"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
- Isaiah 6:1-3
"Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,'
who was, and is, and is to come.”
- Revelation 4:8
"As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
- 1 Peter 1:14-16
When I asked my Jr High students what the characteristics of God were, the first answer was: loving, and the second was: merciful. I feel that if you asked this question in most every youth group in America that the answers would be very similar to these. We like focusing on what I would perceive to be the easily-stomached attributes of God. We like God when He is loving, forgiving, gracious, and merciful, but when we continue to focus on these attributes, we can reject the rest.
If I took a general poll of the general population of how they would generally describe God in one word or less, besides a general amount of silence, generally I feel the answer would be "Love." This answer is okay, since in 1 John 4:8 we read "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (NASB). If this is your answer, then it is very easy to describe God as loving, forgiving, gracious, and merciful. These things naturally and easily flow from a God who is love.
These qualities do flow from God, because He is love, but these are not all of God's attributes. What about His wrath and justice? Are we able to believe that a god who is summed up by the word "love" to be wrathful and truly just? Many Christians today still struggle with people who do evil things getting due punishment such as the death penalty, or even Osama Bin Laden being killed, because God has extended grace to them. This is even a struggle with earthly justice, but what about Hell? God being wrathful and just and Hell being a real place, can be difficult teachings from Scripture when your "Love-God" could not allow that.
I would propose, that instead of trying to sum up who God is by "love" why not try "holy" out and see what we get. Interestingly, we find that love and holiness are not opposites, but instead that love can (and does) flow out of holiness, but holiness does not necessarily flow out of love. Not everything (or most things) that are said of humans apply to God, but it is interesting that in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 it seems to strongly suggest that you have to be loving to be holy, but not the other way around.
God is directly described as holy many more times than he is directly described as love, yet we are more likely to say "God is love" than to say that "God is holy." I need more than one post to give due time to the holiness of God, but I think that we will find that if we start with "God is Holy," then "God is Love" and other biblical truths makes more sense, than if we begin with "God is Love."
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