Daily Lesson for Monday 6th of April 2026
Holiness is not a word that most people use very often in their everyday language, perhaps because there are so few holy things around us and about us. The Sabbath is a holy day in time, and God is, of course, holy. Apart from God, our everyday lives lack holiness.
If you do a study into the attributes most often associated with God’s character, you’ll discover that holiness is at the center of who God is. But what does that mean?
How do the following verses describe God: Leviticus 20:26, 1 Samuel 2:2, Isaiah 57:15, and Ezekiel 38:23?
When the Bible describes God as the epitome of holiness, it means that He is completely void of and completely separated from evil and sin. God is 100 percent good from beginning to end. In this sense, God’s holiness is central to all His other attributes.
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For example, God’s love is a pure, holy love—a love that is completely free from all selfishness and egotistic motives. His omniscience (all-knowing) is holy omniscience, meaning it is free from evil intentions. Would we trust an omniscient God if He weren’t holy? Of course not! We would be afraid of Him, and rightly so.
God’s omnipotence (being all-powerful) is holy omnipotence. Imagine a God who is omnipotent but not holy. He could be a powerful, evil tyrant. Only God’s holiness allows and enables us to really love Him, because He is good from beginning to end. This is why holiness is perhaps the most important characteristic to understand about God’s character. Yet, perhaps, it is one of the most misunderstood, as well.
Think about Bible characters such as Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John who came into God’s presence. What was their first response? They removed their shoes, hid their faces, or fell down as though dead. As human beings, we are sinful and so unholy that we can’t bear to stand in God’s presence. Any human who looks at God’s face will not live. Similarly, when Ellen G. White went into vision, she often cried “Glory . . . glory . . . glory” because it was the one word that seemed to most capture what she saw. And, of course, the four living creatures do not rest day or night without saying, “ ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’ ” (Revelation 4:8, NKJV).
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Truly, God is pure holiness, and when we come to Him, we must see Him as such. How does knowing this inspire you? In what ways does this challenge you regarding your own character? |
