Week Five - Day One: The Holiness of God

Last week we said that the primary idea behind the word “holy” is separate, set apart, and unique. For me, this explains a lot. This idea comes up quite often when the Biblical writers talk about God, both when they use the word “holy” and when they don’t. When I keep this in mind, I have an easier time with some of what I read from the Bible. But there’s more to the story.

The secondary definition of “holy” has to do with moral purity. That God is holy means both that God is completely other and that God is morally perfect. He is the standard. He is moral perfection – pure and unadulterated. He’s always right in everything He does.

Think for a second about what this says about the world. Tozer is certainly right when he says, “God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of His universe.”¹

It seems to me that this means that the universe is pretty sick. This may be what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he told a group of the earliest Christians “The creation was subjected to frustration.” Frustration … things just aren’t right. But he adds in a burst of hope “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay.”²

Yes, the universe is sick – subject to frustration and decaying. And we are sick along with it. Whoops, sorry for the blame-shifting. We are really the cause of it. The universe is decaying; and as we know, so are we. And, according to the Bible, it is through us that the moral integrity of the universe was infiltrated. The Bible calls this infiltration “sin”. And sin affects everything in the universe and every part of who we are. Tozer explains: “The moral shock suffered by us through our mighty break with the high will of heaven has left us all with a permanent trauma affecting every part of our nature. There is disease both in ourselves and in our environment.”

This does not mean that we are as bad as we could be. But it does mean that we are far less than what we could be. We are diseased – all of us to a greater or lesser extent. This is why, whenever God’s people speak of direct encounters with His presence, it often doesn’t sound like a party. Words like “fear” and “awe” are used. Such encounters often produce speechlessness and a deep sense of being overwhelmed. Words clearly fall short.

Whatever those who encounter His presence may have thought about their relative level of sickness, being in His presence removes all illusions. They see their disease in the clearest possible light. Whatever those in His presence may have thought about the heights that unadulterated holiness might achieve, being in His presence shatters that ceiling.

Isaiah’s experience with God provides us with a perfect example.

Before You Start Your Day

1. Let’s look at Isaiah 6:1-13.

   (1) In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. (2) Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. (3) And they were calling to one another:

   "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
   the whole earth is full of his glory."

   (4) At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

   (5) "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

   (6) Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. (7) With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

   (8) Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

   (9) He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' (10) Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

   (11) Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"

   And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant; until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, (12) until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. (13) And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

2. Interestingly, this is a time of national disaster. The King has died. Think of how you felt in the hours and days after 9/11. For Isaiah, this was also a personal disaster since he was an advisor to the King and well acquainted with him.
3. What does Isaiah see in his vision? What does this say about God?
4. What are the heavenly creatures singing about God?
5. How does Isaiah feel after he sees God?
6. It’s important for us to remember that God does not leave Isaiah “ruined”. He removes his guilt and sends him on an adventure. Out of this experience, Isaiah would become the most significant prophet in Israel’s early history.
   1. Could it be that God is calling you on an adventure as you think about His holiness?
   2. Or perhaps God called you to some adventure long ago that you have forgotten about. Today, I think we need to remember!