A few years ago someone told me that when they went to their church, they felt as if they were before God in all of His holiness and this made them feel so good inside. I thought then, there is something wrong with that picture.
I’m not saying that the person was lying to me. I’m sure they felt some emotion based on the church service they went on to describe. They told me of their church that had dramas, rock bands and light shows. Funny as it may sound there was no mention of Bible preaching. These activities can stir an emotion of some type, but I can assure you it was not the holiness of God that this person felt.
The reason why I’m so sure of this, is that the holiness of God does not make sinful man happy. To be faced with the holiness of God is a scary and uncomfortable feeling. This is not the reaction that this person had.
When you think about God’s holiness what vision do you see? Isaiah told of his vision of a holy God.Isaiah 6
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isaiah describes a very dramatic and majestic scene. It would be very easy to close your eyes and envision the setting Isaiah tells about seeing. A church could inact this same setting in a play if they choose to do so. The flying seraphims maybe a bit tricky, but Peter Pan was able to show a resemblance of flight in the Broadway musical bearing his name. The viewer may need to squint so as not to see the cables that hold the seraphims in flight, but the setting could indeed be made as it is told of in Isaiah.
With today’s movie making software, it would be a ease for Hollywood to manufacture this drama and not have any cables showing. If you placed this man made movie on the big screen with surround sound and the deep base that vibrates your body with the angelic sounds and a dramatic sound track, we could easy be very impressed and even awed by the spectacular showing.
However, this drama is not the Holiness of God. Man cannot duplicate in a play or movie what it feels like to be in front of a Holy God. The good feeling that the person told me about at their church, could be multiplied many times over if money was no object and the time was taken to set the scene in Hollywood fashion, but still you would not have the feeling of standing in front of a Holy God.
It’s not so much the limited resources we have to duplicate this feeling, but it is more the reaction we would have to the holiness if we were to pull it off that makes me know this will never happen.
Standing in front of a Holy God when you are a sinner is not a good feeling. The holiness of God is such that no man, no matter how good we try to be, can bear His presence. We see evidence of this in the fear Isaiah showed when he was shown a glimpse of the holiness of God. Remember now that Isaiah was a prophet of God. By the nature of that calling, his task was to speak the words given by God. Isaiah then knew God more then most people. What did Isaiah do when he was faced with the Holy One?
5 Then said I, Woe [is] me! for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, [which] he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid [it] upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
For Isaiah to admit that his lips were unclean and that he was unworthy to even utter the word of God when it was he that God delivered His message to is something we must ponder. God’s holiness does not bring good feelings, but worthless feelings.
This is shown over and over again in the Bible. Please notice this passage in Mark.
Mark 4:
35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
One would think after such a great miracle witnessed that all the disciples would be high-fiving each other and even high-fiving Jesus and joyfully telling Jesus how great he was. One would also think that the fear would be gone now that the dangerous winds had stopped. But notice this was not what happened.
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Their fear was now greater. They understood maybe for the 1st time that they stood beside God, a holy God and they did not know what to do about it. They once were scared by the winds, now they were terrified beyond what they could imagine. They thought, “who in the world has the power to speak to the winds and control them?” This was not a good feeling, but one of fear and humbleness and this is why the passage says “feared exceedingly”.
Consider Peter’s reaction to the presence of God. Peter was out fishing all night with no success. Jesus comes and tells Peter the right place to drop his nets. This story continues below.
Luke 5
5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
7And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
Again one would think that Peter would have great joy as a reaction to what Jesus had done. But this is not what we find.
8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Peter did not want to be around the Holy God. He said, on his knees, get away from me, Lord. This is the reaction we always see in the Bible when Man is face to face with a holy God. The good feeling is gone and the worthless feeling of being a sinner is shown.
Now I must ask which God is being shown in your church?
There is a trend today not to offend when one preaches. Often times the word sin is replaced with mistake, for it is more kind to the non-believer than sin. But a sinner must know of the holiness of God. Is this being left out in your church?
The "god" whom the vast majority of professing Christians "love," is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, that winks at the "indiscretions" of youth. But the Word says, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity " and "God is angry with the wicked every day".
But men refuse to believe in this God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention. This is why preachers try to not bring up the word sin. In doing so they are ashamed of whom God is. God is holy and man is a sinner and this is found in the Bible. The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled. A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit.
Because God is holy He hates all sin. He loves everything that is in conformity to His laws, and loathes everything that is contrary to it. His Word plainly says, "The froward is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 3:32). It follows, therefore, that He must necessarily punish sin. Sin can no more exist without demanding His punishment than without requiring His hatred of it.
This holiness is what man does not like, yet it is very much God. If we were to stand before God the worthless feeling that comes on all others would also rest on us. Our own sin would be brought to mind as God stood in all his glory and holiness. We too would drop to our knees in shame.
His holiness demands death and that death is found in grace provided only in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every poor sinner who has fled to Him for refuge stands "accepted in the Beloved".