Background information from the Bible about God’s character.

1. God’s holiness makes Him utterly incomparable to anything we know or experience. Our minds are too limited to understand our unlimited God.

“Who among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11 NIV)

2. The holiness of God is powerful and shocking. His absolute purity reveals our impurity. In Isaiah 6, the prophet has a vision of God sitting on His throne. The angels were singing:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined!” (Isaiah 6:3-5 NIV)

3. Without holiness, no one can see God. He is perfect and our imperfection cannot exist in His presence. We are made holy and perfect by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus. Our response to the free gift of salvation is to pursue a life of holiness. God is calling His children to be holy like He is holy. This means living according to God’s standard, not our own or the standards of the world.

“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14 NIV. See also Hebrews 10:14 and 1 Peter 1:14-16.)