The Holiness of God

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

If you’ve been around religious people or have been in religion/spirituality for very long, the term “holy” is such an easy word to just blow past in the Bible. You hear it thrown around so much. Typically, it’s used to say how something is perfect or pure. What comes to your mind when you think ‘holiness?’ Do you get a picture in your head of a sparkly bright light or heavenly throne room? That’s the way it’s commonly used, but this is not exactly what Scripture means when it’s used.

Separate

In this passage in Isaiah 6:3 ESV, angels are calling out to each other “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory!” We actually see something similar in Revelation 4:8 ESV:

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

In that passage, there are angels that call out day and night “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY…!” That’s amazing to think about! Angels are continuously calling out and singing about the holiness of God. Are you starting to see that we may be missing something in our understanding of ‘holiness?’

The Hebrew word for ‘holy’ is ‘qadosh.’ The word literally translates over to English as “separate” or “set apart.” That should start to help us understand what the angels are saying about God: they’re praising His “set apart-ness” from anyone and anything in the universe. There’s nothing that can touch God in character or perfection. His attributes are what set Him apart from anything else. God is: all-powerful (omnipotent), everywhere (omnipresent), all-knowing (omniscient), high above anything else (transcendent), yet also intimately involved with creation (immanent), self-sustaining (use of name Yahweh), righteous, loving, and wrathful against evil. I really encourage you, if you’ve not studied into the attributes of God (or begin to study “theology proper”, aka the study of God Himself), please do so. You will begin to see how holy (set apart) the God of Scripture truly is from anything else in the universe (at least to the degree our finite minds can comprehend!).

Holy

Now I want you to be honest with yourself here. To what/who do you give the highest priority or weight in your life? What influences you the most in your life? Who do you look up to? Who’s opinion of you drives you to be who you are and to make the decisions you make? Is it a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, celebrity or self-help guru, philosophy or religion? What you assign the priority and weight to in your life is what influences you the most. Study the attributes of God and compare them: should we be giving that place of submission in our lives to anything but the “set apart” God of the universe? He deserves all of our love and affection. We have to begin to understand His “set apart-ness” (holiness) and when we do that, then we can begin to understand why He is truly worthy of our total affection and love. Being thankful that He rescues an absolutely undeserving people for Himself is the starting place. But then when we grow our relationship and understanding, we can begin to understand who He is by His attributes, stiring up truly deserved praise to Him. May we begin to sing:

“HE IS SET APART! HE IS SET APART! HE IS SET APART! The whole earth is full of His glory!”

-Austin