Purity
Purity.
(1) Its Citation. "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5).
(2) Its Explanation. In Him is light. In Him is no darkness ever. Light is always pure. There is no such thing as dirty light, nor can anyone make dirty light. God is Light — pure, free from defilement. There are two phases of purity: negative, free from all that defiles; positive, pure. God in His holiness is pure: free from all that defiles, and pure in essence.
b. Righteousness. This is another element of holiness.
(1) Its Citation. "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut. 32:4). "Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" (Jer. 12:1); "O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou has sent me" (John 17:25).
(2) Its Explanation. The formula for righteousness is found in Ezekiel 18:5, 9: "If a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right..." that is, do things right, in a right way, "he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God." God is always right. He possesses character that makes Him do everything right. Righteousness always requires that which is right in character. God never asks anything that is not right. God never commands that which will make us do wrong.
c. Justice.
(1) Its Citation. "The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame" (Zeph. 3:5). See also Deuteronomy 32:4.
(2) Its Explanation. The Greek and Hebrew words for justice mean the same. Righteousness is the legislative demand of God — the demand for holiness. Justice is judicial holiness — that judicial act of God which demands the penalty for those who have not measured up to the righteous commands of God. Justice, judicial holiness, governs those who are judged, and that brings about the execution of those who carry not out God's laws. Justice is the Executor of those who wrong God's holy commands. Man's justice is sometimes wrong, but God's justice is always right — thus holiness!
d. Truth of God.
(1) Its Citation. "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. . . . All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies" (Ps. 25:5, 10); "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Num. 23:19); "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began" (Titus 1:2). See also the following Scriptures: Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 31:5; 86:15.
(2) Its Explanation. That which God has revealed to man in His Word is Eternal Truth. God never contradicts Himself. One portion of His Word never contradicts another. Are we not glad that the Word of God has not agreed with all the dead theories of the past? Certainly! Be not dismayed should the Bible not agree with any modern day theory concerning creation, man, etc. Man does not know apart from the Word of God. Anything apart from the revelation of God is mere supposition.
3. Manifestation of God's holiness.
a. By His Works. Everything that God has created and made is perfect, holy. God did not create sin. God did not create a sinful nature which is in the unsaved man. God created man, who, has sinned. Man, by sinning, has passed on to man that perverted nature, that Adamic nature, or as we have called it, that "sinful" nature. Yes, God created man who was capable of sinning. If God had created man so that man could not have sinned, then He would have made a machine rather than a being with a free will. And if God had created man so that man could not sin and yet was not a machine, man would not only have been like God, but he would have been God Himself. God does not make God. Man is inferior to God. God cannot sin; that is His nature. Man would be God if he could not have sinned.
b. By His Laws. All the laws are right — they are truth. There is not a single untruth in the whole of God's laws. Thus God's laws manifest God's holiness.
c. By His Hatred of Sin. Do you know one reason why fellow Christians are tolerant toward the sins of another, or toward the sins of the unbelievers? It is because they do not hate sin as God hates it. Often we say that God hates sin, but He doesn't hate the sinner. That is not true. God does hate the sinner; "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity" (Ps. 5:5). This may be a revelation to some of us. God hates the sinner because of his sin, and not because of himself. God hates the sinner, but He loves him, too, because He knows that man is capable of holiness, although ruined by sin. Why does God punish the sinner? Because of the sinner's sins! God thus hates sin, no matter where it may be found, whether in the life of an unregenerated sinner, or in the life of His own believer! God's attitude and conduct toward sin reveal the holiness of God.
d. By His Love of Righteousness. God loves righteousness as much as He hates sin: "Hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness" (I Kings 8:32); "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows... For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister" (Heb. 1:9; 6:10).
e. By His Justification of the Believing Sinner. If man had his "rights," he would be in hell; but it is the mercy and grace of God which offers him the plan of salvation, which if he receives declares the believing sinner to be righteous: "God hath set [Christ Jesus] forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:25, 26).
f. By His Care of His Saints, "The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed" (Ps. 103:6). "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked" (Ps. 129:1- 4). See also the following Scriptures: Psalm 98:1-3; 145:15-19; II Timothy 1:6-9.
g. By His Cross. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Ps. 22:1). We can catch a glimpse of the Cross by reading the quoted verse and the remaining verses of Psalm 22. This Psalm is, of course, prophetical, spoken or written some nine hundred years before Christ actually died upon the Cross of Calvary. And Christ's death is a perfect manifestation of God's holiness. Some, no doubt, will ask how this could be. We know that God hates sin; therefore, when His Son was made "sin for us, who knew no sin," yea, when even God's Son became sin, God's attitude toward sin did not vary. God hated sin as much as ever, even when He made His Son sin. His Son did not change His view at all. Jesus, therefore, became hated of the Father because of sin. Jesus never became a sinner, but He became sin. And as God hated sin ("It pleased the LORD to bruise him" — Is. 53: l0a), God forsook His Son, for God will always forsake sin. God's holiness did not change.
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