God is Holy

Holy Holy Holy- Isaiah 6:3, 4

A most important quality to understand about God -He is holy. What does the word "holy" really mean? In the Biblical Hebrew, the word is derived from a term meaning "separate". In worship, "holy" applies to that which is separated from common use, or held sacred. Holiness, also strongly conveys the idea of cleanness and purity.

As "the Holy One of Israel," Jehovah describes himself as dwelling "in the midst of" his people, sinful though they were. (Isa. 12:6; Hosea 11:9) So his holiness does not make him distant. How then is he separate? In two important ways:

1. He is separate from all creation in that he alone is the Most High.

2. He is entirely separated from all sinfulness.

This is comforting, because everything about human Society alienated from God is polluted in some way, tainted with sin and imperfection. We all have a war against sin within us. Yes, each of us is in danger of being overcome by sin if we let our guard down. (Roman 7:15-25; 1 Corinth 10:12) Jehovah is in no such danger. He is completely removed from sinfulness, he will never be tainted by the slightest trace of sin. This makes him the ideal Father, for it means , he is completely reliable. Jehovah will never turn corrupt. His holiness makes such a thing impossible.

Holiness belongs to Jehovah.

He is the source of holiness. He can impart this precious quality to others, and he does so generously. For instance, humans can become holy in a relative sense, with God's help. An example is in the nation of Israel. God gave his people Israel the prospect of becoming a "holy nation" (Exodus 19:6)
He blessed that nation with a system of worship that was holy, clean, pure. Holiness is a recurring theme of the Mosaic Law. (Ex 28:36) A high standard of cleanness and purity was to distinguish their worship and their way of life. Jehovah told them, "You should prove yourselves holy, because I Jehovah your God am holy." (Lev.19:2). As long as the Israelites lived by God's council to the extent possible for imperfect humans, they were holy in a relative sense.

This holiness is in stark contrast with the worship of the nations surrounding Israel. Those pagan nations worshipped gods whose very existence was a lie. These gods were protrayed as violent, greedy, and promiscuous. They were unholy in every possible sense. The worship of such gods made people unholy. That is why Jehovah warned his servants to keep separate from pagan worshippers and their polluted religious practices.
(Lev.18:24-28; 1 Kings 11:1, 2.)

Jehovah's chosen nation of ancient Israel could provide only a dim reflection of the holiness of God's heavenly organization. There, millions of spirit creatures, angels who loyally serve God are referred to as his "holy myriads" (Duet 33:2; Jude 14). They perfectly reflect the bright, pure beauty of God's holiness. One spirit creature, above all else -the only-begotten son of God, Jesus is the highest reflection of Jehovah's holiness. Rightly he is known as "the Holy One of God" (John 6:68, 69)

Holy Name
God's name is sacred, set apart from all defilement. (1 Chron. 16:10; Ps 111:9)
His name Jehovah is to be held as holy, sanctified above all others. (Matt 6:9)
Disrespect for his name merits punishment of death. -Lev 24:10-19, 23; Numbers 15:30.

Holy Spirit.

God's spirit, or active force is also called holy. (Gen 1:2) Jehovah uses his force, his holy spirit to accomplish his purposes. All that God does, he carried out in a holy, pure, and clean way. So, his active force is well named holy spirit, or spirit of holiness. (Luke 11:13; Roman 1:4) Deliberately working against Jehovah's purposes is blaspheming against the holy spirit. (Matt 12:31, 32)

Jehovah our Holy God

Jehovah loves what is upright and pure. He hates sin. But he does not hate us. As long as we view sin as he does- hating what is bad, loving what is good.- and strive to follow in Christ Jesus' perfect foot steps, Jehovah forgives our sins. (Amos 5:15; 1 Peter 2:21)

We are made in the image of the holy God, we have moral qualities and the capacity for spirituality. (Gen 1:26) There is potential for holiness within us all. Jehovah is happy to help us. As we continue to cultivate holiness we draw closer to our holy God.

Jehovah is also described as "vigorous in power"- Isaiah 40:26. What can we learn about God's power to create, to destroy, to protect, and to restore?