Our ability to forgive others is intricately tied to our understanding of God's holiness and our sinfulness. The discussion of God's holiness, and our sinfulness, have filled up countless numbers of books and here we can only begin to scratch the surface of these incredibly important topics. In my own journey with forgiveness coming to a better understanding of God's holiness and my sinfulness was a vital part of reaching the place of forgiveness.
God is Holy. That means God is totally and completely separate and set-apart.
Isaiah 46:5, "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared"
Isaiah 46:9, "I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me."
Isaiah 40:18, "To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?"
Isaiah 40:25, "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal? says the Holy One."
I could point to many other passages to demonstrate God's holiness. God is totally and completely Holy. God has no beginning or ending. God is all-powerful, all knowing, all present. Staying within His character, God is free and able to do whatever He desires. He does not have to answer to anyone, or defend Himself before anyone. Revelation 4 presents an incredible picture of God's throne room and what is taking place at this very moment as you read this.
Revelation 4:3-11, "And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircles the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.' Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, 'You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being.'" What an incredible picture of the throne room of God, and what is taking place right now. It is that God who is constantly being praised, who created all, and whose will is fully carried out, who you and I offend and sin against.
We need to remind ourselves of God's holiness time and time again, because as we see God's holiness we begin to come to grips with the magnitude of our sin. Every-time you and I sin, it is Holy God that we are sinning against. The one who created us, and sustains us, is the one that we are sinning against. Every time we sin we are making the choice to put our selfish desires above Holy God, and that is crazy to think about based on the picture of God's throne room we just looked at. That is the God that we sin against. A God who hates sin, and rightfully has, and will continue to pour out his wrath against sinners. To make matters even more stunning listen to what Isaiah 64:6 states, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." In the presence of Holy God our righteous acts, the good deeds we do, are like filthy rags. The literal translation of filthy rags in the Hebrew is menstrual cloth. Grossed out by that? Good! Because even the good things we do in the sight of Holy God are like a menstrual cloth. If that is how our goodness appears before God, think about what our sin must look like before Holy God.
God is Holy. We are sinful. So how does all of this connect with forgiveness? Until we understand who it is we have sinned against, and offended, it will be very difficult to forgive those who have sinned against and offended us. However, once we grasp God's holiness, our sinfulness, and astonishingly God's forgiveness and love, we begin to move to a place where we can offer forgiveness to anyone for anything. For the next part of this series we will look at God's grace and forgiveness offered to you and me, and by understanding that, how we will be able to forgive others!
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