Public Service Announcements

1. Our friend Terry Stauffer will be on Wretched Radio sometime after 2pm PDT today. You can listen live—well, the radio is live, the interview isn’t—here. Terry is the pastor in Edson, Alberta whose young daughter was murdered last September.
2. I’m going on vacation and so is this blog. I’m not sure what being on vacation means for the blog, but we’ll find out over the next three weeks, won’t we? I’ll still be available by email (see contact button under header).

Round the Sphere Again

Queen of Sciences
Learn a little theology at iTunes U. (Tim Irvin)

Top Five Books
Nancy Guthrie, author of Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow, which I’ll be reviewing shortly, gives us a list of top Christian books on suffering and loss. (Christianity Today)

My list of top 5 books would be a little different. There’s no way I’d have C. S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed on my list, although I’ve heard that many people find it helpful. Me? I wanted to throw it against the wall because I felt there was no hope in its pages. I’ve had other people tell me that they felt the same way when they read it.

I’m mentioning this because if you’re looking for books for a grieving friend, you’ll want to use a little wisdom when giving (or suggesting) this one. It could be just the right thing for exactly the reason that Nancy Guthrie gives: It might help someone feel less alone in their despair. But then again, it might not. The last thing you want to do is make someone who is grieving see things more darkly than they already do.

I’d second her suggestion of the books by John Piper and Joni Eareckson Tada. Both are strong on God’s sovereignty over our losses, and that, really, is where all our hope in suffering lies.

I haven’t read the other two on her list. I did find The Bend in the Road by David Jeremiah, mentioned by one of the commenters, to be quite helpful. I’d also recommend Faith, Tried and Triumphant by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

For a Variety of Reasons
Why do people embrace error? (Against Heresies)

Not As Boring As One Might Think
Here’s a whole blog devoted to photos of cat ladders.

Because It Looks Good
Why are new watches set to 10:10? (mental_floss Blog)

God's Holiness

Yes, another attribute of God repost. And now you know what this week’s Theological Term is, don’t you?

Writing about God’s attributes hasn’t been easy, but of all the attributes that I’ve written about, this one has been the most difficult, because it’s not been easy for me to to understand exactly what it means that God is holy. Is it even right to think of God’s holiness in the same way we think of the other attributes of God? It doesn’t seems to be so much one among others, but rather, God’s overarching attribute—the attribute into which all the other attributes fit.

From what I can tell, his holiness is the attribute of God mentioned most often in scripture and the only one triply emphasised.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!

This triple emphasis comes twice—as quoted above from Isaiah 6:3 and once again in Revelation 4:8.

That God is holy tells us, first of all, that he is the “one and only.” He is transcendent (or other), and distinct from everything else in a way that makes him superior to all the rest. He is in a class by himself far above everything else that exists.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
(Exodus 15:11 ESV)

There is none holy like the Lord;
there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.
(1 Samuel 2:2 ESV)

God’s holiness is closely associated with his glory and majesty. His holiness is equivalent, it seems, to his deity, his godness.

That God is holy means that we must hold him in singular esteem. Because God is holy, we must have no other gods before him, worship and serve only him, and treat his name with unique reverence.

Also included within God’s holiness is his moral perfection. God is set apart from all else by his purity; He is, in fact, the measure of purity. Out of his moral perfection comes his abhorrence of all moral imperfection. Habakuk tells us that God’s purity makes him unable to look on wickedness with approval, and Psalm 24 tells us that only those who are similarly pure may stand in the presence of our holy God.

Isaiah, then, had exactly the right response when he was brought face to face with the holiness of the Lord.

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5 ESV).

The more clearly we see God’s holiness, the more clearly we see our own sinful state. There is not one of us who can remain standing in the presence of our holy God, because we all fall far short of his glory.

The proper response to God’s holiness is fear. Fear of our holy God is the beginning of true wisdom. Fear of God is, Proverbs tells us, a fountain of life turning us away from the snares of death (Proverbs 14:27). It is because we fear God’s holy response to our unholiness that we throw ourselves on his mercy. It is because we fear God that we understand the true value of what Christ has done for us by saving us from God’s holy judgment against our sin.

Our knowledge of God’s holiness is a driving force in our sanctification. Reverance for God motivates us to turn away from evil (Proverbs 16:6). It is out of our reverence for a holy God that we submit to him in obedience and conduct ourselves circumspectly before him. Those of us who are belong to him are called to be holy as he is holy. We are called be holy in our behavior so we can be like the One who called us (1 Peter 1:15-17).

Of course, since God alone is holy, the holiness that we are called to show in our conduct is never our own intrinsic holiness, but holiness derived from the only Holy One. Our Holy God separates us to himself by making us like him. He make us holy as he is holy.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

Why does he make us holy? So that we may proclaim the excellencies of the only Holy One, the one in a class by himself far above all others. He makes us holy so that we may give him the glory due unto his holy name.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
(Rev. 4:8 ESV)