The Holiness of God redux

I had read R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God while in college in the late 1980s, and recently finished a re-read.

Even when Sproul first wrote the book, he recognized that many people left the church because they found it boring. Yet the church that contemplates the holiness of God will be anything but boring.

I still have the same copy that I read 20 years ago, and it was interesting to see what I had marked the first time. This time around, one thing that stuck with me was Sproul's observation that while we talk a lot of God's grace, his love, his mercy, the Bible nowhere says "God is grace, grace, grace, or love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy. It does say, however, that God is holy, holy, holy."

If you've previously read The Holiness of God, get it out and re-read it. If you never have, get one.

The Kingdom & Reverence

In speaking of the Lord's Prayer and hallowing God's name, R.C. Sproul says

"God's kingdom will never come where His name is not hallowed. ... It is foolish to look for the kingdom anywhere God is not revered.

Additionally,

"The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory." (Sproul, The Holiness of God, pp. 25, 40).

Sometimes we focus on the horizontal dimension of faith, to demonstrate love, mercy, or even wrath and justice to other men. But proper inter-personal relations depend upon proper vertical perspective.

That is, we can't properly love, display mercy to, or exercise justice about our neighbor until we grasp the need to consider God's holiness.