Lesson 3: God's Holiness Causes a Reaction, part 3

We continue our look at reactions to God’s presence from our fourth person who encountered God's holiness - Job.

Job 42:3,5-6 - "Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Job, the great man of God, was complaining about the way his life turned out, asking God, "Why, why, why?" One day God personally showed up to talk to Job. What was Job's response? Job moaned in despair, "Oh God, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes!"

Just one glimpse of the Holiness of God caused Job to shut his mouth.

The fifth person to encounter God's holiness is Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:1,3-5 - "… I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple…And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Here we see the next awesome response to the presence of God by Isaiah, the mighty prophet of God. He was privileged to see the very throne room of God Himself in all His glorious splendor. What was Isaiah's response? Isaiah screamed aloud, "Woe is me! I am as good as dead! I have seen the face of God and I am doomed!"


You might be thinking I am being hard on today’s Christians. Even asking that question reveals the answer to the question. It only shows we still do not get it. We still misunderstand the holiness of God and the consequences. The great crime of many Christians today is that we have lost our reverence for God because we do not understand God’s holiness. We live in an age where man is deified and God is humanized. God is no longer God. He is merely our “butler in the sky” who only exists to serve our selfish desires.

People today have heard all the speeches, read all the books, but now they want more. They want to see God in our lives. When we lose sight of the holiness of God, we stop having a reverence for God and when we stop having a reverence for God, people no longer want to have anything to do with God.

If we are ever going to get our lives back on track, then it is high time we remind ourselves that God is Holy, Holy, Holy!

* How long has it been since you talked with God as if He is holy?