The Holiness of God

“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”

-Isaiah 6:3

“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.”

-Revelation 4:8

The Word of God declares that God is holy, but what does that mean? ἅγιος (hagios), the word in Greek, means ‘physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated’. This gives the idea of being set apart or being seperate. God is perfect and worthy of all honour and praise because of this fact.

God is seperate from his creation. He is distinct, unique and unlike any other.

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me”

-Isaiah 46:9

Morally, he is seperate from sin. God hates sin and cannot but hate sin.

“…thou hatest all workers of iniquity.”

-Psalm 5:5

God is seperated unto righteousness and God cannot but love righteousness.

“Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

-Hebrews 1:9

So what does this mean for us? We are called to imitate God as we have been created in God’s image.We are called to love what God loves, and hate what God hates.

“Be ye therefore followers [imitators] of God…”

-Ephesians 5:1

Obviously we cannot imitate God in all his attributes, as we cannot be omnipresent, however holiness is a communicable attribute of God. Adam and Eve were created in God’s image and perfectly holy before Adam’s sin.

“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”

-Ecclesiastes 7:29

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

-1 Peter 1:19

We are all called to walk in holiness. Only the Christian, who is truly born again of the Spirit of God, will desire this. Do you desire to live a holy life unto the Lord? Do you truly belong to Christ? Have you been born again? Have you denied yourself and followed Christ? Do you deny yourself daily and follow Christ?