The holiness of God refers to the unparalleled majesty of His incomparable being and His blameless, faultless, unblemished moral purity. In Christian theology, the word holy has two meanings. The holiness of God refers to, unblemished moral purity. Isaiah 6:1–4 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” Holy also refers to something or someone that has been separated from the common or set aside for God’s use.
The core idea behind holiness is absolute moral purity. God is not only perfectly good; he is the very source and standard of goodness. In this regard, goodness has a permanence to it precisely because it is rooted in the eternal and everlasting God. Goodness does not change because God does not change. God’s absolute moral purity often carries the connotation of danger as well. It was a great fear within Israel to get too close to God lest they be overwhelmed by his holiness. God’s presence was a great comfort to Israel while at the same time being a great threat to their own unholy lives. One did not lightly or superficially come before God. Most often, one would need a mediator to go before God on their behalf lest they suffer the consequences of being in the presence of absolute holiness while themselves not being holy.
The holiness of God not only refers to the absolute moral purity of God but also the absolute moral distance between God and fallen human beings. Isaiah 6:3 “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”The prophet Isaiah declared, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty” Revelation 4:8 “And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” God is not just a little bit holy. God is holy in entirety. He is the epitome of Holiness. It also serves as a warning that we humans are not holy. Holiness is a central marker of the fundamental divide between God and sinful human creatures—most especially in their fallen condition but also in the redeemed state entirely dependent upon God for any holiness that might reside in them.
Unlike His created beings, God is eternal, preeminent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He was, is, and will be before all things. He is ageless, tireless, and faultless. He is beyond full human comprehension. Indeed, our language lacks the superlatives necessary to justly describe Him. Drawn to Him for His unequalled goodness and majesty, the psalmist wrote, in Psalms 42:1 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” Nothing or no one satisfies like God, for He is altogether lovely to behold. Earthly treasures will pass away, but the Lord is our great reward and inheritance.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
Laddertoheaven.co.in