The objective: to emphasize that genuine holiness exists where there is the complete absence of evil [sin].
God and His acts are the total opposite of Satan and his acts. God is the source of all good (see James 1:17). Satan is the source of all evil. God declares and shares truth. Satan declares and shares deception (see John 8:44). [Please note that those who are successfully deceived have no awareness of the deception. From the deceived's perspective, they are not deceived!] God's motives and Satan's motives are exactly opposite. God "tests" to challenge people to grow, to come closer to Him, to rise above that which seeks their destruction (note God's motives in Exodus 20:20 and Deuteronomy 8:1-10 in contrast to Satan's motives in Genesis 3:1-5 and Matthew 4:1-11). God wishes to discipline us for our blessing while Satan wishes to lie to us in order to produce destruction through deception.
God and Satan are total [complete] opposites. There is not even a small amount of evil in God. There is not even a small amount of righteousness in Satan.
God is in complete contrast to Satan. In God there is no evil. In Satan there is no righteousness. God is totally holy. Satan is totally unholy. There is not the slightest evil in God. There is not the slightest righteousness in Satan.
The fact that there is no evil in God means God is absolutely holy. The fact that there is no righteousness in Satan means Satan is absolutely unholy.
It is in that contrast that humans begin to grasp the concept of God's holiness. That which is holy is as distinct from that which is unholy as pure light is distinct from total darkness. We of technological North America do not have much experience with total darkness. If we live in an urban area, we have street lights and houses illuminated by electrical light. If we live in a rural area, we still have houses illuminated by electrical light, yards illuminated by security lights, and "the all-darkness occasions" flashlight with its special bulb and long life batteries. Rarely do we confront circumstances in which there is no light.
All first century people were personally familiar with deep darkness in the course of their life experiences. All twenty-first century people are personally familiar with true unholiness in the course of our life experiences.
People of first century knew total darkness as a part of life's experience. In fact, darkness was feared! What if in the darkness an enemy army positioned itself for a siege? What if under the cover of darkness thieves came? Darkness produced personal injuries seldom occurring in day light! Their "in house" lighting principally came from a lamp so small it fit in the palm of a hand! [That is why with its inferior wick and inferior combustible fluid it was placed on a lamp stand!] There were no security lights, no street lights, no electrical lights, no flash lights, no kerosene, but lots of poverty. Moonless, cloudy nights were frightening times in a dark world!
Daily life experiences at times placed first century people in circumstances in which "the darkness is so thick we can feel it." People in every century associate "thick darkness" with danger and fear.
One does not realize how awful darkness is until he/she knows light. I once lived in a population area of 50,000 people who were given the "joys of electricity" one week before I arrived. As crews put up concrete poles, mounted street lights, and installed power lines connected to diesel operated generators, they explained that soon "night would be as light as day." No one believed them! For people who always lived through dark nights, that was ridiculous! Concrete poles produce light? Power flows through solid lines? Stupid! The first night the generators came to life and street lights illuminated the area, people in uncomprehending glee danced in the streets until dawn! Until we experience the contrast, we cannot imagine the possibilities!
Darkness seems in control until there is light. People cannot comprehend how light can so easily and quickly drive darkness away.
North Americans live in an "unholy society" and an "unholy" culture. [We are not alone--all societies and cultures are "unholy", some just more so than others.] North Americans too often live under the illusion that we are a moral, just, Christian nation. We are so moral and just that sexual affairs are accepted as "good"; junior high students of necessity must have access to birth control; alcoholism is common place; drug addiction "numbs" our emptiness; and almost half of first marriages end in failure. What to the rest of the world is a "luxury," to us is a "necessity." The pursuit of pleasure is a right! We too often believe that we can endorse the "holy" with periodic religious activities while devoting ourselves to the "unholy" in daily living. We have grown so accustomed to the darkness that we confuse darkness with light.
People in the United States of America delude themselves when they think they comprehend genuine holiness [the complete absence of evil]. Usually we think we comprehend holiness because of human-to-human comparisons in which we classify good as a lesser evil.
We do not know what it is to be "holy;" what "holy" looks like; or what "holy" does. We think we do, but we do not. We have grow so accustomed to the unholy, so enjoy the momentary pleasures produced by the unholy, and so champion the values of the unholy that we are blind to the contrast between holiness and unholiness.
We have never seen or experienced the absolute absence of evil. We are so accustomed to everything having some flaws or weakness that we cannot comprehend the total absence of evil. We commonly regard the unholy as holy if the unholy is comparatively superior to complete evil.
When Isaiah came face to face with God's holiness, he was shocked! He saw the enthroned God (Isaiah 1:1). Heavenly beings called to each other, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory" (6:3). When God spoke, He shook the temple as it filled with smoke (6:4).
Even the beings around God are impressed with God's holiness.
What was Isaiah's reaction to his exposure to the Holy God? "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
Isaiah's unholiness was glaringly obvious in light of God's true holiness. Rather than being minimized into unimportance, Isaiah's flaws and weakness were glaringly obvious in the inescapable, evident contrast between his unholiness and God's holiness.
Had we asked Isaiah prior to this experience, "Isaiah, do you know holy?" "Of course I do! I have access to the temple, the place where God's presence dwells!" "Isaiah, would you belong comfortably in the presence of the holy?" "Of course--I am comfortable in the temple!"
Likely, Isaiah would have felt quite confident about his holiness prior to coming into the immediate presence of God.
However, Isaiah had never seen or experienced the absolute absence of evil. When he did, he was overwhelmed! Please note several things. (1) He did not comprehend his unholiness until he saw God's holiness. (2) When he was in the presence of true holiness, he felt destroyed--his filth could not endure the glare of that purity. (3) He knew Israel as a nation, Jerusalem as a city, and the temple they built for God's presence were totally inferior to God's holiness. (4) Isaiah could not make himself worthy to be in the presence of the Holy God. Only if he were cleansed could he endure that holiness. (5) Once cleansed, he had an overpowering desire to serve the Holy God.
Godly humans tend to think of holiness in terms of comparative goodness instead of the absence of evil. The very best humans are capable of producing in values, priorities, or behavior does not begin to compare with the complete absence of evil in God.
Were any of us to see God's holiness and stand in the presence of the genuinely holy, we would share Isaiah's feelings. Everything we experience in a deformed world afflicted with unholiness is touched by evil. The Holy God has no evil in Him or in any way associated with Him. None of us know what genuine sinlessness is. None of us know what genuine sinlessness looks like. None of us know what genuine sinlessness feels like. We know forgiveness, but we do not know sinlessness.
Few if any of us begin to comprehend how existing in an evil world spiritually deforms all of us. The closer we come to God, the more we realize that we are completely unfamiliar with "holy."
Did you note when Isaiah saw God's holiness, two things became immediate awareness? (1) The Holy God is worthy of praise. (2) The Holy God is worthy of service. Those were immediate, clear revelations of God's holiness. The fact that God is totally sinless overwhelms humans--because we are not!
When we "see" God's holiness, there is no doubt that God is worthy of honor and praise and we are unworthy of honor or praise. Even a partial understanding of God's holiness makes us realize the privilege found in serving God.
Thought Question:
The approaches to producing this understanding are as varied as the people explaining. A useful approach might be to use a contrast. A helpful contrast to use is the contrast between light and darkness. The contrast should lead to understanding that in the Holy God there is the complete absence of evil.
We are not totally sinless.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 2