God is Holy

In my articles I have been looking at the attributes of God. These are the characteristics of Who God is and how the Lord relates to us. The holiness of God is mentioned abundantly throughout the entire Bible. At the same time, the attribute of God’s holiness is difficult for us to wrap our minds around.

The challenge to grasp God’s holiness is actually because this attribute shows us the extent that God is beyond you and me. That God is holy means He is perfect and pure but more than this God is completely separate and “other” than humanity. In other words…we are not God.

To try and recognize God’s holiness, we have to understand the separateness of God. God is above and beyond humanity. Because God is holy and separate, God is not tainted or tarnished by the evil of the world.

Every person would recognize that there is a problem with our world…the existence of pain, suffering and evil. It is a relief to know that God is not identified or corrupted by what takes place within our world. God is separate and other than us. God is holy.

Worship is what we offer back to God in response to Who He is. This is the overflowing praise written in the Bible, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.” Revelation 4:8 (NLT)

Why we marvel at God’s holiness is because of His personal love for each of us. Why would the Almighty God, Who is holy and separate from us, have any concern for humanity? It is because of God’s mercy and loving compassion for each of us. This is the beauty of God’s love for us…that a holy and transcendent God would meet us in the ugliness of our unholy condition.

This is the scandalous love of Jesus Christ for us. Every person has within their hearts the tendency to disobey God, the Bible calls this sin. Because God is holy He can never tolerate sin. The consequence is separation from God and a broken relationship with God.

The beauty of the cross of Jesus is that we can be forgiven and have peace restored with a Holy God. Out of His amazing love, our Holy God sent His one and only Son, Jesus to enter into our sinful world to rescue us. Only Jesus, holy and perfect, could satisfy the punishment for our unholy disobedience. This is God’s merciful plan to restore our love relationship with Himself.