Holiness: 3 People In The Bible Who Were Profoundly Moved By God's Holiness
Our God is holy. There is no one on earth or anywhere else that is like Him. He is unlike any other, and no matter how much we try to equate or compare Him to any figure in history or in literature, we just can't find and won't find any, simply because He is truly holy.
Holy defined
The word holy is simply defined as being "set apart." To explain it very simply, it practically means "not having anything like it." While we all know it goes beyond that, we understand that God is like that: there's no one like Him. There's no one like Him and there'll be no one like Him, ever.
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God is so holy, those who've seen Him or at least got a glimpse of His holiness can't stop but realize they are nothing like Him. No matter how good or excellent or even humanly amazing we can be, we're still mere sinners with nothing to show for. We're all way short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23).
Testimonies
To help you understand what I am talking about, here are some people who have seen or at least got a small glimpse of how holy God is. Their experience revealed to them just how awesome our living God is.
1) Jacob
In Genesis 32:22-32 we read of Jacob's life-changing encounter with God in the wilderness of Peniel. He was on his way to his fateful meeting with his twin brother, Esau. This encounter was very instrumental, because this changed the life of Jacob forever.
The account tells us that a man wrestled with Jacob one whole evening. Jacob wrestled aggressively, but the man, whom the Bible presented as God, dislocated his thigh. Later, we read God changing Jacob's name because of this encounter:
"So He said to [Jacob], "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "Your name will no more be called Jacob, but Israel. For you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed."" (see Genesis 32:27-28, emphasis mine)
Jacob, whose name meant "deceiver" or "supplanter" became Israel, the "overcomer." His life was forever changed.
2) Job
Job, an upright man who prayed to God for himself and his family, suddenly lost all that mattered to him in just one tragic day. We read in his story that he was totally innocent and undeserving of what happened to him. However, because he saw the Lord he realized that his own uprightness is nothing compared to the righteousness of God.
He realized that his goodness is nothing compared to the Lord's. Read what he declared after he spoke with the Lord (in Job 40-41), as read in Job 42:5-6:
"I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.""
3) Isaiah
Lastly, we read of the prophet who spoke about the coming Messiah long before He walked on earth as a human. We know Isaiah accurately prophesied of the Lord's plans, having his ears precisely tuned in to the Lord's voice. One thing that many of us don't realize, however, is that he himself – a prophet anointed to speak God's counsel long before it was meant to take place – knows his righteousness is nothing compared to the Lord.
Read for yourself what he realized after seeing the Lord God:
"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. One cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." The posts of the door moved at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
And I said: "Woe is me! For I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts."" (Isaiah 6:1-5 )
