2004 Ligonier Conference: There Is No Other: The Holiness of God

• one is compelled to say that this great subject of God’s Wrath about which we heard last night from Lian Duncan this great reality of divine judgment and about which RC has written in his exceptional book saved from what is certainly absent from preaching today and uh perhaps this will help us all to regr R this most essential reality I have been asked to speak on the Holiness of God and I think that RC finds some Delight in giving me subjects that he has mastered I’m not sure why he does this although once when he asked me to speak on Election I said why would you at your
• conference have me do that and he said because I want to hear what you have to say about it was sort of a test I think to see if I got it right all of us who have known RC for any time at all are profoundly indebted to him for his treatment of the sixth chapter of Isaiah which I think for all of us who are his students will forever and always be the portrait of God’s holiness which is most memorable and I understand why why because it is so critical to an understanding of God’s holiness and we will get there hopefully at the end in speaking of the Holiness of God
• it is good perhaps to begin with something of a definition it was a a Hajj who said the Holiness of God is not to be conceived of as one attribute among others it is rather a general term representing the conception of God’s consummate Perfection and total Glory it is his infinite moral perfection crowning his infinite intelligence and power he said it is infinite moral perfection as the crown of the godhead Holiness is God’s total Glory crowned it was Thomas Watson who said Holiness is the most sparkling Jewel of God’s Crown it is the name by which she
• is known RL Dabney wrote Holiness is to be regarded not as a distinct attribute but as the result of all God’s moral perfection together they are recognizing what the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 57:1 15 when he said for thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever my name is Holy holy is his name it is something along the lines of what we just heard as RC spoke upon God’s being his self-existence his being is utterly separate from ours and he made that so clear his is being and ours is becoming he is utterly distinct from
• us the Hebrew is kadash the Greek hias meaning distinct separate he is other than we are as to the essence of his existence his nature therefore nothing in the creation no one in the creation even Man created in the image of God compares to God in essential nature he is incomparable he is infinite Perfection that is why his name is separate distinct or holy and thus does exodus 15:11 say who is like you Majestic in Holiness and there I think is what those medieval theologians were after to add Majestic to utter distinction somehow is an expression of
• worship 1st Samuel 2:2 says there is no one holy like the Lord there is no one beside you no one exists in your category of being but you Psalm 111:10 says holy and awesome is his name when we think of God’s holiness we think of his utter separation from sin because everything in the creation is affected and influenced by sin but there’s more to his separateness than that however ever that for us is the graphic illustration it’s hard for us metaphysically to comprehend the difference between being and becoming
• but we see clearly God’s distinction from us in the matter of his moral perfection and sinlessness as habach the prophet wrote your eyes are too pure to approve evil you cannot look on wickedness job 34:10 says far be it from God to do wickedness to do wrong in Revelation 154 it says you alone Are Holy there are many other statements that gives you sort of a broad picture across scripture we could talk about those statements but I want to go a little bit beyond done that if I may there are more than statements regarding God’s holiness in scripture there are Revelations of his Holiness in fact every revelation of