The holiness of God the Father is manifested (part 4)

John Gill has shown us many facets of the manifestation of God the Father's holiness. Let us discover more facets by quoting another good theologian, Claude Duval Cole:

" There is a display of Divine holiness in redemption. His holy nature will not allow Him to look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Salvation is not at the expense of His holiness. The Redeemer must bear the wrath due the sinner, for wrath is the exercise of His holiness. God's hatred of sin was as much manifested in redemption as it will be in judgment. The only difference is that in redemption the guilt of the sinner is transferred to the Savior. The wrath that fell upon the Savior on Calvary had its source in the holiness of God.

God's holiness appears in human conversion. "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24).

Holiness will be displayed in the glorification of the believer. When our salvation is consummated we will be restored to the holiness of God. We will not have His power, nor His wisdom, but we will have His holiness. The Psalmist said, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15). This likeness will be both moral and physical, and the moral likeness to God will be holiness. The believer, while here on earth, struggling against sin, rejoices in hope of the glory of God. "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2). Sin is an awful burden to the believer; salvation is the restoration to his original holiness in creation.

The holiness of God will appear in all its purity in the day of judgment. Because God is holy, His wrath will he hot. His holy face will be too much for sinners to look upon. "And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. 6:16).

Claude Duval Cole "The doctrine of God", chap. 23, "the holiness of God".

The beauty of birds

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they"

Matthew 6: 26

The holiness of God the Father is manifested! (part 3)

Let us continue to read what the great theologian John Gill has to say about God the Father's holiness:

The holiness of God the Father is manifested in his acts of grace

"The holiness of Jehovah the Father is to be observed in those acts of grace which are peculiar to him; as in choosing some in Christ his Son to everlasting life, before the world began. Now though not the holiness of the creature, nor even the foresight of it, is the cause of this act; yet holiness, or the sanctification of the Spirit, is fixed as a means in it; and it is the will of God, that those whom he chooses and appoints to salvation should partake of it, or come to salvation through it; nay, he has not only chosen them "through" it, as a means, but he has chosen them to it, as a subordinate end; he has chosen them to be holy in part, in this life, and perfectly in the life to come; and holiness of heart and life, is the evidence of interest in it, and nothing more powerfully excites and engages to it. The covenant which he has made with his Son Jesus Christ, on the behalf of the chosen ones, provides abundantly for their holiness, both internal and external; see (Ezek. 36:25-27) and the promises of it serve greatly to promote it, and to influence the saints to be "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1). And in this covenant is laid up a rod of correction, in love, to chastize with it the sins of God's people (Ps. 89:29-34). Justification is an act of God's grace towards them; it is God, even God the Father, that justifies, through the imputation of his Son's righteousness to them; by which the holy law of God is so far from being made void, that it is established, magnified, and made honourable: nor are justified persons exempted from obedience to it, but are more strongly bound and constrained to serve it; and though God justifies the ungodly, yet not without a righteousness provided for them, and imputed to them: nor does he justify, vindicate, or approve of their ungodliness, nor connive at it; but turns it from them, and them from that: and faith, which receives the blessing of justification from the Lord, by which men perceive their interest in it, and enjoy the comfort of it, is an operative grace, works by love to God, to Christ, and his people; and is attended with good works, the fruits of righteousness: the like may be observed with respect to other acts of the Father's grace; as adoption, pardon, &c."

John Gill, "A body of doctrinal divinity", book 1, chapter 20, "Of the holiness of God".

The beauty of the flower

"The grass withered, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever"

Isaiah 40:8

The holiness of God the Father is manifested (part 2)

The holiness of God the Father is manifested in his works of providence

Let John Gill continue to show us how God the Father's holiness is manifested:

"The holiness of God appears in his works of providence; which, though many of them are dark and intricate, not easily penetrated into, and to be accounted for; yet there is nothing criminal and sinful in them: the principal thing objected to the holiness of God in his providences, is his suffering sin to be in the world; but then, though it is by his voluntary permission, or permissive will, yet he is neither the author nor abettor of it; he neither commands it, nor approves of it, nor persuades to it, nor tempts nor forces to it; but all the verse, forbids it, disapproves of it, dissuades from it, threatens to punish for it, yea, even chastises his own people for it; and, besides, overrules it for great good, and for his own glory; as the fall of Adam, the sin of Joseph's brethren, the Jews crucifixion of Christ; which have been instanced in, and observed under a former attribute: wherefore the dispensations of God, in his providence, are not to be charged with unholiness on this account."

John Gill "A body of divinity-book 1, chapter 20 "On the holiness of God"

The beauty of the sea

So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. Psalms 104: 25

The holiness of God the Father is manifested! (part 1)

So far, we have looked at some characteristics of God's holiness. We will now begin to examine how this holiness is displayed. Here is what the great baptist pastor and theologian John Gill has to say about this:

The holiness of the Father is displayed int the works of creation


"In the works of creation; for as he made all things by his Son, not as an instrument, but as co-efficient with him, so when he overlooked them, he pronounced them very good; which he would not have done, had there been anything impure or unholy in them. Angels, not only those that stood, but those that fell, were originally holy, as made by him: the elect angels continue in the holiness in which they were created; and the angels that sinned are not in the estate in which they were at their creation; they kept not their first estate, which was an estate of purity and holiness; and abode not in the truth, in the uprightness and integrity in which they were formed (Jude 1:6; John 8:44). And as for man, he was made after the image, and in the likeness of God, which greatly consisted in holiness; a pure, holy, and upright creature he was; and had a law given him, holy, just, and good, as the rule of his obedience, and which was inscribed on his heart; some remains of which are to be found in his fallen posterity, and even in the Gentiles." From "A body of doctrinal divinity", book 1, chapter 20 "On the holiness of God".

Find also a contribution of the pastor and theologian Claude Duval Cole, in his book
"Definitions of doctrine", book 1, chapter 23:

"The Holiness of God appears in creation. There was not a flaw in creation when it came from His hand. Everything was beautiful and glorious. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Gen. 1:31). And again, "The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works" (Ps. 145:17). So far as is known there are only two kinds of moral beings: angels and man, and these were created morally holy. But sin has marked and defaced God's handiwork, so that nothing is like it was when created except, perchance, the holy angels. Man is ruined and fallen, by nature a child of wrath. And the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, waiting to be delivered from the curse of sin. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:22). "

In the next post, we will see how the holiness of God the Father is displayed in his works of providence.