Set Apart: A Biblical View of Holiness
Part 1: God is Holy
Notes prepared by Jessica Lee
Focus: Our personal holiness is grounded in the holiness of God. When we see him, we worship him in the beauty of his holiness.
“Holiness is one of the central themes in the Bible. The word and its derivatives occur more than 700 times in the Bible. You can’t make sense of the Bible without understanding that God is holy and intends to make a holy people to live with him forever in a holy heaven.”
-Adapted from Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in Our Holiness
Psalm 96:1–9 ESV
1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
The Text in the Story of Redemption
God’s holiness is the underpinning of the entire narrative arc of Scripture. His holiness means that all the created order functions within a fixed moral order wherein good and evil are never simply relative terms contingent upon a culture’s moral taste buds. Human flourishing is always a function of delighting in that which God delights and desiring that which God desires.
In Psalm 96, we find a hymn of praise for divine kingship. The Lord is king over all creation, and he is the one who has provided salvation for his people. He is the Creator-Redeemer-King. This psalm calls the redeemed people of God to worship him in response to who he is and what he has done. But this call to worship is not only for the Israelites; the invitation goes out to “all the earth.” The psalmist invites the whole world (Gentiles included) to come and worship Yahweh in the splendor of his holiness.
The universality of this psalm looks back to the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1–3). In the call of Abraham, God’s redemption story advances when he calls Abraham and his descendants to be the channel to bless all the families of the earth. Psalm 96 foreshadows the Abrahamic Covenant fulfilled in Jesus when all the nations are blessed in him, and all people worship God in the splendor of his holiness.
Introduction
Our personal holiness is grounded in the holiness of God.
“A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine.”
-D.L. Moody
Therefore, to be holy, we must understand the holiness of God.
There are two aspects to God’s holiness. First is God’s uniqueness. As Creator, he is separate and unique from his creation. This is sometimes called the “majesty-holiness” of God. Second is God’s absolute goodness. He is untouched by sin or evil.
This psalm paints a picture of God’s majestic holiness by multiplying descriptive words.
1. He is glorious.
96:3, 7–8: Declare his glory among the nations . . . ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.
2. He is great.
96:4: For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.”
3. He is the Creator.
96:5: For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
(Unlike the powerless gods of surrounding nations, the Lord is the Creator. )
4. He is majestic.
96:6: Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.”
And it all crescendos in the psalmist’s call to worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
“The Psalmist means that we cannot be said to know God if we have not discovered that there is in him an incomparable glory and majesty.”
-John Calvin
How does the psalmist call the people to respond to God’s majestic holiness? In these three verbs: sing, declare, and ascribe.
1. Sing
96:1–2: Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name.
The psalmist says that the people’s first response should be to sing. The call to sing is not just going out to the nation of Israel but to “all the earth.”
The phrase “a new song” doesn’t necessarily mean they are singing a song that has been recently composed; instead, it is a song that overflows from a recent encounter with God and his majestic holiness.
2. Declare
96:2–3: . . . tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Next, the psalmist charges the people to declare his glory among the nations and his marvelous works among the people.
As they worship God, they become aware that the Holy One is also the one who has saved them. And so, their response to God’s majestic holiness should be to declare his glory to the nations—to testify of what he has done.
3. Ascribe
96:7–8: Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
The repetition of ascribe parallels the repetition of sing at the beginning of the psalm, but with a new development. In the opening verses, the psalmist calls the people to sing in response to God’s majestic holiness.
But now, the psalmist takes it a step further and calls the people to ascribe (to attribute or give) to the Lord the glory he is due. “He expects that proper honor be given to his name in recognition of his greatness, majesty, and strength.”
Gospel Reflection
96:9: Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
There is a fourth verb that informs us how we should respond to the majestic holiness of God—tremble.
1. When we look upon God’s holiness—his complete otherness and his moral purity—we can’t help but tremble in fear and awe.
“In today’s world, holy is the most offensive of all four-letter words. Why is holiness so reviled? Because the pursuit of holiness involves the acknowledgement of sin and the necessity of repentance—two words as unfashionable as the word holy.”
-Adapted from Brett McCracken, Uncomfortable
2. The psalmist goes on to speak of how God will come to judge (“He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.”)
3. He comes to judge. Can we pass his judgement? He is untouched by sin and evil. Are we?
4. The university of this psalm harkens back to the Abrahamic Covenant when God says that through Abraham, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And so, it foreshadows the day when that will be true, when all people will be able to approach Yahweh in the splendor of his holiness.
5. That fulfillment is found in Jesus. Jesus is our Great Mediator. He lived the perfect life we should have lived and died the death we deserved for our sins.
6. He comes to judge. Can we pass his judgement? Only in Jesus can we stand in the splendor of God’s holiness, his complete otherness and moral purity, and not be consumed because, in him, we trade our sin for his righteousness.
7. And so, as it says in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
When we experience again and again the grace offered to us in Jesus that allows us to enter the holy of holies, to worship God in all his splendor, majesty, strength, and beauty, then our lives will erupt with new songs, just like perennial flowers deliver fresh blooms each spring. (Perennial flowers bloom each spring; annual flowers bloom once and then fade.)
Applications
1. Sing when you don’t feel like it.
I perceive that our minds are more devoutly and earnestly elevated into a flame of piety by the holy words themselves when they are thus sung, than when they are not.
2. Sing in community.
. . . addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart . . . (Ephesians 5:19)
The Christian church sings . . . its singing is not a concert. But from inner, material necessity it sings. Singing is the highest form of human expression. . . . What we can and must say quite confidently is that the church which does not sing is not the church.
3. Sing with a life offered to Christ.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)
1. How is God glorified in the text?
The psalmist paints a picture of God’s majestic holiness. He is unlike any other. He is full of glory, splendor, majesty, strength, and beauty, and we are called to worship him in the splendor of his holiness.
2. How is our heart transformed in the text?
Our heart is transformed as we look upon the beauty and splendor of God’s holiness. As we encounter his majestic holiness and reflect on what he has done to save us, our hearts will erupt in a new song.
3. How is the mission accelerated in the text?
The psalmist charges the people to “sing” and “declare.” As we come into contact with the majestic holiness of God, we are reminded of what God has done to save us. And so, we will tell of his salvation and declare his glory among the nations.
4. What is the gospel application of the text?
He comes to judge. Can we pass his judgment? The answer is yes, but only in Jesus. Only in Jesus can we stand in the splendor of God’s holiness, his complete otherness and moral purity, and not be consumed because, in him, we trade our sin for his righteousness.
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher