Monday · Apr 6
God Is Holy
‘Holy’ is not a word that most people use very often in everyday life. Maybe that’s because we see so few holy things around us. The Sabbath is a holy day in time. God, of course, is holy. But apart from God’s love for us, we may not see many holy things in our everyday lives.
If you study the Bible, you will understand that God is holy. But what does that really mean?
Read Leviticus 20:26; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 57:15; and Ezekiel 38:23 . What do these verses tell us about God?
God is holy. He is completely separate from evil and sin. God is 100% good and holy, from beginning to end.
God’s love is holy. His love isn’t selfish. As we saw yesterday, God knows everything. So, His plans for us are holy and good, and not evil. Would you trust a God who knew everything, if He wasn’t holy? Of course not! We would be afraid of Him.
As we also saw yesterday, God is all-powerful. God’s power is holy, too. Imagine in your mind a God who is all-powerful and not holy. Maybe He would be a powerful and evil God. Because God is holy, we can love and trust Him. So, we must trust that God is holy. Then we can understand better who God is. Sad to say, most people do not understand this important Bible truth about God at all.
Think about people in the Bible who met with God: Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John. What did they do when they first met with God? They removed their shoes, hid their faces, or lay down as if they were dead. As humans, we are sinners. We are not holy. We cannot stand when we see God. Any person who looks at God’s face won’t live. In the same way, when Ellen G. White saw God in dreams, she often cried, “Glory . . . glory . . . glory.” This word helps us more than any other word to understand what she saw. And, of course, the four living things in the book of Revelation say these words, too. The four living things don’t rest day or night without saying, “ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God All-Powerful. He always was, he is, and he is coming’ ” ( Revelation 4:8, ERV ).
How does knowing that God is 100% holy fill you with hope? How does this Bible truth change you? How does this idea help you to want to live a holy life, too?