a) The Holiness of God.
If there is any difference in importance in the attributes of God,
that of His Holiness seems to occupy the first place. It is, to
say the least, the one attribute which God would have His people
remember Him by more than any other. In the visions of Himself
which God granted men in the Scriptures the thing that stood out
most prominent was the divine holiness. This is clearly seen by
referring to the visions of Moses, Job, and Isaiah. Some thirty
times does the Prophet Isaiah speak of Jehovah as "the Holy One,"
thus indicating what feature of those beatific visions had most
impressed him.
The holiness of God is the message of the entire Old Testament.
To the prophets God was the absolutely Holy One; the One with eyes
too pure to behold evil; the One swift to punish iniquity. In taking
a photograph, the part of the body which we desire most to see is
not the hands or feet, but the face. So is it with our vision of
God. He desires us to see not His hand and finger, denoting His
power and skill, nor even His throne as indicating His majesty.
It is His holiness by which He desires to be remembered as that is
the attribute which most glorifies Him. Let us bear this fact in
mind as we study this attribute of the divine nature. It is just
this vision of God that we need today when the tendency to deny
the reality or the awfulness of sin is so prevalent. Our view of
the necessity of the atonement will depend very largely upon our
view of the holiness of God. Light views of God and His holiness
will produce light views of sin and the atonement.
(1) Scriptural statements setting forth the fact of God's Holiness.
Isa. 57:15--"Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place."
Psa. 99:9--"Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill:
for the Lord our God is holy." Hab. 1:13--"Thou art of purer eyes
than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." 1 Pet. 1:15,
16 --"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in
all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy: for
I am holy." God's personal name is holy. John 17:11--"Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me." Christ
here contemplates the Father as the Holy One, as the source and
agent of that which He desires for His disciples, namely, holiness
of heart and life, being kept from the evil of this world.
Is it not remarkable that this attribute of holiness is ascribed
to each of the three persons of the Trinity: God the Father, is
the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 41:14); God the Son is the Holy One
(Acts 3:14); God the Spirit is called the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30).
(2) The Scriptural meaning of Holiness as applied to God.
Job 34:10--"Be it far from God, that he should do wickedness; and
from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity." An evil God,
one that could commit evil would be a contradiction in terms,
an impossible, inconceivable idea. Job seemed to doubt that the
principle on which the universe was conducted was one of absolute
equity. He must know that God is free from all evil-doing. However
hidden the meaning of His dealings, He is always just. God never
did, never will do wrong to any of His creatures; He will never
punish wrongly. Men may, yea, often do; God never does. Lev.
11:43-45--"Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping
thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with
them, that ye should be defiled thereby. For I am the Lord your
God; ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy;
for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner
of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.... Ye shall therefore
be holy, for I am holy." This means that God is absolutely clean
and pure and free from all defilement.
The construction of the Tabernacle, with its holy and most holy
place into which the high priest alone entered once a year; the Ten
Commandments, with their moral categories; the laws of clean and
unclean animals and things--all these speak to us in unmistakable
terms as to what is meant by holiness as applied to God.
Two things, by way of definition, may be inferred from these
Scriptures: first, negatively, that God is entirely apart from
all that is evil and from all that defiles both in Himself and in
relation to all His creatures; second and positively, by the holiness
of God is meant the consummate holiness, perfection, purity, and
absolute sanctity of His nature. There is absolutely nothing unholy
in Him. So the Apostle John declares: "God is light, and in him
is no darkness at all."
(3) The manifestation of God's Holiness.
Prov. 15:9, 26--"The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the
Lord. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord."
God hates sin, and is its uncompromising foe. Sin is a vile and
detestable thing to God. Isa. 59:1, 2--"Behold, the Lord's hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that
it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will
not hear." Israel's sin had raised a partition wall. The infinite
distance between the sinner and God is because of sin. The sinner
and God are at opposite poles of the moral universe. This in answer
to Israel's charge of God's inability. From these two scriptures
it is clear that God's holiness manifests itself in the hatred of
sin and the separation of the sinner from himself.
Herein lies the need of the atonement, whereby this awful distance
is bridged over. This is the lesson taught by the construction of
the Tabernacle as to the division into the holy place and the most
holy place.
Prov. 15:9--"But he loveth him that followeth after righteousness."
John 3:16--"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son," etc. Here God's holiness is seen in that He loves
righteousness in the life of His children to such a degree that He
gave His only begotten Son to secure it. The Cross shows how much
God loves holiness. The Cross stands for God's holiness before even
His love. For Christ died not merely for our sins, but in order
that He might provide us with that righteousness of life which
God loves. "He died that we might be forgiven; he died to make us
good." Do we love holiness to the extent of sacrificing for it?
For other manifestations see under Righteousness and Justice of
God.
(4) Practical deductions from the doctrine of God's Holiness.
First, we should approach God with "reverence and godly fear"
(Heb. 12:28). In the story of Moses' approach to the burning bush,
the smiting of the men at Bethshemesh, the boundary set about Mt.
Sinai, we are taught to feel our own unworthiness. There is too
much hilarity in our approach unto God. Eccl. 5:1-3 inculcates
great care in our address to God.
Second, we shall have right views of sin when we get right views
of God's holiness. Isaiah, the holiest man in all Israel, was cast
down at the sight of his own sin after he had seen the vision of
God's holiness. The same thing is true of Job (40:3-4; 42:4-5).
We confess sin in such easy and familiar terms that it has almost
lost its terror for us.
Third, that approach to a holy God must be through the merits
of Christ, and on the ground of a righteousness which is Christ's
and which naturally we do not possess. Herein lies the need of the
atonement.
b) The Righteousness and Justice of God.
In a certain sense these attributes are but the manifestation of
God's holiness. It is holiness as manifested in dealing with the
sons of men. Holiness has to do more particularly with the character
of God in itself, while in Righteousness and Justice that character
is expressed in the dealings of God with men. Three things may be
said in the consideration of the Righteousness and Justice of God:
first, there is the imposing of righteousness laws and demands,
which may he called legislative holiness, and may he known as the
Righteousness of God; second, there is the executing of the penalties
attached to those laws, which may be called judicial holiness; third,
there is the sense in which the attributes of the Righteousness
and Justice of God may be regarded as the actual carrying out of
the holy nature of God in the government of the world. So that in
the Righteousness of God we have His love of holiness, and in the
Justice of God, His hatred of sin.
Again Righteousness, as here used, has reference to the very nature
of God as He is in Himself--that attribute which leads God always
to do right. Justice, as an attribute of God, is devoid of all
passion or caprice; it is vindicative not vindictive. And so the
Righteousness and Justice of the God of Israel was made to stand
out prominently as contrasted with the caprice of the heathen gods.
(1) Scriptural statement of the fact.
Psalm 116:5--"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is
merciful." The context here shows that it is because of this fact
that God listens to men, and because having promised to hear He is
bound to keep His promises. Ezra 9:15--"0 Lord God of Israel, thou
art righteous." Here the Righteousness of Jehovah is acknowledged
in the punishment of Israel's sins. Thou art just, and thou hast
brought us into the state in which we are today. Psa. 145:17--"The
Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." This
is evident in the rewards He gives to the upright, in lifting up
the lowly, and in abundantly blessing the good, pure, and true.
Jer. 12:1--"Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee."
That is to say, "If I were to bring a charge against Thee I should
not be able to convict Thee of injustice, even though I be painfully
exercised over the mysteries of Thy providence."
These scriptures clearly set forth not only the fact that God is
righteous and just, but also define these attributes. Here we are
told that God, in His government of the world, does always that
which is suitable, straight, and right.
(2) How the Righteousness and Justice of God is revealed.
In two ways: first, in punishing the wicked: retributive justice,
second, in rewarding the righteous: remunerative justice.
_aa) In the punishment of the wicked._
Psa. 11:4-7--"The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is
in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
The Lord trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth
violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire
and brimstone and an horrible tempest. This shall be the portion
of their cup." This is David's reply to his timid advisers. Saul
may reign upon the earth and do wickedly, but God reigns from heaven
and will do right. He sees who does right and who does wrong. And
there is that in His nature which recoils from the evil that He
sees, and will lead Him ultimately to punish it. There is such a
thing as the wrath of God. It is here described. Whatever awful
thing the description in this verse may mean for the wicked, God
grant that we may never know. In Exod. 9:23-27 we have the account
of the plague of hail, following which are these words: "And Pharaoh
sent...for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned
this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked."
Pharaoh here acknowledges the perfect justice of God in punishing
him for his sin and rebellion. He knew that he had deserved it
all, even though cavillers today say there was injustice with God
in His treatment of Pharaoh. Pharaoh himself certainly did not
think so. Dan. 9:12-14 and Rev. 16:5, 6 bring out the same thought.
How careful sinners ought to be not to fall into the hands of the
righteous Judge! No sinner at last will be able to say, "I did not
deserve this punishment."
_bb) In forgiving the sins of the penitent._
1 John 1:9 (R. V.)--"If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." Ordinarily, the forgiveness of sin is associated
with the mercy, love, and compassion of God, and not with His
righteousness and justice. This verse assures us that if we confess
our sins, the righteousness and justice of God is our guarantee for
forgiveness--God cannot but forgive and cleanse us from all sin.
_cc) In keeping His word and promise to His children._
Neh. 9:7, 8--"Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram...and
madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites...to
his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous."
We need to recall the tremendous obstacles which stood in the way
of the fulfillment of this promise, and yet we should remember the
eleventh chapter of Hebrews. When God gives His word, and makes
a promise, naught in heaven, on earth, or in hell can make that
promise void. His righteousness is the guarantee of its fulfillment.
_dd) In showing Himself to be the vindicator of His people from
all their enemies._
Psa. 129:1-4--"Many a time have they afflicted me...yet they have
not prevailed against me. The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder
the cords of the wicked." Sooner or later, God's people will triumph
gloriously as David triumphed over Saul. Even in this life God
will give us rest from our enemies; and there shall assuredly come
a day when we shall be "where the wicked cease from troubling, and
the weary are at rest."
_ee) In the rewarding of the righteous._
Heb. 6:10--"For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor
of love, which ye have showed towards his name, in that ye have
ministered unto the saints, and do minister." Those who had shown
their faith by their works would not now be allowed to lose that
faith. The very idea of divine justice implies that the use of this
grace, thus evidenced, will be rewarded, not only by continuance
in grace, but their final perseverance and reward. 2 Tim.
4:8--"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day:
and not to me only, but unto all them that love hiss appearing."
The righteous Judge will not allow the faithful believer to go
unrewarded. He is not like the unrighteous judges of Rome and the
Athenian games. Here we are not always rewarded, but some time we
shall receive full reward for all the good that we have done. The
righteousness of God is the guarantee of all this.
c) The Mercy and Loving-kindness of God.
By these attributes is meant, in general, the kindness, goodness,
and compassion of God, the love of God in its relation to both
the obedient and the disobedient sons of men. The dew drops on the
thistle as well as on the rose.
More specifically: Mercy is usually exercised in connection with
guilt; it is that attribute of God which leads Him to seek the
welfare, both temporal and spiritual, of sinners, even though at
the cost of great sacrifice on His part. "But God, who is rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us...God commendeth
his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us." (Eph. 2:4; Rom. 5:8.)
Loving-kindness is that attribute of God which leads Him to bestow
upon His obedient children His constant and choice blessing. "He
that spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us
all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?" (Rom.
8:32.)
(I) Scriptural statement of the fact.
Psa. 103:8--"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
and plenteous in mercy." For, instead of inflicting pain, poverty,
death--which are the wages of sin--God has spared our lives, given
us health, increased our blessings and comforts, and given us the
life of the ages. Deut. 4:31--"(For the Lord thy God is a merciful
God); he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget
the covenant of thy fathers." God is ready to accept the penitence
of Israel, even now, if only it be sincere. Israel will return and
find God only because He is merciful and does not let go of her.
It is His mercy that forbids his permanently forsaking His people.
Psa. 86:15--"But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and
gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth." It
was because God had so declared Himself to be of this nature that
David felt justified in feeling that God would not utterly forsake
him in his time of great stress and need. The most striking
illustration of the Mercy and Loving-kindness of God is set forth
in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). Here we have
not only the welcome awaiting the wanderer, but also the longing
for his return on the part of the anxious and loving father.
(1) How the Mercy and Loving-kindness of God are manifested.
In general: We must not forget that God is absolutely sovereign in
the bestowal of His blessings--"Therefore hath he mercy on whom he
will have mercy" (Rom. 9:18). We should also remember that God
wills to have mercy on all His creatures--"For thou, Lord, art good,
and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy to all them that call
upon thee" (Psa. 86:5).
_aa) Mercy--towards sinners in particular._
Luke 6:36--"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is
merciful." Matt. 5:45--"That ye may be the children, of your Father
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust." Here even
the impenitent and hard-hearted are the recipients of God's mercy;
all sinners, even the impenitent are included in the sweep of His
mercy.
Isa. 55:7--"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man
his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord: and he will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
God's mercy is a holy mercy; it will by no means protect sin, but
anxiously awaits to pardon it. God's mercy is a city of refuge for
the penitent, but by no means a sanctuary for the presumptuous. See
Prov. 28:13, and Psa. 51:1. God's mercy is here seen in pardoning
the sin of those who do truly repent. We speak about "trusting in
the mercy of the Lord." Let us forsake sin and then trust in the
mercy of the Lord and we shall find pardon.
2 Pet. 3:9--"The Lord...is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Neh. 9:31--"Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not
utterly consume them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God."
Here is mercy manifested in forbearance with sinners. If God should
have dealt with them in justice they would have been cut off long
before. Think of the evil, the impurity, the sin that God must see.
How it must disgust Him. Then remember that He could crush it all
in a moment. Yet He does not. He pleads; He sacrifices to show His
love for sinners. Surely it is because of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, and because His compassions fail not. Yet,
beware lest we abuse this goodness, for our God is also a consuming
fire. "Behold, the goodness and the severity of God." The Mercy
of God is here shown in His loving forbearance with sinners.
_bb) Loving-kindness towards the saints, in particular._
Psa. 32:10--"But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass
him about." The very act of trust on the part of the believer moves
the heart of God to protect him just as in the case of a parent
and his child. The moment I throw myself on God I am enveloped in
His mercy--mercy is my environment, like a fiery wall it surrounds
me, without a break through which an evil can creep. Besistance
surrounds us with "sorrow"; but trust surrounds us with "mercy."
In the center of that circle of mercy sits and rests the trusting
soul.
Phil. 2:27--"For indeed he was sick nigh unto death; but God had
mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should
have sorrow upon sorrow." Here God's loving-kindness is seen in
healing up His sick children. Yet remember that "He hath mercy on
whom He will have mercy." Not every sick child of God is raised.
Psa. 6:4--"Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O Lord, heal
me...Deliver my soul for thy mercies' sake (v. 4)." The psalmist
asks God to illustrate His mercy in restoring to him his spiritual
health. From these scriptures we see that the mercy of God is
revealed in healing His children of bodily and spiritual sickness.
Psa. 21:7--"For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the
mercy of the most High he shall not be moved." David feels that,
because he trusts in the mercy of the Lord, his throne, whatever
may dash against it, is perfectly secure. Is not this true also
of the believer's eternal security? More to the mercy of God than
to the perseverance of the saints is to be attributed the eternal
security of the believer. "He will hold me fast."
d) The Love of God.
Christianity is really the only religion that sets forth the Supreme
Being as Love. The gods of the heathen are angry, hateful beings,
and are in constant need of appeasing.
(1) Scriptural statements of the fact.
1 John 4:8-16--"God is love." "God is light"; "God is Spirit";
"God is love." Spirit and Light are expressions of God's essential
nature. Love is the expression of his personality corresponding to
His nature. It is the nature of God to love. He dwells always in
the atmosphere of love. Just how to define or describe the love
of God may be difficult if not impossible. It appears from certain
scriptures (1 John 3:16; John 3:16) that the love of God is of such
a nature that it betokens a constant interest in the physical and
spiritual welfare of His creatures as to lead Him to make sacrifices
beyond human conception to reveal that love.
(2) The objects of God's Love.
_aa) Jesus Christ, God's only-begotten Son, is the special object
of His Love._
Matt. 3:17--"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Also Matt. 17:5; Luke 20:13. Jesus Christ shares the love of the
Father in a unique sense, just as He is His Son in a unique sense.
He is especially "My chosen." "The One in whom my soul delighteth,"
"My beloved Son,"--literally: the Son of mine, the beloved. And we
can readily understand how that He who did the will of God perfectly
should thus become the special object of the Father's love. Of
course, if the love of God is eternal, as is the nature of God,
which must be the case, then, that love must have had an eternal
object to love. So Christ, in addressing the Father, says: "Thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world."
_bb) Believers in His Son, Jesus Christ, are special objects of
God's Love._
John 16:27--"For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have
loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." 14:21-23--"He
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father. ...If a man love me...my
Father will love him." 17:23--"And hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me." Do we really believe these words? We are not on the
outskirts of God's love, but in its very midst. There stands Christ
right in the very midst of that circle of the Father's love; then
He draws us to that spot, and, as it were, disappears, leaving us
standing there bathed in the same loving-kindness of the Father in
which He Himself had basked.
_cc) God loves the world of sinners and ungodly men._
John 3:16--"For God so loved the world" was a startling truth to
Nicodemus in his narrow exclusivism. God loved not the Jew only,
but also the Gentile; not a part of the world of men, but every
man in it, irrespective of his moral character. For "God commendeth
his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us" (Rom. 5:8). This is wonderful when we begin to realize
what a world in sin is. The love of God is broader than the measure
of man's mind. God desires the salvation of all men (1 Tim. 2:4).
(3) How the Love of God reveals Itself.
_aa) In making infinite sacrifice for the salvation of men._
1 John 4:9, 10--"In this was manifested the love of God towards us,
because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that
we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that God loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins." Love is more than compassion; it hides not itself as
compassion may do, but displays itself actively in behalf of its
object. The Cross of Calvary is the highest expression of the love
of God for sinful man. He gave not only a Son, but His only Son,
His well-beloved.
_bb) In bestowing full and complete pardon on the penitent._
Isa. 38:17--"Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit
of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back."
Literally, "Thou hast loved my soul back from the pit of destruction."
God had taken the bitterness out of his life and given him the
gracious forgiveness of his sins, by putting them far away from
Him. Eph. 2:4, 5--"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ," etc. Verses 1-3 of this chapter
show the race rushing headlong to inevitable ruin. "But" reverses
the picture; when all help for man fails, then God steps in, and
by His mercy, which springs from "His great love," redeems fallen
man, and gives him not only pardon, but a position in His heavenly
kingdom by the side of Jesus Christ. All this was "for," or, perhaps
better, "in order to satisfy His great love." Love led Him to do
it.
_cc) In remembering His children in all the varying circumstances
of life._
Isa. 63:9--"In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel
of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed
them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Here
is retrospection on the part of the prophet. He thinks of all the
oppressions of Israel, and recalls how God's interests have been
bound up with theirs. He was not their adversary; He was their
sympathetic, loving friend. He suffered with them. Isa. 49:15,
16--"Can a woman forget her sucking child? Yea, they may forget,
yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee on the palms
of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." It was the custom
those days to trace upon the palms of the hands the outlines of any
object of affection; hence a man engraved the name of his god. So
God could not act without being reminded of Israel. God is always
mindful of His own. Saul of Tarsus learned this truth on the way
to Damascus.