Joshua Hawk

“The reason for weak Christians is an inadequate concept of God.” – A.W. Tozer

Who do you say God is?

Let’s play a game! Pause for a moment and think of the first word that comes to your mind when I say “God.”

Ready? Go!

Do you have a word? If so, let’s continue reading.

In 2015, the Huffington Post, conducted a survey and asked its readers to define God with one word. The responses were broken down into a top ten list. Some of the responses that made the list were atheistic in nature but the other answers provided were words like “omnipotent,” “almighty,” “amazing,” “awesome,” and “everything.” The number one answer however was none of those previously mentioned words. This probably won’t come to any shock as some of you probably chose this as your word moments ago, but the number one answered provided was “love.”

When it comes to scripture verses about God and love,  1 John 4:7-11 and Romans 8:31-39 are some of the more well known verses. The most famous and quoted verse in the entire Bible also speaks of God’s love for the world (John 3:16); however, the love-gospel and the message of hyper-grace has distorted the perception of many concerning the true nature of God. The word “love” is used so much in the Christian vernacular that it has shaped modern theology into something that tolerates sin and cheapens grace. Before I delve deeper into this issue, I must first define God with a word that tragically never made Huffington Post’s top ten list but in reality accurately describes the true nature of God. Before I reveal what this word is, let’s first look at scripture to see who GOD says He is.

Who does God say He is?

Carefully read these next few verses. Each verse has a common theme.

“For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44-45 NKJV

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.'” Leviticus 19:1-2 NKJV

“Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 20:7 NKJV

“And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” Leviticus 20:26 NKJV

“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”” 1 Peter 1:15-16 NKJV

Did you find what those five verses all had in common? That’s right, the word is “holy!” God speaks in all five of these verses and describes Himself as “holy.” In fact, “holy” is such a popular word that it appears in the Bible over 500 times! Not only that, did you know the word “holy” is spoken in heaven more times than any other word? In Isaiah 6:1-4, the prophet Isaiah had a vision of the throne room of heaven. In his vision the seraphim cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” In Revelation 4, John also had a vision of the throne room of heaven. In his vision he sees four living creatures that cry out day and night without rest, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” How interesting that the seraphim and the living creatures recognize the holiness of God!

The Misconception

Unfortunately, many Christians today have a hard time accepting that God is holy. A lot of them retort with “God is love” which is found in 1 John 4:8. Most Christians can even tell you that the greek word used to describe God’s love is the word agapē which is defined as “benevolence.” God certainly loves His creation and the depths of His love may never be fully understood; however, it is interesting to point out that God is never quoted in the Bible as ever saying, “I am love.” “Love, love, love…” is never uttered once in the throne room of heaven. Also, God never told Moses, “take off your shoes for the place you are standing is enamored with my love.” So what did John the Beloved mean when he said, “God is love?” The answer is simple. John is referring to just one of God’s many incredible attributes. But love is just that; one section of the full picture.

To better explain, imagine that three blind men are each touching an elephant in different places. The first blind man touches the elephant’s trunk and says, “An elephant is like a snake.” The second blind man, while touching the elephant’s leg, says, “An elephant is like a tree trunk.” The third blind man, touching the elephant’s ear, says, “An elephant is like a banana leaf.” Each of the men believe they are correct and the others are wrong but they are all describing different parts of the same animal. This analogy can be compared to our perception of God. God is holy yet His love, benevolence, faithfulness, and goodness are all unique parts of His character and overall holiness. All too often Christians blindly grab hold of God’s love and do not have the ability to see all of God because they are indoctrinated into a partial truth and make that their entire truth! This is the biggest misconception concerning the true nature of God. God is holy! The error is when we inflate one of God’s attributes and use that to paint a larger yet inaccurate picture of who God is.

When I think of painting pictures, I can’t help but think of those caricaturists that you’ll sometimes find at the mall or even the fair. These artists will over-exaggerate certain physical attributes on your face often giving you a large head and a tiny body. I can easily recall political caricatures such as President Obama and President Trump. Obama is often drawn with big ears and teeth while Trump is usually drawn with large protruding lips and an oversized toupee. Caricatures are designed to make people laugh but perhaps our perception of God is nothing more than a false caricature with over-exaggerated features (love). Perhaps the Jesus we worship is nothing more than a man-made caricature that is unlike the real person that scripture clearly reveals Him to be.

“Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ.” – Oswald Chambers

What is Holiness?

As I firmly established earlier with scripture, holiness is the true nature of God but to understand God’s nature, we must first have a healthy understanding of what being “holy” means. Our understanding of holiness is rooted in our understanding of God. The Bible records several instances of God saying, “I am Holy.” The Hebrew word for “holy” is the word qadowsh which is defined as “sacred; pure; clean; set apart.” God is sacred, pure, clean, and set apart and because of his holy nature, He requires His people to be the same and set apart from the world; hence the command, “Be holy for I am holy.” This means personal holiness is the standard!

The same people that have a hard time accepting holiness usually say that holiness is legalism because we are “saved by grace and not by works.” Too many Christians falsely assume that grace replaces the need for holiness but this is false! This belief is one of the worst doctrines ever crafted by satan which has led millions to the pits of hell. In one of my previous blog posts entitled Holiness – A Call to Action, I explain why this belief is wrong and that grace gives us power to live a holy life. Scripture is clear on the subject of holiness. Holiness is still required and expected of all who want to follow Jesus.

Why is Holiness Important?

Holiness is important because God demands us to be holy. The apostle Paul recognizes how important holiness is and talks about the consequences of not having holiness.

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God…” Hebrews 12:14-15 NKJV

Simply put, we cannot make it to heaven without holiness. Once again, to be “holy” means to be “set apart” from the world. All too often, a lot of Christians want both Jesus and the world but it is impossible to serve two masters. Either we will love Jesus and hate the world or we will love the world and hate Jesus. True Christians should not engage in sinful activities and lifestyles contrary to the nature of God. Sin separates us from God and worst of all, sin provokes God to anger.

All throughout the Bible are many examples of sin inciting the wrath of God. In Judges 16:20, the Holy Spirit departed from Samson because of his lust for a pagan woman that led to him breaking his Nazarite vow. In 1 Samuel 15, God rejected Saul because of his disobedience. In Ezekiel 22, God’s anger burned against Jerusalem because of their idolatry. In Hosea 2, God separated himself from His people. Those are just a few of countless examples in the Bible of how sin affects our relationship with God. The tragedy today is too many Christians are living sinful lives that God detests. These Christians have a distorted view of God and believe nothing can separate them from Him. They believe everything is great; however, they are blindly unaware that God has quietly departed from them long ago. What a terrifying place to be in! Let us never get to the point where we find that God has snipped us off the True Vine because of our perpetual disobedience and sin!

Conclusion

Having a healthy perception of God and understanding of holiness allows us to see God for who He truly is and what He expects of us. Seeing God for who He truly is allows us to see ourselves for who we truly are. When the prophet Isaiah saw the splendor and holiness of Almighty God, he caught a terrible glimpse of his true self. The very presence and nature of God brought to light the unholiness of Isaiah’s tongue so he essentially cried out, “I’m a dead man!” (Isaiah 6:5) When we see God for who He truly is, we will want to live a holy life that is pleasing to Him; not serve Him for what He can do for us. As we draw closer to God, may His holiness influence us to be more like Him!

At the beginning of this blog, I asked the question; who is God? As you ponder that question once more, I pray that this blog has provided clarity and has changed your perception of who God is. If it has, I leave you with one last question; what will you do about it going forward?