Discover Who Your Father IsSample

DAY 4: Our Father Is Holy

God’s holiness is the infinite, unrivaled love that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have eternally shared and enjoyed. God’s holiness is his perfection, beauty, and purity. He is uncontaminated by anything unclean, impure, or unjust. And he is perfectly unique, different, and other than all he has created.  

God invites us to share in his holiness. Otherwise, our impurity, uncleanliness, and sin would keep us out of his loving presence and holy family. When we are born again, we are eternally forgiven, eternally alive with Christ, and clothed with his holiness. God imparts his holiness to us as a gift, and we are empowered to a life holy or devoted to him and his kingdom.

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. 

It is life-changing when we discover that the holiness that God requires of us is the gift he gives to us.

Several thousand years ago, there was a Jewish prophet named Isaiah, who caught a glimpse of God’s holy beauty. He saw a vision of God’s heavenly throne. It was a powerful, awesome, majestic scene that left Isaiah humbled and undone. The hem of God’s robe filled the temple. The majestic seraphim, a class of powerful angels, were standing above him, calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth” (Isa. 6:3). The threefold repetition of “holy” signifies that God is infinitely holy, perfectly holy, as holy as possible.

Isaiah’s vision corresponded with the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple. The temple is where heaven and earth meet, where God’s holy beauty meets God’s people, atones their sins, and sends them into the world to bear witness to his glory as missionaries.

Marinate with me for a moment: God, in his perfection, is so beautiful, so awesome, so great, all the mighty seraphim could do was shout to each other, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Yahweh! His glory fills the earth.”

All it takes is one glimpse of God’s holy beauty, and we are changed. Isaiah saw the Lord in all his splendor and holiness. This was a holy and terrifying moment because Isaiah saw his sin and the sin of the people of Israel. In light of God’s perfection, Isaiah knew without a doubt how imperfect he was. But God did not punish Isaiah; rather, the holy love of God in his pure, radiant, glory led Isaiah to repentance.

Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies. (Isa. 6:5)

Grace is not appreciated when the holiness of God is not valued.

Isaiah says he is “ruined.” He is unraveling at being in God’s holy presence. He had seen the King, and the King’s holiness brought him to his knees. This is a good thing because being on our knees is a sign of reverence. It is a living symbol of acknowledging God’s infinite worth. It is only when we fall to our knees that he can pick us up.