The Holiness Of God # 1

 The Holiness Of God # 1

"Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy." (Revelation 15:4). God only is independently, infinitely, immutably holy. In Scripture He is frequently styled "The Holy ONE." He is so because the sum of all moral excellency is found in Him. He is absolute Purity, unsullied even by the shadow of sin. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5).

Holiness is the very excellency of the divine nature: the great God is "glorious in holiness" (Exodus 15:11). Therefore do we read, "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." (Habakkuk 1:13).

As God's power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature; as His wisdom is in complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly; so His holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement. Of old God appointed singers in Israel "that should praise the beauty of holiness." (2 Chronicles 20:21).

"Power is God's arm;

omniscience is His eye;

mercy is His duration, 

but holiness is His beauty." (Charnock)

It is this, supremely, which renders God lovely to those who are delivered from sin's dominion. A chief emphasis is placed upon this perfection of God:

"God is more often styled Holy than Almighty, and set forth by this part of His dignity more than by any other. This is more fixed on as an epithet to His name than any other. You never find it expresses "His mighty name" or "His wise name" but His great name, and most of all, His holy name. This is the greatest title of honor; in His holiness does the majesty and venerableness of His name appear." (Charnock)

This perfection, as none other, is solemnly celebrated before the Throne of Heaven, the seraphim crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:3). God Himself singles out this perfection, "Once have I sworn by My holiness." (Psalm 89:35). God swears by His "holiness" because that is a fuller expression of Himself than anything else. Therefore we are exhorted, "Sing unto the Lord, O saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." (Psalm 30:4). 

"Holiness may be said to be a transcendental attribute, that, as it were, runs through the rest, and casts luster upon them. It is the attribute of attributes. Thus we read: "the beauty of the Lord" which is none other than "the beauty of holiness." (Psalm 110:3).

"As holiness seems to claim an excellency above all His other perfections, so it is the glory of all His attributes. As it is the glory of the Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead; as His power is the strength of all His attributes, so His holiness is the beauty of them. As all His attributes would be weak without almightiness to back them, so all would be unlovely without holiness to adorn them. Should His holiness be sullied, all the rest would lose their honor; as at the same instant the sun should lose its light, it would lose the heat, its strength, its generative and quickening virtue. As sincerity is the luster of every grace in a Christian, so is purity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice, His wisdom is a holy wisdom, His power is a "holy arm". His truth or promise is a holy promise. His name, which signifies all His attributes in conjunction is "holy."

God's holiness is manifested in His works. "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works." (Psalm 145:17). Nothing but that which is excellent can proceed from Him.

Holiness is the rule of all His actions. At the beginning He pronounced all that He made "very good", which He could not have done had there been anything imperfect or unholy in them. Man was made "upright" (Ecc. 7:29), in the image and likeness of his Creator. The angels that fell were created holy, for we are told that they "kept not their first habitation" (Jude 6). Of satan it is written, "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you." (Ezekiel 28:15).

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)

Think On These Things # 2

 Think On These Things # 2

We are continually meeting those who are discouraged, who have fallen under the shadow of misfortune, who have done wrong, perhaps, and are suffering in reputation; or who have been unjustly treated - and are enduring the sting. These are the people to whom our love should go out in words of hope and cheer, instead of blame.

One of the most significant words of personal experience in the Old Testament, is that in which David tells us, at the close of his wonderful life, that all he had attained and achieved he owed to God's gentleness. "Your gentleness has made me great!" If God had been harsh with him - stern, critical, severely exacting, David never would have reached the noble life, with its wonderful achievements, which he finally attained. If God had been severe with him after his falls and failures, David never would have risen to power and distinction. God's gentleness made him great. We can help others to become great only by being patient with them. Men and women everywhere need nothing so much as gentleness.

Are not many of us too brusque with each other? Do we not lack in kindliness, in patience, in tenderness? Some men would have to believe that gentleness is an unmanly quality. But it is not; rudeness and harshness are always unmanly, gentleness is divine. For many people, life is not easy, and we make it very much harder for them to live worthily - when we deal harshly, when we are exacting, when we chide or blame them, or when we exercise our wits in saying smart, cutting, and irritating things to annoy and vex them. If was said of William Cullen Bryant, that he treated every neighbor as if he were an angel in disguise. That is, he had a feeling akin to reverence for everyone who entered his presence. We do not know to who we are speaking, when we meet a stranger. Let us treat him as the poet did his neighbor - as if he were an angel.

Someone defines a gentlemen, as one who never needlessly causes pain to another. If we are followers of Christ, we have no right to be ungentle, to be ill-mannered, to act disagreeably, and to treat anyone rudely, brusquely. "If there is any virtue, if there is any thing praiseworthy, think on these things." We should never forget the teaching of our Master - that the hungry person we feed in His name, the sick person we visit, the stranger to whom we show kindness, the discouraged person we encourage, the fainting one we lift up and start on his way again - is the Master Himself. "Inasmuch as you did it unto one of these y brethren, even these least - you did it unto Me." How would we treat Jesus if we found Him in any condition of need? That is to be the test in our dealings with men. We dare not to be ungentle to anyone - it may be an angel in disguise; it may be Christ Himself!

The teaching applies to our own personal experience of sorrow. We should seek the line of brightness in any dark picture, and think of that. And there always are breaks in the clouds through which we can see the blue and the stars. No lot in life is ever so utterly hopeless as to have in it nothing to alleviate its unhappiness. There is always something of brightness, one line, at least, in the darkest experience.

There always are comforts, no matter how great the sorrow. Every cloud has in it some bit of silver lining. There are hopes, consolations, encouragements, in every experience of grief or loss, and we are to think of these - and not alone of the sad elements in the experience.

Think of the good - not the evil. Think on the loveliness - not on the disfigurements. Think on pure - not on the soiled. Think on the hopeful things in others - their possibilities of nobleness, not on their faults. In sorrow find the face of Christ, and gaze on that until you forget your grief in all life, if there is any virtue, any thing pariseworthy, any beauty, any joy - think on these things, and it will lift up your life into strength, nobleness, divineness!

~J. R. Miller~

(The End)

Think On These Things # 1

 Think On These Things # 1

There are certain habits of life, which are far reaching in their influence. The habit of cheerfulness, for instance, is said to be of great worth to a person. The habit of being always an encourager, never a discourager, gives incalculable value to one's personality and influence. A discourager is a misanthrope. He makes life harder for every other life he touches, and an encourager is a constant inspiration to others, and makes life easier for everyone.

There is another habit of life, which if it were to become universal would change many things - namely, the habit of always seeing the good in people, in conditions, in circumstances, and in experiences. Paul suggests it, when he says in a remarkable passage, "If there is any virtue, and if there is any thing praiseworthy - think on these things." (Philippians 4:8). The emphasis seems to be on "any" - if there is any virtue, even the last, in another, if there is in a life which seems almost wholly bad, even the smallest thing that is good - we are to find that and to think upon that mere speck of beauty, rather than on the much that is evil and unbeautiful. If there is in a person, any thing praiseworthy, any smallest quality or act that is worthy of praise, of which we can speak with even the faintest approval and commendation, we should give thought to that, and voice our appreciation, rather than think and speak of the many things in the person that are not good or praiseworthy.

It is easy to think of reasons why this is the Christian way. It is Christ's way with us. If there is anything good, even the faintest spark of virtue or hope in a life - Christ sees it. He is looking for good and hopeful things. Some people see only the faults and flaws in the lives of others - they are looking for these things - blemishes, defects, imperfections. They are never trying to find anything beautiful, and they find what they seek. Our Master, however, is looking for things that are praiseworthy - good beginnings of better things.

Someone asked the curator of an academy of fine arts, regarding the pictures of a certain artist: "What do you consider the defects in his work?" The answer was, "We do not look for defects here - but for excellences." It is thus that our Master does in our lives - He does not look for the imperfections, of which there always are many - but for things that are worthy of commendation. If there is any virtue - He finds it, takes notes of it, nourishes it, and woos it out. If Christ looked upon us as we too often look upon others - seeing the flaws, the shortcomings, the inconsistencies, the failures - and judged us by these, not many of us ever would grow into beauty. But where there is even a spark of good he finds it, and cultivates it into His best possibilities.

We shall never become of much use in the world - until we learn this lesson of always finding and encouraging the best. We shall never lift up anyone to a higher, better life - until we have found in him something to approve and commend. There are some men and women who wish to help others, to be of use to them - but work after a wrong method. They think they must eliminate the faults and defects which they find - and so they watch for things they cannot approve. They have keen eyes for specks and blemishes - none are too small for them to see - but they never see the beautiful things in another. The Master refers to such people, in His teaching about motes and beams. He would have us to look for the good, not the evil, in others.

There is no life so devoid of beauty and good - that it has in it nothing worthy of commendation. Ruskin found even in the mud of London streets, the elements out of which gems are formed - the opal, the sapphire, the diamond. The love of Christ finds even in the moral refuse of this world possibilities of loveliness in character and heavenliness in life. We cannot do anything to help men - by indulging in criticism and denunciation. We can call out the good in others only as the sun woos out the plants and flowers from the cold earth in the springtime - by its warmth. If the friends of men, finding the smallest beginnings of virtue and encouraging them - the earth would soon be changed into a garden!

~J. R. Miller~

(continued with # 2)