Meditating on the Holiness of God
[The following is an excerpt from the Hymn Workouts book.]
In C. S. Lewis’s novel, Prince Caspian, there is a scene in which Lucy comments to Aslan, ‘You’re bigger.’ Unexpectedly, he replies, ‘That is because you are older, little one.’ The response confuses Lucy. She muses, ‘Not because you are?’ Aslan answers, ‘I am not, but every year you grow, you will find me bigger.’
God’s holiness is unchanging. However, our appreciation of His holiness ought to be changing all of the time. It is a significant sign of the Spirit at work in our hearts when suddenly God looks a little bigger, more majestic, and more praiseworthy than He did before. This growth of awe is an unmistakable sign of the Spirit at work in our hearts. It is no exaggeration to say that the life of heaven will be an ongoing experience of surprise as God, yet again, breaks through whatever ceiling of knowledge we thought could contain the wonder of His being. That said, we do not need to wait until heaven to get a foretaste of such amazement. The purpose of this first set of hymns is to whet the appetite of worship. Each hymn has an unusual ability to widen the eyes of faith, thereby enabling us to glimpse more of the inexhaustible mystery that angels never tire of beholding.
Now, three facets of divine holiness merit special attention as we move into these hymns. The first is the transcendence of God. Modern Christians routinely reduce God to ‘god’, a concept that is small, tame, and devoid of mystery. The hymns in this section are a powerful tool to demolish the idols of the mind and, in their place, resurrect a true knowledge of the holy, knowledge which is built on fearful wonder and joyful adoration.
Second, these hymns remind us that, while God’s being is infinite, His character is not amorphous. He is not a cloud which refuses to take a definite shape. The contrary is true. We can know God precisely because He has revealed Himself through specific traits like faithfulness, mercy, love, goodness, justice, and wisdom. Most of the hymns in this section focus on a key character trait, or attribute, of God. One benefit of studying these hymns will be clarity regarding two of the most important questions that anyone can ask: ‘Who is God?’ and, ‘Why should I trust Him?’
Finally, these hymns trace an often-overlooked connection between beauty and holiness. Whenever God chooses to reveal His glory, He always creates something that includes color, form, movement, life, sound, and love. This was true of the creation of our world. It was also true of the blueprint that God gave Moses for the Tabernacle. A lesson we should learn from this connection is that the perception of beauty and an encounter with holiness are analogous experiences. We can no more stand disinterested in the presence of the Holy One than we can be indifferent at the scene of an unforgettable sunset. A true apprehension of holiness always results in worship. We know that we have glimpsed the shadow of the Living God when our hearts cry out with the seraphim, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts’ (Isa. 6:3).