~ A “Unique” Concept ~
Holy. It is hard to imagine any other single word so closely coupled with the nature of God. Perhaps it is equally as hard to imagine any other single word which has such a strange reaction in the hearts of mankind.
It is also difficult to imagine a more critical concept for the Christian to come to grips with than the holiness of God—and its implications! There is no other attribute so central to the very character of God than the fact that He is a holy God. For example, we are told, "Holy is His name" (Psalm 111:9; Isaiah 57:15; Luke 1:49), and God is frequently referred to as "The Holy One" in the Old Testament.
One key reason that understanding the meaning of a holy God is so critical for the Christian is that we have a direct command to "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). This is actually a reference to many Old Testament Scriptures. How can any one of us obey that command until we first understand what holy means?
It would be a drastic mistake to think that because someone has studied holiness or written about it, that they have somehow achieved a level of holiness which is above the normal. In fact the experience of many of the saints of God has been that the more they begin to understand the nature of the holy God, the more they realize their awful sinfulness. The effect is similar to the effect of shining a brilliant light upon a fine diamond which has been placed against a dark background. The more we see His nature, the more we see the blackness of our own hearts.
God's people, the Jews, understood the majesty of the holiness of God. The early translators of the Bible understood His majesty. The Old Testament translates the word "Adonai" as "Lord"—the name of our sovereign God; but when it comes to "Yahweh"—the name of our sacred God, it uses the word "LORD" in all upper case in order to signify the majesty of the holy God. Lord is the title of God, while LORD is the name of God.
Uniqueness of the Attribute of Holiness
Holiness provokes a defensive response in mankind, even a hatred in the minds of some. The greater the holiness, the more natural unredeemed man recoils from it because man is defiled through and through with the sin nature. "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).
It is true that man often admires goodness and high moral standards—but only at a distance! The Jews admired their prophets at a distance. Today, many men and women admire Jesus Christ from a distance. He was a good man, they admit.
God would not even allow the Old Testament saints to see the face of the Holy One. Remember when His faithful servant Moses—who had seen God perform some astonishing miracles—asked to see His face, his request was denied.
"And the LORD said, 'I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,' He said, 'you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.' Then the LORD said, 'There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen’” (Exodus 33:19-23). When Moses returned from the experience of seeing God's back side (literally: hind quarters), his face was radiant (Exodus 34:29-30).
The Christian awaits that ultimate experience, to see our Lord Jesus Christ face to face when He welcomes us into our heavenly dwelling place. In that future day we will see God as He is. We will see Him in all His fullness. In all His brilliance and radiance, we will see God face to face! In that day we will understand fully for the first time a "holy" God.
In heaven we will become whole, we will have integrity, we will be "complete in Him" (Colossians 2:9). In that day we will for the first time have it all together. But we won't even be cognizant of it because we will be so enthralled, so enraptured, so completely fulfilled with Christ, our bridegroom.
