READ: Ps. 99:1-9: … He sits enthroned between the cherubim … He is exalted above all the peoples … Holy … His testimonies … ordinances … holy …
Various glorious attributes and deeds of the LORD are addressed: God’s omnipotence and rule, His power by which He makes the earth tremble, His righteousness, His faithfulness, and His readiness to forgive, but also His execution of judgment upon the wicked. Above all, however, the Psalm places great emphasis on the holiness of the LORD. This is repeatedly emphasized.
God’s holiness is expressed not only in His purity and His abhorrence of all sin, creating such a great distance between Himself as the only Holy One and humanity, fallen into sin. His holiness is also expressed in His unique exaltedness and eternity above all mortal creatures and the created world.
In his First Epistle to Timothy, Paul writes about God first in 1 Tim. 1:17: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God Who alone is wise, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
And in 1 Tim. 6:15,16, he writes about God in connection with the appointed day of Christ’s second coming: “He Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, He will reveal in His own time. He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, Whom no man has seen or can see, to Whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen.”
God’s holiness calls for deep reflection. We must realize Who our God and Saviour is! He calls us to have deep reverence for Him and deep dependence upon Him. God’s holiness is described by the apostle John as the unapproachable divine light that darkness cannot endure.
What a wonder of grace, then, that God nevertheless deals with His human children and for this purpose sent His Son as the light of the world. In this way, God displays all of this at once: His power, exaltedness, holiness, and righteousness, and at the same time His grace and readiness to forgive (cf. Ex. 34:6,7).
Do we reflect sufficiently on God’s holiness?
Sing: Ps. 99:1,5,6