Week Four - Day Four: The Holiness of God

Today we begin the process of investigating what God. One of the best ways to acquaint ourselves with God will be to look at various aspects of His personality. As we said yesterday, right information about God is critical to knowing Him. So before reading anything else, let’s start this exercise by looking at Psalm 99:1-9. Read it now.

(1) The LORD reigns,
      let the nations tremble;
      he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
      let the earth shake.

(2) Great is the LORD in Zion;
      he is exalted over all the nations.

(3) Let them praise your great and awesome name—
      he is holy.

(4) The King is mighty, he loves justice—
      you have established equity;
      in Jacob you have done
      what is just and right.

(5) Exalt the LORD our God
      and worship at his footstool;
      he is holy.

(6) Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
      Samuel was among those who called on his name;
      they called on the LORD
      and he answered them.

(7) He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
      they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

(8) O LORD our God,
      you answered them;
      you were to Israel a forgiving God,
      though you punished their misdeeds.

(9) Exalt the LORD our God
      and worship at his holy mountain,
      for the LORD our God is holy.

This is a song about the holiness of God. It can be broken down into three separate stanzas: verses 1 through 3, verses 4 and 5 and verses 6 through 9. Before you read on, take a moment with each stanza and identify the central theme. What is being said about God in each passage?

You may have come up with something like the greatness of God for stanza one, the justice of God for stanza two and the fact that God answers His people and forgives them for stanza three. Or you may have come up with something better. Anyway, whatever you came up with, you may have also noticed that the Psalmist ends each stanza by declaring the holiness of God.

The holiness of God is a central theme of the Bible and must be central in our understanding of God. If our knowledge of God were compared to a river, then God’s holiness would be the current. As such, it is certainly related to each of the Psalmist’s themes. But it is really a larger concept than any of these themes. In his book The Holiness of God, R. C. Sproul says that God’s holiness is another way of saying God is God.

To understand what Dr. Sproul meant we have to understand the concept of holiness. The Hebrew word for “holy” seems to have derived from the word which meant “to cut” or “to separate.” The basic idea is that something holy is separated out, it is cut away from everything else. So, saying that God is “holy” is like saying that God is separated from everything else. In other words, He is different from everything.

Think of it this way: it is like saying that there are two categories of things. One category includes all created things and all things related to created things: trees, jazz music, love, koala bears, black holes, that cool idea you had for making a million dollars and rubber bands just to name a few. Everything in the physical universe is in this category. Everything we know or will discover through the five senses is in this category. Consider Einstein’s mind boggling equation: E=mc2. That whole equation – yep, both sides of it – are in the same category. All that you and I feel is in this category.

And in the other category is God – all by himself – holy, separate, completely other. This helps us understand why knowing God in many ways is not like knowing anything else and learning about God is not like learning about anything else. I seriously want you to re-read that last sentence to ensure that we get it. (In a few months, we’re going to modify that, but for now we need to sit with that a minute.) That explains why God would say something like, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”

Before You Start Your Day

1. Answer these questions about the holiness of God.
   1. What does the Biblical idea of the holiness of God say about our attempts to know God? Would His holiness make Him easier or harder for us to know?
   2. How is the holiness of God related to the justice of God?
   3. How does it relate to His love?
   4. What emotion does the holiness of God evoke in you?
2. Check out this quote from A. W. Tozer: “God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable … Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard.”¹
3. Check out Isaiah 55. It’s an incredible chapter with several rich themes. So, let’s try something different today. Let’s memorize verses 8 and 9. Write those verses down on a piece of paper that you can carry with you during the day today. Rehearse the phrases over and over during the day until you can say it by heart.

   (8) "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

   (9) "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

   (1) A. W. Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy