Well may we exclaim: +"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways
past finding out."+ (Rom. 11:33.) God knows from all eternity what
He will do to all eternity.
4. _God is also absolutely and infinitely holy._ This is a point of
central and fundamental importance in the Bible conception of God.
It comes out in our first text: +"God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all."+ John when he wrote these words gave them as the
summary of +"The message which we have heard from God."+ (1 John
1:5.) In Isa. 6:3 in the vision of Jehovah which was given to Isaiah
in the year that King Uzziah died, the "seraphim," or "burning ones,"
burning in their own intense holiness, are represented as standing
before Jehovah with covered faces and covered feet and constantly
crying, "_Holy, holy, holy_, is Jehovah of Hosts." And in 1 Pet. 1:16
God cries to us, +"Be ye holy, for I am holy."+
This thought of the infinite and awe-inspiring holiness of God pervades
the entire Bible. It underlies everything in it. The entire Mosaic
system is built upon and about this fundamental and central truth. Its
system of washings; the divisions of the tabernacle; the divisions
of the people into ordinary Israelites, Levites, Priests and High
Priests, who were permitted different degrees of approach to God under
strictly defined conditions, insistence upon sacrifices of blood as
the necessary medium of approach to God; God's directions to Moses in
Ex. 3:5, to Joshua in Josh. 5:15, the punishment of Uzziah in 2 Chron.
26:16-26, the strict orders to Israel in regard to approaching Sinai
when Jehovah came down upon it; the doom of Korah, Dathan and Abiram in
Num. 16:1-33; and the destruction of Nadab and Abihu in Lev. 10:1-3:
all these were intended to teach, emphasise and burn into the minds
and hearts of the Israelites the fundamental truth that God is holy,
unapproachably holy. _The truth that God is holy is the fundamental
truth of the Bible_, of the Old Testament and the New Testament, of the
Jewish religion and the Christian religion. It is the preëminent factor
in the Christian conception of God. There is no fact in the Christian
Conception of God that needs more to be emphasised in our day than the
fact of the absolute, unqualified and uncompromising holiness of God.
That is the chief note that is lacking in Christian Science, Theosophy,
Occultism, Buddhism, New Thought, the New Theology and all the base but
boasted cults of the day. That great truth underlies those fundamental
doctrines of the Bible,—the Atonement by Shed Blood and Justification
by Faith. _The doctrine of the holiness of God is the keystone in the
arch of Christian truth._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account