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.