Holiness

Have your mind ever wondered about the holiness of God? The more I think about it the more unqualified I felt to appreciate the holiness of God. We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by simply taking someone or something very pure then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God's holiness isn't simply something we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. We may fear God's power, admire His wisdom but His holiness we cannot even imagine.

So despite knowing all these theory, one may ask what is the intensity of the divine holiness? How does it feel like? In the earliest days of God's self disclosure, we are given a glimpse of the fear that overwhelmed the people as they awaited Moses' return from the top of the mountain. They knew their leader stood a unique position among all creation when he was beckoned by God to come and receive his commands. Fear is what they felt. A fear that cause them to show and have reverence towards their God.

If the mosaic law experience in Exodus 19 and 20 were not enough, check out the following from Exodus 33:18-23

Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

This really captured my mind. In my mind i was like, wow!!! I cannot even imagine what God meant by ALL his goodness. I cannot help but put myself in Moses' shoes, trying see though his eyes. How issit really like when all of who God is - all his glory - all his goodness - all his holiness - all his might, etc etc, to sum it all up, "the great I AM" passes in front of you. But I know I can never see what Moses saw and what happened can never be like what I imagined it to be. How can a finite being like me understand what is infinitely infinite.

Indeed the divine holiness is terrifying but then holiness can only be terrifying when untempered by grace. At the realisation of this I can't stop thanking God. It brings me back to the state of awe coupled with tons of thanksgiving. I hope the same goes to you, the reader too.

So yes we knew all along that God as our Holy Father, but what does that mean to you?