Knowing God: His Character and Promises

God Is Holy — Set Apart and Perfect

What does it mean that God is holy? Most people hear "holy" and think of rules — a list of dos and don'ts. But biblical holiness is something far bigger and more breathtaking. Holiness means God is utterly unique, set apart, in a category by Himself. It's not just about morality — it's about His otherness. There is nothing and no one like Him.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.

Isaiah's Vision: Encountering the Holy God

Isaiah was a prophet — someone who spoke for God. He was already a "spiritual" person. But nothing prepared him for what happened in the year King Uzziah died. He saw God on His throne, high and exalted, surrounded by seraphim crying out a single word, repeated three times.

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” ⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ⁵“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” ⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”Isaiah 6:1-8 · NIV

The seraphim cry "Holy, holy, holy" — the only attribute given this triple repetition by the angelic hosts. Not "love, love, love" or "power, power, power." Holiness is the foundation upon which all of God's other attributes rest. And notice Isaiah's response: he doesn't celebrate. He doesn't worship calmly. He cries out, "Woe is me! I am ruined!" When a human encounters the raw holiness of God, the first reaction isn't comfort — it's the terrifying realization of how unlike God we really are.

The Throne Room: A Glimpse of Eternity

Revelation gives us another picture of God's holiness — this time from the throne room of heaven. The four living creatures never stop saying it, day and night.

¹After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” ⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ¹¹“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”Revelation 4:1-11 · NIV

Day and night. Never stopping. For all eternity. The beings closest to God — who see Him most clearly — can't stop declaring His holiness. The more you see God, the more holy is the only word that fits.

Moses and the Burning Bush: Holy Ground

Before the throne room vision, before Isaiah's temple encounter, there was a shepherd in the desert who stumbled onto holy ground.

¹Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” ⁴When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” ⁵“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. ⁷The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” ¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” ¹³Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “ I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘ I am has sent me to you.’ ” ¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord , the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.Exodus 3:1-15 · NIV

God told Moses to take off his sandals because the ground he was standing on was holy. Not because the dirt was special — but because God's presence makes things holy. Holiness isn't a property of places or objects. It's a quality of God Himself that transforms everything it touches.

What Holiness Means for Us

Psalm 99 pulls these themes together — God's holiness, His justice, and the proper response of His people.

Psalm 99 ¹The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. ²Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. ³Let them praise your great and awesome name— he is holy. ⁴The King is mighty, he loves justice— you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right. ⁵Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. ⁶Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the Lord and he answered them. ⁷He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them. ⁸ Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds. ⁹Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.Psalm 99 · NIV