Can you sing the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy!” without being afraid? If God is holy, how does that carry over to his church? Is the church holy? Can she be holy?
Ascribe holiness to God. Holiness separates God from his creation. Grasp the magnificence, the glory of the Lord, as seen in Isaiah’s vision. God’s majesty is so great that his sinless creatures, the seraphs, cover their faces in his presence and cry, holy, holy, holy! The New Testament sounds the same note, Revelation 4:6-8. One of the reasons we struggle with personal holiness is that we don’t see as clearly as we should the transcendence of God. We treat him as the one who makes us feel good, and who gives us what we think we need. “The basic idea which the word ‘holy’ expresses is that of separation or separateness. When God is declared to be ‘holy’, the thought is of all that separates Him and sets Him apart and makes Him different from His creatures. . . . [M]an, because of his weakness as a creature and his defilement as a sinful creature, must learn to humble himself and be reverent before God.” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 183). Continue reading “Who Are We? A Holy Church”