God is Holy

God is holy — he is absolutely perfect, pure, righteous, majestic, marvelously beautiful, and brighter than the sun. But we are not! We are darkened and unclean, and quite frankly, we feel uncomfortable and miserable in his holy presence.

The moral law reflects his holiness. ’The law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good' (Romans 7:12). The Lord commands all that is good and righteous and he prohibits all evil. But we have not conformed to his will; we have gone our own way and defiled ourselves in the filth of all sorts of sin — lying, immorality, disobedience, jealousy, hatred, envy, deceit, greed, hypocrisy, pride and irreverence.

Since he is holy, God detests all sin, as the Scripture says, 'You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness' (Hab 1:13). Moreover, the Bible warns that God will judge and punish the unrepentant: ’because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Romans 2:5).

The God of the Bible is not a human invention; man creates an indolent god that closes an eye to sin, and who will never cast anyone in the fire of hell. But the Bible reveals the true and living God who hates those who do wrong and who is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 5:5; 7:11).

There is absolutely nothing that we can do to make ourselves presentable before God's holy presence or to appease his righteous indignation against us. The only refuge for sinners is the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross cleanses the souls of all those who entrust themselves to him. Friend, did you call on the Lord Jesus to save you? If not, I plead with you — do so today.

We, who have repented and turned to Christ by faith, have the unspeakable privilege of calling God 'our Father.' Yet let us never forget that God is holy and we must always approach him with fear and a deep sense of reverence. The Bible commands us, 'Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy' (Psalm (99:5); and again, 'Who will not fear you, O. Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy' (Revelations 15:4).

Since God our Father is holy, we should make it our primary ambition to emulate him in holiness. The apostle Peter exhorts us, 'Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’' (1 Peter 1:15, 16). This is the calling of every Christian.