Without a doubt, God’s holiness is the most prominent attribute presented by both Old and New Testament Scriptures (Exod 15:11; Lev 19:2; 1 Chr 16:29; Ps 99:9; Isa 57:15; Rev 15:4). This one single perfection would perhaps come closer to describing the eternal Creator than any other characteristic he possesses. It has been suggested that his holiness is the union of all other attributes, as pure white light is the union of all the colored rays of the spectrum.

Thus, the shortest possible description of the Creator of all things would surely be, “God is holy!” The prominence of this attribute is testified to by both Isaiah and John:

1. Both men hear heaven’s angels crying out, “Holy, holy, holy,” as if one “holy” is insufficient in describing God. Here it may be said one never reads “Grace, grace, grace, God Almighty,” or “Love, love, love, God Almighty,” but on two occasions we do read, “Holy, holy, holy.”

2. In Isaiah 5, the prophet pronounces six woes of judgment upon sinful Israel, beginning each rebuke with these words—“Woe unto them” (Isa 5:8, 11, 18, 20–22). But in Isaiah 6, he cries out in shame and despair, “Woe is me!” (Isa 6:5). What made the difference? The answer is simple: He had seen the holiness of God!

God’s holiness is:

1. The absence of any unclean or evil element.

2. The abundance of every clean and pure element.

A. W. Tozer connects holiness with wholeness and health and God’s anger:
“Holy” is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, all His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.

God is holy and He made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of His universe. Sin’s temporary presence in the world only accents this. Whatever is holy is healthy: evil is a moral sickness that must end ultimately in death. The formation of the language itself suggests this, the English word “holy” deriving from the Anglo-Saxon “halig, hal,” meaning “well, whole.”

Since God’s first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from inseparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys. He hates iniquity as a mother hates the polio that would take the life of her child. (The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 113)

One final thought along this line. The Christian world has been shocked and saddened by moral failures on the part of several well-known Christian leaders. Looking back, it can be rightly concluded that the most serious problem involved was not sex, or power, or deceit, or greed, but rather a total lack of understanding about God’s holiness on the part of those who were involved. Stated another way, it can be said that one’s concept of the holiness of God is directly related to his concept of the wickedness of sin! To have a shallow concept of the first leads to a shallow concept of the second.

To these passages could be added the fact that God is referred to as “the Holy One of Israel” over 26 times in the book of Isaiah alone!

God emphasizes his holiness in many ways throughout the Scriptures.

1. The moral law (Ten Commandments) (Exod 19:10–25; 20:1–7).

2. The spiritual law (feasts and offerings) (Exod 35–40; Lev 1–7, 23).

3. The ceremonial law (diet, sanitation, etc.) (Lev 11–15).

The main object was the Tabernacle itself (Lev 14:13; 16:2–3, 16).

1. Moses’ vision (Exod 33:18–23).

2. Isaiah’s vision (Isa 6:1–5).

3. Daniel’s vision (Dan 7:9–10).

4. John’s vision (Rev 4:8–11).

1. Upon Nadab and Abihu, for offering strange fire (Lev 10:1–3).

2. Upon Korah, for rebellion (Num 16:4–12, 31–33).

3. Upon Uzziah, for intruding into the office of the priest (2 Chr 26:16–21).

4. Upon Herod, for blasphemy (Acts 12:20–23).

5. Upon Christ, for the sins of the world (Ps 22:1; Isa 53:1–10; Heb 2:9; 1 Pet 2:21–25; 3:18). Without a doubt, the greatest historical example of God’s holiness was Calvary.