Home> Ministries> The Pastor Nathaniel's Blog> The Pastor's Blog Archives> Pastor's Blog Archives, 2019> Pastor's Blog February 18, 2019

Pastor's Blog February 18, 2019

"God's Holiness"

{Scroll over scripture reference to read the scripture or reference.

Psalm 30:4 speaks about the holiness of God, but it presents an interesting perspective on the way God is holy.  The KJV of this passage states, "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness."  Most other Bible versions translate the last part of this verse as "at the remembrance of his holy name."  The reason for the translation difference between the KJV and other translations is because holiness in this verse doesn't have an object; there is no "holy name," "holy God," or "holy thing" here, there's just the word "holy" sitting all by itself.  What this suggests is that God is entirely holy. 

There's no single part of God that can be considered the source of his holiness, God is simply holy through-and-through.  And when we look at Psalm 30, we find that an interesting point is being made about God's holiness: God is praised in his holiness for taking care of the psalmist's life and for saving him from death - as in, the psalmist died and God brought him back from the dead (verse 3)! 

I think it's fairly easy for us to understand how God takes care of our lives, and Psalm 30 calls us to recognize that God's continued care for us is one of the many demonstrations of his holiness (verses 2 and 5-7).  What can be challenging to grasp, however, is how God's holiness is shown in saving us from death.  Throughout the Psalms, God and death are portrayed as opposites because death is considered an unholy thing and God is seen as holiness itself; death is the opposite of what God wants for people and the creation (i.e., life), so death is directly opposed to the holiness of God.  Consequently, Psalm 30 suggests multiple times that God shows his holiness by disrupting death and rescuing people from being dead by giving them new life (verses 1, 3-4, and 8-12). 

So when we read Psalm 30:4, we find ourselves called to sing and praise God in light of remembering something specific about the holiness of God - that God's holiness means he reverses death.  God's holiness is about more than him being morally upright; in addition to his righteousness, the holiness of God is concerned with giving us life and destroying death. 

Today as we worship God, I hope remembering how God has worked in your life, as well as remembering God's promise to resurrect us and give us new life in Christ, fills your hearts with awe at his holiness.