Attributes of God: HOLY
Welcome to the next article in the Attributes of God series! Last time we covered our first attribute, that God is CREATOR, and today we dive into God’s HOLINESS. If you missed the previous articles, check out the links below!
"Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty."
- Isaiah 6:3
Scripture clearly describes God as being “Holy.” In fact, the words holy or holiness appear in the Bible more than 900 times!
So scripture, like the Isaiah verse above, declares God as holy. But what does it mean for God to be holy? Simply put, God’s holiness means that he is set apart, completely unique from everyone and everything He created. 1 Samuel 2:2 says, "There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God."
I think when many of us think of being holy, we think of moral purity. And it’s true that God is completely morally pure. Yet scripture seems to describe God’s holiness more broadly than that.
I have come to think of God’s holiness as being about ALL of his attributes - he is so perfectly righteous, loving, just, merciful, and more, that he is altogether unique. Like we covered in the last article, God is Creator, and we are creatures. He is completely above us and uniquely set apart. He is God. And we are not. He is HOLY.
God’s Holiness Gives us Perspective
One of the ways God’s holiness has impacted my own life is to help shape the way that I see him in scripture. We live in a culture where it has become commonplace to take what we think seems fair or right to us, and then take that assumption to the Bible and attempt to find a way to make it fit. Instead, through the lens of God’s holiness, we see that He is our ultimate authority and everything we know to be fair or right originates with him.
Our children are growing up in a world that tells them it’s possible to create your own version of truth. One of the foundational ways we can combat this is to model reverence for and submission to God because he is HOLY. He is infinitely greater and more wise than we are. His moral standards will always be better than our own. So when our children have questions, taking them to our Holy God and His word is the best place to start.
Exodus 15:11 - "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?"
Revelation 15:4 - "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy."
1 Samuel 2:2 - "There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God."
In Revelation 4:8, the four living creatures stationed around God’s throne are singing - “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Response Questions:
Can you name one way God is holy, or “set apart,” from His creation?
How can we glorify God’s name, like it says in Revelation 15:4?
KEY TAKEAWAY:
God’s holiness means that he is set apart and unique from all of His creation, including us.
God’s Holiness Gives us Comfort
It should be a great comfort that we serve a holy God. Not only is He wonderful in His holiness, but He makes us holy! In the old testament, the Israelites had to follow specific rules to be ritually pure before they could enter God’s holy presence. But when Jesus came to Earth in human form, an amazing shift happened.
God brought His holiness to us. Because of Christ's death and resurrection, we no longer have to follow the law and become ritually pure in order to enter God's presence. Rather, because of Jesus, his holiness is imputed, or credited, to us!
It is a great comfort to me to know that despite my sin and impurity, God actually sees me as completely pure and holy because I'm clothed in Christ's righteousness. And what a beautiful thing to teach our children that they too - when they put their faith in him - are made holy and pure and right before God.
Leviticus 15:31 - “You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.”
1 Corinthians 1:30 - "Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin."
1 Peter 2:9 - "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people."
Response Questions:
Why is it such good news that Jesus’ death and resurrection make us holy and pure?
How can you thank God for making a way for us to become holy?
KEY TAKEAWAY:
When Jesus died for our sins, he made a way for us to be pure and holy before God.