Holiness of God

God cannot be like you or me.  He is holy.  Getting your mind around that is difficult.

According to Boice, God's holiness involves at least the following four attributes:

1. Majesty - dignity, sovereign power, grandeur
2. Will - a personal and active personality rather than abstract and passive.
3. Wrath - is part of holiness because it is natural and proper stance of the holy God and all that opposes him.
4. Righteousness - the perfect moral character and will of God.

When confronted with the holiness of God, Isaiah had his encounter with the holy God, he said "Woe to me, I am ruined".  Peter's encounter with the holiness of Christ is to say "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man".   Psalm 99:1 says the nations tremble.  

Sometimes I think we flippantly think of God as this heavenly Grandpa that totally lacks understanding of his perfect holiness.  The reactions in Psalm 100 are interesting:

v. 3 - Let them praise your great and awesome name - he is holy!
v. 5 - Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool - he is holy!
v.9 - Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.

Boice makes the point that the last verse says our God is holy.  God needs to be our God.  But how does a holy God become our God since we cannot be holy?  How do we connect with him?  Only one way - through forgiveness.  I can approach a holy and righteous God solely through atonement and forgiveness.  Only the forgiven can worship at the holy mountain!