What is Holy?⤒🔗

In the humdrum of daily life the word “holy” can be heard so often, that you hardly even hear it anymore. It is a word which belongs with the church. That is where it is used, again and again. We believe a Holy Catholic Church, we are part of a Holy Communion of Saints and we believe in the Holy Spirit. Our children are holy to the LORD, we pray to the Holy God and we read the Holy Word of God, all in a day’s work really. That little book called the Bible often looks worse for wear and when we talk of God, it sometimes seems as though there is no longer any distance.

When, what God intended, is no longer understood, then what He has said sounds odd. And when His deeds can no longer be placed, how does one then reckon with these selfsame deeds? Not only is there much less talk of God today, but the way God is spoken of, by those who still do speak of Him, has also changed. In academic literature these two elements are the indicators of secularisation. A nasty word “secularisation”, like a fly in the ointment. It is also a troublesome word, denoting processes, which we would prefer to see confined outside our circles. But has that which is denoted by this word “secularisation”, perhaps already crept into our own being? How do we deal with holy matters? How do we use the word “holy”? Is there still the awareness that this word has the potential to burn you?

Holy According to the Bible←⤒🔗

One may not carelessly handle that, which is holy. It rather calls for special precaution. It is “different”. But whoever says that this says it all, says too little. “Different” can be synonymous with “unknown” in the sense of “dangerous”. It has been suggested that this is exactly what the word “holy” originally meant: something foreign, something from a different world, something to stay away from, it is “charged”. “Holy” then becomes taboo, not unlike that which occurs in other religions. You set aside something, which really is to be left alone. A theory like that ushers in a comprehensive view of what religion actually is. This theory has been strongly refuted. All things considered, theories about the original meanings do not get us very far. It is much better to look at how the word is used in the Bible. The word “holy” belongs to God. Stronger still, it typifies God as God. Whoever says “holy”, says much indeed. This will become clear from several examples.

Exodus 3←⤒🔗

We encounter the word “holy” for the first time in the account of Moses. He became curious about the extraordinary phenomenon of a burning bush which was not consumed. When he came near, he heard a voice, commanding him to take off his sandals. He was standing on holy ground said the voice. The ground itself certainly did not look any different. It was holy for no other reason than that God was present. Something is holy when it is directly related to God. This does not mean that one must keep one’s distance. On the contrary, Moses had to draw near. He was called to receive an assignment. Yet he could not just saunter up, “hands in his pockets”. God was present and therefore the place was holy. This fact called for particular fellowship rules. In Moses’ case: shoes off! This act has always been an expression of humility, adoration and subjection. Moses was permitted to approach God, but a particular form of politeness was required of him.

Exodus 19-20←⤒🔗

The second example: The appearance of the LORD on Mount Sinai, the highlight of the Old Testament. God does not just pay his people a visit, but He meets with them and formally binds himself to his freed people. This encounter cannot simply happen. All those preparations and regulations! When the time is finally there, trumpet blasts announce God’s arrival. The whole mountain quakes in a display of force, fire and deafening sound, with lightning flashing across the sky. All of it points to the holiness of God. The echo of this event reverberates throughout the whole of the Old Testament. Since that time, drawing near to God has been closely connected with reverence, respect and adoration, because since then God’s holiness was understood. Here the oft-repeated call, “Be holy for I am holy” finds its genesis.

Isaiah 6←⤒🔗

Another example: Isaiah sees God on a lofty, elevated throne, the train of his robe filling the temple. I have noticed that not many of today’s youngsters are able to grasp the meaning of this. They rely on the “Good News Bible” to get a handle on it. “The train of his robe filled the temple” Awesome! A vision full of fire, smoke and ear-splitting sound, especially on account of the seraphim. If you have just looked it up the translation in your Good News Bible, you will find that “seraphim” are denoted as “flaming creatures”. Leaving the word untranslated opens up an array of options. The Good News Bible here opts for the view that the word “seraph” contains the notion of fire, purging impurity. Seraphim are thus flaming creatures, which underscore God’s holiness, throne guards, which by their presence ward off anything which must remain far removed from God. They cannot be bypassed. They are constantly on the move. The sound of their wings is awe-inspiring. They fill the entire vision with their call “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts”. Isaiah is totally undone, unable to remain standing. “I am lost” we would say. That is the stamp of God’s holiness. Such is God. He calls Isaiah, but has him touched by the fire from the altar first. Only then is Isaiah suited to the task.

Ezekiel 1-3←⤒🔗

One last example from the Old Testament: the vision of Ezekiel. He sees extraordinary things, too vast and marvellous to describe accurately. Curious figures and an obscure form, of which nothing more could be said, than that it resembled a man. Once again, all of it surrounded by fire, light, noise and movement, storm and lightning and a “brightness all around”. Over and above it all there is the sound of God’s voice, captured in the noise of a multitude of wings, the wings of the creatures surrounding the throne. All of it is so awesome, that Ezekiel remains dumbfounded for seven days following. Only then is he able to get up. Such is the holiness of the LORD.

The Holy One Amongst His People←⤒🔗

This holy God comes to his people. He does not just speak with them once. Sinai marks the beginning of something else entirely. He wishes to reside in a dwelling of a kind, right amongst his people. God’s holiness does not mean that he stays far off, that he is foreign, dangerous. On the contrary, he comes very near. That is what he himself wants. God seeks communion with his people. He seeks them out and calls them. At the same time, he remains the Holy One. God himself makes this possible because he removes all that which is not of him, covers it, makes atonement for it. All this is said in one sentence, but with it we touch on one of the most striking truths of the Bible. The Holy God dwells amongst people, who in actual fact should have melted, vaporised in the fire of his holiness. God unambiguously sets rules, rules of respect, reverence, submission and adoration. Whoever transgresses these, is swiped away. Aaron saw two of his sons die before his eyes in the fire of the Lord (Lev. 10). Fire proceeds from God (see for instance Ps. 97). And yet, from the midst of the fire, the Lord makes his face to shine upon his people. (Num. 6:24-27). He promises the covering of unholiness, atonement for sin, he promises life and blessing. Yes, the fact that this holy God comes so close to human beings, and as-it-were makes himself vulnerable, would have to be one of the most impressive things we read in the Bible.

You can see his house. But that also means that you can use his house for other gods. Just read Jeremiah and Ezekiel. You can speak evil of him, or pretend that he does not exist. You can dismiss and despise all this holiness. Not only are these things possible, they have happened, and not just once but a thousand times over. Yet God remains the Holy One.

Jesus Christ←⤒🔗

It is therefore a miracle that God comes even nearer to man now than he ever did in the Old Testament, namely when Jesus Christ became man, when he came in the flesh. Any nearer is not possible. God the Son lived as man among men, became one of us, grew up in a family with a father, mother, brothers and sisters. He had friends, shook people’s hand, lay sleeping in the back of a boat because he was tired. He had to eat and drink in time, for otherwise he would be unable to go on. Yet, at the same time it may be said of him that the glory of the Father became visible in him. Well before his birth he was spoken of as the “Holiness”, which was to be born, and just prior to his death he told us exactly who he was. He appeared in all his holiness to John on Patmos. His voice resembles God’s voice in the visions of the Old Testament, A voice like the noise of rushing waters, something like the thunderous noise of a waterfall (Rev. 1:15). As the Lamb, he shares in the holiness of God, which John observes through the open door in heaven, a throne with someone sitting on it, again this is merely a figure of speech. John also observes winged creatures, voices of thousands upon thousands of them, fire and dazzling light and there, right in the middle of it, that figure of the Lamb, appearing as though it had been slain (Rev. 4-5). He, who became a vulnerable human being, stands there in all his holiness. They could spit at him and revile him blatantly, and in the extreme. One can do this also in a less blatant manner, by ignoring him for instance, or passing him by, looking the other way and paying him no attention. This is an inconspicuous way of forgetting and scorning him. It is the way of slow but steady disappearance of reverence, respect and subservience. It is losing a grasp of the word “holiness” and losing sight of the fact that God calls himself holy and that Jesus Christ has demonstrated how he shares in this holiness. Then, even though one continues to talk about God and Jesus Christ, we detect a shift. Words vanish and notions change. With it, customs change. This then is secularisation.

A Few Questions←⤒🔗

How do we pray? How do you yourself begin your prayer and what is your posture? How does your Bible present God? How do you speak about God? What is your disposition towards God? What are your first thoughts when you come across something about God or the Bible you fail to understand? What do you think of God? Do you at all times demonstrate respect, reverence and submission? Communion with the Holy God demands politeness. Perhaps that word is deficient, but submission, reverence and respect start with politeness, and the benefit of this word is that everyone understands its meaning. It does not belong to church jargon and therefore can never, together with a list of other “holy” words, be stowed away behind the doors of sacredness. The battle against secularisation begins with politeness towards God: to rise for him, to let him go first, to greet him as one should and to deal correctly with those matters which concern him: Politeness in practice.