Day 3: Revealed in Worship
Revelation 4:8
When I read this Bible passage, Bishop Heber’s hymn rings in my ears. I remember hundreds of worship services where I, along with countless others, sang at the top of our lungs, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” As awesome as these moments of worship are, they are but shadows of what is happening in God’s heavenly Throne Room right now. Only a few people on this side of heaven have peeked into this heavenly room, and their witness is consistent.
They see the Lord seated on the throne, radiating with beauty and power. Day and night, strange and majestic heavenly creatures equipped with hundreds of eyes gaze upon God’s holiness in wonder. As they take it all in, worship and adoration burst out of them.
“God is three times holy! Let the heavens and the earth know His purity and otherworldliness and melt in humble adoration before Him!!! There is no one like our God!”
This heavenly scene continues to unfold in Revelation 4 with 24 elders casting their crowns and prostrating before God in worship. Holiness has a confrontative effect over anyone who encounters it. They either run and hide, as our first parents did in the garden, or they surrender through confession and holy adoration. The amazing thing is, when we do the latter, Jesus clothes us with His holiness and equips us to experience the holy life. Let’s remember our place before God today and fall before Him in holy adoration.
Reflection Prayer
Jesus, as I gaze upon Your holiness, I declare with the angels, “You are holy, holy, holy.” I celebrate that about You because it’s Your holiness that makes my salvation possible. I admit my lack and cling to You. Would You anoint me with Your Spirit in a special way today? Will You reveal to me the empty wells in my life so I can walk away from them? Would You wash my heart, mind, body, and soul with Your presence? Make me holy as You are holy, Lord. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Week 1: The Holiness of God
A. W. Tozer writes in his book The Knowledge of the Holy, “We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God’s power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine. Only the Spirit of the Holy One can impart to the human spirit the knowledge of the holy.”
God is holy. Pastor Chip Ingram says, “He isn’t six or ten or one hundred times more holy than the best person you know. God Himself is an entirely different category in which He is the only member.”
God reveals His holiness to us in many ways, as we will see in the Scriptures this week. As we reflect on God’s holiness, how do we respond? Will we take off our shoes? Will we get on our face? Will we make every effort to keep peace? Will we confess or praise? Will we be God’s holy Church?
— Amy Roedding