Prayer: Lord God, we exalt you as the Almighty one, the Holy one, lead and guide us by your Spirit as we study your word today. Amen.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
This is what Isaiah heard the seraphim calling to one another in his vision of the Lord in his temple (Isaiah 6:3). At the sound of their voices the doorstops and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”
Repeated the four living creatures with six wings, day, and night they called out this refrain. So heard John in his vision, recorded in Revelation chapter 4.
And the elders fell down and responded with;
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.
In Exodus 19 we read of everyone trembling as the Lord spoke with thunder and lightning and a loud trumpet blast. In chapters 33 and 34 we read of the pillar of cloud coming down over the tent of meeting where Moses met and spoke with God as a friend. And how his face was radiant after meeting with God.
In psalm 99 we hear the refrain 3 times that God is holy. (Last week the thrice repeated refrain in psalm 37 was “do not fret”, this week it is “God is holy”, this is something to take note of!) God is to be praised and exalted, he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake, let the nations tremble.
In Luke 9 we read of Jesus’ holiness being displayed as he was transfigured in plain sight before Peter, James, and John…the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning and Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus… A cloud appeared and covered them, and God’s voice was heard. “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him”.
We celebrate the transfiguration today. Remembering Jesus’ holiness and divinity being displayed even as he walked on earth in his humanity.
What is our response as we consider the holiness of God? Do we awake from our sleepiness like Peter, James, and John to see Jesus’ glory? Matthew records that when they heard God’s voice in the cloud, they fell facedown to the ground in his presence. Do we ever prostrate ourselves before the Lord?
When Isaiah saw the Lord, he humbled himself and proclaimed “Woe to me!..I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips…”
Psalm 99 says the earth and the nations should shake and tremble before the holiness and greatness of God.
Have you ever felt the sense of your unworthiness before the Lord, like Isaiah? Or a sense of awe and wonder of being in the presence of greatness that brings you to your knees like Peter, James, and John? Or have you been aware of transformation in yourself after being in God’s presence so that you radiate his light like Moses?
If we’ve never felt like this then I wonder if we are asleep to the glory of God.
Why should we respond to God this way you might ask?
Because he is the Almighty Lord who reigns.
He is holy. He is the only one who is perfect. He is set apart; he is wholly other. Psalm 99 focuses on three crucial ways in which God is completely different from anything in all creation, especially over Lords and Kings and small ‘g’ gods!
In verses 1-3 we are called to praise the Lord for his universal, worldwide reign. He is the Lord in Zion but exalted over all the nations. He reigns over all people whether they acknowledge him or not. He reigns over Russia and Ukraine.
In verses 4-5, we are called to praise the Holy Lord because of his justice. Not only is he all powerful, but he is just. God loves justice and has established equity, doing what is just and right. As we looked at psalm 37 last week, we reflected that we may have to be patient and wait for the Lord, and one day he will bring about justice. We must trust in him. While we see leaders throughout the world take power in their own hands and oppress others, we look to the day when Jesus returns, and every knee will bow before him, and he will bring justice for all.
The Israelites knew of God’s justice as they remembered him delivering them from slavery in Egypt, punishing the oppressor Pharoah.
Verses 6-9 are the climax of the Psalm. It ends with another call for us to exalt and worship God – with a slight change in the refrain…this time instead of saying he is holy, the psalmist says; for the Lord our God is holy.
He personalizes the phrase. This great God who is holy is our God. Like Moses, Aaron and Samuel who called upon his name, we too can call upon his name and he will answer us. This holy God is one who is relational, who speaks to us as a friend as is described in Exodus in the way he spoke with Moses. Moses interceded to the Lord for the sinful Israelites who created a golden calf to worship, and God changed his mind and did not fully wipe them out as he desired in his righteous anger. He punished their misdeeds, but he is a forgiving God and he continued to journey with and lead them to the promised land.
God loves his people and wants to be in friendship with them, so much that he sent his one and only son Jesus to live, die, and rise again so that whoever believes in him may be forgiven and receive eternal life.
Jesus came to earth to live and work, he made friends, he laughed, he cried, he hurt. And yet he was God. He was divine as well as human and his glory was displayed that day on the mountain when he was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. He went on to die on a cross, but he rose again, and he lives.
Jesus demonstrates the personhood of God as described in psalm 99.
Jesus is holy and is to be exalted. Jesus is just and right. Jesus answers our prayers and intercedes for us.
The writer of Hebrews puts it like this in chapter 1; In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Then in chapter 7 of Hebrews Jesus is described as the great high priest who always lives to intercede for us. The one who truly meets all our needs – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
Jesus is holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
As the seraphim in Revelation proclaim, he is the one who was, who is and who is to come. He is the God who was there in the beginning, through him all things were created. We have life and breath because God brought us into being! That’s a reason to exalt and worship him!
The echo of 3 ‘holy’s’ in psalm 99, in Isaiah and in Revelation also remind us of the trinity. We worship and exalt a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A relational God who loves us as a parent, who loves us as a brother and friend who lays down his life for us, and who offers us abundant life, filling us with his very self in the form of the Holy Spirit.
So, what is our response as we consider the greatness and holiness of God?
We are to worship him with our whole being and proclaim his greatness.
Like Moses we are to reflect his glory for all to see. As we spend time with God, our lives will be transformed more and more into his image. Have you ever felt your face light up as you spend time in worship, in the presence of God? I know of times when I have felt such joy in God’s presence, such an infilling of the Holy Spirit that I am aware of a big smile on my face that I feel is something beyond my own natural response to joy. In the Alpha videos there is one story of a man in prison who came to faith, one night he prays a prayers and surrenders himself to Jesus and the next morning he didn’t recognize his own reflection in the mirror – the hardness had gone – he had been transformed through meeting Jesus. We are to mirror Jesus – living holy lives, loving justice and we are called to pray for others.
As God spoke to Peter, John, and James from the cloud, we too are to listen to God’s Son and follow him. Jesus was on his way to the cross and he calls us to deny ourselves, pick up our own crosses and follow him. You might want to reflect on what that means for you as we journey through the season of lent beginning this week.
As Jesus and his disciples returned from the mountain they were immediately confronted with the suffering in the valley – a father calls out for Jesus to drive out the demons possessing his son. Jesus has compassion, he shows his divine power and heals the boy.
We might have moments of mountain top experiences, but we will probably have plenty of valley experiences. Jesus is with us, and he intercedes for us. He will answer us when we pray but we might not see immediate relief. Like the Israelites remembering their freedom from slavery and praising God, or the people marveling at the greatness of God after Jesus healed the boy – let us remember that Jesus is the Lord God almighty.
Let’s pray: Holy holy holy are you Lord God Almighty!
Lord we bow down before you, we repent for the times when we do not acknowledge you as Lord of our lives. May we encounter you afresh, spending time in your presence that we may reflect your glory to the world, bringing your love, seeking justice, and praying for those who need to be transformed by you. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.