I've been thinking this morning about God's attribute of holiness. Two different times in scripture where someone is allowed to see the throne room of God, they describe the words "Holy, Holy, Holy" being called out continually in the presence of God. There are a lot different adjectives that God could've decreed to be sang for eternity in His presence - Loving, Loving, Loving... Righteous, Righteous, Righteous... Forgiving, Forgiving, Forgiving... Sinless, Sinless, Sinless... Yet "Holy" is what God has decreed.In the Hebrew language a word is repeated to when they want to show emphasis. If there was a really big storm last night, they would say something like "it was a stormy storm". Holy is the only word that is repeated 3 times in the Bible indicating that God's holiness is bigger than can ever be explained.
Now take that same concept of repetition to show emphasis, and imagine an endless chorus of "Holy, Holy, Holy" echoing through enternity. Our finite minds will never come close to understanding that degree of ANYthing, let alone holiness.
Now for the challenge: 1Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
God forgive us when we think we can even begin to approach you any other way than clothed in Christ's imputed righteousness.
3 comments:
I always wondered if they said Holy three times to signify the Trinity. As in Holy (Jesus), Holy (God), Holy (Spirit). Just a thought.
A.P.: Maybe, I hadn't ever thought of that. Definitely a possibility.
It seems like, in the OT, God's holiness was exemplified in His seperation from the people. The veil, the clouds, the worship through the priests, etc... It was through this seperation that the people were to gain a reverence for the Holiness of God. When their reverence for Him was diminished there were often consequences which served to bring them back to the proper perspective.
With the coming of the Holy Spirit, I believe our reverence and our understand of God's holiness should be born of our relationship with Him and through our reading of His inspired Word.
As far as how we take all that and utilize it in a practical manner...I don't have a definitive answer for that, but I do believe that the first step is to strive for a right understanding and a right perspective. I believe that the closer we get to a right perspective the more our worship and our lifestyles will fall into accordance.
Does that make sense?
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