The Bible speaks of God's holiness in many different places. When Israel was brought out of their slavery in Egypt, one of the things they sang of on the banks of the Red Sea was the holiness of God. He is "glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exodus 15:11)

Isaiah, when he caught his vision of the exalted Lord sitting upon His throne in the temple, heard angels crying, "Holy, holy, holy." But we can be familiar with words in the Bible without really understanding what they mean. When you think of the holiness of God, think of it in two ways:

God is not like us

He is not like anything in creation. He is not even like angels. He is totally different and all together "other." Theologians call Him "transcendent" which means that He is above and unlike everything that He has made. In Isaiah 6, holy angels are crying, "Holy, holy, holy" and you think to yourself, "But the angels are holy." They are not holy in the same way that God is holy.

God is perfectly pure

The Bible tells us that "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5) I can say to you, "God is holy" and you understand the word. Or I can say to you "God is light" and you begin to see pure, brilliant, spotless white against something that is black and dark and sinful.

So what does it mean that God is holy? The Bible speaks of God's holiness in many different places. When Israel were brought out of their slavery in Egypt and through the Red Sea, one of the things they sang off on the banks of the Red Sea was the holiness of God, that he was glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Isaiah, when he caught his vision of the exalted Lord sitting upon his throne in the temple, he heard angels crying holy holy holy. But we can be familiar with words in the Bible without really understanding what they mean.

So when you think of the holiness of God it's best to think of it in two ways. The first is God is not like us. In fact, God is not like anything in creation, not even like angels. God is totally different altogether other. A Big word that theologians use is He is transcendent.

Simply means He is above and unlike everything else that He is made. You see that in Isaiah chapter 6 because it's holy angels who are crying holy, holy, holy. You think to yourself but the angels are holy but they're not holy in the same way that God is holy. So that's the first way to think about God is holy. He's distinct and different from everything else.

The second way is to think of God as perfectly pure. The Bible gives us an illustration of this when it says, God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. So I can say to you God is holy, and you understand the word, or I can say to you God is light. And now you begin to see pure brilliant spotless white over against something that is black and dark and in particular with respect to us sinful. So the two ways to think about God's holiness is He's totally different than us and He's absolutely pure and perfect.