Holiness
If we are to worship and serve the Lord properly, we must know His moral, ethical character. This is especially important because it is God's moral character which determines what is right and what is wrong. He is the standard. The Bible reveals the ethical character of God in many different ways, but especially by His name — Holy One. We read in Isa. 57:15, For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is HOLY... God's holiness is first of all that attribute whereby God is separate and distinct from all other beings. He is infinitely exalted above His creation. He is high and lifted up, the all-glorious God with Whom no one can be compared. He stands alone, far above all else. Moses spoke of this when he said, Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Ex. 15:11).
Since God is the Holy One, He is also distinct and set apart morally and ethically. He is absolutely free of all moral imperfections. His whole being is perfect. His heart, His mind, His will are holy. As the Holy One, all God's purposes, all His thoughts, and all the activities of His inner life are in perfect harmony with His ethical perfection. He is completely consecrated (set apart) to Himself as the perfect ethical Being. In fact, God is so holy that before the shining light of His perfection, man is manifested in all of his sinfulness. After seeing a vision of the God of Whom the angels cried, Holy holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the prophet Isaiah said, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of host. (Isa. 6:3-5).
Righteousness
That God is the Holy One implies that He is also a righteous God. While God's holiness denotes the ethical perfection of His Being, of God's inner life; His righteousness denotes the ethical perfection of all of His external activities. God is righteous in all of His activities toward men. His works in the world are in perfect harmony with His Holy Being. Thus we read, He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of Truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. (Deut. 32:4). In all that God does in this world, He is righteous. God does not ever sin. As the Lord of this world, He directs all things in this world with perfect righteousness. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. (Ps. 145:17). As the Judge, God always judges man righteously. He is never unfair. Even though many times we do not see God's justice because we do not know all of God's ways, yet we know that He deals with every man in perfect righteousness. The Psalmist says, Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments. (Ps. 119:137).
Truth
That God is the Holy One means that God is True. God is the Truth. Thus Jesus as God could say, I am the way, the truth, and the life... (John 14:6). As the Truth, God is the one and only true God. All other gods are false gods. God alone is True. He is Truth as He reveals Himself to us. God always speaks the truth. He does not lie, as do men. Thus Paul exhorts Titus that God is the God that cannot lie. (Titus 1:2). It is impossible for God to lie. The Bible as God’s Word is absolute Truth. It is the standard of all truth for us.
Because God is Truth He is the faithful God. When He promises something, He is faithful to do what He says. God promises to save His covenant people through the blood of Jesus Christ. He keeps that promise. The Psalmist says, He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. (Ps. 105:8). God surely does save all of His chosen people. Not one shall parish. Thus God's people need never fear. They must trust God. Even when things look bad, they trust God because He is faithful. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (Ps. 91:4).
Goodness
The Bible teaches us that God is good. Jesus said, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God. (Matt. 19:17). The word good like the word holy refers to the ethical perfection of God. It is also used in the Bible to refer to the goodness which God directs toward His people. It is God's benevolence which He shows to His elect people. That God is good means that He is the overflowing Fountain of all good. This goodness is referred to in Nahum 1:7, The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. God's goodness can be divided into three categories: His love, His grace, and His mercy.
Love
According to Col. 3:14 love is the bond of perfectness. It is the bond that exists between two ethically perfect beings in which both delight in, long for, and cleave to the ethical perfection of the other. The apostle John says, ...God is love. (I John 4:8). As an attribute of God, God's love is the bond of fellowship between the three persons of the Trinity, whereby They delight in each other as the Holy and Good God. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. The Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son, and They love Him. This is the covenant life of God — a life of perfect love.
This love, God also shows to His chosen people. Although they are sinful and by nature, cannot be the objects of His love, God loves them in Christ. In His eternal counsel He sees them as perfectly righteous in Christ. Thus in love He sent Christ to die for them to actually make them righteous. He establishes His covenant with them and has fellowship with them. God says through the prophet Jeremiah, Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. (Jer. 31:3). In Rom. 5:8 we read, God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Grace
Not only is God the God of love, but also the God of grace. The word grace means, beauty, charm, pleasantness. God, of Himself, is the beautiful, lovely, charming God. God is absolute beauty. There is no being as beautiful as God. The Psalmist says, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord... (Ps. 27:4). God is the beautiful God! That grace, God also shows to His people. He has a pleasant attitude toward them, a gracious disposition so that He delights in them and their salvation. Thus it could be said of Noah, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Gen. 6:8). Grace is more than wishful thinking on the part of God. God's grace is the power that accomplishes salvation. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9). God's people are saved by the mighty working of the power of grace.
Mercy
God's goodness is also manifested in His mercy. God is the merciful God. The Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting. (Ps. 100:5). God's mercy is the attribute by which He is tenderly affected toward Himself as the sole Good and by which He wills Himself to be the Most Blessed One forever. God, as it were, has tender feelings toward Himself and thus desires Himself to be blessed. When that mercy is turned toward His people, it is God's tender affection which wills them to be blessed as He is blessed. By it He takes them out of their misery and gives to them eternal life in Christ. He pities them in their great trouble and saves them. Thus Moses could plead, The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression...Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy... (Numb. 14:18-19).
