Summary
The Holiness of God
Think of the sun on a brilliant afternoon or at a fiery sunset. You are drawn to its beauty, yet you cannot look directly at it; its brightness overwhelms you. The holiness of God is something like this — attractive and good, something we want to praise and proclaim, yet at the same time so far beyond us that we cannot stand unprotected in its presence. God is eternally, unchangeably, unaffectedly holy.
To be holy, in the biblical sense, is to be in absolute and direct opposition to all sin. God's holiness is not merely one attribute alongside others; it is the very purity of His being. That is why the unclean and the impure cannot remain in His presence. Two of the hardest passages in Scripture make this plain. In Leviticus 10, Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu offer "unholy fire" before the Lord and are consumed. In 2 Samuel 6, as the ark is being brought to Jerusalem with song and dance, Uzzah reaches out to steady it when the oxen stumble — and dies on the spot. They appear to be doing good things. Yet, as Moses tells Aaron, "Through those who are near me I will show myself holy." Aaron was silent. There is no answer to give. See “Holy” 7-24-22 for the working out of these texts.
Because God's holiness consumes whatever is unclean, He gave Israel a sacrificial system so that He could dwell among them without destroying them. The whole system rested on lifeblood: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls" Leviticus 17:11. The sacrifices were a God-given way to cleanse a people so that the unadulterated holiness of the Lord could go in and out among them.
But the sacrifices could never finally settle the problem, because the problem is us. "None is righteous, no, not one" Romans 3:10. In John's vision, a mighty angel asks who is worthy to open the sealed scroll, and no one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth is found worthy. John weeps bitterly — until the elder says, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah… has conquered." And John sees "a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain" Revelation 5. There is One who is worthy. There is one Sacrifice acceptable to the holiness of God.
That Lamb is Jesus Christ. "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life" Romans 5:1, 10. Nothing we do, say, think, or bring is enough to open heaven. What the Lord receives is what David confessed in Psalm 51: "A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." The lifeblood has been given — the lifeblood of God's own Son — once for the sins of the whole world.
The sun is still hot; the sun is still blinding. God will never not be holy, never approachable on the basis of our works or our willpower. But through Jesus the door is opened. He washes us clean, sanctifies us by His Spirit, calls us to the table broken and contrite, and then sends us out by that same Spirit to live a holy life. The very holiness of God — the holiness that consumes the unclean — has been given to you in your Baptism, so that you who once could not draw near now stand invited eternally into the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Video citations
- "Holy" 7-24-22 — If you would please open your Bibles to Leviticus, the 11th chapter. The 10th chapter, I'm getting my chapters mixed up here. The 10th chapter, if you're using a pure addition of the Bible, you can…