Over the past few weeks, our congregational worship has focused much on the worthiness of God. He alone is worthy of our honor, worship, praise, and even our very lives. Offering any of those up to another is rebellion against the King of kings.
But why is He worthy? Because He alone is HOLY. It is God’s holiness that is the framework for every one of His attributes. He loves with a holy love. He executes holy justice (unlike humanity’s idea of justice). He is a jealous God, but his jealousy is due to His holiness. His wrath is a holy wrath. His working in our world to reconcile and restore is specifically due to His holiness. Because He is holy, sinful and rebellious people cannot stand in His presence. Yet because He desires to be known by His creation, he gave Jesus as atonement for our rebellion/sin and provides the Holy Spirit to sanctify us (make us holy).
Everything that God is doing and has done throughout redemptive history is because of His holiness. For more study on this, I recommend everyone read “The Holiness of God” by R.C. Sproul. It is also available in our church’s library. But until you get that, let’s listen to a song that focuses on the working of a Holy God, “Only a Holy God”
Verse 1
Who else commands all the hosts of heaven
(Psalm 24:10 – Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!)
Who else could make every king bow down
(Revelation 19:16 – On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.)
Who else can whisper and darkness trembles
(John 8:12 – Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”)
Only a Holy God
Verse 2
What other beauty demands such praises
(Psalm 27:4 – One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.)
What other splendor outshines the sun
(Revelation 21:23 – And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.)
What other majesty rules with justice
(Revelation 16:7 – And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”)
Only a Holy God
Verse 3
What other glory consumes like fire
(Deuteronomy 4:24 – For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.)
What other power can raise the dead
(Colossians 2:12 – having been buried with [Christ] in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.)
What other name remains undefeated
(1 Corinthians 15:57 – But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Only a Holy God
Verse 4
Who else could rescue me from my failing
(Psalm 92:15 – [God says], “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.”
Who else would offer His only Son
(Hebrews 10:10 – And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.)
Who else invites me to call Him Father
(Galatians 4:6 – And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”)
Only a Holy God
Chorus
Come and behold Him
The One and the Only
Cry out, sing holy
Forever a Holy God
Come and worship the Holy God
Here is my favorite version of this song, sung in a congregational setting: