Holy, Holy, Holy!
Dr. John K. Mathew
The Bible without equivocation claims that God is holy.
Isaiah 6:3 provides the most potent declaration. The prophet Isaiah at the moment of his calling received a vision of the Lord sitting on His throne with seraphims on either side and one seraph called to the other seraph and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory".
R. C. Sproul makes this insightful observation about Isaiah 6. "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".
The primary meaning of Holy is 'separate'. 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. To be holy is to be 'other' to be different in a special way.
Therefore, the question is how can humans approach a holy God? It is impossible so that the holy God reaches out to humans in his love and Christ is the embodiment of love. The Bible says, " But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John1:7). If we are Biblically literate we know that it is positional sanctification.
The Christian life begins with a step of faith. But that step leads to a walk of faith. The Christian life can be compared to a walk. In fact, this is one of Paul's favorite pictures." I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called" (Eph.4:1). Again in verse 17, he says " that from now on you walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds". According to Apostle John, " I have no greater Joy than to hear that my children walk in truth"( 3 John 4). The relationship between truth and holiness is similar to that between light and vision. Light cannot create an eye or give a blind eye vision, but it is essential to see. Where ever light penetrates, it dissipates the darkness and brings everything into view. In a similar manner, the truth cannot regenerate or impart spiritual life, but it is essential to the practice of holiness. Wherever truth penetrates, it dissipates error and reveals everything for what it really is.
When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God looks at us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees us in all the white holiness of His Son. Our sins are imputed to the account of Christ and His righteousness to our account. That doesn't mean that all our activities are automatically holy. Holiness has to be practiced in all our activities on a daily basis. Please don't forget that we need to follow holiness, not Hollywood !.
