Oct-13-0532-Holy is the Lord!
532_Holy is the Lord! Psalm 99 The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! 2 The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. 3 Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he! 4 The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! 6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called upon his name. They called to the Lord, and he answered them. 7 In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them; they kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them. 8 O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings. 9 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy! A.W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” And the greatest truth about God, that should shape our thoughts and our lives, is simply this: God is holy. Psalm 99 celebrates that holiness three times in just nine verses. This repetition drives home the point so that we may not miss it. The Lord whom we worship is holy. Elsewhere in Scripture, we read how Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, with seraphim surrounding His throne crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” John, exiled on the island of Patmos, saw the throne of God and heard the living creatures cry day and night, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” The testimony is the same: God is holy. But what do we mean by holiness? This describes something that is set apart, different because uniquely devoted to God who is holy. An ordinary object can become holy if it is dedicated to God’s service, like the vessels of the tabernacle. A person is holy if set apart for God’s will and purposes. But the holiness of God is not derived like the holiness of all other things. The holiness of God encompasses all His attributes—His love, His justice, His mercy, His faithfulness. Holiness is the radiant crown of all that He is. No words can fully capture it. No song can exhaust its praise. God is without blemish, perfect in his love and his truth, infinite in his majesty that is grounded in righteousness and justice. Other things only become holy when they are offered to him. But because of this, God created us to be holy. Even in Israel’s sinful condition, God gave them laws by which they might get their first look at holiness. The book of Leviticus is filled with instructions that emphasize God’s intention for His people, “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the