Fear. It’s the one thing that happens anytime someone comes into contact with God Almighty.
Over and over in Scripture we see this happen in His presence; people fall down in fear, people recognize their own failures, people ask God to depart from them.
To be in His presence is something that is universally terrifying, Scripturally. What it comes down to is that God is Holy, Holy, Holy. And we are not.
God is described in scripture in many ways:
God is Love. He is described this way time and time again throughout Scripture, most clearly in John’s first letter, where John gives us this very phrase.
God is Truth. Jesus makes this claim in his discussion with his disciples when they ask how to get where Jesus is going.
God is Life. The entirety of Scripture begins with God speaking into existence all of creation. God is the Author of all life, and therefore all life is found in Him.
God is Pure. We again find ourselves in John’s Gospel, and in the beginning of his story of Jesus, we see that he says Jesus is Light, and in Him is no darkness. Light without shadow, pure and unfiltered.
There is one thing that God is that is so core to his character that it must be emphasized and underscored uniquely when describing Him.
God is Holy, Holy, Holy.
This is the only word that is used to describe God that is repeated. This attribute is so distinct, so unique to God, that it must be repeated to fully describe who He is. We cling tightly to these other aspects of God’s character: love, justice, righteousness, and more, but these don’t get the same treatment in Scripture.
I don’t think I recognize what Holiness is, what it means to be Holy. We get caught up in the idea that Holiness is some intangible characteristic that instantly makes something untouchable or almost magical.
To be Holy is to be set apart, or reserved for a special purpose. We deal with Holy things all the time, we just don’t realize it.
A courthouse is a Holy place. There are not that many of them, and they serve a very specific purpose. Most of us do not choose to go to the courthouse without needing a real reason to. We do what we can to avoid these places. They are where justice is meant to be found, and where consequences are often determined. There is a certain level of respect that we give to a courthouse, and we don’t draw near to them without a reason to do so.
The God we serve is so ‘other’, so set apart, that to describe Him as ‘Holy’ and only say it once doesn’t encompass the reality of who He is.
God’s Holiness is frightening; it’s more than that, it’s something that we cannot recognize. His person is so alien to ours that when He chooses to contact us, we are left in a state of wonder and awe of Him.
I’ve lost that wonder and awe. I have been so focused on the amazing things that God has done that I’m not seeing how incredible God is. There is no way to write or speak and fully describe Him. I rejoice that He’s rescued me from death beyond death, but I do not realize that the Rescuer is terrifyingly different from me. I have bred an attitude of complacency in my Spiritual life.
I focus so much on the Goodness of God that I let His Holiness be something I don’t look at, because it makes me uncomfortable. I focus on the traits that I think I can grasp, and leave out the one that, Scripturally, should be seen of Him first.
His Holiness is where His Love comes from. It is because He is Holy that He is Good; it is through His Holiness that He chose to rescue His people.
My failure to recognize the magnitude of His Holiness means I become familiar with Someone whose very character has consequences that reach beyond life and death and into eternity. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah, living centuries before Christ, has a vision of angels repeating the words “Holy, Holy, Holy” beside the throne of God. Those hundreds of years go by, and John sits viewing the same angels, in the same place, repeating the same words. God’s Holiness has yet to be fully described.
And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” Isaiah 6:3
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