God Is Holy Series

Most speeches and sermons have three parts to them. There is

the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Often they have

three points in the body as well. Then there is another three fold

factor involved. There is the message as written; then the

message as delivered, and third what the speaker wishes he had

said after it is all over.

Winston Churchill was one of histories greatest speakers, and

he had this advice involving still another threeness in speech. If

you have an important point to make, he advised, don't try to be

subtle and be clever about it. He said use the pile driver. Hit the

point once, and then come back and hit it again, and then hit it

the third time a tremendous whack!

We do not know who the author of Psalm 99 was, but many

centuries before Churchill he was already applying this wisdom

in communication. This is called the holy, holy, holy Psalm

because the word holy is used to conclude each of the main

divisions of it. He says of God, he is holy, and then a second time,

he is holy, and then third time he gives it a tremendous whack,

and concludes, "The Lord our God is holy."

The attributes of God are numerous, but the only one that is

given a threefold emphasis is his holiness. The seraphs above

God's throne in Is. 6:3 are saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

Almighty." In Rev. 4:8 the wondrous four living creatures

around the throne of God are saying ceaselessly, "Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty."

Repetition is used in the Bible to convey degree. If you repeat

something you raise the degree of it's importance. Verily verily

or truly truly I say unto you, was the way Jesus called attention to

a very important message. R.C. Sproul tells of the battle of the

kings in the Valley of Siddim in Gen. 14 where some of them fell

into tar pits. The Hebrew says they were pit pits. In other words,

there are pits, and there are pit pits. The pit pits are pittier than

the pits. When you fall into these pits it is not just your typical

pit fall. You are in deep deep trouble. If the bottomless pit was to

be described by the use of repetition, it would be called the pit pit

pit. The three fold repetition is the ultimate beyond which you

cannot go. You can't get any pitter than a pit pit pit, for that

says it all.

So when the Bible goes from holy is the Lord, to holy holy is

the Lord, to holy holy holy is the Lord, it has reached the level of

the ultimate in holiness. There is no other degree of holiness

beyond holy, holy, holy. God is absolutely holy, infinitely holy,

eternally holy. Of course, He is also love, love, love, and mercy,

mercy, mercy, and justice, justice, justice, and we could go on

through all of His attributes. But the fact is God's holiness is the

only one of His attributes which is put into this Trinitarian form.

It is the only one elevated to the third degree in it's verbal

communication. Other beings are called holy, and other things.

Even one place is called holy of holies. It is raised to the second degree,

but no where is there anyone or anything raised to the third degree,

except God. He, and he alone, is holy, holy, holy. Hannah in her

prayer in I Sam. 2:2 says, "There is no one holy like the Lord;...."

The holy can cease to be holy and become unholy. Even holy

angels fell. The holy of holies can be destroyed, as it was several

times, and ceased to be a holy place, but became rather a common

place where God is no more present than anywhere else. But the

holy holy holy can never cease to be holy or in anyway

whatsoever deviate and do what is unholy.

God's holiness, like His love, puts limitations on His power.

The tyrant does not need to worry about whether or not his

actions are right, just, morally pure, and ethically fair. He does

anything he has to do to accomplish His will. If it takes lies,

thievery, and immorally, then so be it. Anything goes for the

cause.

God cannot do that to get His will done. If He could He would

not have sent His son into the world to die. A tyrant does not

sacrifice for you, they sacrifice you for themselves. God sacrificed

for you. If God could do anything to get His will done, would

Jesus have bothered to teach us to pray, "Thy will be done on

earth as it is in heaven." What a strange prayer that is if God can