The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum God is love, God is love, God is love...

The Holiness of God

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare we unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. - l John 1:5

John has just said, "These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." So how is it to be full? Well, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is . . ." What would you have expected there? I suggest that most of us would have expected, "God is love" or "God is mercy" or "God is compassion"; but the startling and astonishing thing is that he says, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." And we may say to John, "You have been saying that we are to be given an amazing joy, and then you confront us with that?"

But that is precisely what he does say. We must not start with the knowledge of God, though that is absolutely essential. Nor must we start with God as a source of philosophy. We must not even start with God as love.

Now we can see at once how by putting it like this we give an utter contradiction to what has been so popular especially since 1860. The great message that has been preached for a hundred years is, "God is love." That is the thing that has been emphasized, and we have been told that our fathers, and especially the Puritans with their preaching about justice, and righteousness, and repentance, and sin, and punishment, and death, had been entirely contradicting and denying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been told that God is love - that is what we needed, and there He was to meet us. Yet what an utter travesty of the Gospel that is! This is the message: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Fellowship with God, pp. 106-107

Light, to me, means truth revealed. The fact that God knows all can be either a great comfort or a source of great fear, depending on one's relationship with Him.

The Apostle takes God's knowledge of the truth and the revalation of that truth as a source of "full joy" to the one who is fully yielded to Him. That same fact should terrify everyone else, but it is a comfort to know that He fully knows us, and that He will disclose Himself to us one day - and we will "see His face and yet live."

Light also refers often in Scripture to His justice. And again, His justice is awesome joy to those who know His mercy, because it shows us the depth of that mercy when we see how awesome His justice is. A seminary professor once shocked the whole class when he said, "One day some of you will rejoice to see your unsaved mother cast into the lake of fire." On the surface a seemingly heartless and cruel thing to say, but given the thought it deserves - knowing that but for His grace we would all receive His justice rather than mercy, the light of His holiness is comfort to those who are His.

-R

Hi Robin,

I can see that the idea I was emphasizing could have been misunderstood. This quote is from a Banner of Truth devotional (Walking With God Day by Day)in which they take quotes from the various books of Lloyd-Jones.

The point that Lloyd-Jones was making, and which I was agreeing, is that many churches and preachers spend all their time preaching on the "love of God" to the utter neglect of His many other attributes. Frankly, I'm in agreement with the godly Puritans quoted here and their emphasis. We should love and extol all His attributes.

One of my favorite sermons by Jonathan Edwards is "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners." I love His justice as much as I do His love. The "Wrath of God" and the "Love of God" are both perfections of God's divine nature and both should receive emphasis in the churches. But, many Christians are very uncomfortable thinking and speaking about God's justice and His wrath; they just want to hear about His love.

TomF,
I REALLY like that quote. And, if I may add my .

1. Although love is undeniably one of God's major and indispensable attributes and although it would doubtless be risky to set one attribute above another, it seems to me that God's inexorable holiness is the one attribute which seems to predominate in Scripture. ALL that God does is holy, i.e., it is perfect in every way. God's love is holy but it is nowhere said that God's holiness is lovely or love. God's justice is holy, His wrath is holy, etc.

2. Re: "light", my view is that this word "light" is often synonymous with "holiness", e.g.,

1 John 1:5-7 (ASV) "And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

It seems clear enough to me that the contrast between light and darkness is a contrast between perfect holiness and sinfulness. (cp. Ps 36:9; 84:11; Jh 8:12; 12:35,36; 1Tim 6:16; Jam 1:17; Heb 1:3)

3: Re: Jonathan Edwards' sermon "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners" is definitely one of my favorites as well because it exalts the justice of the thrice holy God and at the same time magnifies beyond comprehension the love of God for the elect extended to them by His infinite mercy and grace. Another sermon of Edwards' which perhaps Robin was referring to is this one: The End of the Wicked Contemplated ...ccasion of Grief to the Saints in Heaven. This is another incredible sermon that shows just how holy (transcendent, aka: set apart) God is compared to us mortal men.

4. Lastly, today's "gospel" is no Gospel at all, IMHO. There are several articles on The Highway that deal with this subject in great detail, which you can find in THIS SECTION. And then there is this one, Another Gospel.

Pilgrim,

A hearty, "Amen!" to everything in your post! And, I will definitely check out the links you've included too. Thanks for that!

I know some Christians who only ever talk about "the love of God" as though that was the only thing that matters. Frankly, and I almost hate to say this, but I'm tired of hearing about His love all the time. I guess that's why I love Edwards sermon so much. I know about God's love, can we please talk about All His other glorious attributes? It's kind of like having a guitar and only using one of the stings. It's really great to hear someone play with ALL the strings.

Thanks for listening...