How Holy is the God You Serve?
All right, here is the question I want us to ponder. Is the God of the Bible the same God we serve? Is He as just, is He as kind, is He as holy as He used to be? Does He hate sin the way He used to hate it? Does He love justice the way He used to love it? Let's look into His Word and see if we can find how holy and just our God really is.
In Hebrews 13 He tells us that He is the same tomorrow as He was yesterday. Now let us consider how He was yesterday to find out what He'll be like in the present and the future.
All through the Bible, He portrays Himself as One Who hates unholiness and loves what is good. From Cain killing Abel, and God's curse on him; to Abraham having Ishmael, and the problems that caused; to David and Bathsheba, and the death of their son; to Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and the splitting of the tribes; to Jezebel's wickedness, and being thrown out the window…the point is: God is holy and hates the practice of sin.
If we look in Exodus at the commands God gave, the first three tell of the awesomeness of God and His holy name and how He wants us to revere and honor His name, for He indeed is a holy God.
Because of His holiness, He could not stand to let man enter His presence so grand. Thus God sent His Son to come and to die, because the commands of God we did defy. Why did He die on that wretched old tree? Because the payment for sin He wanted to be. Why would God do this to His only Son? Because He is the righteous and Holy One.
He wanted man with Him to dwell, so He sent His Son to pay the debt that for us would be hell.
Revelation says in chapter 4, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." If our God is that holy, how are we to live in this world? Look at His creation, look at His name, and you will find He is always the same. If He was willing to sacrifice His Son because of my sin and yours, how then shall we view sin? Shall we view sin as something we kind of dislike, but still sin more often than not? Or see it as God does—nasty and vile, hated in His sight?
Why do we steal? Why do we lie? Because we don't see sin the same as our God. In Malachi 2:2 we receive a curse from God because we don't give honor to His name as we should. We call Him "god," but is He really our God? He asks us in Malachi 1:6, If He is our Father, where is His honor? If He is our Master, where is His respect? The question I ask is: "How holy is the god YOU serve?"
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