Reflections on the Attributes of God: God’s Holiness

This is another paper I wrote for one of my classes at the Forerunner School of Ministry. The class was called "The Existence and Attributes of God."

“All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him” (Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy p.2). This quote sums up the biggest question facing believers today: Who is this God that we serve, and how must we go about serving Him? To begin to answer these questions, we must start with the attribute that creates the most awe, fear, and trembling in saints. It is the holiness of God. We serve a God that is Holy, and this holy God commands His children to “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15). We must start here. What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us. We must get the right idea about God and about ourselves through the lens of God’s holiness. God valued His holiness so much that He allowed His Son to die on a disgraceful cross, and it pleased Him to empty His wrath upon His Son rather than sin should live. “Never did Divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely, than at the time our Savior’s countenance was most marred in the midst of His dying groans” (Charnock, Existence and Attributes of God p.135). It is as if God’s affection for His own holiness surpassed His affection for His Son, and Christ seems to value it above His own person as well by being willing to suffer death on a cross in order to bring justification between God and man. It is vital that a few brief points of God’s holiness be examined: A brief definition of God’s holiness, what has happened to those in the Word that have encountered it, and what we must do about it.

“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). This is the reaction to God by the creatures that forever dwell in His presence. Why do they not say “good, good, good” or “faithful, faithful, faithful?” Holiness is defined by Webster’s as “pure; sinless; deserving deep respect, awe.” Holy describes all of God’s attributes in one little word (because He is holy, His attributes are holy), and the threefold repetition of the word notes the certainty and absoluteness of it. It is not a description of God, but it is what God IS. He is holy, and only He is holy. Any other time this word is used, it is only a description of an object that possesses a slight resemblance to God. Holiness is His crown. It speaks of the glorious perfection belonging to the very nature of God. He is a pure and unmixed light, free from all blemish. “He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is” (Tozer, p.105). The holiness of God is a perfect freedom from all evil. Just a glance upon the holiness of God, and we will say like our forefathers once said: “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11) and “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God?” (1 Samuel 6:20). One may fear God’s power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine. God’s holiness is the very essence of the word transcendent.

“And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—overwhelmed” (Ezekiel 3:15). It is fun to look at the reactions of various men of God in the Bible when encountered by God’s holiness. For Ezekiel the word overwhelmed meant deaf and dumb. Ezekiel could not talk. He could not do anything after encountering the holiness of God. It was too much for him; the word overwhelmed is definitely appropriate! It is the same with Isaiah and Daniel: “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5) and in Daniel 10:7&8 “And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.” Both of these men of God (and the men with Daniel) did not know what to do with themselves. The funniest reaction of all is by the “beloved.” John, who of all the disciples, is the one seen laying his head upon the bosom of Christ (John 13:23). “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17). Even the beloved, when face to face with the glory and holiness of the Lord, falls to the ground as if dead. Three plus years of handling the Word of life (1 John 1:1) was not enough. Even without personal encounters, after seeing these reactions, one must say like Paul: “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The very reason for studying and looking into God’s holiness is for His creations to be “conformed into the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). Matthew 5:48 stares at believers. No matter how one tries to explain it away or ignore it, there it is. It is a command by the Lord Jesus Himself. The verse has been ignored by too many for long enough. Many have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon those who strive for it as abnormal. God makes it known just how He feels about this deviation from holiness: “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver” (Psalm 50:21 & 22). So what is to be done by an unhloly people with this Holy God? Surely something must be done. It has been said “we become what we behold.” We have to do what David desired 3,000 years ago: “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). We MUST behold and become captivated by the beauty of Jesus and the beauty of His holiness. David said in Psalm 29:2: “worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” In beholding His holiness, we become holy. It is our only hope for holiness. We must be holy because our God is holy. It is NOT an option! It is a command from Jesus and not a suggestion. Therefore: “seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2Peter 3:11). God is looking for (and so believers must be) voluntary lovers that are holy and blameless in His sight (Ephesians 1:4).

We must take refuge in God from God (Tozer, p.107). Though one loves God as much as he can (which is a key principle of holiness), he cannot love God (and be holy) the way the Holy One deserves. We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock. By faith and obedience, by constantly meditating on the holiness of God and His Word, by loving righteousness and hating sin, and by growing in communion with the Spirit of holiness, we will grow day by day in holiness and will prepare ourselves for an eternal companionship with a holy God. “Above all we must believe that God sees us perfect in His Son while He disciplines and chastens and purges us that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Tozer, p. 107). God is so holy, that He cannot help but love holiness in others. God’s heart is ravished when His children desire to be like their Father on this side of eternity.