Holy is such a “churchy” word that sometimes we say it without really understanding what it means. God says we are to be holy, even as He is holy. Leviticus 20:7 “You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.” If we are supposed to be holy, then, by all means let’s make sure we know what it means.
Holy is used in 580 verses in the Bible. The Greek word is “hagios.” It means “an awful thing, consecrated, set apart, a saint.” It has to do with something being totally different from everything else around it. God is holy. He is consecrated unto Himself. He is set apart unto Himself. He is awful.
You’re probably saying, “Wait a minute! God isn’t awful! God is Love!!!”
I would answer you, “God is awe-full!” Let’s look at His Word together in several passages, and then maybe you will see what I am trying to show you. The first time we see the word “holy” is on Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, where the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.
Exodus 3:1-5 “Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.””
Fire consumes. The bush was definitely on fire, yet it wasn’t being consumed. Moses saw something that just didn’t make sense. He turned aside to see it more closely, but God told him not to come any nearer. God told Moses to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground.
In this first exposure to the word “holy” we see two aspects of its meaning. First of all, holy means to be awful or awe-full. It means to be full of awe! Moses was full of awe when he saw the bush. It was more than mere idle curiosity about a nonchalant event in the desert. Moses called it a marvelous sight. He marveled when he saw it.
Secondly, we see that the bush was unique to itself. There were lots of bushes in the desert, but none like this bush. Moses had probably seen hundreds of fires but never one like this fire. This bush couldn’t be categorized with any others. It was in a class all by itself. That made it holy.
You see, it was set apart from all others. More importantly, it was set apart unto something! It was set apart unto God. God was occupying that corner of the desert right then, and nothing else could enter unless it, too, was holy—unless it was set apart unto God.
Let’s look at one of the aspects of holiness: the aspect of being set apart unto God. Read these passages and notice the phrases that show we are His and are possessed by Him.
Numbers 15:40 “so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God.”
Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His Own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”
Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”
1 Peter 1:15-16 “but like the Holy One Who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
Our beautiful little granddaughter, Anna, was born prematurely. She was placed into the NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit) at the hospital and carefully protected from all outside health dangers. No one was allowed enter the unit if they were ill or had been exposed to illness. When we went inside the care unit to be with her, we needed to wash our arms and hands with antiseptic soap and wear face masks. You see, we had to become holy to the health of the care unit. Nothing unholy was allowed to enter. Why? Because to bring unhealthiness into the unit would contaminate the healthiness of the unit. We had to be healthy because the NICU was set apart unto health.
God commands His people to be holy. Why? Because He is holy. He is set apart unto Himself, and we cannot be with Him unless we, too, are holy. If He allowed unholiness to be with Him then He would no longer be holy. And that just is not going to happen!
Deuteronomy 23:14 “Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.”
God clearly defines holiness for us in Leviticus 20:26. “Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” To be holy is not just to be separated from the world. That alone does not make us holy. We are separated from the peoples to be His!
I use a simple illustration in my classes. Since I use whiteboards when I teach, I usually have a whole set of colored whiteboard markers in my desk. I take them out and lay then on the top of the desk so the whole class can see them: purple, blue, green, red, black, yellow, brown, and orange. They are a set.
Then I pick up one of them, let’s say the yellow one. I give it to one of my students. Now there are seven markers in one group on the desk, and one yellow marker all by itself in the hand of a student.
Does that make the yellow one holy? Not completely. Does that make the yellow one holy unto me? No, not at all. Simply being separated from the other markers does not make the yellow marker holy to me. It can be set apart from the other markers and still not be useful to me at all. It is not available for me. Rather, it has been set apart to one of my students.
As the illustration demonstrates, separating the yellow marker from the others did not set it apart for my use, and neither does separating oneself from the ways of the world set a person apart for God’s use. You see, to be holy is to be set apart unto God, for His use alone. Many people think they will give up the ways of the world and that will make them holy. Wrong! As long as they live for themselves, no matter how “good” they are, they are not holy to God.
Out of a dozen markers, which one will I take? The one that I will use. When I take it in my hand, it becomes holy to me, it becomes holy for my use alone. It no longer resides with the other markers because it is no longer holy to the world it came from. It is not just “on call” for my use, it is “on duty” for my use. It is mine! When we belong to God we are always, always, always on duty for His use. We are His!
Let’s look at a couple of verses that show us the other part of the definition of “holy.” The part that means He is awful.
Psalm 111:9-10 “He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His Name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.”
Isaiah 29:23 “But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.”
Let me give an illustration that might help you understand this idea. Just imagine you are the witness of a horrible car accident. You hear the screeching of tires, the blare of horns, followed by a piercing scream from one of the passengers. You find out in moments that one of the victims is dead and the others are critically injured. You would agree with me, wouldn’t you, that an accident like that would be a terrible thing to witness?
Would you, however, agree with me that an accident like that would be an awesome thing as well? Perhaps you wouldn’t. But actually you should because terrible and awesome are cousins!
The original meaning of awe is to be “full of fear.” To “be in awe” is “to stand in fear.” Over the years, although the definition may have stayed the same, the connotation has changed. In the present time the connotation for something being awesome is that it is “cool!” or “great!” But when God wrote His Word that is not what it meant. Awesome meant just that—full of awe, full of fear. He is so different from anything that we know or can imagine!
God is awesome! God is to be feared! God isn’t just a “really cool God!” He is to be marveled at, for sure, but not without inspiring a deep reverential fear inside of you. So when I say that God is awful, I mean it! He is full of awe! And Who He is should produce a fear of Him in you.
God said that in the New Covenant we will know Him. If we truly know God, then we will reverence Him. He is awesome and terrible and fearful. We will fear disobeying Him! If we are afraid to disobey Him, then we will do His bidding and the result will be our own holiness! We will be holy because we will be set apart to Him.
The world is set apart to itself, so, as God’s holy people, we will be different from the world and the world will notice our holiness! As the world notices our holiness, it will see a faint reflection of the marvelous and awesome holiness of God, and therefore, part of His vast and stunning Glory!
Adapted from "HIStory—From Event To Event The Bible Is One Story"
