Part 7 | The Only True God – God is Holy (Part 2)

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By Vic Gill

Friday 26^th February 2010

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying:

‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’” So Aaron held his peace. (Leviticus 10:1-3)

What then is Holiness?

The whole chapter hinges on the statement that God made “I must be regarded as holy.” The logical question to ask then is what is meant by the term ‘holy?’ Just the other evening I sat at my desk contemplating the word ‘holy.’ I pondered what the world thought about the holiness of God. So I decided to phone some friends and ask them what they thought about the statement that ‘God is holy.’ There was an awkward silence and speechlessness. They didn’t have the words let alone the thoughts to answer the question. A few words eventually gathered together, such as: proportionate; extra-terrestrial; serenity; tranquillity; image; transparent; love; pure; sinless; beyond; light blue background; bright and sky.’ It helped confirm my conviction that because of sin the heart of man has grown dull, the ears are hard of hearing and the eyes have closed towards who God truly is and what He truly is like. (Matthew 13:15). The notions most people have of God being holy is of moral purity, goodness or righteousness. Whilst these definitions certainly are true, they represent only a secondary way in which God is said to be holy. The primary and definitive thrust of the meaning that God is holy is somewhat different.

Separate and Transcendent

The Hebrew adjective “holy” (qadosh) is derived from the root word qud, which means to cut, separate, place apart, withdraw from common use. It’s almost like cutting a carrot into pieces and separating the pieces into a small pile. Whilst this illustration is helpful, it is limited. The pieces of carrot which have now been cut are now indeed separate, but the all the pieces are still subject to rotting, being cut again and turned into carrot cake. It is also on the same, horizontal cutting board as the other pieced. However, if that cut and separate piece of carrot was picked up, placed in a freezer back and frozen it would be on a different level. In other words, if it was above and beyond the normal conditions of the other pieces of carrots, it would be a cut above the rest. When we find a garment or another piece of merchandise that is outstanding, that has a superior excellence, we use the expression that it is ‘a cut above the rest.

When applied to God this means that whilst all of creation comes from Him, He is still separate and unique from it. Creation was made by God but He is separate from it. But not only is He separate from it, He is also above and beyond (transcendent) the corruption of His creation.

• He is separate from all of creation.
• He is above all of creation.
• He is separate from all of creations corruption.
• He is above all of creations corruption.

Not only is He above and beyond creation, He is above and beyond its corruption. The English idiom ‘a cut above the rest’ offers another way to understand that God is holy. God’s holiness means He is separate, above and beyond anything which exists. He is distinct from anything and everything and nothing can be compared to God. He has no rivals or competition.

No one is holy like the LORD, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God. (1 Samuel 2:2)

Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness (Exodus 15:11)

What resembles God more, a glorious angel in heaven or a microscopic germ? The truth is that neither bears any resemblance to God. It is to this extreme degree that God is holy and distinct from any other created being. His holiness makes Him incomparable. There is not a thing in this universe that can be pointed at and used as an adequate example to illustrate what God is like.

The well known Christian Pastor, A.W. Tozer wrote:

You might find this hard to believe, but God is just as far above an archangel as He is a caterpillar. You know what a caterpillar is – it’s a little worm the size of your finger, with a fur coat….An archangel, on the other hand, is that holy creature that we see beside the sea of God, in the presence of God’s throne….no one knows how vast it might be. And yet God is just as far above that archangel as He is above the caterpillar. (The Attributes of God)

Missionary Paul Washer writes with the same degree of conviction:

The most splendid angel that stands in the presence of God is no more truly like God than the smallest worm that crawls upon the earth. God is incomparable! (The One True God)

When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that Pharaoh let God’s people free from bondage and slavery, Moses asked a sincere question.

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:13-14)

God could only point to Himself and say “I AM who I AM” (ehyeh asher ehyeh). There was no one sufficient to be compared with and God could only look to Himself and compare Himself with Himself. A human can point to another human and say, I am like him. He could point to the physical attributes of the body and compare the likeness of the body. Or he could point to the invisible attributes such as the desire for love, friendship, warmth and say ‘my desires are like his desire.’ Even when God promises, He promises by Himself because He can promise by none greater. He swears by His own name (Amos 4:2). God could not do this with anything or anyone, not even the mightiest and most glorious of angels. However this all changed 2,000 years ago when a lowly Jewish carpenter by the name of Jesus Christ came into the world. God was now able to answer Moses’ question and say “I AM like Him!” And Jesus was able to say in return “I AM” ‘ego eimi’ (John 8:58). All of Jesus’ “I AM” statements represent His holiness and proclaim that He is the only person worthy to be equal with God.

God Hates Because He is Holy

God’s holiness means He cannot look upon corruption and sin. Because He is separate, a cut above the rest and transcends creation and its corruption, He cannot look on wickedness. He hates sin. He detests and loathes sin, evil, wickedness with an intense, white hot fury that burns against anything which is against His character. Sin is the exact opposite of His character.

You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. (Habakkuk 1:13)

God hates? If this causes you to be uncomfortable, then you have been worshipping someone or something other than the God of the Bible. Let me explain further. Does God love babies? Then He must hate abortion. Does God love the Jews? Then He must hate the holocaust. Does God love life? Then He must hate unnecessary murder, bloodshed and genocide. Does God love humility? Then He must hate pride. Does God love liberty and freedom? Then He must hate slave trade, trafficking and concentration camps.

These Scriptures clearly teach that God hates:

These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready. (Psalm 7:11-12)

The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. (Psalm 11:5)

And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. (Leviticus 20:23)

All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious. (Hosea 9:15)

But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.  (Rev 2:6)

He does not only punish sin. He punishes the sinner. Sin itself is not an object which can be singled out, tied up and thrown into a fire. It doesn’t have arms and legs which run around doing wicked things like raping, murdering, lying and stealing. It cannot be put into a box and told it is evil. Sin occurs inside the heart and mind of people. When a criminal stands before a judge, the judge does not isolate the crime and divorce it from the criminal. It is the criminal who must bear the full weight of the law. Likewise, God must punish the sinner. Christian preachers and theologians throughout history have written extensively on this.

AUGUSTINE (354-430, Bishop of Hippo): “For it may be that GOD HATES A PERSON to the degree more mildly, as not to destroy him, but whom He destroys HE HATES THE MORE EXCEEDINGLY, by how much He punisheth more severely. Now HE HATETH ALL WHO WORK INIQUITY: but all who speak lies He also destroys.” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol.3, p.462)

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791, founder of Methodism): “But as for the wicked, GOD HATES THEM, and will feverishly punish them.” (Explanatory Notes Upon the Old Testament, Vol.2, p.1639)

JONATHAN EDWARDS: “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much in the same way one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, ABHORS YOU, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath towards you burns like fire: He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire: He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight: you are ten thousand times more ABOMINABLE in His sight than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.” (Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God, July 8, 1741)

CHARLES G. FINNEY: “The very thing that God hates and disapproves is not the mere event – the thing done in distinction from the doer; but it is the doer himself. It grieves and displeases God that a rational moral agent under His government should array himself against his own God and Father, against all that is right and just in the universe. This is the thing that offends God. The sinner himself is the direct and only object of His anger.” (The Guilt of Sin, pp.84-85)

CHARLES H. SPURGEON: “Verse 5 – Note the singular opposition of the two sentences. GOD HATES THE WICKED, therefore in contrast He loves the righteous…” (The Treasury of David, Vol.2, pp.57-58)

J. VERNON MCGEE: “If you think God is just lovey-dovey, you had better read this (Ps.11:5) and some of the other Psalms again. GOD HATES THE WICKED who hold onto their wickedness… I do not think God loves the devil, I think He hates him, and HE HATES THOSE WHO HAVE NO INTENTION OF TURNING TO GOD. Frankly, I do not like this distinction that I hear today, that ‘God loves the sinner, but hates the sin.’ God has loved you so much that He gave His Son to die for you, but if you persist in your sin, and continue in that sin, you are the enemy of God. And God is your enemy.” (Psalms, Vol.1, p.72)

LAYMAN’S BIBLE COMMENTARY: “God’s Hatred of Evildoers (Psalm 5:4-5)… God is not said to love the sinner and hate his sin; He is said to HATE BOTH THE SINNER AND HIS SIN. This sounds harsh to modern Christian ears, but there is truth here we dare not overlook.”

MATTHEW HENRY’S COMMENTARY: “He is a holy God, and therefore HATES THEM (the sinner), and cannot endure to look upon them; the wicked, and him that loveth violence, HIS SOUL HATETH… Their pros-perity is far from being an evidence of God’s love…their abuse of it does certainly make them objects of HIS HATRED. He hates nothing that He has made, yet HATES THOSE who have ill-made themselves.”

At the same time and of equal importance is the fact that God loved us too whilst we were still sinners and enemies of God.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses (Ephesians 2:1:5)

It may seem contradictory and paradoxical, that God is able to hate and love at the same time, but this is what makes Him God. He does everything in perfect wisdom without making an iota of a mistake. I agree with John Calvin’s statement regarding this:

He loved us therefore, even when we were in the exercise of enmity against Him, and engaged in the practice of iniquity. Wherefore, in a wonderful and divine manner, He both hated and loved us at the same time. (Institutes of the Christian Religion)

In humbly attempting to paraphrase this, I would say that only God is divinely able to love and hate at the same time. His hatred arises because He is holy, just and righteous and He will not stop hating. But His love flows because He is love and full of grace towards His creatures. You see, we raised our fist at God, began the enmity, rejected Him and broke His Law, then He makes a way for us to be reconciled back to Him.

God is Holy, Holy, Holy

In modern English when we want to stress a point, we would use bold, italic or underlined characters. Similarly, the Hebrew would use repetition in order to stress an important point of great significance. For example in Galatians 1:8-9 Paul more or less repeats the same sentence twice in regards to the preaching of the true Gospel. Jesus Himself would often say ‘amen, amen’ when beginning a statement (John 8:58). So when we see the use of repetition in Scripture, the speaker is saying in effect, “Now hear this. This is of sobering importance!”

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

Why do the angels cry out to one another three times that the One who is seated on the throne is holy, holy, holy? The truth is that the angels are not content with God being observed as holy? And neither are they content with the repetition of ‘holy, Holy.’ The One whom they worship and cannot look upon must be called ‘Holy! Holy! Holy!’ They take it to the third degree—the untouchable, matchless and superlative (most excellent) degree. No other attribute of God is praised like this. Not love or mercy or justice or sovereignty. We do not read in Scripture anywhere that God is ‘love, love, love.’ Neither do we read in scriptures that God is eternal, eternal, eternal.

The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory. (R.C. Sproul)

A Contagious Holiness

Not only is God holy, holy, holy, but everything which comes into direct contact with Him becomes set apart.

• If God speaks through a burning bush the ground of that place becomes “holy ground” (Ex. 3:5).
• Articles used in the worship of the true God are “holy things” (Num. 4:19).
• The weekly Sabbath of the covenant is His holy day (Ex. 20: 11).
• His designated place of worship is a “holy temple” Ps. 5:7).
• The high priest’s golden crown is engraved with the words, “holiness to Jehovah,” and the crown itself is said to be a “holy crown” (Ex. 29:6).
• The Ark of the Covenant is “the holy ark” (2 Chron. 35:3).
• Due to the sanctifying presence Zion becomes His “holy hill” Ps. 2:6) and Jerusalem His “holy mountain Jerusalem” (Isa. 66:20).
• The whole of the tabernacle is “holy” and the inner sanctuary is the “Holy of Holies.” (Ex 26:33)
• Even heaven above is His “holy habitation” (Deut. 26:15; Ps. 47:8).

The Holiness of God Displayed on the Cross

What is even more fascinating is the Gospel truth that God takes dirty, sinful and unclean vessels like you and me, washes us with His own blood, fills us with His Spirit and invites us to be partakers of His holiness. (Hebrews 12:10). If God is living in you, He will make you holy. You can be sure of this. If He is your Father and you are His son or daughter, holiness will mark you out. But if God is holy and cannot look upon sin, how then does He accept sinners like you and me.

The answer lies in the cross of Jesus Christ. The holy hatred of God towards sin was displayed on the cross of Jesus Christ. Like Nadab and Abihu, not only have we sinned against God, but have knowingly sinned against Him. We have done this time and time again and deserve to be consumed like Aaron’s two sons. However, 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ stepped in our place and bore the fierce, white hot, furious anger of God towards sin and sinners and bore our punishment upon Himself.

God crushed Jesus Christ on that cross. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This does not mean that He sinned, no not at all. This means that the perfect, sinless man, Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself in order that we could be made right before an intense and holy God. Every sin we have ever committed and will ever commit in the future was charged to Jesus Christ and God’s justice and holy hatred fell on His Son, in order to justify, forgive and redeem mankind. He was consumed upon that cross for us. He was crucified and crushed because of the depths of His great love.

This is the same God you will meet on judgement day. Are you saved today? Are you justified before a holy God? If you are not, you shall meet Him on that great day and His holy hatred will fall upon you with great severity.

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)

This is what you must do to be saved. Imagine you were in a plane and the pilot announced the plane was about to crash. Underneath your seat however there was a parachute and the door was to be opened just before the plane crashed. What would you do with that parachute? Well of course any reasonable person would put it on. It’s your only hope of survival. Likewise, the Bible teaches “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). Jesus simply said this “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Come to Jesus beloved. He demonstrates His own love towards you in the greatest love story ever told. He loves you passionately and invites you today.

Holiness in the Believer

In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives a little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it. Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.

The greatest miracle that God can do today is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world and make him holy, then put him back into that unholy world and keep him holy in it. (Leonard Ravenhill)

Those who have understood something about the holiness of God will want to remain pure at all costs. When a child comes in from the playing outside covered in dirt and mud, the mother does not give the child an option of to wash. She will see to it that the child is washed and cleaned of any dirt and mud before they go to bed. In the same way, God will see to it that holiness is perfected in the life of believer before they come into His presence. It is the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification in the life of every person who comes to Christ for cleansing.

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)

Tags: A.W. Tozer, C.H Spurgeon, Ermine, God is Holy, Holy, I AM, John Calvin, John Wesley, Leonard Ravenhill, R.C. Sproul, Spurgeon, The Holiness of God

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