Ecclesia Lab on Holiness

This week, Ecclesia had labs. As we are studying basic theology right now, the four options were all attributes of God: holiness, faithfulness, grace, and justice. Michelle and I attended “The Holiness of God” which was taught by my friend, Joe. It was very good, and I won’t summarize it here. But, I will post some random thoughts that I had during the lab about holiness.

• Holiness is dangerous. When the holy God shows up in force, people either die or think they are going to die. Isaiah is afraid because he is a man of unclean lips. Uzzah drops dead because he touches the Ark of the Covenant. Moses is not allowed to look at God because it would kill him. The people of Israel at Mt. Sinai so scared that they don’t want God to talk to them, seeing as he is basically blowing up the mountain in front of them, just by showing up. The holiness of God is not safe. It cannot be approached casually. It is deadly. When people encounter God’s holiness, they die, not because God is mean and smites them fro breaking some sort of rule. It is more like coming in contact with the core of a nuclear reactor. Death is just what happens when you encounter something so powerful. Holiness kills.

• Holiness is a problem. This creates a real problem, seeing as God’s goal is to actually be with us. In Exodus, when God shows up on Mt. Sinai, the whole point is for him to come and live with Israel. He is so holy that this isn’t possible, and some solution must be found.

• A key idea that Joe pointed out is that, while the holiness of God is deadly, there is only one way to be safe from it. As he put it (and I think he got it from Tozer), “The only protection we have from God’s holiness is the protection God offers. We must take refuge from God in God.” Isaiah’s lips are purified by fire from God’s alter. Moses is sheltered by God’s hand so that God can pass by. God moves in with Israel by providing the tabernacle and the sacrificial system to keep God from breaking out and killing them and to keep them from bringing something profane into God’s presence. God provides the protection from his own holiness. In our case, our protection is Jesus.

• Holiness is the true normal. We feel like it is strange when something is holy, but God’s holiness is the way things are supposed to be. We are just so out of whack that it seems like holiness is weird. The holy God creates holy space so he can dwell with people and make them holy like him. God is making a people who are holy in order to start restoring the intended normal order of things.

• Question: Can we think about holiness in terms of mission? How does the holiness of God and the holiness of his people look in light of God’s mission to transform the world? So often holiness is used as a reason to stay isolated from the world, so as not to be tainted by it. We then end up apart from the people we are called to save. This is kind of a problem. How can we re-conceptualize holiness so that this does not result? Places to start thinking about this: The holy God’s dwelling with Israel so that they could be a light to the nations, the meals that Jesus ate with sinners and those who were unclean, Jesus’ high priestly prayer where he prays that we wouldn’t be taken from the world but protected from evil, etc.

Those are random undeveloped thoughts. You can develop them if you want in the comments.

Also, Joe, great job in your lab. Thank you for preparing such a well-thought out presentation of an often neglected attribute of God. I look forward to attending future labs from you.