Biblical Theology for Transformation - 17th Posting

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."
-Revelation 4:8

What is God's central characteristic? Most people would say that God is love, referencing 1 John 4:8. Though it is true that God is love; love is not His main attribute. GOD IS HOLY!!! We often find solice in God's love, but rarely do we look to His holiness as a place of comfort. In our culture and society there is such a desire from people to have their ears tickled, that preachers spend all their time preaching on the "easy to swallow" messages about God's love. Yes, Jesus loves you. However, without His holiness, there is no love. God's holiness is the attribute of God in which ALL of His other attributes flow from. Everything about God is funneled through His holiness.

We often hear messages about how God loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. Again, that is Biblically accurate, but it is not the whole story. Why did God send His Son? To pay or atone for our sins! Why does our sin need atoning? Because God hates our sin! Why does God hate our sin? BECAUSE HE IS HOLY!!! It is God's holiness that caused Him to punish sin. The punishment for our sin lies on our shoulders. We are responsible for our own sin and thus incur the penalty for our sin which is God's wrath. Because God loves us, He was gracious to send Jesus to die in our place and offered Himself to take on the punishment of the wrath of God. It is God's holiness that causes Him to punish our sin, and it is His love that provoked Him to say, "I will pay for you."

Let us not forget that our God is a holy God. Holiness is ascribed to God far more often in scripture than is love. Let us start preaching about God's hatred for sin and His standard of holiness that we cannot achieve without the atoning death of Jesus Christ. Though it is His love that made Him take our place, it is His holiness that moved Him to love. Let us set for ourselves a standard of holiness that causes us to love, not so that love is the end, but that God is glorified in our exaltation of His holiness through our holiness in Jesus Christ. His holiness is a standard we cannot achieve apart from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is One we cannot achieve apart from His grace. Let us begin to grasp the full spectrum of the gospel all wrapped around the glory of His holiness, for our God is holy!