The Knowledge of the Holy: The Holiness of God
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Holiness is something we don’t even like to talk about any more. In our contemporary understanding of religion, holiness is the creepy old uncle of Christian virtues. Its the one we all understand a little bit but very few of us want to actually talk about or show to others. This obviously comes from decades of church history where legalism was called holiness and we are in an age where people want to be anything but religious. But holiness, as I hope we’ll see, is the farthest thing from legalism. Holiness is the sign of the life of God in the soul of men and this is the reality we all desperately need.
It would be hard for us to get too far into a discussion of God’s holiness without stopping to remember the story of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet of God. He prophesied the true and accurate word of God for five whole chapters before he had an experience that changed his life forever. He had an encounter with God. In this encounter, Isaiah is taken before the throne of God and sees the Lord. He hears the burning angels around the throne declaring the ultimate holiness of God to one another. And it’s in this ecstatic vision that, though Isaiah had prophesied for five chapters already, he is struck with the sinfulness of his life and particularly the sinfulness of his lips. Isaiah needed a clear vision of God in His holiness before he could truly understand his utter sinfulness. This not only caused an acknowledgement of sin, but also a cleansing and a sending. It utterly changed the direction of Isaiah’s life.
Tozer tries to explain God’s holiness, but it’s obvious that it must come by revelation. It’s not something that a man can just explain. He must see it. So Tozer calls us away from futile activities like imagining the most holy thing you can think of and then taking it up another two or three notches. God’s holiness is not shared with anyone. Neither is there a standard of holiness that God must live up to. Instead, what God does is the definition of holiness. He is holy in whatever He does and what He does becomes our definition of holiness.
And because God is holiness Himself, He has made holiness the “moral standard” of health for the entire universe. God knows that His ways are best and that anything outside of His ways will destroy and degrade man and his environment. This is why the rebellion of mankind tainted the universe and unleashed death and decay. And this is why whenever you see systemic revival of the church and awakening in a society, the environment itself undergoes significant transformation. In order for God to preserve His world, He must actively war against that which harms it and this is why God unleashes wrath against sin on the Earth. “The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of creation are inseparably united.”
Tozer goes on to remind us that God is holy with an infinite holiness that has no degrees. This is a holiness we can never hope to achieve. But there is a relative type of holiness that God calls His people to participate in. It comes through the cross and by God imparting it to us. And though these words may not be popular with society at the moment, God still says to His church “You shall be holy, because I am holy,” (1 Peter 1:15-16). None of us will claim true holiness, but in light of God’s command, we have to soberly set out on a journey to grow into His image.
How do we do this? Tozer has some recommendations: Stare at God. Become utterly fascinated with Him and who is He is in His holiness. We become what we look at. So if we stare at Jesus and worship Him in truth, we will become alive from the inside in a way that makes us holy. We also must hide in Jesus. This means naming and repenting of our sin and committing to have no righteousness outside of Jesus. It’s His blood that cleansed us that is the basis for our holiness. As we do these two things, we also allow the Lord to discipline us so that we can grow in His holiness. These three attitudes change us and transform us into a person that is more like God every day.
Today, I’m burdened. I’m burdened by the fact that so much of the church thinks that God’s holiness is just legalism. I hate that the church thinks that holiness is just old-fashioned and prudish. In reality, God’s holiness is burning, shining brightness and glory. It’s full of life and burns away the cancer of sin that chokes out life in a believer. The most fully alive human beings I have ever met have tasted a little bit of God’s holiness and it has changed them forever.
Friends, we need more Isaiahs. We need more men and women who have had a profound encounter with Jesus and have seen Him in His holiness and glory. One glimpse–just one–will strip away every ounce of needing to be cool or well thought of. It will shift our agenda from our own to His. It will unleash prophets who again will declare the things of God.
It’s not just the world who needs conviction of God’s holiness. Much like Isaiah, the people who need to see God’s holiness is us. We talked for a lot of chapters, friends. But are there things about ourselves and our nation(s) that we can’t even see until we see Jesus in His holiness? We need to begin to ask God for more vision. As we do, we will see real life overwhelm the plastic lives of legalism and sin. We will see more cleansing and more sending.
And that is the need of the hour. The Knowledge of the Holy.
That’s my takeaway today. What’s yours? Leave a comment so we can all grow together!
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
The Knowledge of the Holy: The Love of God
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Stop for a second and think about the attributes of God we have discussed so far: one-ness, self-existence, self-sufficiency, eternity, infiniteness, mercy, grace, etc. While all these attributes are awe inspiring, without love, they can at worst be terrifying and at best leave you tepid. Who wouldn’t be fearful of a God who is everywhere, eternal, unlimited, and all-knowing if he was a loveless being? And even if you have such a being who is merciful and full of grace, but doesn’t love you, you’re left with a cold relationship based on your loveless god’s pity. Love is the part of God’s nature that sets Him apart and makes Him desirable.
We have to be careful though. Many, as Tozer has pointed out, have taken John’s statement “God is love,” and have turned that phrase to mean “love is God.” The result has been anything that seems loving, some have turned and worshipped as God. But generic love is not God, but God is full of sincere and fervent love. While “love” has been used to describe just about anything humans do, God’s love acts as God does. Everything He does is done with love.
This love that we experience from God manifests in many ways. Love wills the good of another, so when true love from God rests on our heart, we are able to live without fear because “love casts out fear,” (1 John 4:8). When our knowledge of God’s love and His sovereignty are perfected, we are able to live fearless lives confident that His love will mean our good. God’s love also reminds us that He desires friendship. The fact that God has set His love on us means more than just He is a good person. It means He desires relationship. With you. There are staggering implications to this. Finally, love means that the person who loves takes pleasure in the person He has set his affections on. God is fully pleased with you. There is no more need to try and please. You are as loved as you are ever going to be.
Finally, Tozer reminds us that love never lies dormant. It’s always moving. It’s always extending itself to the one it loves. And this is true of God. Jesus told us “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13). And in the cross and since the cross, no one has laid down their life for us more than Jesus. He sacrificed Himself for us, He is always praying for us, and leading us in laying our lives down.
One of the things that makes the topic of love so important is that Christianity is really the only “religion” that is based upon a relationship of love with it’s God. Talk to any Muslim that you know and they don’t really have an understanding of a God who loves them. Many of the other religions have many gods or no god who very seldom enter into relationship. It’s only in Christianity that God has the heart of a Father toward His children. Human beings were made with a need for love. Our need for love was ultimately designed to be fulfilled by God. We remain empty until we receive it.
And this is why it is so critical that we understand God as a God of love. Christianity lived out of a place of encountering God’s love is electric. It changes a person. But Christianity lived outside of experiencing God’s love is like a clanging symbol. It means nothing to the world and frankly it’s irritating. It’s a code of ethics with no cause that changes no one. But when we are touched in our hearts with the warmth of God’s love, it melts our cold hearts and makes us alive on the inside.
When we experience this love, it changes us. Fire begets fire on this walk that we are on and we begin to live out the same principles of love that God has shown us. We will the go want good things for others, we extend friendship to them, we give of ourselves. The worlds finally gets to see people alive from the inside, living out the message of the cross. The result will be stunning. It’s what the world is waiting for.
That’s my takeaway today. What’s yours? Leave a comment so we can all grow together!
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 20: The Love of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
The Knowledge of the Holy: The Grace of God
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Grace. It’s a word we use so often we sometimes forget what it means. In the last five years of church history, the word has taken on a whole new dynamic. There are men that are called “hyper-grace” believers and there are others being called legalists for not emphasizing grace enough. And if we’re not careful we can talk much about a word we barely understand, all the while thinking we totally understand part of God’s nature. Because grace is something that God is, our understanding of it is essential in this hour.
Hang with me here. Because I know that on Friday we talked about God’s mercy. And while Tozer (and I) will acknowledge that in God these two attributes are one, they are experienced in our humanity in slightly different ways. Mercy is God in his goodness confronting our guilt. But grace is God bestowing benefits upon undeserving people.
Picture the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). He has squandered his father’s inheritance and has realized what a terrible wrong he has done. He then returns home to a father, unsure of his father’s reaction and willing to be a slave just to survive. When he returns home, a watching father runs to his son while he’s still a long ways off and embraces him. The son repents. Now we know the father forgives this son. This was mercy. But when the father sends for the robe, the ring, sandals, and the feast, this is grace. Grace is what causes God to take us from the ash heap and seat us with princes (1 Samuel 2:8).
As I’ve pointed out before, Tozer likes to remind us of the foundation he has already laid in previous chapters. Because God is eternal and immutable, it’s not as if God suddenly developed grace as a part of His nature in response to our need. Instead, God has had grace in His nature since before the foundation of the world. Men in the Old Testament received grace. The sacrifice of Jesus has always been pointed to as the channel of this grace. And men and women since the New Testament have been recipients of grace. All of this comes through Jesus, who was looked forward to in the Old Testament and who has been looked backward on since His death and resurrection.
We do well to remember, as well, since grace is part of God’s nature, it is also infinite. There is no end to God’s grace. Tozer compares God’s grace to our need. Picture mankind’s great sin. If all of them were to be numbered, it would seem innumerable. And yet, Scripture makes it clear, where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds much, much more (Romans 5:20).
One of the things that I love about grace that we forget is that we don’t deserve it. Usually we don’t forget this when we are asking God for grace for ourselves. We usually remember this very easily. But we do forget this when we are dealing with others. Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve. GRACE (as some have very nicely described it) is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. We get access to this by the free gift of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. And so when we’re dealing with others, as those who have tasted God’s grace, we should be gracious, giving beyond what people deserve. This is the question we need to ask ourselves: Has my life been a picture of God’s grace to others?
At the same time, we should understand that grace is not given as a license for sin. Yes, we can sin and be recipients of grace. Sinning happens. But true recipients of grace are not content to take advantage of grace. Because grace is access to God’s riches and power to overcome sin is part of God’s riches, we should be quick to use grace to overcome sin. Paul, who was accused of being hyper-grace in his day, said “Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? No!” (Romans 6:1-2). Grace, in the economy of God, for a person who is constantly late is a watch that they could not afford. Grace empowers, it doesn’t entitle.
And so my encouragement today is for you and I to become hungry to receive and know God’s grace more than we already do. Let’s enjoy the ring and the feast that our Father has brought to us. Let’s show that grace to others who still think their father only wants slaves. But lets also use the grace given us as more than just an excuse for sin. Let’s use it to overcome those things that have held us back. Let’s truly experience real grace and show it to others. .
That’s my takeaway today. What’s yours? Leave a comment so we can all grow together!
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 19: The Grace of God
Day 20: The Love of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 