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 PrintableVersion The purity of GodThe story of holiness from Revelation 15What comes into your mind when you think of holiness? For most of us, the image will be a negative one! Why is that? We live at a time when the ultimate put down is being ‘Holier than thou’. It conjures up the image of sanctimonious phoniness or a cold sterile spirituality. An image that we have done all too little to challenge or dispel. We also live in a generation addicted to technology. Technological advances seem to have invaded the space needed to nurture ‘awe and wonder’. ‘A technological mindset wants to explain, control and manipulate…it is not willing to believe, honour and adore its creator’ (Bruegemann). We are surrounded by people who are tantalised by ‘hints of God’, but who want to keep God at arm’s length! ‘I try not to believe in God’, says the novelist Nick Hornby (31 Songs, Penguin), ‘but sometimes things happen in music, in songs, that bring me up short, make me do a double-take…I’m not sure what difference it makes to me, this occasional vision of the Divine in the music I love…I’m not going to listen to stuff like this too often though, just in case’. Yet in every generation, holiness has been a tough concept to grasp. So where do we begin? It is rather like trying to dissect a fragrance by breaking it down to its component parts. Perhaps one of the best ways to get our mind around the holiness of God is to see holiness in the form of a story. The holiness of God is a story woven into the whole sweep of biblical history. It reminds me of Lancing College Chapel — the imposing cathedral-sized building that dominates the Adur Valley. I find that when driving around the area I turn a corner and catch another angle of the Chapel peeping out at me. The story of holiness is rather like that; it stares us in the face wherever we look in the Bible. The story of holiness reflects the Old Testament story Moses is the main man in the Old Testament! In Exodus, he has the defining vision of the Lord in the burning bush that is not consumed. He hears the Lord’s name for the first time and is told: ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ This defining moment unmistakably shaped his future life and teaching. His encounter with the holy God can be heard in the form of a song. Revelation 15.3-4 is: ‘The Song of Moses the Servant of the Lord.’ We only capture the full melody of God’s holiness when we listen to all the song’s subtle harmonies. The book of Revelation is full of OT echoes. This song more echoes the celebration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt: ‘The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation…. The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name…’. ‘Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?’ It celebrates God’s awesome holiness. This is holiness in action — holiness contesting all that opposes it — holiness militant and victorious — holiness overcoming! Elements of this militancy can be seen in the book of Revelation, which has been described as a ‘narrative of resistance’. Christians believe that there is no God but God — but this fact does not go uncontested! Earlier in Revelation, we see examples of the misdirected worship that humans choose. This is a direct act of defiance; taunting God with a parody of the question asked of him in Exodus 15, ‘Who is like you?’ ‘Men worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshipped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?”’ The story of holiness mirrors the heart of God ‘I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues — last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire…’ Here we see through a window into heaven itself — the mention of the sea of glass… points us back to the vision of God in chapter 4. ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty…’. It is concerning this God that Moses sings! The song is a collage of OT echoes. It is like a brief greatest hits of God…an album packed full of memorable tracks from God’s back catalogue; a medley of echoes from God’s soundtrack. This is supposed to be the soundtrack of our lives, yet the surface noise that buzzes around our lives often hides it. The soundtrack is a variation around the theme: ‘For you alone are holy’. The word used for ‘holy’ here is a rare one, used only eight times in the NT, five times in translation. The other three are here in Revelation 16.5, and in Hebrews 7.26. This is ‘holy’ in the sense of sacred — the opposite of polluted. As Tozer reminds us, ‘Holy is the way God is’. What does this song tell us about holiness? There is no one like this one-off God. He is magnificent, just and worthy. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. We are being re-orientated — our defining centre of identity and power is being radically reconstructed. Our view of where creation is headed is transformed. ‘For Christians under the stress of a militant emperor-cult, anticipating a struggle to the death with idolatry claiming the allegiance of all mankind, this song affords great encouragement. The last word in history is not with Satan and his antichrist, but with the Lord and his Christ’ (G. Beasley Murray, Revelation). We are on the winning side! The story of holiness makes sense of final judgement ‘…Standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name.’ These are those who have taken their stand with the holy one. They have listened to the word, ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ Are you out there? Are you listening? Have you taken your stand? ‘After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes round their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed’ (5-8). The final judgement is the vindication of God’s holy justice. These judgements flow from the temple — they are an expression of his holy glory. We must not be embarrassed by God’s holiness — we do not need to apologise for his judgements. These judgements are not the aberrations of a God merely acting out of character. They are a natural extension of his holiness. ‘When we get angry we tend to become ugly.’ Says Nigel Lee, ‘But anger is part of God’s nature, it’s part of his glory — this is a picture of beautiful anger, of righteous wrath.’ There is a glory about God’s wrath. Final judgement is encountering holy love — too late! It is meeting the Lamb not in mercy but in wrath. The story of holiness leads us to Jesus Revelation is: ‘The unveiling of Jesus Christ.’ This song is the song of the Lamb (echoing chapters 5 and 7). The cross represents God’s greatest and most marvellous deed, the pierced lamb. The Lamb is ironically both conqueror and victim. He conquers but does so through sacrifice. This is the triumph of God over sin and rebellion. Here we see God’s holy love fulfilling justice and breaking the power of evil. What an amazing thing this is, the judge is our redeemer. ‘The judge has been judged in our place’ (Barth). On the first Good Friday, God’s holy judgement fell upon the man who was nailed to a cross! This brings us into the story: ‘All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed’. This is why we were created — by and for God’s pleasure — to delight in his perfections — to acknowledge his goodness — declare his holiness and honour his holy name. John Woods,
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