The Supreme Revelation Of
God's Holiness
Romans 3:24-26
The supreme revelation
of God's holiness is the sin-atoning, substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus
Christ upon the cross. There, and there alone, "Mercy and truth are met
together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psa. 85:10).
When I see the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with my sin upon him, suffering the horrible
wrath of God without mercy, I see that God is indeed holy. God is so infinitely
holy that he will not allow his own dear Son to escape his unmitigated wrath
when sin has been imputed to him. God is so immeasurably holy that he will
sacrifice his only, darling, well-beloved Son to save sinners before he will
sacrifice his transcendent character! No wonder the seraphims, looking on the
mercy-seat (the symbol of Christ's atonement) cried one to another, "Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!"
What is holiness? If
ever men and women find out the meaning of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice
at
1. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO BE JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER OF
SINNERS APART FROM THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. God's holiness, righteousness, and
truth would not allow him to forgive any sin without satisfaction. Justice must
be satisfied before God could forgive.
2. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR MAN TO KNOW THE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD'S
HOLINESS WITHOUT THE REDEMPTIVE WORK OF CHRIST. The angels in heaven know God's
purity. Adam in the garden knew his uprightness. The devils of hell know his
anger with sin. And guilty sinners, under the terror of the law, know his
intolerable hatred of evil. But only the cross of Christ reveals the perfection
of his holiness.
3. EVERY SINNER WHO BELIEVES ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS PERFECTLY
HOLY. We are holy before the law, given a holy nature, and promised a holy life
in glory. We are complete in Christ, perfect, lacking nothing!
"With His spotless garments on
We are as holy as God's Son!"
Don Fortner