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The Holiness of God

‘Holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty
His glory fills the whole earth.’ (Revelation 6:3)

Our God is a Holy God. But what does that mean? My study group has been reading the book ‘The Holiness of God’ by RC Sproul and trying to get to grips with a concept that we sing about every week. So far we conclude that as hard as it is to define ‘Holy’ so also the greatness of God cannot be pinned down to a simple description. ‘Holy’ as applied to God speaks of His set-apart-ness, His supremacy, purity, justice, the sacred, perfection, grace, mercy, forgiveness… There is no word in the English language to describe God in all His fullness.

And what of our response to a Holy God? When something is deemed ‘holy’ (or consecrated to God) it demands a certain respect and fear – we are to treat them in a proper manner. Moses was told (Exodus 3:5), ‘Take off your shoes for you stand on holy ground.’ There was a response that he had to make to the fact that the ground was declared holy; it was consecrated to God; in fact God Himself was there. God goes on to announce who He is and Moses is afraid. He is afraid to look at God. Why? Because of God’s glory, which is His revealed holiness. God’s holiness and His glory therefore go hand in hand. What is your response to God’s holiness? I think our right response has to be an awe, a fear of God, a response that brings us down on our knees in worship. To many other faiths the Holiness of God is what keeps Him separate and distant and unreachable but as Christians we know that in all His Holiness God came to live amongst us and died so that despite our sinfulness we can come before a Holy God. Grace is what most Catholics, for example in Malta, do not understand.

So this is to give glory to God – not to give it to Him as if it’s some gift from us thus making Him glorious, but acknowledging His glory and proclaiming what is already there. We cannot make Him more glorious (or give Him more glory in the sense that He needs topping up!). There is a song that goes, ‘I lift you high and bow down low…’ I’d like to disagree slightly with the words of this song. It is not about what we can do, it’s about God, and He reveals Himself through our lowly state.

‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ 2 Corinthians 12:9

‘Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to Him.’ Romans 12:1

‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sins and will heal their land.’ 2 Chronicles 7:14

If we realise our position before a Holy God and are brought down to our knees and bow down before Him, He can and will glorify Himself.

posted by Susan @ 9:31 pm