In Christian theology, the word holy has two meanings. The holiness of God refers to the unparalleled majesty of His incomparable being and His blameless, faultless, unblemished moral purity (Isaiah 6:1–5; Revelation 4:1–8). Holy also refers to something or someone that has been separated from the common or set aside for God’s use. As an example, Belshazzar profaned the holy temple vessels—those set aside for use by God’s priests—by drinking toasts to his idols (Daniel 5:2–4). Belshazzar’s abuse of these holy artifacts made him guilty of sacrilege.
Unlike His created beings, God is eternal, preeminent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He was, is, and will be before all things. He is ageless, tireless, and faultless. He is beyond full human comprehension. Indeed, our language lacks the superlatives necessary to justly describe Him. Drawn to Him for His unequaled goodness and majesty, the psalmist wrote, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1, ESV). Nothing or no one satisfies like God, for He is altogether lovely to behold. Earthly treasures will pass away, but the Lord is our great reward and inheritance (Joshua 13:33).
And yet the holiness of God presents something of a dilemma in the hearts and minds of mortal man. We are drawn to Him, for it is He who has made us (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 100:3), but as inherently flawed creatures, we also cower in the all-revealing light of His majestic glory. Just as the Israelites trembled in fear when God appeared to Moses on the mountain in Sinai, we prefer keeping God safely at arm’s length (Exodus 20:18–21).
The holiness of God should stir our hearts to continual praise and adoration. We delight in Him, for in Him is our ultimate purpose and reason for being (Jeremiah 29:11). No one living apart from God is truly whole. To those who believe, He gives Himself. God is more than a means of achieving a transitory desire or worldly goal, for He is our greatest good. God is an end in Himself.
Though God is worthy of our highest respect and reverential fear, He is neither distant nor aloof (James 2:23). He desires intimacy with us. Despite the sins we have committed, the frequent folly of our thinking, the bouts of pride that stain our character, and the shameful lapses in our faith, God welcomes us with open arms through the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:8–9). It is remarkable that we may approach God as a friend, but we are never to consider Him as our equal.
We will not achieve holiness or sinless perfection on this side of eternity, but our lives should reflect the immaculate purity of God. The Lord Jesus called us to be “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). Salt is a preservative, and in these days of moral degradation, may we not be conformed to the behavior and thinking of this decaying planet; rather, may we be ambassadors of Christ and agents of transformation and renewal (2 Corinthians 5:20; Romans 12:2). By imitating the holiness of God, we bring honor to Him and comfort to others.
God is holy. In Him, there is not even the faintest trace of evil. He is impeccably pure, wholly without fault, and uncompromisingly just. God cannot lie. He cannot make wrong decisions. He is blameless, timeless, and sinless. By contrast, we are flawed beings tainted by sin (Isaiah 53:6; 1 John 1:8). By all rights, a holy and righteous God must judge sinners, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23); thankfully, we can escape the wrath of God by placing our trust in Christ Jesus as Savior (Hebrews 2:3).
Were it not for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the holiness of God would be mankind’s greatest fear, for no sinner can stand in the presence of His blinding glory. But, through a simple act of faith, those who believe in Jesus as Savior have been pardoned (Matthew 9:6). To the lost the holiness of God is a dreadful matter, but to the redeemed the holiness of God is our greatest good.
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