The Holiness of God is such an important doctrine and reality to understand. It will help us all appreciate God's specialness and majesty as well as how wonderful it is that He has provided a way for mere creatures to come to Him and be adopted by Him.
Exodus 19:10-24,15:11,3:2-6,20:18-21,33:17-23
Psalm 50,104:1
1 Samuel 2:2
Hosea 11:9
Revelation 15:4
Judges 13:22
From this it already appears that it is not correct to think of holiness primarily as a moral or religious quality, as is generally done. Its fundamental idea is that of a position or relationship existing between God and some person or thing.
It is this holiness of God which Otto, in his important work on Das Heilige,... includes such ideas as "absolute unapproachability" and "absolute overpoweringness" or "aweful majesty". It awakens in a man a sense of absolute nothingness, a "creature-consciousness" or "creature-feeling" leading to absolute self-abasement.
...the response to it: "Mere awe, mere need of shelter from the 'tremendum', has here been elevated to the feeling that man in his 'profaneness' is not worthy to stand in the presence of the Holy One, and that his entire personal unworthiness might defile even holiness itself." Louis Berkhof Systematic Theology
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:- Why is it so important to understand God's Holiness?
- What significance is the fact that the basic idea of holiness is to separate?
- Why is God's holiness also understood as God's specialness and His aboveness?
- How did God teach these things to Moses and the people of Israel at the burning bush, at Mt. Sinai and when Moses saw God pass by?
- What are the implications of all of this for us?
- What will it be like to see God for the believer?
- For the unbeliever?
- For you?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
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