The Holiness of God the Father, part 2

One Commentator, William Newton Clarke, said it this way: “Holiness is the glorious fullness of God’s moral excellence, held as the principle of His own action and the standard for His creatures.” Friends, God’s actions are always consistent with His own perfection. He is the standard of holiness in all that His thinks, does, and speaks!
 

Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid behind closed doors for three the bright spot still would not fade from his vision. I pray that you and I would have a similar experience this week as we fix our gaze, for a few minutes, on the penetrating purity of the holiness of God. May His brightness burn into our lives in such a way that it would never fade from our vision. May we find His holiness irresistible and not boring.
 

This week, we are going to look at five ways in which God reveals His holiness.
 

First – God Reveals His Holiness in His Love.
If God did not love us, His holiness would only strike terror into our hearts. Wherever His holiness is, there is love. It is God’s love that awakens a desire to know Him in us; and when we know Him, we begin to see and know His holiness.
 

However, God’s love is discriminating. What do I mean by this? In Psalm 45:7, the Psalmist wrote that God loves righteousness and hates wickedness. God’s love is holy in that it is directed toward what is holy and away from that which is inherently evil. 
 

If we want to appreciate God’s holiness, we must feel something of His infinite animosity toward sin of any degree or form. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. In Habakkuk 1:13 we read, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing” CSB. Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the LORD are in everywhere, observing the wicked and the good” CSB. God sees the evil, but He cannot look on it with any degree of satisfaction. 
 

This is where we find the motive for the entire plan of redemption. God loved fallen mankind with discriminating love. He is not pleased with the wickedness of mankind, but He is also not pleased with the death of the wicked. Psalm 5:4 declares, “For You are not a God that who delights in wickedness; evil cannot dwell with You” CSB. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” NIV.
 

And we also find in Ezekiel 33:11 (as God speaks to Ezekiel) saying, “Tell them: ‘As I live’ — this is the declaration of the Lord God — ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?’” Because God is righteous, the wicked must die for their sins, yet His righteousness places His love in a position of displeasure - unless there is a righteous deliverance for the wicked. This is exactly what He provided through the death of His Son; because, in His holiness, He was motivated by His love to make a way for human sin – unholiness - to be removed.
 

I am very convinced, friends, that we again need a strong emphasis on God’s hatred of sin. If God’s love is preached in such a way that it makes allowance for sin, then the truth is that we violate His love and His holiness! We are told (in Psalm 97:10, 12): “You who love the LORD, hate evil! 12 Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name” CSB. If you do not hate evil then you do not love God! When we have a proper view of the holiness of God, we will hate any kind of sin!

Continued tomorrow