How holy is God?

Before we can understand what it means to be holy, we must understand what it means to say that God is holy. In many way God's holiness is His central attribute. Holiness is what makes God God. It is the foundational truth of revelation. How important is it? It is the only attribute of God mentioned in triplicate. Two times the Bible tells us that God is "holy, holy, holy" (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). Think about that for a moment. If God says something about His character once, that settles it. When He says it twice, that emphasizes it. But when He says it three times, that means it's of supreme importance. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love; or mercy, mercy, mercy; or just, just, just. But it does says He is "holy, holy, holy."

Holiness is the most difficult of God's attributes to define, because it deals with the essence of His character. Defining holiness is like trying to define God. It can't be done completely. The word itself means "to be set apart." A thing is holy if it is set aside for special use. We could use other words like different or distinctive to get at some understanding of the word. When applied to God, holiness is that characteristic that separates Him from creation. There are many verses that speak of God as separate from creation, and that He is forever reigning over it.

We can go a step further and say that anything that is holy is set apart for God. That's why we call the Bible holy; it is the Word of God. We call Israel's home, the holy land, because it is the land He chose for His people. The Sabbath is holy for it is set aside for Him. We even refer to the angels as Holy Angels because they belong to Him.

There is a second meaning for the word holy, that is "to be utterly pure, separated from sin." The Bibles tells us that God cannot sin, and that He cannot tempt others to sin. In fact, God is so pure that He cannot tolerate sin in His presence. That leads to an important implication; holiness and sin cannot co-exist. If you want to be holy as God is holy, then you must adopt His attitude toward sin. You must abhor it as He does. If you coddle sin, excuse it, or dabble in it, then you can't be holy as God is holy. Further, this teaches that sin cannot enter into His presence. That means no sinner will dwell in heaven with Him.

In Hebrews 12:29 we read, "Our God is a consuming fire." What is a consuming fire? It is not hell as much as it is the presence of God. God rained a shower of burning flame in judgment on Sodom. God showed Himself as fire when He spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. He led the children of Israel during the exodus with a pillar of fire. God was there dwelling in awesome fire. In Psalm 24 the Psalmist asked, "Who can abide devouring fire?" Who among us can stand before the face of a holy God and not be obliterated by His flaming presence? The answer is, those whose sin was judged by God's devouring fire in Christ, on the cross. Everyone else will be destroyed by His burning wrath. GOD IS HOLY!