Tag: seven aspects of God’s holiness

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A Personal Reflection on God’s Jealousy for His Own Glory

God’s jealousy for his own glory is right and good and loving.

glory

God is holy because he delights in and guards his reputation.

We all can relate to this. We know what it is like to care about our reputation, to want a good reputation. And we want to have a good name. We want others to think and speak well of us.

In a perfectly noble sense, this is what it means that God is jealous for the glory of his name. Here are some examples of his coming right out and saying that:

“I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)

 “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:11)

Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’” (John 12:28)

God’s concern for God’s glory

Here are other examples showing God’s pursuit or protection of his own glory:

Jesus said, “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23)

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:28–29)

“When [Judas] had gone out [to betray the Lord], Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” (John 13:31–32)

These are just a few examples showing that God’s own glory is of ultimate importance to him. He is not shy about it or apologetic. The Bible everywhere assumes it is right for God to receive and seek glory, and that we owe him worship and thanksgiving. (See also 1 Corinthians 10:31; Ephesians 3:21; Revelation 5:11–14; Romans 1:18–22)

What is right for God, but wrong for us

God’s jealousy for the glory of his name is an aspect of his holiness that is harder for me to understand. But I know it is right; the God of the universe should not be any other way.

It is right because God only does what is right.

It is right because it is right and necessary for God to do and feel things that it is wrong for his creatures to do and feel. God’s role in the universe is utterly different than ours. God’s worth is infinitely greater than ours. Our worth is derived from him; his worth is intrinsic to himself, from himself, independent of anyone or anything.

And it is right because God is love, and love unselfishly seeks the welfare and happiness of others. God’s unselfish love is obvious when you consider the attention he gives to meticulously governing all that exists and continually providing for each of his creatures. “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:16)

Yet this loving, unselfish God at the same time is jealously devoted to the glory of his own name. Those two seemingly contradictory things are not contradictory according to what God has revealed about himself in the Bible. They are perfectly harmonious. God is both an unselfish, generous lover and a self-centered seeker of glory.

Self-centered

That for me in my human thinking is part of the stumbling block: God is self-centered. When a human is self-centered, it is obnoxious, unloving, immature, and often dangerous to others. But that is because a self-centered, narcissistic human is living in delusion and falsehood, since the world does not actually revolve around him. Everything he has he received, and his life should actually revolve around his Creator, Sustainer, and God and around his family, neighbors, and society.

But for God to be self-centered is completely true and necessary. Everything that exists actually does revolve around him and depend on him. He actually deserves all glory for everything, and so for him to deflect that glory to anything else (such as “Mother Nature,” the idolized Cosmos, the laws of nature, or the American economy or military) or anyone else would be false. Because he deserves glory, because he is worthy of glory, that glory should actually come to him, just as an employee should be paid for her work.

God should not try to prevent or avoid what ought to be his. He should not say, “Aw shucks, it was nothing,” because that would be false and would negate what ought to be. What God does is great and ought to be glorified—indeed it must be glorified. When Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey and received the praises of the people, and the religious leaders objected, he said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:40)

To shift anything or anyone away from being God-centered is to kill it, for God is the source of everything. A newborn infant should be mother-centered. A human needs to be food-and-water centered. God knows we must be God-centered for our very existence and for all happiness, and therefore he is loving when he insists on it as the highest good.

Why a great God takes human actions seriously

Here is another thing that can seem to my puny, human perspective to be somewhat unworthy of God: namely, to care what people think about him, especially what his enemies think. Shouldn’t he be above that, secure in himself, impervious to criticism?

No, the Bible presents a starkly different response from God. He is in fact infinitely concerned about what people think and say of him, and how they respond to him. He delights without end in the praise of angels and humans. At the Final Judgment he plans to shut the mouths and bend the knees of every person who has spoken falsely about him. He plans to make his enemies his footstool.

God’s concern for what people think and say of him results not from any insecurity whatever in God but from how seriously he has chosen to take his creation. He takes us seriously because he chose to make us in his image, and his image is infinitely important. His words and actions are important, and he has created us so our words and actions are important.

Moreover, he made a universe of objective morality, where the moral or immoral actions of responsible moral beings like us have objective consequences. This life is not make-believe, not a fantasy, not a board game. We can’t just put away the pieces, fold up the game board, and forget about it.

For example, the disobedient and unbelieving words and actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden changed not just their lives, but the lives of all their descendants, all life and natural forces like weather on earth, and even the nature of the universe. (See Romans 8:19–23).

God became a man

The greatest evidence that God chose to invest infinite significance in the words and actions of humans is the Cross of Jesus. The reason Jesus had to suffer and die for our sins is that God chose to make humans whose words and actions matter. Right and wrong matter. And the glory of God is a matter of right and wrong above all else (Romans 3:23).

The Son of God became a man, continues to be a man, and will forever be a man—fully God and fully human—in a resurrected human body, with a full human nature. One member of the Trinity took upon himself the nature of humanity forever! Clearly God takes human beings seriously. He has invested us with infinite meaning and significance, and therefore our words and actions are significant, and therefore our praise or our profaning words infinitely matter to him.

This therefore is another important aspect of God’s holiness. To say God is holy is to say he delights in and jealously protects the glory of his name, in heaven, in all the created universe, on earth, and in particular among the humans he created in his image and with whom he has united himself forever.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Why God Is Jealous for the Glory of His Name

God is jealous for the glory of his name much like you are concerned about your reputation.

name

To say God is holy is to say he delights in and jealously protects the glory of his name.

God’s concern for his name is at best a distant idea for most people, so let’s compare this to some things we might relate to.

Imagine a salesman living and working in a medium-sized community where a salesperson’s reputation quickly gets around. He cannot succeed without being trusted. He must develop a name for honesty and for delivering what he promises. Therefore his reputation is of ultimate importance to him.

Imagine a mother deeply committed to caring for her three young children. Her sense of identity and worth is lovingly wrapped up in the welfare and health of her children and family. Imagine how she would feel if a malicious rumor somehow started that she was neglecting her children, not changing her toddler’s dirty diaper for hours, sitting around watching movies half the day.

Imagine how an entrepreneur feels when she starts a company and invests much money and time to name and brand it and then to promote and market that name and brand. That name, the company logo, the values and standards it represents, its products and services—all are of ultimate importance to her. If a competitor begins to slander her company in the media, she will take that seriously and do all she can to maintain the truth about the identity of the company she has given years of her life to start.

These are examples of a normal human concern for reputation and name, for the value we all place on our identity and what others think of us, and the human need for self-respect.

The glory of God’s name

These examples are limited, imperfect windows into understanding God’s concern for his name. The stakes are infinitely higher for him. This is not just about someone’s business turning a profit; at stake is who is the God of the universe. Who created all things and thus owns everything and everyone? Who has the right to define right and wrong? And who has the right to give commandments to mankind and require obedience? Who deserves ultimate allegiance? Who deserves exclusive worship and love? And who matters more than anything or anyone? Who actually is the Almighty Lord at the center of everything? Who is the most glorious of all beings?

All that and more is at stake in God’s name. And therefore he takes seriously his name, identity, glory, and reputation in the earth. He does so for his own sake, for the sake of the truth, as well as for the sake of the people he created, who cannot have a right relationship with him apart from a true knowledge of him.

Intolerant of false gods

The truth about God’s name has been at the center of Israel’s long, troubled relationship with him. After delivering them in love from bondage in Egypt, God entered into a covenant of faithfulness with Israel, but again and again they turned their faith to idols, to the false gods of the nations like Baal and Molech. This is the running theme through all the prophets whom God sent to correct them.

Through the prophet Isaiah, for example, God says, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8).

At Mount Sinai, Moses, speaking for God, says, “You shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus 34:14).

God’s very name is Jealous, meaning he does not tolerate rivals to his glory. He will not give his glory to another, not to another god nor to a human who wants to play God. Therefore he is unswervingly opposed to false gods and human pride.

Jealous

Webster’s Dictionary says one meaning of the word jealous is, “intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness.” Another sense of the word is, “vigilant in guarding a possession.” Both of these senses of jealous apply to God.

One reason God is jealous for his name is his perfect goodness. He seeks the highest good in all things, and he himself is the highest good. Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Therefore the manifestation of his glory and the sacredness of his name are the best things that can happen to the world and to you. He alone brings life, and therefore he alone is peace, joy, love, and every good thing.

Vindicating his name

When God’s name is profaned, he takes action to vindicate it. Sometimes this involves salvation and sometimes judgment.

God’s name was profaned, for example, among the nations when he sent Israel into exile as a consequence for their stubborn (centuries-long) breaking of his covenant, so he told Ezekiel the prophet:

“Say to the house of Israel, 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, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 36:22–23)

Vindicated by giving salvation

Happily for Israel in this case, God vindicated his name by saving them from exile in Babylon and restoring them to their land. God says he will completely reverse their fortunes, not because they deserve it—they definitely do not—but as a display of his name.

Ezekiel continues: “[24] I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. [25] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. [26] And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. [28] You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. [29] And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. [30] I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.” (Ezekiel 36:24–38)

Vindicated for God’s sake

God then doubles down on why he is showing this kindness to Israel, and it is not because they in any way deserve it. They in fact deserve only judgment.

“[31] Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. [32] It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

“[33] Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. [34] And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. [35] And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ [36] Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

God’s undeserved goodness to Israel vindicated his holy name.

God is holy because he delights in and guards his reputation.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Why God’s Holiness Requires His Justice

A holy God must be just. Who else could ensure that justice is ultimately done?

justice

May 2021 saw an extraordinary murder. Prosecutors charged a 14-year-old boy with killing a 13-year-old girl by stabbing her 114 times.

Suppose the case were tried in a place that did not require jury trials, but rather a single judge determined guilt or innocence and the nature of any punishments. Suppose in this case the judge found the defendant guilty but then dramatically told him, “I have decided this court will forgive you for what you did. You were having a bad week. School was not going well, and you were under a lot of pressure at home. You have grown up playing violent video games, and you are the product of your experiences.

“You should not have killed this girl, but everyone has a bad day now and then and does something they regret later. I am sure you are basically a good person, and I don’t think we should ruin your bright future by giving you a criminal record. So the court is releasing you and ordering you to attend anger management classes. After that is completed, let’s just act as though this unfortunate incident never happened. I’m sure the girl’s family and friends will get over this.”

The cross and righteousness and justice

Even in our super-permissive society, such actions by the judge would cause outrage. A good judge must punish the guilty and acquit the innocent.

We recognize this on a human level, but it is even more true when it comes to God in his role as the ultimate judge. Who else could fill that role? God must judge because he knows and rules all things, and because he is a moral being who created us as moral beings, and because he gives us commands that will produce a good society and holds us responsible for the harm done when we break  those commands.

God is a good and holy judge, a judge who only does what is right and just. Therefore he does not violate his standard of perfect righteousness and justice to save us from our guilt.

That is why Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins. God would not wipe away our sins simply on the basis of his mercy. We were unrighteous, and his righteous justice required punishment.

However, in love and mercy, he chose to make a way to save us. He would substitute for us and receive the punishment we deserved. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, [that is, God made his sinless son Jesus to be sin] so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This exchange satisfied the righteous justice of God. What Jesus did on the Cross satisfies the holiness of God. When God looks at a person who has faith in Jesus, he sees that person clothed with Christ himself and therefore clothed with his righteousness.

Only Jesus can satisfy God’s justice

This is why Jesus said no one can come to God apart from him. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). No other religion has

(a) a sinless leader

(b) who is the eternal Son of God

(c) who became a man

(d) who died as a substitute for our sins

(e) whom God raised from the dead, thereby vindicating him and his teachings and enabling him to save from death those who believe in him.

Without having the one and only Son of God as one’s Savior, no one can meet the demands of God’s holy righteousness and justice.

Perfection

That is because God’s standard for righteousness and justice is perfection. For example, one sin of Adam and Eve was enough to incur condemnation (see Genesis 3 and Romans 6:23).

We cannot imagine perfect justice. Human justice is always approximate and messy. Some criminals get away with crimes or get leniency they do not deserve. Some innocent people are convicted for crimes they never committed.

But God’s justice is perfect and comprehensive. He does not grade on a curve. He does not give mulligans (a golfing term for letting a player who has made a bad drive re-do it and score the hole as if the bad first shot never happened). Evil deeds incur real, objective guilt in God’s sight—a debt to God’s justice that must be paid—not just a subjective feeling of a guilty conscience.

God knows all things, all thoughts, motives, words, and actions, and he knows every person’s guilt. He knows every evil a person has ever committed and as a perfect judge will bring every last deed, bad and good, into the light and give the just recompense in perfect proportion, never too much or little in punishment, but extravagant in reward.

To say that God is holy is to say that he is just.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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God’s Righteousness and Justice

The ideal person to deal with in any situation is someone who does what is righteous and just as commanded by God.

righteous and just

Would you like to have grown up in a family in which your parents and siblings and extended family who lived with you, were always loving, generous, peaceful, and faithful? If that was not the case, it was because one or more members of your family failed to do what is right as commanded by God.

Would you like to live in a town where all your neighbors and all the city officials and employees were law-abiding, honest, responsible, and servant-hearted? If that is not the case where you live, it is because your neighbors are not doing what is just and right as commanded by God.

Would you like to work for a company in which the leaders and your colleagues are generous, fair, honest, treating others as they want others to treat them? If that is not the case where you are employed, it is because your colleagues are not doing what is just and right as commanded by God.

Would you like to do business with a company—buying or selling, using their services—whose employees are diligent, honest, respectful, and fair? If that is not the case where you do business, it is because you deal with a company that has policies and employees that are not just and right as commanded by God.

Would you like to be married to someone who—okay, you get the idea. The point is, the ideal person to deal with in any situation is someone who does what is right and just as commanded by God. That is why God commanded these behaviors. That is one reason why all God’s commands are good. And that is why a holy God is passionately concerned about righteousness and justice.

Righteous and Just

To say God is holy is to say he is the sovereign creator who always does what is right and just and requires the same from the people he created. In fact, his character and will are the yardstick of righteousness and justice, and he will not compromise that standard for anyone.

Isaiah 5:16 says, “The LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.”

For example, he gave to Israel the Ten Commandments and hundreds of laws based on them to reveal what righteousness and justice looked like in daily life and to establish righteousness and justice as the norm for his holy people. Honor your parents. Do not murder or commit adultery or steal or lie or be greedy. And so on. He insisted that his people live in the way that is right and just.

He commanded his people to be generous to the poor, the alien, the widow, and the orphan, and not to oppress them. The Lord upholds the cause of the weak and needy, and defends the oppressed. Psalm 68:5 says the Lord is “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows.”

The righteous judge

God does not stop at giving commandments; he also holds people responsible for how they respond to those righteous and just commandments. He is the Judge of all. As the Creator of all people, he alone has the right, and the infinite knowledge and power, to hold each person morally accountable for their conduct. Therefore because he is holy, he punishes evildoers and rewards the righteous.

Ezekiel 28:22 says, “They shall know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her [the city-state of Sidon] and manifest my holiness in her.”

Isaiah 33:22 “The LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us.”

Romans 2:6 says, “He will render to each one according to his works.”

For example, the Lord punished Cain for murdering his brother Abel (Genesis 4). He judged King Ahab and his wife Jezebel for stealing the vineyard of their neighbor Naboth and killing him (1 Kings 21). He providentially ordered events in astounding ways so that Haman, the oppressor of the Jews, would be hanged on the gallows he had built to execute Mordecai (Esther 3–7).

God is the righteous judge of every person, city, and nation.

Final Judgment

Because he is righteous and just, he will someday bring an end to this current evil age, and he as Holy One will conduct a Final Judgment Day. He will then with perfect fairness and all knowledge judge every person who has ever lived. He will call each person to account who ever wronged you. And he will reward you for every good thing you have ever done, no matter how insignificant or small it seemed at the time. He will bring everything into the light and give every thought, word, and deed its just reward or punishment. He will then create a new heavens and earth in which there is perfect righteousness and justice for all.

Psalm 9:7–8 says, “The LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.”

It is good that the world is ultimately run according to God’s justice and righteousness, and that God will ultimately judge all people and happenings. Good people want to live in a place where people do what is right. Only criminals, lawbreakers, and those who hate God want a world without righteousness and justice and the Holy One who alone can sustain them through his laws and judgments. God’s holy justice and righteousness make possible peace, prosperity, and happiness for all his people.

How should we live?

Given God’s holy insistence on what is right and just, how should we live?

1. We should obey God’s holy, moral law. We should love our neighbor as we love ourselves, treating others as we want to be treated. (Romans 13:8–10)

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21–23)

2. We should obey human laws (that do not counter God’s laws). (Romans 13:1–7)

3. We should help the needy and weak, defend them from others who would exploit them, and not take advantage of them ourselves.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27).

(Matthew 25:31–46)

4. We should live in light of the Final Judgment, which will be the most important day in our lives. On this day God’s righteousness and justice will be on full, ultimate display, and if we have not prepared for it, we will be sorry. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

5. To be ready for the Final Judgment, we must believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ to receive the forgiveness of sins. Only through faith in Christ will God justify anyone, for only Jesus is the Son of God, and only he died as a substitute for our sins to satisfy completely the justice and righteousness of a holy God. (See Romans 3:9–26. John 3:1–21; 35–36. Ephesians 2:1–10)

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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God’s Purity and Your Health

God’s purity and your health are linked. Because God is absolutely pure, he loves what is clean, and what is clean brings health to every aspect of your life.

gods purity and your health

With all the knowledge and technology available today, you would think clean, healthful water would not be hard to get in America.

Several decades ago the idea that tap water was contaminated and unhealthy took hold among the masses, and a wave of marketing persuaded us that if you wanted pure water you needed to buy bottled water. I did not want to spend a major part of my budget on bottled water, but when I did drink it I felt as though I was doing something healthy. I felt I was putting purity in my body, water that cleansed my body of toxins.

Then we began to learn that bottled water was contaminated. Chemicals could leach from the plastic. Lots of bottled water did not come from clean sources. Just because water was in a bottle did not mean it was pure, as many people had assumed. Bummer.

Foul in Flint

Then you have a case of major negligence from a municipality like Flint, Michigan. In 2014 a crisis began over the presence of lead in the city’s water supply. For months numerous governmental leaders and agencies who were responsible for the situation denied or minimized the problem. But eventually they could no longer deny the facts. The number of children showing up in local hospitals with lead poisoning was increasing. They were being poisoned by drinking tap water and suffering neurological harm.

One outside expert on municipal water quality, who was brought in to study and report on the situation, said about the governmental leaders handling the crisis: “It was the injustice of it all and that the very agencies that are paid to protect these residents from lead in water, knew or should’ve known after June at the very, very latest of this year, that federal law was not being followed in Flint, and that these children and residents were not being protected. And the extent to which they went to cover this up exposes a new level of arrogance and uncaring that I have never encountered.”1

Stories like that do not make for trust in government.

Don’t drink from the water fountains

Here in Chicago we have not had a problem as bad as Flint, Michigan, or the same level of official negligence as far as I know, but we have had tainted tap water. When the Flint story came out, people here started testing the water and found that the water flowing from the fountains in public parks and in public schools had excessive levels of lead in many places, due to old lead pipes. News sources listed locations where the water was bad. Now the city is systematically digging up old water pipes and replacing them with new ones.

Meanwhile, don’t drink the water unless it is filtered.

Everything tainted?

All that is unsettling. What do you do? At my home we drink tap water run through a Brita filter. Is it pure? I don’t know. Is it tainted? Certainly. My son works for the EPA, and he says there is no such thing as food or water that is absolutely pure; the best you can hope for is toxin levels below what has proven harmful. Acceptable contamination. Relative purity. Minimal pollution.

Nontoxic God

The point of all this is not water, but God. The Bible says he is what our water cannot be: absolutely, 100 percent pure, without a trace of toxins.

1 John 1:5 says, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Revelation 22:1 describes the New Creation: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

The water of life that God supplies is as bright as crystal, sparkling with purity like a crystal vase under a lamp in a jewelry store.

The Bible highlights God’s absolute purity not only by comparing him to bright light and sparkling, clean water but also to pure gold. Again and again God’s directions for the construction of the tabernacle specified that Moses was to use pure gold on various articles such as the Ark of the Covenant. “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold” (Exodus 25:17). The pure gold symbolized God’s absolute purity.

God’s Purity and Your Health

Therefore he loves what is morally clean. Through Moses he gave Israel detailed laws to follow for what is clean and unclean. God knows clean and pure.

Therefore he knows what is perfectly healthful for us in every aspect of life. He is not like a negligent government official who fails to tell people what can poison them. Rather, God has been faithful to warn us about impurity of every kind.

He knows what is pure and healthful for you sexually and in your thought life. He knows what is pure and healthful in your attitude toward possessions and money, and toward other people. And he knows about pure emotions and desires, and pure speech. He knows about pure books, movies, and music. He knows about pure doctrine.

What is pure is clean, and what is clean is healthy. God is absolutely pure, absolutely clean, and therefore he brings health to your spirit, soul, and body.

Footnote:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis. Accessed 5-18-21.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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A Personal Reflection on God’s Perfect Goodness

I learned to delight in God’s holiness when I recognized its goodness.

delight in God holiness

While the holiness of God is wonderful beyond human understanding, it took me decades to learn to delight in it.

For most of my life, the subject of the holiness of God was not inviting to me. I recall long ago seeing a book titled The Holiness of God (by R. C. Sproul), and my response was a combination of fear and an awareness that this was a subject I did not understand as well as I should. I did not buy the book, and frankly I did not want to read it because for whatever reason the subject was more than I could deal with.

And this was not because I was living an unholy life. I was a pastor serving God with all my heart. I loved God and pursued a life of purity. What’s more, I loved God’s Word and studied and meditated on it continually. It was God’s Word itself that had inculcated in me a sense of respect and fear for God’s holiness mingled with a sense of the mystery and uncertainty of it. When I passed on reading that book, I guess I was afraid of what I would find out.

And that explains my reticence at learning more about the holiness of God for most of my life. I was afraid of what I would discover, for I knew God’s holiness was awe-inspiring, and not a few people died in the Bible because they crossed a line in relation to that holiness that mankind must not transgress. Looking back now, I realize I was afraid I would learn something about God that I did not like, that would hinder enjoying the God who meant everything to me.

So, what changed?

Learning to delight in God’s holiness

First, I finally stopped avoiding the subject. I wanted to know God more, and I realized I could not know him as he is without understanding more about his holiness.

So I read that book I had avoided for years. It is an excellent book—a vitally important especially in our culture today—which confirmed the importance of understanding God’s holiness and of maintaining a proper fear of God. Proper reverence draws us to God rather than drives us away (Isaiah 11:3 says of the Messiah, “His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord”). The book dispelled the fear I would learn something about God I did not want to know. It greatly helped me.

But I needed to know more. Years passed, and helped by that book I deepened in my appreciation of the awesome glory of God. I grew in my love of the power and greatness of God, loving God in the way I love a thunderstorm or some other act of nature that is truly awe-inspiring. I was then and am now thoroughly impressed by God.

Then I began writing this blog on the theme of knowing God. I have maintained a discipline of writing one post each week, and that has profoundly deepened my understanding of our great God. Along the way I decided one theme I wanted to explore more was his holiness. I knew most Christians need to understand it better just as I did, and I wanted to understand it better myself by comprehensively studying what Scripture says about it, something I had never done in 40 years of pastoral ministry.

You can count on it that studying the Bible firsthand, thoroughly and inductively, will open your eyes and transform your heart even when you have already thought much about something. What I expected to be a six- or eight-week series of articles turned into six months, writing as succinctly as possible. The more I wrote and meditated on Scriptures related to God’s holiness the more I saw to write about.

The goodness of God’s holiness

After weeks in that series, I happened upon the most important breakthrough in my understanding of God’s holiness. When we say God is holy, it necessarily means God is good. Psalm 65:4 says, “Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!” Notice the synonymous parallelism in the second sentence: “the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple.” Because goodness and holiness cannot be separated, the persons God brings into his courts are blessed and satisfied at the deepest level.

You cannot fully understand or delight in God’s holiness apart from its perfect goodness. To say God is holy is to say he is perfectly good in every aspect of his being and in all his ways with his creation, even in his acts of judgment and self-vindication.

It is critical we understand why this is so. Therefore the articles in this series regularly make the connection between God’s goodness and holiness.

There is nothing off-putting to me about God’s holiness. Everything about him is as it should be, including everything about his holiness, for he is perfect. If we think otherwise, it is because we are deeply flawed and influenced by a fallen culture far more than we realize. Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). He alone is good in every way. He is love, and his love is holy. Instead of fearing the thought of meeting God face to face, I look forward with excitement to learning about God’s holiness for all eternity.

Stay with me in the journey.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)