Good or Holy?

I was thinking today about the holiness of God. I think the reason we have such a hard time understanding so many things is because we don’t understand the holiness of God properly. We have holiness and goodness confused. Yes, God is good, but He is also Holy. Because we think of God as “good” we measure things that are “good” in our eyes against this standard. For example, people often think mankind is for the most part “good”. The Bible says man is wicked and evil. Children of satan. Many refuse to accept this because we think mankind is “good”, not evil. I think if we have a proper view of what is holy, then we can more easily understand what is “good”.

For example…. Picture this in your mind as you read this description of God on His Throne in Heaven.

Revelation 4:2-11 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting {was} like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and {there was} a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne {were} twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones {I saw} twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And {there were} seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne {there was something} like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature {was} like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature {was} like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY {is} THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

Habakkuk 2:20 "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.

Ex 15:11 "Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?

1 Sam 2:2 "There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.

Rev 15:4 "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED."

Those are just a few verses to remind us that God is Holy and Holiness is His standard. Therefore You are to be Holy as He is holy. When you look at the world, do not measure it by what is “good” in human eyes, but what is Holy in God’s eyes. Only what is holy is good. The earth was not created “good” according to what we would consider good, but “very good” that is holy and perfect. It’s why we can not come to God just as Adam and Eve were cast away from Him. Perfection is Holiness. We fall infinitely short of this standard. That is why only the Holy One, could redeem us from our hopeless state. Yet will we still try to be “good enough” to please God? When we do “good” we only do what we should do. We need the Holy One to redeem us from our sins that we can not undo by trying to be “good”. The wages of sin is not community corrections, but death! That is why we need that death of Christ.

Anyway have a great day…. Remember what mankind calls “good” isn’t necessarily holy and what God calls “holy” is always good. That is where a lot of our breakdown in understanding God lies.