By Pastor Dave Farmer
In this study, the basic principle of fellowship is explained.
THREE FACTS ABOUT THE HOLINESS OF GOD YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO FORGET
1 John 1:5
And always existing is this message, which we have heard from Him [Christ] and announce again to you [to your advantage], that God as to His nature is Light, and in Him, there exists no darkness, not one bit.
Review
Our first search on the meaning of holiness led us to divide the study into the non-moral and moral aspects of this word:
The first aspect of holiness is the non-moral side, the Godhood of God. It is the perfection of the divine nature, which teaches us the profound truth of God's greatness and superiority. He is eternal, immutable, and infinite, and we are creatures locked up in time and subject to death.
The second aspect of holiness is the moral side of God, "the Godliness of God." This teaches us about the absolute purity of God in character, the One who is free from sin and evil and Who is perfectly righteous in all His ways or as John has written, "God as to His nature is Light, and there is no darkness in Him, not one bit." 1
In our last article, we focused once more on the Godhood of God and saw His Transcendent nature. Transcendence is defined as God being separate from and independent of all creation and created beings. He is superior to all and above all. 2
Introduction
As we continue this study on holiness, there are three more facts about holiness that you will not want to forget. Here is the first:
First, Holy is one of the most prominent names of God in the Scripture.
Here are some statistics: the word "holy" appears over 757 times in the Bible. God is referred to as "The Holy One of Israel" 31 times; "The Holy One" 51 times as in Psalm 16:10; or the Holy Lord God as in 1 Samuel 6:20. God Himself speaks about His Holy name as in Isaiah 57:15; and "My Holy Name" is mentioned 13 times in the Old Testament. If we were to open any theological textbook, you would find a chapter on the names of God. They are that important to us. The reason is self-evident, for they reveal who God is and what He is like. We find in these names precious truths about some aspect of His Person and His Work. In Jehovah, we learn that our God is a Person, the Self-Existent One, "I Am that I Am." In Adonai, we learn of His sovereignty. It is translated Master, Sovereign, Lord. In Elohim, we learn of His Oneness, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God [ELOHIM], the Lord is one! Deuteronomy 6:4."
The names of God fill the textbooks: Creator, Provider, Redeemer, Preserver, Sustainer. On and on the wonders of our God are on display through these names. Who hasn't heard a message at Christmas time where the names of our Lord Jesus Christ are heralded "Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, and Immanuel. If you've never heard a study on the Old Testament EL compounds, you should ask your pastor to speak on them. In El Shaddai, we learn that He is Almighty and Omnipotent. In El Olam, He is an everlasting God, and we learn of His eternality. In El Elyon, He is the Most High God stressing His holiness. When you study the names of God, it is like you're prospecting for gold, and you hit the mother-load. The sheer number of times in the Old and New Testament that informs us that God is Holy ought to indicate that this name is important to Him and one we should not forget.
Secondly, Holiness Is The Guardian Of The Essence Of God.
Let me illustrate this from examples found in Scripture:
Psalm 98:1
O sing unto the Lord a new song for He has done marvelous things: His right hand and HIS HOLY ARM has given Him the victory. "
Here is a verse that speaks of the awesome, omnipotent power of God, but did you notice the adjective HOLY. It explains that God's use of His great power is governed by the attribute of holiness. Take the world we live in today. The North Korea president has a lot of power. He is threatening to use it. This power is corruptible. God has power, but whenever He uses that power, Holiness weights in and assures us that it will be exercised perfectly, morally, and not in a tyrannical fashion. God never misuses His power. In man, it is true, "absolute power corrupts absolutely," but not in our God for He is HOLY.
Psalm 105:42
For He (God) remembered his HOLY WORD and Abraham his servant.
This is a reference to the promise that God made to Abraham. God gave Abraham His Word, but the Spirit of God reminds us through David, "It was a holy promise." God keeps His word because His holiness was involved.
2 Timothy 3:15
and that from childhood you have known the sacred [HOLY] writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Jeremiah 23:9
As for the prophets: My heart is broken within me, All my bones tremble; I have become like a drunken man, Even like a man overcome with wine, Because of the Lord And because of His HOLY words.
In Amos, we find the same principle:
Amos 4:2
“God has sworn by His HOLINESS.“
God tells Amos that you can depend on My promise, not only because I always speak the truth, but because I am a Holy God, and My promise is absolute, unalterable, and it binds me--I cannot deny Myself.
Psalm 89:35
Once I have sworn by my HOLINESS that I will not lie unto David.
In court, we are to swear to tell "the whole truth and nothing but the truth." God confirms His truth by His holiness. God said to David, "My holiness is your pledge for the assurance of this promise. I bind Myself to My holiness, and if I lie to David, then let me not be counted HOLY.
If God were not Holy, His longsuffering might become indulgent to sin. His love might become emotional sentimentalism. His Justice might become partial and prejudiced. His truth might become distorted, unclear, or contradictory. His wisdom might become unscrupulous.
His righteousness might become pliable and moving . His immutability might become immobility or failure to act. His Sovereignty might become a tyranny. I have corrupted these magnificent perfections of God so that we might see the significance of Holiness.
Again, His Holiness safeguards all that He is. He is incorruptible because He is a Holy God, "as to His nature. He is Light, and there is no darkness in Him, not one bit." When we understand His Holiness, we understand that God is always just and fair, that He cannot lie, nor is His truth contradictory. We often hear people claim that the Bible is full of contradictions. This cannot be. This is a Holy Word, a Holy Scripture, and our God is Holy in all of His ways.
When I teach about the divine nature, I use the ten major attributes as a way of understanding God: He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscience, Eternal life, Truth, Justice, Immutability, Love, Sovereignty, and Righteousness. You will notice that Holy is not on this list. This is because holiness is not an individual attribute but rather a constitutional characteristic of the whole Person of God. Another constitutional attribute would be God is infinite meaning boundless and without any limits. Unity describes God as having the quality of oneness. One which is so obvious is that God is a person; that is, He is a personal being. The names of God are His self-revelation that describes some aspect of His person, character, or works. When God reveals Himself to us, He shines His light on His holiness. When God is concerned about His name--His reputation, it is His Holy Name that He mentions:
Leviticus 20:3
‘I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name.
He does not say, "don't profane my loving name, or my eternal name, or my gracious name, or my merciful name, or my powerful name. No, it is His Holy name! If there is any aspect of the nature of the true and living God that He desires His people to understand the most, it is His holiness. How do you know that pastor? I know because it is one of the most frequently used NAMES for God in the Scripture.
If there is one attribute of God that seems to get the most attention today, I would say it is LOVE. Believers prefer to sing about the Love of God, and we should never forget the fact that God loves us. I have to admit, based upon the evidence of Scripture, HOLY is the characteristic of divine perfection that He makes the most of, that He calls special attention to, that is most valued by Him, and to which He constantly refers. It has to be considered the attribute of His preference. He wants to be known as a holy God. The Seraphim sing "Holy, Holy, Holy" as they herald His entrance into Heaven's Throne Room, not "Love, Love, Love" or "Omnipotent, Omnipotent, Omnipotent" or Truth, Truth, Truth." These are accurate and a true depiction of His perfections, but they are not His preference.
Furthermore, it is interesting to me that when Proverbs 9:10 is quoted, "The Fear 3 of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," much is made of this, but what about the rest of the verse? It seems to get lost in the teaching, "and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." This is Hebrew poetry, which has nothing to do with rhyme or rhythm. Hebrew poetry emphasizes "thoughts in parallel" or what is called a "distich," two lines of poetry forming a unit. Just as a sentence in English must have a subject, verb, and object to complete a thought, so Hebrew poetry has two lines, and it is sloppy exegesis to quote the one without the other. If you only talk about the one line "The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" you only have half a thought or half of a truth. So when we take this as a whole statement, we see that the proverb is about how wisdom begins when we know our God is Holy. This is a powerful revelation left out in most explanations. We cannot begin to understand God until we come to know His holiness.
Thirdly, holiness is the characteristic of His divine nature that He shines a light on so that we might understand its importance to Him.
God's delight in revealing Himself to us as holy is seen in three ways, and the first is this: Places become holy when God is present in them in a special way.
Holy places 4
In the worship of God, the tabernacle is called holy, Exodus 40:9; so was the temple which Solomon built, Psalm 11:4. God designed the worship center called the Tent of Meeting, a place where God was specially. It had two compartments, and both were called holy: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, Exodus 26:33. A number of other places receive the same treatment; such as, the land that God gave to Abraham is called the Holy land, Zechariah 2:12; Jerusalem is called a Holy city in Nehemiah 11:1; Isaiah 52:1. It was built upon a mountain called Zion, which is called a Holy Hill in Psalm 2:6; 3:4. There are hundreds of cities in Israel, what made this city so different, that it is called holy? Jerusalem is different from all of the cities of the world because God chose that city to dwell in, and His presence causes it to be Holy Jerusalem.
What about today? Jerusalem has become just another city. Israel's unbelief brought upon her citizens the cycles of discipline, and she lost her unique and special status. The Shekinah Glory, the sign of God's presence, which brought her great blessing and favor from God, is now gone. Foreigners have occupied the city for hundreds of years. Now a mosque stands upon the temple ground, which has profaned the site. I am using the word profane in a biblical sense, meaning to make something common or ordinary. In the future, Jerusalem will again be called the holy city, Revelation 21:2. The Shekinah Glory will return, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will reign there, and her status will be upgraded to HOLY. Here again is the principle: To be called Holy means that God is in that place unique and special way.
Illustration:
If we examine our previous study of Moses' encounter with God in Exodus 5:3, we see the same principle at work. As Moses approached the burning bush, God said: “Take off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is Holy Ground." This ground looked like the ground everywhere on the mountain. At the base of the mountain, on the sides and slopes of the mountain, and now in this place. What made the ground different? God was present in that place in a special way, and because of that, it became Holy ground. What we find throughout Scripture that people, places, and things become holy as a result of God being present.
Remember this important statement: Wherever God exists in a special way, that place becomes holy. This is not to be confused with the attribute of omnipresence, which teaches us that God is everywhere present. Even so, the Scripture teaches us that whenever God is in a place in a unique way, it becomes a holy place by His being there.
Holy Things
A second way God is revealing Himself to us as holy is by setting apart things that He chooses to use. When an object is removed from its everyday use, that object is said to be holy. For example:
1 Kings 8:4
They brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the HOLY utensils, which were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up.
The vessels and utensils of the temple are all called holy. Upon examination, they may be nicer than most utensils of that day being gold and silver plated, but there are many vessels in other lands of equal value and worth. Why are these called holy? Apply the principle! God chose those utensils. He took possession of them. He gave them a unique purpose. They were "set apart" to be used in His worship. They were no longer to be treated as common. This is one of the ways that God taught the people of Israel about holiness. We see this concept numerous times. In Exodus 28:2, God gave the design for the garment that the High priest would wear:
Exodus 28:2
“You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.
Why were they holy? Priests in every culture have worn special costumes. These were made holy because God chooses them, and their purpose was unique, for they would be worn in the worship and service of a Holy God.
Finally, the offerings that were brought by the people, whether it was a lamb, or goat, or a turtledove, were called holy gifts, Numbers 5:9. The furnishings of the tabernacle were called holy objects, Numbers 10:21. The oil used in the ministry of the priesthood was called holy oil, Numbers 35:25. Over and over in the Word of God, the principle is confirmed, that common and ordinary things become different when God separates them for His special purpose and use.
The third way is that PEOPLE are designated holy because God chooses them for His own possession and use. This will be explained in our next article.
Summary
The study of the word "holy" in Scripture reveals the following Biblical truths about God that we should never forget:
1. Holy is one of the most prominent names of God in the Scriptures.
2. Holiness is the guardian of the essence of God.
3. It is the name of God that He delights in the MOST.
- Places become holy because God is present in them in a special way.
- Things become holy because God separates them from the ordinary by giving them a new and special purpose in worshipping Him.
ENDNOTES
1 See Topic #11
2 See Topic #11
3 Fear does not mean fright; it means to give respect and honor to Him.
4 Dr. Renald E. Showers has an excellent article on Holiness in The Friends of Israel Magazine: "The Holiness of Places where God is uniquely present" (1987). Israel My Glory Issue February/March p.10-12.