

                               THE HOLINESS OF GOD


             Holiness    is an attribute of God which is so full that one
        wonders  where to start.   However, of all the attributes of God,
        this one is mentioned  or  referred to more than any other.  "God
        is oftener styled Holy than Almighty, and set  forth by this part
        of His dignity more than by any other.   This is more fixed on as
        an epithet  to  His name than any  other.   You never find it ex-
        pressed 'His mighty name' or 'His wise name,' but His great name,
        and  most of all, His holy name.   This is the  greatest title of
        honour;  in this latter doth the majesty and venerableness of his
        name appear"  (Stephen  Charnock,  taken from  _The Attributes of
        God_  by A. W. Pink).    To deny God of holiness is in essence to
        deny   God.   For if God be not holy, then, He would not be pure,
        and  He could not create nor make laws nor judge righteously.  In
        essence,  He would be unholy which is a contradiction to the very
        nature of God.
             I.   What is holiness?  Simply stated it means to be holy or
        pure; to be without sin or any defilement from the heart.  To say
        the word is almost enough to define it--it has a sound of purity.
        Also,  the  word  carries  the  meaning  of separation; to be set
        apart.  And truly God is set apart from all other beings in every
        way.
             Holiness   is one of those attributes of  God  which is com-
        municable.    By  this,  we  simply mean that God communicates or
        gives   it, in a limited way, to man.    Let us not think that we
        shall every be as holy as God.
             II.   Wherein does God's holiness lie?  God's holiness is in
        and   of Himself originally; man's holiness can only be in and of
        God.    There is no holinesss prior nor superior to God's.  He is
        the    source and fountain of all holiness.  Even the holy angels
        derive    their holiness from God and not from within themselves.
        For   God to swear by His holiness is for Him to swear by Himself
        (Heb. 6:13; Ps. 89:35; Amos 4:2; 6:8).
             In Psalms 27:4, David said, "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 inquire in His temple."  What is "the beauty of the
        Lord"   but the beauty of His holiness (II Chron. 20:21).  Not to
        see   the beauty of holiness is not to see the beauty of God.  In
        Exodus  15:11,  God  is declared "glorious in holiness."   Listen
        again  to Charnock:  "Power is God's hand or arm, omniscience His
        eye, mercy His bowels, eternity His duration, but holiness is His
        beauty."  Therefore, to see the beauty and glory of God is to see
        His holiness.
             While    the majority of Christendom stresses and emphasizes
        the love of God, the Scriptures magnify His holiness.  Therefore,
        we    can see the importance of knowing more about God's holiness
        because to do so is to see His beauty and glory.
             III.      How holy is God?  When we think of something being
        pure, without spot, having no sin nor any such thing, we think of
        it     as being holy.  In fact, we who are the people of God look
        forward to the day when we will be with God in glory and not have
        any  sin.  But when this comes to pass, we will not be as holy as
        God is (I Sam. 2:2).  Though the redeemed will be without sin and
        will   stand before God "holy and without blame" (Eph. 1:4), yet,
        their  holiness is  not derived  within themselves.   And if they
        were to become  inherently  holy  after  the work of God in their
        lives,   there would remain the time prior to this when they were
        not holy,  but were living in darkness (Eph. 5:8).   In God there
        is  "no darkness at all"  (I Jn. 1:5).    God is so pure that ab-
        solutely    considered, He cannot "look on iniquity" (Hab. 1:13).
        The  idea that God can look at sin and iniquity and pass it by is
        false.    God, who is omniscient, sees and knows all things, even
        sin and iniquity.    He is so pure  and  holy  that He will bring
        "every work into judgment" (Ecc. 12:14; 11:9; Pv. 24:9).  It is a
        greater  contrast to compare God's holiness to that of man's than
        to compare the sun to a cinder of coal.
             Those    holy angels who have never sinned and have retained
        their   purity from creation are holier than man.  However, God's
        Word says that even they are not pure in the presence of God (Job
        4:17-18).      Yes, even they have to cover their faces in heaven
        when  singing of the Lord's glorious holiness (Isa. 6:2-3).  This
        is not to say that the  angels  are  impure in any way,  but that
        their    holiness cannot be compared to God's.  And remember that
        God  derives His holiness from Himself, but the angels, like man,
        receive  their holinesss from God and not from within themselves.
        The only reason the angels remain sinless and unfallen is because
        of God upholding them.
             IV.   How is God's holiness manifested?  First, the holiness
        of God is seen in creation.  When God created the heavens and the
        earth  and  all  things therein,  He said that "it was very good"
        (Gen. 1:31).   When  one  drives  across  this earth and sees the
        towering  mountains, luscious valleys, the green trees, and beau-
        tiful   flowers, along with the various and sundry cattle, beast,
        and all creeping things, together with the stars, moons, suns and
        planets,  with the mighty oceans, he is made to say that God cre-
        ated  all things good.  The creation as we know it has been under
        the  influence of the curse of sin for about 6,000 years.  There-
        fore,  as we now view the creation it is vile, filthy, wicked and
        ugly compared to its original state.  With all this, we can still
        say    with the Psalmist, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
        and holy in all His works" (Ps. 145:17).
             Second,   the holiness of God is seen in His works of provi-
        dence.   God did not create and then withdraw Himself.  No, He is
        continuing  to  keep  the  earth on its axis,  the stars in their
        sockets,    the sun and moon in their paths, and supplies man and
        beast with daily bread (Heb. 1:1-3; Mt. 6:26-32; job 26:7; 38:39-
        41).  To see trials and wickedness on every hand, and, yet, know-
        ing   that all these things work to the good of the people of God
        and  His glory  (Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:11),  one is made to know that
        only a holy God can do such things.
             Third, the holiness of God is seen in His law.  This is that
        perfect  standard  which  reveals God's character.  Here we only
        need to look at Rom. 7:12 and Ps. 19:8-9.
             Fourth,  the  holiness  of  God  is  shown  in  its greatest
        strength  in His hatred for sin.  It was the holiness of God that
        drove  Adam and Eve out of the garden; cursed Cain; destroyed the
        world in  the  days of Noah;  took David's child  and let not the
        sword depart from his house; and, destroyed Israel and Judah with
        the    Assyrians and Babylonians.  But the highest display of the
        holiness of God was when Jesus Christ died on the cross.  Stephen
        Charnock  said, "Not all the vials of judgment that have or shall
        be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of a
        sinner's     conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced
        against the rebellious demons, nor the groans of the damned crea-
        tures,   give such a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, as the
        wrath   of God let loose upon His Son.  Never did Divine holiness
        appear   more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Saviour's
        countenance     was most marred in the midst of His dying groans.
        This  Himself  acknowledges in Psa. 22.   When God had turned His
        smiling face from Him, and thrust His sharp knife into His heart,
        which  forced that terrible cry from Him,  'My God,  My God,  why
        hast  Thou  forsaken  Me?'   He adores this perfection--'Thou art
        holy,' v. 3."
             May  we like  the  angels in heaven "rest not day and night,
        saying,   Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is,
        and is to come" (Rev. 4:8).

                                                             Jimmy Barber
                                                        February 26, 1991
                                    Copyright, 1991, Veritas Publications
                                                     829 Angelina Place
                                                     Memphis, TN 38122-5417


