Holiness of God

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Holiness of God:

Absolute; free from imperfection and mixture
Separate: to isolate from a mixture
Transcendent: extending or lying beyond the limits of creation or creation's experiences
Coextensive: To the same extent or degree
Impeccability: faultless; flawless; irreproachable, incapable of sin.
Purity: The condition of being clean and free of contaminants or mixture
Being: the fact of existing; existence (as opposed to nonexistence).

God is absolutely separate from creation and transcendent, He is "other than".. He is also absolutely separate from all moral evil and sin. When we speak of God's Holiness we are not actually speaking directly to an attribute. His Holiness is what He is. His Holiness is coextensive with His attributes. This speaks to His perfection, and impeccability. We may best describe this as purity. God is pure in being. This purity of being is priority in that it dictates His will and His acts.. It is from this that all His attributes flow. It is from this that God wills, acts and declares. Example; God wills a thing to be good, Does He will it to be good because it is good or because He decided it was good? If God wills a thing good because it is good, then "good" would be above God Himself in that good is not from God but exists outside of Him. If God wills a thing to be good because He said it is good then God is arbitrary and we have no assurance that God will not change His mind. That which God wills is an expression of what He is, His nature, Purity in being (Holiness). Anything that is not God, is not pure in being therefore God is unmixed or not a part of anything that is less than Himself.

Leviticus 11:44 (KJV) For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Joshua 24:19 (KJV) And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
1 Samuel 6:20 (KJV) And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
Psalms 22:3 (KJV) But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Isaiah 40:25 (KJV) To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Ezekiel 39:7 (KJV) So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
Habakkuk 1:12 (KJV) Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

Since God can not be mixed with creation and is pure in being, there is a gulf that is fixed between God and man. God can have nothing to do with moral evil and sin. Isa. 59:2, Hab. 1:13. (note: this verse is saying that God can not look upon sin with approval). There are many verses that says God sees the ways of man. When we say that God can not look upon sin we are saying that He can not approve nor accept it in by any means. Also, He will not acquit those that are guilty, Nah. 1:3. The teaching that God turned His back on Christ is not really accurate. Sin separates us from God. Christ was separated from God because He was made to be sin for us, 2 Cor 5:21. It was this separation that caused Christ to cry out, Why hast thou forsaken me? Mat 27:45-46. Christ knew that the Father God saw Him as sin and understood this separation. In His humanity he cried out, as we must also cry out, "Why have you forsaken me?"

Isaiah 59:2 (KJV) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Habakkuk 1:13 (KJV) Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
Nahum 1:3 (KJV) The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Matthew 27:45-46 (KJV) 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

All the attributes of God must be viewed in this sense of purity (absolute perfection, unmixable). When God wills or declares a penalty for a crime against Him, it is none negotiable. There is no plea bargaining. God can not over rule one attribute by another. Justice can not be over ruled by mercy. If this were allowed then God would be arbitrary (changeable) and His Holiness would have no meaning. To say that God weighs our good and bad in order to judge us is to say that God acquits our crimes against Him arbitrarily. Since the penalty is declared from the purity of His being then it is good and not up for debate by creatures. One sin must be punished regardless of all the "good" you do in your life you are still guilty. God's good and Holy Justice must be satisfied. No creature (creation) can satisfy this good and Holy penalty. Man can only approach God through the merits of one that can "mix" with God. And that can only be God himself. The atonement was the love of God satisfied. What His Holy Justice demanded, His Holy Love provided.

Romans 5:6-8 (KJV) 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Ephesians 2:1-9 (KJV) 1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
1 Peter 3:18 (KJV) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

Conclusion: If Jesus is not God then God is not purity in being, (Holy). This means you and I are without hope. Man can not come to God on his own merits because God can not "mix" with anything that is not purity in being, (Holy). Therefore God must accept the merits of another, (other than creature), one like unto Himself in purity of being (Holy). Since God can not create a being as Himself, uncreated and unmixed with creation, then the penalty must be paid by God Himself. (Heb 6:13). Unless God has satisfied His own declared Holy penalty for crimes against Him, we are lost and without hope. Jesus paid this penalty and proved it by the resurrection. (Heb. 9:1) The old testament high priest had to enter into the holy of holies twice. Once for himself and then for the people. Christ entered in ONCE and by His OWN blood. Not the blood of creatures. His blood was accepted as the penalty for the sin of His people.

Hebrews 6:13 (KJV) For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Hebrews 9:12 (KJV) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Jesus is God!!!!

Tim