Psalm 99:1-3 (NIV)
The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name—he is holy.
There is probably no attribute of God which needs to be taught and fully understood more in our day than His holiness. David Wells emphasized this in God in the Wasteland, his book on how the modern culture has infected the church. He writes that, “We have turned to a God that we can use rather than to a God we must obey; we have turned to a God who will fulfill all our needs rather than to a God before whom we must surrender our rights to ourselves. He is a God for us, for our satisfaction—not because we have learned to think of him this way through Christ but because we have learned to think of him this way through the marketplace. In the marketplace, everything is for us, for our pleasure, for our satisfaction, and we have come to assume that it must be so in the church as well. And so, we transform the God of mercy into a God who is at our mercy.”
Tremble. Shake. Praise. Exalt. Worship. These are the verbs in Psalm 99 that express what our reaction should be when confronted by the Holy God of the Universe. Instead, we slap a “God is my Co-Pilot” bumper sticker on the car and drive around singing about how God is our best friend. Most churches are casual these days in terms of both dress and atmosphere so one may get the sense that there is nothing to be feared when you come into the presence of God. That certainly wasn’t Moses’ experience, nor was it the experience of the Priesthood nor the people of God in general. Moses requested a fly-by of sorts and God made him turn his back and hide in the rocks or else he would have been consumed by God’s Holiness—not exactly co-pilot status. The Chief Priest had to have a rope tied to his ankle when entering the Holy of Holies in case he made a mistake in the ritual sacrifice and was struck dead. Angelic visitations created a sense of fear and dread in God’s own people, and angels are essentially just errand boys compared to their LORD. In fact, the only utterance that comes out of their mouths in His throne room is, “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
“Holy is a word to emphasize the distance between God and man: not only morally, as between the pure and the polluted, but in the realm of being, between the eternal and the creaturely.” (Kidner) God Himself is set apart in many senses. He is set apart from creation, in that the Lord God is not a creature, and He exists outside of all creation. If all creation were to dissolve, the Lord God would remain. He is set apart from humanity, in that His nature or essence is Divine, not human. God is not a super-man or the ultimate man. God is not merely smarter than any man, stronger than any man, older than any man, or better than any man. You can’t measure God on man’s chart at all. He is Divine, and we are human (Enduring Word Commentary).
When I was a little boy, I used to run outside each weeknight to greet my dad when he got home from work. I knew I would get a big hug and some kind words, and I felt totally safe and secure in his grasp. But when my father used a certain tone of voice or gave me a certain look—or sometimes both—my reaction to him changed drastically. I knew he still loved me, but I was reminded that he was totally in charge and held my well-being in his hands. I loved him, but he was not to be trifled with. From an earthly perspective, he was holy—totally set apart. Shock and Awe. Fear and Respect. Power and Authority. Love and Judgment. Reward and Punishment. Yes, every Believer is a friend of God/Jesus (Jn. 15:13, 15), but we must remember that His first title is King. No subject of the King just strolls into the throne room, but once he is invited in, he enters as a friend. The King’s holiness remains intact, although the relationship with him is now on reconciled and friendly grounds. And no Believer should ever forget: You were once his enemy (Rom. 5:10).
God is not your co-pilot, buddy, pal, or casually dressed hipster worship leader. The God of the Bible is your Creator, Master, Judge, King, and yes…Friend. We should approach him reverently, to be sure, yet confident in the knowledge that the shed blood of His Son has saved us from His wrath and given us friendly access to His throne room.
