Holy Means Good: For the Father Is the Source of Every Good

God the Father unites goodness and holiness. He doesn’t stop being holy when he feels tender love and goodwill toward us; such goodness is his holiness.

In previous posts we have explored the relationship between holiness and goodness first in Jesus, and then in the Holy Spirit. Today we see the relationship between holiness and goodness in the Father. The larger point I am making is that holy means good. When we think of God’s holiness, one of the first things that should come to mind is his infinite goodness, generosity, kindness, and love (Down the road I will add to what should come to mind).

Holy Father

So, first let’s affirm again the perfect holiness of the Father. Jesus addressed his God in prayer as “Holy Father” (John 17:11).

Revelation 4 gives the apostle John’s vision of the Father on the throne of heaven (we know this is the Father because Jesus approaches the throne in Revelation 5) and describes him as holy: Day and night the living creatures around the throne “never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” (Revelation 4:8). The threefold repetition of the word holy communicates the perfect, infinite degree of the Father’s holiness.

Good Father

And this holy Father is good beyond all comprehension. The earth and its riches are meant to communicate this goodness, this goodwill, this generosity and kindness.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever” (Romans 11:36).

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth…gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24–25).

“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27)

That last verse emphasizes that the holy Father doesn’t merely give good things in general to the world, and then good things may happen to you if you are in the right place at the right time and “get lucky.” No, the holy Father decides to give you—you—every good thing that comes into your life. That is why Scripture tells us to thank God for everything.

Goodness in creation

Genesis 1 is one of the most important descriptions of the holiness of the Father, for the creation narrative reveals the Father in all his God-ness, in his uniquely divine nature: eternal, the uncreated Creator, self-existent, all-powerful, transcendent over his creation, the Potter with the clay, from whom and through whom and to whom are all things, for whom nothing is impossible, unlimited in knowledge and wisdom. Although the word holy is not used in Genesis 1, this is the Father’s holiness on display.

And what does the holy Father do? He freely and of his own goodwill creates a good world filled with good life. Repeatedly the Father finishes the creation days by noting that what he created was good (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). It could not be otherwise, for “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). A good tree produces good fruit. Jesus said, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit.” (Luke 6:43–44).

The holy Father creates good and creates life. Holy is good; holy is life-giving.

A good Father even after the Fall

Even though the Father created Adam and Eve good, it does not take long for them to use their free will to turn against God, and that raises the crucial question of whether the Father will continue to do good to them and their children even though they deserve nothing but condemnation.

Jesus says yes. He affirmed the holy Father’s goodness even to those who repudiate him when he taught, “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35–36). “Your Father who is in heaven…makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

Even though the Father did pronounce judgment on the world because of Adam’s sin, and consequently the world and its people groan under this curse, the holy Father nevertheless continues to show undeserved goodness and kindness:

“The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” (Psalm 145:9)

“The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.” (Psalm 85:12)

“These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.” (Psalm 104:27–28)

“God…richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” (1 Timothy 6:17)

“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:5)

Holy means good, good to all, even to his enemies.

Goodness toward his beloved children

If the holy Father is good to all, even to those who are evil and reject him, how much more is he in holiness good to his children, whom he dearly loves. This fatherly goodness was the point of Jesus’ teaching on prayer: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

I understand this because I am a father of four sons, three daughters-in-law, and six grandchildren, and I know the goodwill and favor I have toward each of them. With every fiber of my being I want good for them. If I as a fallen human feel this way, then God’s goodwill must be good indeed.

Goodness and holiness in God the Father

And this goodness toward his children is his holiness. He doesn’t stop being holy when he feels tender love and goodwill toward us; that love and goodness is his holiness. Holy is good.

The Holy One is love. The Holy Father is love. First John 4:8 says, “God is love.” He doesn’t stop being holy when he is love. His love and holiness are one.

This is why Jesus would say, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). The unity of the Father’s love and holiness are pure goodness.

And this is why every single good work and word that Jesus performed on behalf of needy people was actually the Holy Father working through him: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:10–11).

If you are convinced that Jesus is always holy and always good, then you know that God the Father is always holy and always good. Holy means good. Jesus and the holy Father are equally good.

September 17, 2018December 29, 2020

Holy Means Good: Jesus Is the Holy One of God

Jesus is the Holy One of God whose words and deeds perfectly reflect the holiness of God. And what Jesus displays is goodness.

For several weeks we have been digging into the crucial idea that holy means good (see one, two, three, four, five), seeing this taught clearly in the Old Testament, where many people would not expect to find it. Let’s turn now to the New Testament to find this all-important idea continued, first in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Holy One of God

Peter correctly confessed to Jesus “we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69). What a momentous title! The Old Testament Scriptures refer to God as the Holy One 41 times. The title obviously emphasizes that holiness summarizes in one word all of God’s glorious, awesome, divine, good, pure, and perfect nature and character. God is not merely a holy one, he is The Holy One. The one and only, supremely Holy One. Glory to his name.

So, when Peter called Jesus “the Holy One of God” he was not saying it lightly. Peter did not call Jesus a holy one of God, but “The Holy One of God.”

Even demons are overwhelmed by this reality. One demon, confronted by Jesus, cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24).

So, Jesus, like the Father, was holiness to perfection, holiness in fullness. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Everything Jesus thought, felt, said, and did was holy.

And what did Jesus, the Holy One of God, do? “He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). The Holy One of God went about doing good. That’s what holiness is and does. Holy means good.

Matthew 4:23–24 says, “He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.”

Moreover, Jesus didn’t go around doing good in contrast to God, who some think is predisposed in the Old Testament toward judging people. Jesus “went about doing good…for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). Whether it is God the Father or God the Son, the Holy One is the Good One.

Words and deeds of The Holy One of God

Everything you read of Jesus doing and saying is a revelation of God’s holiness.

It was the Holy One of God who reached out in compassion and touched the leper and healed him.

The Holy One of God wept at the tomb of Lazarus.

The Holy One of God said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away” (Mark 8:2–3). So, he broke bread and miraculously multiplied it to feed four thousand.

The Holy One of God took the children in his arms and blessed them.

The Holy One of God said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

The Holy One of God heard the pleas of blind Bartimaeus, called him out from the crowd who tried to silence him, and gave him his sight.

The Holy One of God told the man with the withered hand to stretch his hand forward, and as he did, it was restored. And the frowning religious leaders who watched with disapproval? The Holy One of God “looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5).

The Holy One of God told the immoral woman weeping tears on his feet and wiping them with her hair, “Your sins are forgiven…. Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:48, 50).

The Holy One of God, nailed to the cross, told the thief nailed to a cross nearby, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

The Holy One of God was named Jesus, a name which means Yahweh is salvation. Salvation is good. Deliverance is good.

Holy means good.

September 10, 2018December 29, 2020

Holy Means Good: The Beauty of Holiness

The beauty of holiness makes God’s holiness good.

There is another way we see in the Old Testament the goodness of holiness (for the previous ways, see one, two, three, four). We see it in the ways the holy Tabernacle brought pleasure to the human senses of sight and smell. God designed the holy Tabernacle to be beautiful and the Holy Place of the Tabernacle to smell beautiful. God also designed the holy garments of the high priest to be beautiful.

Beauty in the holy oil

“²² The LORD said to Moses, ²³ ‘Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of aromatic cane, ²⁴ and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. ²⁵ And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. ²⁶ With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷ and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, ²⁸ and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. ²⁹ You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. ³⁰ You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. ³¹ And you shall say to the people of Israel, “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations.”’” —Exodus 30:22–31

You may never have smelled myrrh; it is a fragrant gum that exudes from trees in Arabia. Solomon refers to it several times in Song of Solomon. For example, 5:13 says, “His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.”

Likewise, cassia was an aromatic herb. Psalm 45:7–8 mentions cassia in a description of the king in his glory: “Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.”

Because of this holy anointing oil, if you stood near enough to the holy high priest, you found that he smelled like perfume, for his garments were anointed with the holy oil. The priests who entered the holy place entered a room of perfumes, for the fragrant holy oil was applied to the tent, its furniture, and its utensils. In fact, the act of anointing all these things with the holy oil was part of what made them holy.

Holy means good.

Beauty in the holy incense

In addition to the perfumed holy oil, the priests burned fragrant incense in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle.

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you.’” — Exodus 30:34–36

I won’t go into details on the ingredients of the incense, but obviously it was a pleasurable perfume. The smoke of the incense filled the space. Walking into the Holy Place was like entering the perfume department of a store, only more so.

Holy means delightful to smell. Holy means good.

Beauty in the priest’s holy garments

God also told Moses, “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, [the High Priest], for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2).

The high priest’s holy garment is so beautiful that its description fills all of Exodus 28, so let me summarize by saying simply that the high priest was covered with gold and jewels and gems and fine linen, embroidered with “gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked” (v. 6).

This colorful, gold-laced garment was topped off with a turbin on the priest’s head with a golden plate on the front engraved with the words “Holy to the Lord.” (v. 36)

Holy means beautiful. Holy means good.

Beauty in the interior design of the Holy Place

God instructed Moses how to create the holy Tabernacle for their journey through the wilderness, and it too was beautiful. For example, the curtains of the tent resembled the colorful embroidered fabric of the High Priest’s garment:

“All the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked.” —Exodus 36:8

Holy means colorful. Holy means good.

The beauty of holiness

When you put all this beauty and glory together, you have splendor.

“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.” —1 Chronicles 16:29

Therefore, with all this attractive splendor, a holy place is a good place, a perfectly designed, sweet-smelling place, a place you want to be.

September 3, 2018December 29, 2020

Holy Means Good: God’s Many Benefits

God’s holy name is kindness revealed in countless benefits.

We have not yet seen the full extent of God’s holy kindness and goodness, though we have seen much (see preceding posts one, two, and three to get the full picture). Let’s explore another Bible passage that reveals much more.

Psalm 103 begins:

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (verses 1–2).

These verses tell us what the psalm is going to be about. It will reveal (a) God’s holy name, and (b) all the ways God benefits us.

(a) and (b) are one. We saw last week that people in Bible times used the word name not merely as a label but rather as a substitute for self. If I said that you had a good name, I meant that you are good, that your character is good. So, this psalm will describe God’s name, character, ways, identity. But the writer summarizes all the description that follows in verses 3–18 here in verse 1 as “holy.” We should read each verse in the psalm as a facet of God’s holy name.

God’s holy benefits

Those who experience God’s “holy name” experience “benefits.” Holy means good and kind. Holy means God brings good things into our lives, and verses 3–18 provides the heaping list of holy benefits:

God is the one “³ who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
⁶ The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. ⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. ¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. ¹⁴ For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. ¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; ¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, ¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.” (Psalm 103:3–18)

All this is God’s holy name. This is who he is in holiness, what he does in holiness, the ways he deals with us in holiness. This is why the writer begins the psalm by saying he wants to bless God’s holy name.

So, when you think about God as holy, this is a major part of what should come to your mind: benefits, kindness, goodness. The writer of the psalm wants to bless our holy God because holy means good.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We may be more likely to associate only God’s purity or wrath with his holiness, than to associate his kindness with his holiness.

God’s way: God’s holy name is kindness revealed in countless benefits.

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?