02.49. God's Holiness

49. GOD’S HOLINESS.

"You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Revelation 4:8). A holy God might allow sin and sorrow as a means, but he could not allow it as an end, unless he were compelled. Such a God could not permit, as the best thing he could do, what only an infinite devil could do at his worst, perpetuate vice, and continue wickedness forever. Infinite holiness will wage a continual warfare with sin until universal holiness shall reign. To shut up sin in the prison house of hell, and keep it alive forever, is to violate God’s love of holiness. How absurd to say that a holy God has affixed penalties to his law that will insure final unholiness! All men must be holy because he is holy.