God the Holy One

A Sermon by Nada Sellers

September 16, 2007

Psalm 99

As part of a journey Pat & I took some years ago, we had a chance to visit with some goodfriends from seminary whom we hadn't seen for several years.  What was especially wonderful was the chance to meet Jeff and Elizabeth's little girl, Dionna, for the first time.  At two years old, close to parents and shy to strangers, Dionna had a lot more to overcome in becoming openly friendly with me than I did in showing my delight in her.  Slowly I was introduced to Dionna's toys and able to lend helping hands in walking up and down stairs, but it wasn't until we were out doing some outlet shopping that the ice was broken once and for all.  There in the midst of the Bass shoe outlet, Dionna started chanting my name: "Nada, Nada-Nada-Nada; Naadaa!"  Playing hide-and-seek, and peekaboo, darting in and out of isles and leaving dollies at my feet to help with my selections, Dionna finally had a handle on who I was and what fun it might be to play together.  From then on, as we wove in and out of various stores and shops, we heard a tiny little voice singing out my name: "Nada, Nada, Naaaddaa."  I was known!

In our text this morning there is a similar refrain, repeated over and over again, sometimes with the same phrase, and at other times with a description or a demand.   This short refrain concludes each of the three segments of the psalm, such that the whole hymn is tuned to a uniform keynote to which all its thoughts return.¹  And this keynote refrain is the holiness of God: "Holy is he!" or in Eugene Peterson's translation as I read from the Message version just moments ago, "Holy, yes holy."  The image chosen for use in fleshing out what holiness means, is that of God, the King, the Strong Ruler.  And intermingled with God as King and ruler over all nations is this refrain, one which was probably sung by the temple choir as a response to the call to sing a hymn: "Holy is he!"  While acknowledging the transcendence and exaltedness of holy God, the psalmist uses three different explanations to try and explain the refrain.  Today I want to consider these areas of God's transcendence and God's holiness.

There is one caveat as we begin: In our day and age when we hear the word "holy," we tend to think in strictly moral or ethical terms.  To be holy in the ethical sense is to be good and pure and righteous.  When we speak of God as holy in that sense, we mean that God is uncompromised by sin, unlike we who as creatures are imperfect.  Here in our passage however, there is a call to worship the Lord at his "holy" mountain.  So how can a mountain be holy thinking strictly in this moral sense of the term?  The ethical meaning of the term "holy" is actually a more secondary one -- it's the sense of awe and reverence, and the fear and trembling, which point to the primary meaning of holy: "the mysterious sphere of divine power, easily perceived as not only superior, but also threatening and urgent and wholly incalculable."²  Divine power is a transcendent power, and the holy God is a transcendent God, marked by majesty, sovereignty and mystery, by an absolute difference from all created order.

These two aspects of holiness, otherness and quality of character, are both aspects of God, the Mighty King, revealed to God's people.  It is Rudolf  Otto in his famous treatise entitled The Idea of the Holy who describes the religious person's perception of divine holiness - he calls it the "numinous" - as having in it something of fear, but a fear wedded to fascination.  There is a tremendous mystery, an awesome strangeness and fearsome otherness that emphasizes the separation between God and all else; but there is also a compelling aspect of the holy God, which moves us creatures to desire and yearn for God; "to know God as the holy God not only inspires one with awe but grips one with a spell of irresistible charm."³  This reminds me of the familiar passage from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, where Mrs. Beaver speaks about the story's Christ-figure Aslan.  She says,

"If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're Either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver.  "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe?  'Course he isn't safe.  But he's good.  He's the King, I tell you."⁴

He is the KING; a soft, wonderfully gently lion.  Or is he?  There is fear and knee knocking.  Is it safe?  Psalm 99 draws us back to consider what the holiness of the Lord, the Mighty Ruler is all about; both fearsome and comforting.

In the first section in verses 1 to 3, God's holiness is praised as expressing the sublime nature of God's world-dominion.  This is the advent of God at the cultic temple festival where God is enthroned "upon the cherubim."  This divine epiphany is attended by all the traditional features of an Old Testament appearance of God:  a tremor, the earth quaking, nations and peoples trembling.  The poet discerns the holiness of God in this pre-eminent power, and it causes the poet to call on all peoples to praise this God.⁵

In the second strophe, between verses 4 and 5, God's holiness is sung about in terms of righteousness; this revelation goes deep into God's own inner nature, for it declares that God loves justice.  God's self-revelation and continued standard for Israel and Israel's history shows God's concern is equitable and fair.  Israel's history is thus a living witness that testifies to the reality of divine balance over time.  This notion of worship, literally of "falling down before" the Lord's footstool, refers to the gesture of worship before the Ark of the Covenant above which God was thought to sit invisibly enthroned on the "mercy-seat," above the angelic cherubim which grace its cover.

And then in the third and last portion of the psalm, from verses 6 on to the end, the subject of holiness is pursued to a deeper level where God demonstrates that God is God of grace; God hears and answers and intervenes.  God the Holy One, listens to and appears in order to guide, transforming the history of Israel into "holy history" or "salvation history," a record of lovingkindness with clear standards.   By citing three great religious figures from Israel's past, -- Moses, Aaron and Samuel,  -- the experience of intercession and mediation between God and the people is revisited in the context of God Deliverer and Avenger.  As a holy God, the Lord forgives as well as punishes, remaining pure and righteous at each step along the way.⁶ The stretch for our human minds is this co-existence of God's judgment and grace; this insight into the real nature of God, shows God to be One who takes the punishment of sin just as seriously as the loving forgiveness of sin.  Within the holiness of God, there is also divine wrath seen as an expression of love.  Not that wrath is as essential a part of the Lord's being as love is.  Love is the greatest!  Rather the avenging, wrathful response of God to sin describes God as the injured lover, the one spurned and ignored by the one who sins.  We should rather think of God's wrath in the face of sin, as God's just resolve to vindicate his claims against the creature that will not acknowledge them.⁷

As the Divine One who is holy, YHWH transcendent and at times inaccessible is portrayed as worthy of worship and reverence and awe.  God is gracious, accessible in a pillar of cloud to those who asked for and received answers.  God is consistent in God's judgments and able to provide the proper balance of judgment and forgiveness.  God is exalted, lifted up upon the cherubim, and enthroned, yet righteous and present in the whole of God's creation.  Praise is due such a holy God; "Holy, yes holy!"

These glimpses into the nature of the Holy Lord, spur us on to reflect on the biblical mandate we've been given to "be holy, because [God] is holy." (1Pt 1:16)  What are we to understand about the kind of holiness God wants believers to cultivate?  What are some of the ways we can grow into the fullness of God's holiness?   [IDEAS from group?]   Shall we as some suppose, attempt to be Mighty Rulers, imposing God's reign all over the world, imposing Christian standards as God's emissaries? 

Writing in his book Rediscovering Holiness, J.I. Packer notes that holy life in Christ, God's new Kingdom-Bringer who bridges the divide between God and lost mortals, requires that each of us have a threefold concern for truth, for experience and for action.  Healthy spiritual growth into the likeness of Jesus the Christ, who is the perfect example of incarnate holiness, cannot simply be preoccupied with truth for its own sake; truth is to inform experience and lead to action for the Kingdom.  Likewise, to race around seeking holy and uplifting experiences without the balance of basic truths and no plans for action on behalf of the God we serve, will never lead us to holy living.  And if one is action-oriented, without a framework of truth or integration of experience -- like the social or environmental activist who simply does for the sake of doing and the thrill of involvement --  a consecrated and holy life committed to Christ will be impossible.⁸

What Psalm 99 impresses upon me is the psalmist's articulation of these three categories:  God is known as the Strong King who reigns above all the earth, who is exalted and worthy of praise, who has established equity and loves justice.  Here is truth understood, as a retelling of the experience of God's actions on behalf of his people, Israel.  In the retelling of God's interventions, through servants like Moses and Aaron and Samuel, encounters with a graceful God lead to forgiveness and faithfulness to God's decrees.   And the psalmist and those worshiping with these words, are led to bow before the mercy seat, humbling themselves before God's footstool and proclaiming God's holiness on the holy mountain.   Right action springs forth from right understanding, which grows out of truth learned and witnessed.  This is what a faithful religious community pursuing holy living is all about... Right action, springing forth from right understanding, that emerges from truth learned and witnessed in our lives.  This is why it is so essential to tell the story of what God has done and is doing in our lives.  This message continues to be carried forward through you and I!

Truth and experience and action come together for us New Testament believers when we yield daily to Jesus;  as we allow Christ our Brother and our Guide, to reshape us, or "transform" us into disciples who share the news of God's reign.  God's exalted otherness is both preserved and yet strikingly altered forever in the immanence of the Incarnate Word, Jesus.  Born a child and yet a Mighty King; Holy, yes holy is God our God for acting with such great love; action that helps us learn to know the truth and experience the freedom such love bestows!  Holy, yes holy is God.   [Have congregation repeat this a couple times.]

Notes