The uniqueness of God's holiness

Recently I was listening to a sermon on the holiness of God by A.W. Tozer (SermonAudio.com). By the way, they have more than 700 sermons on this subject. A remark that he made stroke me. He said that he considered himself unworthy of even trying to speak on the this aweful subject. The reason is that we are fallen sinners and that our bodies, our minds, our speech and acts are now tainted by sin and that we cannot fully comprehend these things. If A.W. Tozer felt unworthy, I feel even more unworthy. No man, even the most holy of them, can really and fully describe the absolute and infinite holiness of the LORD.

But the LORD gave us the Scriptures and revealed many things to us about His holiness. I think that it is our duty to study these things and go the higher that we can.

One of the first things we must know about God's holiness is that it is ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE.

The holiness of God have two (2) aspects: His moral purity and His transcendence.


HIS MORAL PURITY

Moral purity implies absolute separation from that which is sinful. To be holy is to be righteous, moral and pure. There is NO ONE LIKE GOD IN HIS MORAL PURITY.

"There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God." 1 Samuel 2: 2

"To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." Isaiah 40: 25

"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." Revelation 15: 4

"Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?" Habakkuk 1: 13


The holiness of God is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement.


HIS ABSOLUTE TRANSCENDENCE

God is also separated from that which assumes a lower form of existence. He is absolutely different from the angelic and human form of existence.

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15

Vincent Cheung makes this interesting remark: "Some people wish to stress the possibility of having genuine fellowship with God, and therefore favour his immanence in a way that denies his transcendence. Detecting this distorsion, others who desire to maintain a high view of God overcompensate by denying his immanence. However, divine transcendence does not preclude divine immanence, and divine immanence does not diminish divine transcendence. These two qualities of God are true and consistent with other divine attributes. Our passage says that God is indeed "high and lofty", and no one is like Him, but by his own will, He is also close to those whom he has chosen, and who will humble themselves before Him.

A right understanding of divine holiness should cause us to worship and fear God:

"Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy." Psalm 99: 5

The holy God is inherently worthy of worship and extreme reverence; it is a serious sin to deny Him of proper worship."

Let us know the LORD better so that our worship will be acceptable to His sight and will exalt His holy person!

Marcel