God Who is Holy

GOD WHO IS HOLY

Rev.4: 8 - And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Holiness. Words can adorn the edges, but to journey into Christ and His holiness we must walk out of this world and into the next. Go ahead and read the doctrinal scripts incased in volumes of theology and you may find information, but to find the knowledge of the Holy One you will have to go deeper. Much deeper. Man can do some things, and he can wield some power. He can know things and he can invent things. He can be present in time and space, and we can speak some things that are true. But there is nothing, yes nothing, holy about us. And therefore holiness is foreign to our minds and hearts.

We have lassoed holiness and hog tied it to a comfortable doctrinal fence. It is what we do not do that makes us holy? And just what nonsense is that which the church has prorogated to the masses? So holiness is about us and what we do or do not do? Again, it is nothing more than humanism all dressed up as Christianity. The holiness of God is an eternal cavern which can never be reached by human deeds and knowledge. The sacred hallways which mark its dwelling place have been built with stones hewed entirely out of the essence and character of the Creator Himself. Only by faith, the faith granted by the Holy One, can a human being be allowed to see God’s holiness, and that is all by faith as well.

The High Priest of Israel wore a head piece with the words “HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD”. And once a year that same High Priest could venture into the Holiest of All with blood in his hands. But in today’s evangelical practices we have lost any sense of the holiness of God. God is little more than a “life coach” and He is more a buddy than a Lord. The evangelical community has dismantled the vision of God and reconstructed a caricature who is more American than heavenly. And who really seeks an understanding of His holiness and how that translates through a redeemed sinner’s life and heart and mouth?

Go ahead, sit back and relax and enjoy the entertainment laden western church. Seek your own wants and needs and ignore what pleases Him. But in order for us to understand and know the Holy One we cannot replace spiritual labor with religious activity. Holiness, perfect within the Almighty, should be a wonder to anyone who follows Jesus. Its power is inexhaustible. Its beauty is unimaginable. Its essence is unfathomable. And if you think of God without holiness you are only thinking of your own worthless imagination. Just a moment in the tangible presence of true holiness would kill any creative being.

But we have stripped God of the power of His holiness except for a few doctrinal scraps.

We have absolutely no holiness of our own. Only God can gift us with His holiness, and that only by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. And when we, self centered sinners, are robed in His holiness we have become the highest form of created being. We have become a child of the Most High God. Selah.

Holiness, God’s holiness, should elicit many things from anyone who catches even a small vision of such. Worship. Fear. Awe. Wonder. Humility. And an amalgam of all these and more. To understand a fraction of the enormity of God’s holiness should make us tremble and quake. Without holiness no flesh shall see God. So this issue of holiness seems like it would be important since without it no one can see God. And all holiness emanates from God, who did not invent holiness, but who has always been holy.

Take a deep breath and gaze searchingly into that which you cannot see. Open the eyes of your spirit and squint with passion as you labor to behold Him from whose face the nations fled. He was once a man who allowed human hands to punch Him; He allowed human lips to spit upon Him; He allowed men to disrobe Him; He allowed earthly kings to sentence Him to death. But He will never allow that again, and resplendent in His colossal and perfect holiness He rules and reigns in the heaven lies. And one day, perhaps soon, the power of His holiness will come and be on display for all to see. He still bears some human forms, but the glory of His resurrection by the power of His holiness will bring every created being to their knees. And bowing before Him, since they can do no other, the entire universe will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

And all those who have been covered by His blood will be granted eyes to see Him as He is and fall before Him. But for those who stand in the ocean of their own sins, to them it is decreed that they will be cast away into an eternal place of justice and punishment. Does that sound much too archaic and Neanderthal? Are you bothered because people still believe in such things? How can people in this intelligent and enlightened era actually embrace such Dante nonsense?

It is because we have seen His holiness and we are undone.