans, they will surpass us in some ways, and we will surpass them in others. You may be able to run marathons in a way your friend cannot, but she may be able to sing as you cannot.

Compared to God, though, we never ever can find a way that he is not greater than us. In every possible way that we can be compared to God, he is infinitely superior. In goodness, power, creativity, wisdom, love, kindness, compassion, mercy, grace, knowledge, patience. And in math, physics, sociology, medicine, engineering, art, design, chemistry, psychology, leadership, entrepreneurship. In morality, ethics, righteousness, purity, truthfulness. In beauty, glory, and majesty.

There is one word that describes all this superiority: holy. God is high and lifted up. Holy, holy, holy is he. We fall down before his holy excellence.

For all these reasons and more, God is the most interesting person there is, the most awesome, the most exciting. He is thrilling always and forever. We will never for a moment experience boredom with him. God’s holiness is positive and wonderful. It is good that God is high and lifted up.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: The way of fallen mankind is to regard ourselves and the rest of creation as the most excellent things worthy of our highest devotion and enthusiasm. People typically ignore God often or always. They are not impressed with him.

God’s ways: We are to regard the Lord as superior in all and act like it by worshiping him and giving thanks, and by loving him with all our being.

June 25, 2018December 29, 2020

Why God’s Holiness Is Thrilling

What does it mean that God is holy?

God is uniquely holy. That should thrill you, and here’s why.

First, that God is holy means he is special, not common, not everyday. He is not just divine; he is uniquely divine. He alone is the sovereign, immortal Creator of all. He is one of a kind. He is different from and superior to all created things.

That means he is never boring, never ho-hum.

Unique like the Sabbath

Genesis 2:3 says, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” Six days of the week are common days for work and whatever, but one day of the week is special, uniquely God’s, and so it is called holy. The Sabbath is unique and special; God is unique and special.

Unique like the special anointing oil

Similarly, God commanded Moses to make a special anointing oil and a special incense that were only to be used in the Tabernacle and with the priests (Exodus 30:22–38). The priests were to use this unique oil to anoint the Tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, other tools and Tabernacle furniture, as well as the priests and their garments. Anything that was anointed became holy.

God made sure this holy anointing oil would be unique. He commanded Moses to tell the people, “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people” (Exodus 30:31–33).

Like this singular oil, God is unique. He is different from and superior to all created things. He is holy, not common, holy, not profane.

Unique in control

When God sent Moses to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt, during the plague of frogs, Moses told Pharaoh that he would pray for the frogs to be removed. Moses told Pharaoh to set a time for the frogs to leave so that Pharaoh would know it was not a coincidence. Pharaoh said tomorrow, and “Moses said, ‘Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God’” (Exodus 8:10).

And the frogs indeed left on schedule, because there is no one like the LORD our God. Holy is he—unique, superior, different from everything and everyone else.

Supreme and Thrilling

“There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty” (Deuteronomy 33:26)

“Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you” (2 Samuel 7:22)

“There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours” (Psalm 86:8)

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it” (Isaiah 46:9–11)

“There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you” (Jeremiah 10:6–7)

“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:25–26)

“You alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth” (Psalm 83:18)

Thrilling. God is holy, uniquely divine, and therefore supremely and without pause thrilling.

Our way versus God’s way

Our way: In one way or another, we may treat God as common. The way of fallen humans is to treat God as no more important than the things of this world—to make idols, to believe in many gods, to act as though many things compare to God in importance, value, glory, honor, beauty, and worth.

God’s way: God is holy for he is the one and only God—the one and only, immortal, eternal, Creator and Sovereign over all. In this we should delight.

God’s holiness means no one can compare to him in any way. He alone is God. He is not common or ordinary, and we must never treat him in a common or ordinary way. We must treat him with the honor due to the infinitely extraordinary God.