C H A P T E R   F O U R

THE HOLINESS OF GOD

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’

REVELATION 4:8 

Martin Luther rebuked Erasmus for his theological errors. And he went right to the foundation of Erasmus’ problem when he wrote to him in a letter, saying, “Your thoughts of God are too human.”  God himself said to backsliding Israel, in Psalm 50:21, “you thought that I was one like yourself.” This is the natural propensity of fallen man.

It’s been said that God made man in his own image, and then man repaid the favor and fashioned God after his image. This is specifically forbidden in the second commandment. But even if we don’t carve an idol out of wood, stone or precious metals, we may still entertain idolatrous ideas of God in our mind’s eye that are not worthy of his Majesty. Indeed, they may be blasphemous!

Often our vision of God is murky and muddled. But then the curtain that normally separates heaven from earth, and the Creator from the creature, is pulled back, so that a person can peer into the very throne room of God Almighty and see him for who he is in all his resplendent glory. When this supernatural sight is granted by the Holy Spirit, our manageable comprehension of God comes unglued in an instant, as we are overwhelmed by a mere glimpse of his glory.

Such was the profound experience of the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-5), which is all the more significant in light of who Isaiah was, namely a righteous man—perhaps the most righteous man in all of Israel, or, even in all the world at that time. However, even the most righteous man cannot stand in the blazing presence of holiness apart from God’s intervening grace that atones for his sin.

THE PRONOUCEMENT OF JUDGMENT

As a prophet, Isaiah had the unwelcome task of pronouncing judgment upon the wicked. Contrary to what some cynics think, no sane servant of God enjoys condemning others. He perseveres, nevertheless, due to his desire to please God, which overrides all his original uncomfortable impulses. He also yearns to see sinners come to repentance, so that judgment can be averted and God’s blessing attained.

The word that is used for judgment is “woe.” It is the opposite of blessed, and means cursed or possibly damned, if there is no repentance. Isaiah regularly pronounced “woe” upon the unrighteous. The prophet spoke with uninhibited boldness to the people of Israel, “Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land…. Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!…. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (5:8, 11, 20). Thus far there are six pronouncements of “woe” (5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22).  “Given the biblical fascination with the number seven, we are led to expect that a final woe is yet to come. But we have no way of anticipating against whom it will be pronounced.”^[i]

The seventh and final woe is pronounced when Isaiah, the prophet who condemned others, catches a glimpse of the holy God seated upon his throne in heaven, and his immediate knee-jerk response is an unprecedented, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (6:5). Beware, the prophet would warn, of the pernicious acceptance of sin that pervades your culture; it’s easy to become desensitized to perversity and godlessness when it daily surrounds on every side and assaults you. J. C. Ryle graphically illustrates our problem: “The very animals whose smell is most offensive to us have no idea that they are offensive, and are not offensive to one another. And man, fallen man, has no idea what a vile thing sin is in the sight of God.”^[ii] In a similar vein the apostle Paul said, “When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise” (2 Cor. 10:12b, NIV). We will never realize how wretched our condition is until we stop comparing ourselves to one another, and start evaluating ourselves in the pure light of God’s holiness.  

WHO DID ISAIAH SEE?

It’s an interesting irony that in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah sees “the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isa. 6:5). There’s no need to panic, or worry about the future state of Israel, or the entire cosmos for that matter, since the true King is still firmly ensconced upon his throne. Who specifically is this King that Isaiah sees?  According to John 12:41, Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory. This is none other than King Jesus. Some think that perhaps “holy, holy, holy” contains an allusion to the Trinity. The Trinity is certainly in view in this passage (see Isa. 6:8, “who will go for us?”), but Jesus Christ is front and center.

THE TRISAGION

When you live in the presence of such a great God what do you do? You worship—and your worship is pure. As A. W. Tozer said, “Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.”^[iii] Since the angels before God’s throne have an undimmed and untainted view of God, their worship is 100% pure. On the other hand, redeemed Christians, who have a dim and tainted view of God, worship somewhere on the spectrum between the poles of pure and base. This is not to say that God doesn’t accept our worship, but it is to admit that our worship is often lacking. 

Worship before the throne is also continuous. In a vision similar to Isaiah’s, John also sees the throne room in heaven, with angels surrounding it, including the four living creatures. John describes the scene: “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” (Rev. 4:8). At this very moment, such is the unremitting worship encompassing God’s throne.

What do you say or sing about when you abide in God’s presence? We don’t have to guess. “Holy, holy, holy” is your refrain—day and night without ceasing. This chorus is known as the trisagion, meaning “three times holy.” This triple repetition of “holy” is significant.  In Hebrew literature, repetition is used for emphasis.  In English, we have different literary devices available to use for emphasis, such as underlining, italics, bold type, all capital letters, quotation marks, an exclamation point or two, or a combination of these devices. For example, “THIS IS IMPORTANT!!”  It grabs your attention, doesn’t it? 

            Jesus used repetition for emphasis. When Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you…” he is preparing his audience for something of great significance. In John 3, Jesus uses the double “truly” three different times in his conversation with Nicodemus.  The first is found in John 3:3: “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you [something important is coming], unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (see also vv. 5, 11).  Jesus began his reply to Nicodemus with “Truly, truly,” because his answer had eternal ramifications, and Jesus wanted to make sure that he had Nicodemus’ undivided attention (and by extension, ours). 

            Only a few times do the writers of Scripture repeat something to the third degree.  One example is found in Revelation 8:13b: “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” Search the entire Bible and you will find only one attribute of God elevated to the third degree: the holiness of God (Rev. 4:8; Isa. 6:3). God is not just holy, or even holy, holy, but “holy, holy, holy.” The Bible never says God is love, love, love; or mercy, mercy, mercy; or just, just, just. The trisagion nature of God indicates that this attribute is underscored more than any other. The seraphim and the four living creatures celebrate God’s holiness more than any other excellency. The Puritan writer Stephen Charnock noted,

The holiness of God is his glory…. [I]t renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures, that understand any thing of this lovely perfection. Holiness is a glorious perfection belonging to the nature of God. Hence he is in Scripture styled often the Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel; and [more often] entitled Holy, than Almighty, and set forth by this part of his dignity more than any other…. This is his greatest title of honor ….^[iv]

DEFINING HOLINESS

The question still begs to be answered, “What exactly is holiness?”  In a very real sense, holiness is beyond our realm of experience.  Have you ever looked at someone or something and thought, “How holy”?  I haven’t either, which makes the task of defining holiness virtually impossible, but we’ll try. For starters, let’s recognize that there are two basic aspects to holiness: a primary aspect and then a secondary aspect. Unfortunately, we tend to reverse the two. Primarily, to be holy, is literally “to be separate.” R. C. Sproul adds,

God’s holiness is more than just separateness. His holiness is also transcendent…. It is defined as ‘exceeding usual limits’…. When we speak of the transcendence of God, we are talking about that sense in which God is above and beyond us…. It points to the infinite distance that separates Him from every creature…. When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us.^[v]

And when we encounter him who is “transcendentally separate,” it frightens us. 

            On one occasion, Jesus “said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets’” (Lk. 5:4-5). If I can read between the lines a bit, Peter, who comes from a long line of professional fishermen, questions Jesus’ fishing expertise. But he doesn’t want to offend his Master, so he skeptically obeys and lets down the nets again.  Luke records the outcome: “And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’” (vv. 6-8).  Why the sudden awareness of sin? Because the large catch of fish manifested Jesus’ holiness, his transcendental separateness, and it made Peter extremely uncomfortable (see also Matt. 8:23-27; 28-34).   

            In the Bible, the separateness of God has a moral or ethical dimension as well, namely purity. This is the secondary aspect of holiness that we often put first, since we can grasp it more easily than the first.  Merging the two aspects of holiness, we can say that God is transcendentally separated from mankind and sin.  In God, “holiness is a purity of an infinite intensity and beauty that creates a sense of awe and wonder in the spectator.”^[vi]

“BE HOLY, FOR I THE LORD YOUR GOD AM HOLY”

Many things in the Bible are regarded as holy. Israel was called to be a holy nation. Today, the church is called to be that holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9). Like Israel of old, we are called to be separate or distinct from the surrounding sinful nations, and be devoted to the Lord and his glory. Christians are also called holy ones, often translated “saints” (2 Cor. 1:1). In light of who we are in Christ, Paul exhorted the Christians at Corinth, “‘Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.’ Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2. Cor. 6:17-7:1).

Paul commanded Timothy, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22). This is what it means practically to pursue holiness. And this is what is conspicuous by its absence in the modern church. For some strange reason we are terribly reluctant to separate ourselves from sinful TV, movies, music, magazines, etc. But this is our calling: “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2b). What is the prime way of honoring God? Stephen Charnock says, “We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or pompous services of him, as when we aspire to a conversing with him with unstained spirits, and live to him in living like him. The angels are not called holy for applauding his purity, but conforming to it.”^[vii] We are to be holy, because God himself is a holy God who does not participate in wickedness. In fact, God is so holy he is “of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (Hab. 1:13). “A due sense of [God’s holiness] would inflame us with a vehement desire to be conformed to Him.”^[viii]

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

What is it like to come before a holy God—a holy, holy, holy God?  In a word: “dangerous,” because if you don’t come into his holy presence as he prescribes, it could cost you your life! This is not an exaggeration. And it’s high time the evangelical church woke up to the serious nature of worshiping a holy God. The potential peril of approaching the Holy One is perhaps best illustrated by Israel’s high priest entering the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. 

            In ancient Israel the Day of Atonement was the most significant day of the year. It was the day in which God’s wrath was averted for all the sins of all the people that were committed the previous year, so God’s presence and blessing could rest upon his covenant people.

Instructions for the Day of Atonement began when “The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died” (Lev. 16:1). This sobering context reminds us that entering the presence of God is something that needs to be done “with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). The reference to God being a “consuming fire” is not to be understood metaphorically, but literally, as we’ll see shortly. 

            If you read Leviticus 8-10, you will see again and again that God specifically commands how all Israel, including Aaron and his sons, were to approach his holy presence. Detailed instructions for consecration and offerings were to be followed to the letter as the LORD commanded. The phrase “the LORD commanded” is repeated in various forms for obvious emphasis (see Lev. 8:4, 9, 13, 17, 21, 29, 34, 36; 9:6-8, 10).

            These commands were meticulously followed. “Then Aaron … came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings ... and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces” (Lev. 9:22-24).  What a glorious sight!  What a terrifying sight! 

            Juxtaposed to this dramatic account is the death of Aaron’s two sons. “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD” (Lev. 10:1-2). Aaron’s sons offered “unauthorized fire,” which the LORD “had not commanded them.”  The brothers lost their lives due to their presumption. Notice that in both accounts “fire came out from before the LORD” (9:24; 10:2; emphasis added). In the first account it consumed the offerings; in the second, it consumed two of Aaron’s sons. It behooves us to remember that our God is a consuming fire. Therefore, we must worship him in spirit and truth, as He commands. Any other worship is simply unacceptable, and possibly deadly. 

            Small wonder that Aaron’s instructions for the Day of Atonement begin with a warning. “[T]he LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat’” (Lev. 16:2). If God manifests his fiery, holy presence and Aaron is not ready, he too will be consumed.

            Only the high priest could represent the people on this day.    However, before he can represent the people, he needs to be ceremonially clean himself. Aaron did this by taking a bath and then dressing in humble attire (Lev. 16:4), rather than in the beautiful garments that the priest usually wore. Then “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house…. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times” (vv. 6, 14).

            For the sins of the people, two male goats were chosen. Aaron cast lots to determine which would be killed as a sin offering, and which would be presented alive as the scapegoat/Azazel (Lev. 16:26). The goat for the sin offering was to be killed and its blood sprinkled before the mercy seat, as was the blood of the bull. With this blood, Aaron would also “make atonement for the Holy Place,” “the tent of meeting,” and “the altar” (vv. 16, 18). As the author of Hebrews observed: “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22). 

            Next, Aaron would “present the live goat.” He would “lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness” (Lev. 16:21). What a beautiful type of Christ, on whom the day would come when the LORD would lay on him “the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6b).

THE HEAVENLY HOLY OF HOLIES

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew) is a drama that illustrates who Jesus is and what he has done for us. He is our High Priest, who entered the heavenly Holy of Holies with his own blood to atone for our sins. The earthly tabernacle was only “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Heb. 8:5). “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Heb. 9:24). Like the scapegoat, all our sins were placed on Christ’s head. As the apostle Paul says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

            Returning to Isaiah 6, some commentators have said that the prophet was in the Temple of his day when he received his vision.  I don’t think so.  Since Isaiah was a prophet, and not a high priest, he had no right to enter the Holy of Holies. I submit to you that when Isaiah has his vision inside the Temple, inside the Holy of Holies before the very throne of God, it is not the earthly Holy of Holies, but the true heavenly Holy of Holies. As was mentioned earlier, Isaiah’s vision parallels John’s in Revelation 4, where John says, “At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.… And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” (vv. 2, 8). Isaiah, likewise, is in the presence of God, as well as the angels that surround the throne of God. His experience transcends that of the earthly Holy of Holies.  Regardless of whether or not this interpretation is accurate, he might well echo the apostle Paul’s statement, which followed his vision that would come centuries later: “whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows” (2 Cor. 12:2b). 

Regardless of whether this is the earthly or heavenly Holy of holies, when Isaiah sees King Jesus “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe” filling the Temple, he cries out, “Woe is me!” (Isa. 6:1a, 5). He knows that he has no right to stand before the throne of God. He knows that those who have gone before him have died for being in the earthly Holy of Holies, much less the heavenly Holy of Holies. But God was merciful, and one of the seraphim took a burning coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s mouth, saying: “‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for’” (v. 7).  Isaiah can now breathe a huge sigh of relief.

CONFIDENTLY DRAWING NEAR THE THRONE

Atonement for sin comes from the sacrifice upon the altar. The final sacrifice was that of Jesus Christ. As Jesus hung on the cross, Luke notes: “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” (23:44). What happened during the three hours of darkness, as Jesus was being crucified? The Father turned his back on his only Son, and poured out the full fury of his wrath upon him.  R. Kent Hughes describes the three hours this way:

Wave after wave of the world’s sin was poured over Christ’s sinless soul. Again and again during those three hours his soul recoiled and convulsed as all the lies of civilization, the murders of a thousand “Killing Fields,” the whorings of the world’s armies, and the noxious brew of hatreds, jealousies, and pride were poured on his purity.  Finally he became a curse: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13).  In the darkness Jesus bore it all.^[ix]

In those dark hours, Isaiah 53:4-6 was fulfilled: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes” we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Corresponding to love of holiness is hatred of sin. This means that nothing manifests the holiness of God like the cross. “Wondrously, and yet most solemnly does the atonement display God’s infinite holiness and abhorrence of sin. How hateful must sin be to God for Him to punish it to its utmost desserts when it was imputed to His Son!”^[x]

After mentioning the three hours of darkness, Luke says, “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two” (Lk. 23:45). The author of Hebrews is explicit about the meaning of the curtain being torn: “…we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” (Heb. 10:19-20). 

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16). 

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!

            God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

            Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,

            Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

            Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,

Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,

Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;

Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,

Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!

God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

                                    Reginald Heber