God's Holiness

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is filled of His glory"
-Isaiah 6:3
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't really thought of anything to write about. Today I wanted to talk about holiness. What is it? Many people who go to church hear that word a lot, because it is used in the bible many times. What does it mean though? Being holy means being set apart, or being sacred. A holy person might be known for being saintly or godly. I understand the second definition, but what I really like is the first one. Holiness is being set apart. Why do I like this one better? I think it describes who God is in a better way. Yes, God is a sacred being, but that is what makes Him set apart. God has so many qualities that we do not have. He never sins, lies, and He always loves. We cannot even compare to the greatness of God because we always sin, lie, and we don't love like God does. Even the best of us can't compare to God. His character is so much greater than us. We are like a shirt that has permanent stains on it, God is like a shirt that cannot be stained. If you were to see the two together it would emphasize the ugliness of the shirt with the stain. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn't have to two shirts in the same place because you might ruin the good shirt. This is obviously a flawed example because we really can't ruin God, in fact, He would ruin us. If we were to see God as He is in our natural human state, we would die. This is the reason He is set apart, because He can't be near us, or more realistically we cannot handle His awesomeness. No one in their natural earthly state has seen God, because He is holy. In the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah sees God sitting on His throne, and seraphs (I guess angel like beings) said "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty." Notice that they say holy three times to stress God's holiness. Even these seraphs had to cover their faces because even they could not handle being in the almighty presence of God. Then Isaiah said to himself "Woe is me! I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." The prophet Isaiah could not bear to be in God's presence because he was a sinful man. As I said before, being near God emphasizes the ugliness of ourselves. So what can we do about this? How can we have a relationship with a holy God who cannot be with us? Well, actually He can, but that will be covered at a later time.
-Smart