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Holy God (Keith Potter)

In the season of Lent, we remember the great sacrifice that Jesus Christ made, the forgiveness that was paid for with his life. We confess that our sins have gotten in the way of a relationship with God.

However, our confession will be thin and hollow unless we understand how great and holy God is. We are forever underestimating the seriousness of sin and its effects, making us unlike God and unfit for his good fellowship. Our efforts at forgiving ourselves and others will be thin and hollow as well unless we understand how God's grace so completely covers us through Jesus Christ, making us righteous in God's eyes and fit for his good fellowship.

So, in this season, we meditate on God's holiness and wonder what it would be like to be filled only with loving intentions and healthy motivations, like our God.

In Isaiah 6, we discover that the story of the great prophet starts with a grand vision of God on his throne, surrounded by angelic beings. Day and night, these attendants cry out, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!" (Isaiah 6:3). Isaiah's response? "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven's Armies." (Isaiah 6:5)

Seeing God gave Isaiah eyes to see himself. Unclean. Badly acculturated in the filth of his surroundings. Anything but holy. So God touched Isaiah. He enjoys forgiveness, cleansing, and a new readiness. God calls out for a human agent. Isaiah responds, "Lord, I'll go! Send me."

That can be our story. In light of God's holiness, we come undone. "Woe is me! I'm an unclean person among unclean people. Now that I really see you, Lord, I see myself. Help!" And God does help, with a grace greater than our sin. If his holiness is great, his grace is somehow overarching, for it covers every sin of ours that must offend the purity of his holiness. "Come, let us tell of the LORD's greatness; let us exalt his name together" (Psalm 34:3).