One of the most common words used to refer to God in the Bible is “holiness.” We sing the song, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” to express what the Bible says of God in Isaiah 6:3. God expects His people to reflect His holiness, for He says, “Be ye holy, even as I am holy.” (I Peter 1:16).
Holiness means “separation.” It comes from the Greek and Hebrew words which mean “to separate or cut off.” When the Bible says that God is holy, it means that He is altogether separate from the common and the sinful. This holiness makes it impossible for God to commit or even look upon sin. He is untouched and unstained by the evil in the world.
To Isaiah, God was revealed as the “Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah had a frightening encounter with God (Isaiah 6:1-7), and this helped Isaiah to realize the absolute holiness of God and his own unworthiness to stand before God. In the New Testament, we see Simon Peter’s reaction to the Lord Jesus in Luke 5, when Peter recognizes his own sinfulness in Jesus’ presence.
The common thread of both accounts is that each man was overwhelmed by God. They were penetrated to the core of their being. Every sin, every wrong attitude, every secret motive was laid open before the God of the universe. Hebrews 4:13 says, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, hut all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (NASB).
When we realize our sinfulness before God, we cry with Isaiah, “Woe is me, for I am ruined,” and we see that our only hope is to run to the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who confers His righteousness to us when we accept Him.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that those whom God has called to be His own are to separate themselves from the evil and unclean things of this world in II Corinthians 6:14–7:1. And not only are individual believers to be holy, but the corporate body, the church is to be holy as well: “that the church might be presented to Him in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).
March/April 1994