June 21

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." We sing a lot of songs about the holiness of God, from the old classic hymn, Holy Holy Holy, to more contemporary choruses. In fact, there have been a lot of songs written in the past decade about the holiness of God, and we love that. But this is one of those funny situations where we talk and sing about God’s holiness a lot, but we don’t have a real clear idea of what it means, so this morning I want to try to help us get a better grasp on that. And then next week, we’ll look at what it means for us to be holy because the one who calls us is holy.

The root of the word holy is qadosh, which means to cut, or to be separate. That which is holy is often said to be set apart—i.e. set apart from all sin and impurity; set apart from everything that is common or ordinary. God is set apart from His creation, which is itself fallen.[1] The theologians use the word transcendent to describe this part of God’s nature. He is God and there is no other. He is in a category all by Himself because of His holiness.[2] He is wholly “other” from everything else that exists. His love and compassion and forgiveness are entirely unlike ours. He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent—qualitatively different from us. Because God is completely pure, with no moral imperfections, He is separate from all other moral beings like people and angels and demons. Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, because God was so holy, so different, so separate from even them that they could not look directly at Him.

Why do the seraphs repeat the word “holy” three times? It’s tempting to think that it’s because God is a Trinity, and each person in the Trinity is holy, but that’s probably not it. It has to do with a peculiarity of the Hebrew language. When the Hebrews wanted to emphasize a quality of something, they repeated the adjective. In 2 Kings 25:15, it says, “The commander of the imperial guard (of the Babylonian army) took away (from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem) the censers and sprinkling bowls--all that were made of “gold gold” or silver.” The NIV translates this “pure gold”; the NASB has “fine gold”. The repetition of the adjective emphasizes the “goldness” of these utensils.

The place in the tabernacle and later the temple where the presence of God lived was called literally, the “holy holy”, or as we usually say it, the “holy of holies”. We might say, the “really holy place”. This inner room was much more holy than the outer courts where people could go on a regular basis. This was the place where only the High Priest could go, and then only once a year, and then only after he had made sacrifice for his own sin, and he went in carrying the blood of the sacrifice for the sins of the people.

That inner sanctum was “holy holy” because God was there. But God Himself is holier than the place where He dwells. He is “holy holy holy”. This is the only place in the Bible where an adjective is repeated three times to emphasize some quality. God is the absolutely most holy One in the entire universe. He is really really holy.

We often use the word holy in our worship songs, so we might think that this sight would be so beautiful as to inspire Isaiah to fall down in worship, to sing God’s praises, to delight in His purity and holiness. But look at his response:

Is 6:5, "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!” The word translated ruined (damah ) means to be destroyed, to perish, to be wiped out, to suffer disaster. Is 15:1 uses the word to describe the complete destruction of a city. Other translations here in Isaiah 6 say, I am lost (ESV), I am doomed (NLT), I’m as good as dead (MSG). Isaiah really expects to be completely destroyed by this sight of the most holy God. Why is that?

“For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? He doesn’t think he is in danger of eternal destruction because he had committed murder, or was a traitor to his country, or raped hundreds of women in war. He is trembling in his boots just because he has unclean lips. I wonder where that puts us? The word “unclean” is significant here, because constantly in Scripture, the holiness of God is contrasted with what is unclean. Certain animals were unclean, so they were off limits for food for people who wanted to live in the presence of a holy God. Sin made a person unclean, so they had to offer sacrifices in order to be cleansed from their sin so they could be in God’s fellowship again. Some diseases made people unclean, and they had to go through a ceremonial cleansing before they could worship a holy God.

What does it mean to have unclean lips? Think of all the ways we sin with our mouths. We lie, we deceive people, we tell only that part of the truth that makes us look good. We tell coarse and dirty jokes. We use filthy language, swear words, vulgar words. We take the name of the most holy God in vain—meaning that we use His name, but we are not referring to Him; we use it in an empty way. We are sarcastic. We cut people down—this is actually an art form in middle school and high school—the “chop”; the “cut”. We gossip and slander people. We take our anger out on people we love by yelling at them and calling them names. We flatter others insincerely to gain personal advantage with them. On and on it goes. There must be 50 ways to have unclean lips.

Ephesians 4:29 (NASB), “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” This says that any kind of talk that is not helpful for building others up, that does not serve them in their needs, that does not give grace to them, is unwholesome, literally “rotten”, or in Isaiah’s terms, “unclean.”

How about you, friends? Are your lips unclean, i.e. unholy, in any of these ways? What is God saying to you right now about how you use your mouth? Take a moment and ask God what He wants to say to you about your speech patterns.[3] Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me…”

Is 6:5,“My eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." God had made it clear to Moses back in the Sinai desert that no one can see His face and live (Exodus 33:20). When the angel of the Lord appeared to a man named Manoah and his wife, Manoah said to her, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God” (Judges 13:22) The prophet Habakkuk said of God, 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.” There is something about the extreme holiness of God that burns up sin, like a piece of confetti dropped into a vat of molten steel—poof! and it’s gone. When Isaiah saw God’s holiness, he was suddenly overwhelmed by the awareness of his own sin, and the contrast between God and him terrified him. He fully expected to be consumed by the extreme holiness of God.

Luke 5:1-9, “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee), with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2 he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.’” In other words, Jesus, you’re a carpenter; I’m the fisherman. This is how I make my living. I know fishing; and I know this lake; and I know that it isn’t going to make a bit of difference where I put down the nets because the fish aren’t here now. Furthermore, I also know that the place to catch fish by throwing a net is in shallow water, where the fish can be trapped between the net and the bottom. And it’s better to fish at night than in the daytime. So this is all wrong. No offense, Lord, but you really don’t know what you are talking about.

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like Jesus was asking you to do something that just seemed silly? That you knew wasn’t going to work? That went against everything you knew about life? You were probably respectful, like Peter was, but you may have had some of the same thoughts.

But notice, Peter had called Him “Master”. So he goes on, 5 “‘But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’” We should just pause here to ask ourselves, is that our basic stance toward God? When He asks us to do something that runs against the grain of our nature, like apologize to someone and ask their forgiveness; when He calls us to a ministry that we find uncomfortable or distasteful; when He directs us to spend time that we don’t have to spare with someone who needs to talk; when you have all sorts of objections to what God is asking you to do—do you say, “Master, because you say so, I will do it”? Years ago the Gaithers had a song that said, “Whatever you ask, I’ll say yes.” Peter had several good reasons why he should ignore this directive from Jesus, but instead, he submitted his will to the Master and did what He asked. Do you do that? Will you do that the next time God speaks to you?

The story continues, 6 “When they had [put their nets down in deep water], they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.”

So there sits Peter in his boat, with fish up to his knees, and suddenly the penny drops. 8 “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken.” Peter knew that there were no fish in the area—they had fished all night; he knew that deep water was not the place to catch fish; he knew that night time was better for catching fish than daytime; but there he was practically buried in fish! Sinking in fish! Peter may have been a simple fisherman, but he can add. He puts 2 and 2 together and realizes in a flash that if Jesus could do that, if He could make so many fish miraculously appear where there weren’t supposed to be any, then Jesus was not just an ordinary man. There was something scary, something terrifying about a person who could do that. He was different from anyone Peter had ever met. He was holy. And Peter’s first, and entirely appropriate response is to say, I can’t be near you. Please leave me. Because I am a sinful man. If you stay this close, I’ll be consumed, I’ll be destroyed, I’ll be ruined, just as Isaiah was sure he would be.

A. The fear of the Lord Ps 119:120; Pro 1:7; Acts 5:11; 9:31; 1 Cor 5:10,11; Job 42:5-6

Is that how we treat Jesus? Is there any part of that attitude in our relationship with Him? God is so holy, that it is entirely inappropriate for us to treat Him casually, as in the table grace I learned at junior high summer camp, “Rubadubdub, thanks for the grub; yea God!”. You will sometimes hear people refer to Jesus as their “Buddy”; even with a capital B, that is inappropriate. Or “the Man upstairs”.

When I was in the Air Force, officers were not encouraged to fraternize with enlisted men, because, the saying went, “familiarity breeds contempt.” There’s a sense in which that same thing is true in our relationship with God. Yes, Jesus calls us His friends (John 15:15); it’s true, He is not ashamed to call us His brothers, because we share a human nature (Heb 2:11). Certainly, He wants us to run to Him when we are in any danger, or when we have committed any sin, no matter how serious it is. Yes, God is our loving heavenly Father. Yes, we should wallow in His grace daily. But it is dangerous for us to treat God so casually, so flippantly, so tritely that we lose sight of His holiness.[4]

· The psalmist said, Psalm 119:120, “My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws.”

· Psalm 2:11 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Isn’t that an interesting combination? By all means, we should rejoice in Him, but we never forget who He is.

· When God killed Ananias and Sapphira for lying about the sale of their land, Acts 5:11, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”

· The early church grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord (Acts 9:31).

· Paul said it was because he feared the Lord that he tried to persuade men to put their faith in Jesus, because Paul knew he would be held accountable for sharing that good news with people (1 Cor 5:10,11).

Over and over again the Bible tells us we should fear the Lord. But we have brought Him down to our level. We have made God in our own image, and there is nothing left to tremble at. We have “tamed” Aslan, so that we no longer dread His roar.

We have to recapture the proper sense of awe in the presence of the holy One. We need to sense our own inadequacy, and our frailty, and our sinfulness and uncleanness in contrast to His holiness and purity. And tremble before Him.

B. Tremble before Him Exodus 19:1-20; Job 42:5-6; 2 Chronicles 7:1-5; Ezekiel 1:28; Matthew 17:1-7

We sing lots of songs about the holiness of God, but if we really saw it/knew it, what would we do? Don’t be too quick to say you’re fine, that you’re ready to see the Lord in all His glory. Some people were OK with it when God showed up[5] but there are plenty of examples of people being terrified in the presence of the Holy One.

· Exodus 19:1-20. Israel at Mt. Sinai. The people of Israel gathered before God at Mt. Sinai three months after their miraculous escape from Egypt. Thunder and lightning and thick clouds covered the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast announced the presence of the Lord. Moses led the people out of the camp to stand at the foot of the mountain and meet with God. The mountain was covered with smoke, smoke billowed up from it like from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Finally, God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people. At that, they trembled with fear, and asked Moses to speak God's words to them instead. They found it too terrifying to hear God's voice directly, and felt they would die if it continued.

· Job 42:5-6. Job sees God. Job went toe to toe with God, insisting on his own righteousness, and demanding that God explain why He had caused him to suffer so much. But then God actually showed up, and started questioning Job, and every question God asked Job for several chapters was intended to emphasize how different God is from Job: “Can you do this? Where were you when I did that? Do you know this?” Finally, Job’s response was, Job 42:5-6, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” He got a sense of the “otherness”, the holiness of God, and he suddenly didn’t feel so confident in his own righteousness.

· 2 Chronicles 7:1-4. Dedication of the Temple. “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’” God is good; God is loving forever. But that’s not to say that He is like a doting grandfather who spoils his kids.

· Ezekiel 1:28. Ezekiel sees God’s glory. Ezekiel was given a vision of God: He reported, “Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown.”

· Matthew 17:1-7. The Transfiguration. Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him up on a high mountain, where His glory was revealed to them. A cloud enveloped them, and a voice said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” Matthew 17:6, “When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.”

· Revivals. We saw a few months ago that when God’s holiness invaded worship services in Wales in 1904, some people rejoiced, and others fell on their faces and wept for hours. When Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, the people in his church were crying out and clinging to the pillars of the church, certain that they were in danger of sliding down into the pit of hell.

What makes the difference in how people respond to a vision of the holiness of God? I suppose at the most fundamental level, it is simply up to how God wants to present Himself to us individually. But I think another factor has to do with our relationship with God at the moment. If we are walking closely with Him, walking in the light, following the leading of His Spirit, keeping short accounts with Him, claiming His grace and forgiveness, then the chances are that we would be moved to praise and joy and delight at the sight of such a beautiful Person. But if we are wandering, drifting from Him, doing our own thing, ignoring the nudges of His Spirit, hardening our hearts, insisting on our rights and on doing things our way, then I think that a vision of His holiness may strike terror in our hearts as it did for Isaiah and Peter.

Where are you today? If you saw the vision that Isaiah saw, with the Lord, the King of the universe, seated on a throne, high and exalted, with mighty spiritual beings flying around Him and calling out “Holy Holy Holy”, what do you think your reaction might be? Given where you are spiritually at this moment, do you think you would dance for the Lord Jesus, or in awe of Him be still? Would you stand in His presence, or to your knees would you fall? Would you sing hallelujah, or would you be able to speak at all? Take a moment and try to imagine yourself face to face with the Holy One.

[1] This is one reason we are not pantheists. God is not to be identified with His creation; He stands apart from it, because even the physical creation is fallen (see Romans 8:20-21, “²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”)

[2] Trent C. Butler, ed., “HOLY,” in Holman Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "HOLY"; James Orr, ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, (Chicago: Howard-Severance Co., 1915), s.v. “GOD, NAMES OF,” WORDsearch CROSS e-book.

[3] Another point Isaiah makes here is that he lives among a people of unclean lips. In other words, he tolerates that kind of talk; he is immersed in it, and does nothing to restrain others, or to excuse himself from that social environment. I would not suggest that we become the “speech police” with our friends and coworkers, because then we will quickly be labeled “holier than thou” and lose any hope of having a spiritual influence on them. But I think that if our relationship with them is right, we can politely ask them not to use the Lord’s name in vain, or we can tell them that we don’t enjoy their crude jokes, etc. We do not have to just tolerate it in silence, as Isaiah apparently did.

[4] “Holiness is in tension with relational personhood. Holiness tends toward separation and uniqueness. Personhood determines relations and close communion. Holiness inspires awe and fear. Personhood inspires love and the wish to be near. Both are in the Bible as necessary ways to think of and experience God. Both are necessary if one is to avoid shallow, one-sided thinking about God. Neither holiness nor personhood alone can do justice to the biblical portrayal of God. Both in their mutual tension help capture a more adequate doctrine and experience of God.” Trent C. Butler, ed., “HOLY,” in Holman Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "HOLY".

[5] Moses took it pretty calmly when God showed up at the burning bush (Ex 3), and later, he asked to see God’s glory more directly (Ex 32:18). When the disciples saw Jesus after the resurrection, they worshiped, but there isn’t any record of them being afraid.