Holiness is not a word that most people use very often in their everyday language, perhaps because there are so few holy things around us and about us. The Sabbath is a holy day in time, and God is, of course, holy. Apart from God, our everyday lives lack holiness.
If you do a study into the attributes most often associated with God’s character, you’ll discover that holiness is at the center of who God is. But what does that mean?
How do the following verses describe God: Leviticus 20:26, 1 Samuel 2:2, Isaiah 57:15, and Ezekiel 38:23?
When the Bible describes God as the epitome of holiness, it means that He is completely void of and completely separated from evil and sin. God is 100 percent good from beginning to end. In this sense, God’s holiness is central to all His other attributes.
For example, God’s love is a pure, holy love—a love that is completely free from all selfishness and egotistic motives. His omniscience (all-knowing) is holy omniscience, meaning it is free from evil intentions. Would we trust an omniscient God if He weren’t holy? Of course not! We would be afraid of Him, and rightly so.
God’s omnipotence (being all-powerful) is holy omnipotence. Imagine a God who is omnipotent but not holy. He could be a powerful, evil tyrant. Only God’s holiness allows and enables us to really love Him, because He is good from beginning to end. This is why holiness is perhaps the most important characteristic to understand about God’s character. Yet, perhaps, it is one of the most misunderstood, as well.
Think about Bible characters such as Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John who came into God’s presence. What was their first response? They removed their shoes, hid their faces, or fell down as though dead. As human beings, we are sinful and so unholy that we can’t bear to stand in God’s presence. Any human who looks at God’s face will not live. Similarly, when Ellen G. White went into vision, she often cried “Glory . . . glory . . . glory” because it was the one word that seemed to most capture what she saw. And, of course, the four living creatures do not rest day or night without saying, “ ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’ ” (Rev. 4:8, NKJV).
Truly, God is pure holiness, and when we come to Him, we must see Him as such. How does knowing this inspire you? In what ways does this challenge you regarding your own character?
Supplemental EGW Notes
As God is holy in His sphere, so fallen man, through faith in Christ, is to be holy in his sphere. . . .
The sanctification of the church is God’s object in all His dealings with His people. He has chosen them from eternity, that they might be holy. He gave His Son to die for them, that they might be sanctified through obedience to the truth, divested of all the littleness of self. From them He requires a personal work, a personal surrender. God can be honored by those who profess to believe in Him, only as they are conformed to His image and controlled by His Spirit. Then, as witnesses for the Saviour, they may make known what divine grace has done for them.
True sanctification comes through the working out of the principle of love. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16. The life of him in whose heart Christ abides, will reveal practical godliness. The character will be purified, elevated, ennobled, and glorified. Pure doctrine will blend with works of righteousness; heavenly precepts will mingle with holy practices.
Those who would gain the blessing of sanctification must first learn the meaning of self-sacrifice. . . . It is the fragrance of our love for our fellow men that reveals our love for God. It is patience in service that brings rest to the soul. It is through humble, diligent, faithful toil that the welfare of Israel is promoted. God upholds and strengthens the one who is willing to follow in Christ’s way.
Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It is not gained by a happy flight of feeling, but is the result of constantly dying to sin, and constantly living for Christ. Wrongs cannot be righted nor reformations wrought in the character by feeble, intermittent efforts. It is only by long, persevering effort, sore discipline, and stern conflict, that we shall overcome. We know not one day how strong will be our conflict the next. So long as Satan reigns, we shall have self to subdue, besetting sins to overcome; so long as life shall last, there will be no stopping place, no point which we can reach and say, I have fully attained. Sanctification is the result of lifelong obedience.—The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 559, 560.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.