Lesson 1: God's Holiness Creates a Reaction, part 1

Revelation 4:7-11 - "The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.'”

John sees a vision of the actual throne room of God Himself. He sees angels and saints not only praising God, but falling prostrate on the ground because they were shouting, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." This is precisely the problem today for many who call themselves Christians. This is why we act like practical atheists. We do not feel a need to revere God because we have lost sight of the Holiness of God. We are too familiar with the term because we use it all the time in an unholy way – as an exclamation, as a flippant expression of surprise or disagreement. A sacred word meaning something is pure from every fault has lost its meaning to us.


You see, the word ‘holy’ speaks of God's absolute perfection. He has no darkness, no shadows, and no sin within Him. He never does anything wrong, unlike you and me. He alone is holy! One man said it this way: "Imagine someone who could hit a hole in one on a par five (golf course) not just once in his life, but every single time he ever tried. Not only that, he expected you to do the same."

That is just a small idea to get your brain trying to describe what it means that God is Holy. Even that pales in comparison to what the Holiness of God is really like. Notice, God is called holy - not once, not twice, but three times. No other attribute of God is mentioned three times. You never read, "God is love, love, love" or "God is just, just, just." But what we do see is that God is holy, holy, holy. Therefore, God is trying to emphasize this one attribute of His. There is something sacred about the word “holy.”

If we had even the slightest idea what the word holy meant when applied to God, we would shut our mouths in an instant! We would never ever, ever use the word holy in a casual way. Therefore, if we are to understand the Holiness of God and get back to a reverence for God, we need to see what the Holy Word of God has to say about it.

We will see examples in our next lesson.

* Memorize Psalm 96:9 - “Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!”