Scripture Reading: Isaiah 6:1-7
John MacArthur captures the essence of the holiness of God, in its differing aspects, in the following definition. "God's holiness is his inherent and absolute greatness, in which he is perfectly distinct above everything outside of himself and is absolutely morally separate from sin" (MacArthur, Biblical Doctrine, 183).
God's holiness is that He is utterly unique, with no adequate point of comparison ... "'To whom will you compare Me that I should be like him?' says the Holy One" (Isa 40:25).
God's holiness also is that He is utterly separate from evil … "Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? . . . You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong" (Hab 1:12,13).
When Isaiah got a glimpse of the true purity of God he exclaimed, "Woe is me. I am ruined; 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!" (Isa 6:5).
The proper response to the holiness of God is a deep sense of humility and shame, for it is next to the purity of holiness that we see how truly wicked and evil we are. In comparison with a holy God we are all hideous. "There is none that does good . . . there is not even one" (Rom 3:12). Let us bow down and plead for God to have mercy on us. His mercy is our only hope.
