God’s Incomparable Excellence and Holiness
“Who is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the gods! Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders!” (Exod 15:11).
This Scripture is fulfilled today in our hearing and before our eyes. What God has already begun to do for this kingdom and the neighboring churches shows us that there is none like the Lord, “Who is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.”
Although these words come in the middle of the song, they are a kind of concluding exclamation, which usually comes at the end. But Moses’ spirit is so moved to admire and bless God for the great things he has done for his people that he cannot contain himself until the end. In the very middle, he breaks out with this acclamation of God’s glory: “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the gods! Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders!”
These words, then, are part of Moses’ song, occasioned by God’s goodness in delivering his people from Egypt and bringing them through the Red Sea. This is the most ancient song that ever existed in the world. It is the first in Scripture, and we know of no author before Moses. Those skilled in the art of poetry lived many hundreds of years after him. It is a spiritual and most excellent song. Its style is full of elegance, and its subject matter wonderfully varied. It is a song of thanksgiving, triumph, and prophecy. It is a pity that we do not have so excellent a song put into meter to be sung in our congregations.
It is also a most delightful song. Observe, therefore, that when God promised his people a great mercy in which they would rejoice exceedingly, he referred to this song: “And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt” (Hos 2:15). When God intended a great mercy for his people, he would have them sing in keeping with this song of Moses. If God is proceeding in mercy, if he is opening a door of hope for us, you see how timely this song is.
It is also a song that presents a type. As it concerns the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt, so it foreshadows their deliverance from the bondage of Antichrist. It is therefore very noteworthy that this song was to be sung again when God’s people were delivered from Antichrist. At the beginning of Revelation 15, you may see God’s judgments upon Antichrist. Verse 3 says, “They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints” (Rev 15:3).
This shows that God would teach us that bondage under Antichrist resembles bondage in Egypt. Rome is therefore called Egypt in Revelation, because when we are delivered from Antichristian bondage, we shall renew this song of Moses. If we now expect deliverance from bondage under Antichrist, we should acquaint ourselves with this song, for it is the song that will be sung again when that bondage is removed.
According to Augustine, it is a miraculous song. He counts it among the miracles, supposing that God inspired all the people of Israel by his Spirit at the same moment, so that they sang one and the same song together. It would indeed have been miraculous if that were so, but Scripture is not clear on this point.
Let us leave these general observations and come to the words. There are many excellent things earlier in the chapter that prepare the way for the passage I have read. But rather than be delayed, I shall come directly to the words. They are, as it were, a recapitulation of everything, containing the substance of it all. It is as if Moses had said, “I have spoken of many particular things God does for his people, but there is none like the Lord,” who is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.”
You see, then, four things here that exalt the name of God. First, there is none like the Lord. Second, he is glorious in holiness. Third, he is fearful in praises. Fourth, he does wonders.
When I first thought of speaking on this text, I intended to consider only the third particular, explaining that title of God, “fearful in praises.” I know of no other place in the whole book of God where we find this title. But because I saw so much of God in the first two particulars, I thought it would be useful to show you what they reveal of him, and I was unwilling to pass them by.
1. There Is None Like the Lord
Let us consider the first two expressions: “Who is like to thee, O Lord, amongst the gods! Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness?” “Who is like to thee?” You see that this is put as a question. Questions in Scripture are especially used in two ways: first, to express admiration; second, to express a denial. Sometimes they express admiration: “Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah!” (Isa 63:1). We could name many other examples. As for questions expressing a denial, you know there are hundreds of them.
We are to understand both senses here. First, there is admiration: “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the gods!” etc. Moses and the people are struck with astonishment at God’s glory, now displayed in the great works he has done. They admire him and say, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord?” Then there is denial: “Who is like unto thee, O Lord?” That is, there is none like you. This is the first expression of God’s glory, exalting his name above everything whatsoever: there is none like God.
God greatly delights in this expression of his glory, that there is none like him. We find it very often in Scripture: “O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (1 Chr 17:20). Again, “Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord” (Ps 86:8). And, “For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?” (Ps 89:6). We could name several other places where God greatly delights in this expression of his glory.
God’s people have also gloried in it, and they have great reason to do so. It is said of the godly Maccabees that, at first, because their name gave offense, they encountered this sentence, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the gods?” Being deeply taken with it, they wrote the first Hebrew letter of each word of the sentence on their military standards and carried them about with them. On this basis they were called the Maccabees, glorying in this title of God: “Who is like unto thee?”
On this ground the Holy Spirit concludes that everyone should honor and glorify God, because there is none like him. “Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works” (Ps 86:8). Notice what follows in verses 9, 10, 11, and 12: “All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name; for thou art great and doest wondrous things, for thou art God alone; teach me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth; unite my heart to fear thy name; I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name for evermore” (Ps 86:9-12).
You see how deeply the holy prophet was moved by this expression concerning God, that there is none like him. Therefore he says, “Teach me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth,” etc.
“There is none like unto the Lord amongst the gods.” So the text says. It may equally be translated, “among the mighty.” God is exalted here above the heathen gods, so that there is none like him among them. But he is also exalted above whatever possesses any excellence. There is none like him among the mighty. Whoever is mighty and great, whatever might, greatness, or excellence there may be in the world, God is infinitely above it all.
It would take too much of our time to dwell on the glory of God in this respect, showing how he is above everything and how there is none like him. I shall therefore briefly mention a few things, apply this particular, and pass to the second, on which we shall spend more time.
There is none like God. First, whatever is in God is God himself. This is peculiar to God. No excellence in any creature reaches this height, that whatever is in the creature should be its very being. All creatures are made up of several things, but whatever is in God is God himself.
Again, there is universal goodness in God, and in this there is none like him. One creature has one good in it, and another has another. But God has all good in himself. All excellence and beauty are in God in a supreme manner. There is none like him in this.
All the excellences found in created beings are also one excellence in God. We understand God through several excellences, with one attribute shining through one creature and another through another. Yet all are united in God. Everything in him is originally in him: he is of himself, from himself, and for himself.
Moreover, none can communicate himself as God can. None can inflict evil or convey good as he can, and this expression concerning God refers to that too. It is peculiar to God to communicate as much of himself as he wills, which no creature can do. A creature has only a little goodness, a few drops compared with the infinite ocean in God. Yet it cannot communicate even those drops as it wills. It belongs to God alone to communicate his goodness as he wills.
Not only so, but he can make the creature to whom he communicates his goodness as sensible of that goodness as he pleases. No one else can do this. One creature can communicate good to another, but it cannot make that other creature as conscious of the good as it wishes. God can.
Likewise, in inflicting evil there is none like the Lord. He can unleash all evil, bringing it all at once, which no one else can do. He can also make the creature upon whom he inflicts evil as sensible of it as he wills. Someone who hurts another cannot make that person as conscious of the hurt as he pleases. But this is peculiar to God. As he can bring all evil together, so he can make the creature as sensible of it all as he wills. God claims this as his own prerogative, that he alone can do good and he alone can do evil. Therefore there is none like him.
It follows that none is to be worshiped as the Lord is, and none is to be honored as he is. Because the heathen gods communicated only some particular good, they claimed only particular service. Outward worship, and worship in certain particulars, would serve those gods. They were satisfied with it and required no more. There was a reason for this: they could not claim to communicate universal good. One god was responsible for one particular good and another for another, and their particular worship corresponded to this.
But there is none like the Lord. He claims universal worship and obedience: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and strength.” No one is to receive such worship as is given to God. This is because there is none like him in the excellence of his nature or in the way he communicates himself to his creature.
Application 1: Keep God Above Every Created Good
What I have said is exceedingly useful throughout our lives, in directing our ways and thoughts toward God. Consider its usefulness in this way. Whenever we behold beauty, goodness, or excellence in a creature, we should keep in our thoughts and hearts a sense of the infinite distance between God and that creature. The lack of this is the cause of almost all the evil in the world. A true understanding of it is a special means of enabling us to glorify God as God.
Whenever you behold excellence, beauty, or loveliness in a creature, and taste any sweetness in it, be sure to keep this truth in your heart: though there is some sweetness here, God is infinitely above the creature. There is an infinite disproportion between the goodness, beauty, and excellence in these creatures and that which is in God himself.
God permits us to pour out our hearts upon a creature and enjoy its comfort when we see beauty and excellence in it. He does so because his likeness is upon the creature, and the excellence found there is God’s. Indeed, a spiritual heart has more freedom to enjoy the comforts of the creature than anyone else in the world, because it can meet with God and taste him there.
But although God permits this, we must always be sure to reserve our hearts for him, remaining conscious of his infinite excellence above every creature. If we are careless here, we shall soon cease to glorify God as God, and our hearts will fasten upon the creature. This has been the root of all outward and spiritual idolatry in the world.
Outward idolatry arose in this way. At first, when people saw some excellence and worth in creatures such as the sun, moon, and stars, they acknowledged God above them. They admitted that these were only creatures and that God possessed more excellence than any of them. But at last they came to gaze too much upon the creature. Captivated by its excellence, their hearts fastened upon it. They lost their understanding of God’s infinite excellence above it, fell away from God, and worshiped those that were no gods.
The same is true of spiritual idolatry, committed with riches or any other creature. Go to such people at first and ask, “How do you understand the comforts of the creature? Is there not infinitely more in God than in the creature?” They will say, “Yes.” But by pouring out our hearts upon the creature and dwelling on its beauty, we eventually begin to lose the force of that understanding which at first impressed our hearts. So we commit spiritual idolatry with the creature.
We must therefore take care to keep whole and fresh our understanding and sense of the infinite distance between God and all the comforts of the creature. As long as you keep this understanding fresh and strong, there is no danger. You do not sin by giving yourself to the enjoyment of the creature, provided that doing so has not diminished your sense of the infinite disproportion between God and all creatures.
Since there is such an infinitely astonishing height of excellence in God above all creatures, our thoughts toward God and the creature should correspond to it. As there is an infinite distance between God’s excellence and that of all creatures, so there ought to be a kind of infiniteness in the distance between our esteem, delight, and dependence upon the creature and our esteem, delight, and dependence upon God.
Do not be satisfied simply to acknowledge that God is above the creature, for everyone will do that. You must find in your souls a disproportion between your esteem, joy, and desire for the creature and what you have for God, somewhat corresponding to the distance between God and the creature. That distance is infinite. Therefore there should be a kind of infiniteness in the difference between your esteem for the creature, the movement of your hearts toward it, and your efforts to obtain it, and your esteem for God and the movement of your hearts and souls toward him.
This is to glorify God as God. This is the worship of the soul that we owe him in the world. When this truth takes practical hold upon our hearts, we truly sanctify his name.
Application 2: There Is None Like God’s People
Second, if there is none like God, it follows that there is none like his people. A person is as his god is. Consider what god someone chooses, and you will see what he is like. A covetous person who makes riches his god must be judged accordingly. So must a pleasure seeker or a heathen. If the saints have chosen this God as their God, and there is none like him, it necessarily follows that there is no people like God’s people.
Notice how the Holy Spirit draws this inference in several Scriptures. Compare verses 26 and 29 of Deuteronomy 33. Verse 26 says, “There is none like unto the God of Jesurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency in the sky” (Deut 33:26). What inference does the Holy Spirit draw from this? Verse 29 says, “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord,” etc. (Deut 33:29).
You see, then, that whatever particular glory is in God is reflected upon his saints. This is the wonderful excellence of God’s saints, to have his glory reflected upon them. Happy are those who have God as their God. If God is excellent, so are they. If God is above all and there is none like him, so are they above all, and there is none like them.
You find the same inference drawn by the Holy Spirit elsewhere: “Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (2 Sam 7:22). Notice what follows: “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel?” etc. (2 Sam 7:23). There is none like God’s people, and this necessarily follows because they are as their God is.
Moses therefore says, speaking of God’s people, “So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the earth” (Exod 33:16). That is how you read it in your Bibles. But the word in the original means wonderfully separated. God’s people are wonderfully separated from the world. As God is wonderfully exalted above all creatures, so are his people.
It is therefore said that “God’s people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Num 23:9). Why? Because they are God’s people, the people of that God who has none like him. Therefore there is none like them. This is for the comfort of God’s saints.
Application 3: Serve God Above All Others
Third, it follows that we should take care that no one does for his gods what we do for ours. If there is none like our God, it is shameful for anyone who chooses other gods to do more for them than we do for our God.
Take idolaters as an example, whether their idolatry is outward or spiritual. There is none like our God. Certainly all the idolaters in the world do not have such a God as we have: “Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being judges.” What a shame it would be if we did not do more for our God than they do for theirs! We should strive to do for our God what corresponds to the height of excellence we perceive in him.
Will you see what idolaters do for their gods? First, observe the eagerness of their spirits toward them. Their hearts burn for their idols. We read, “Inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree” (Isa 57:5). Their hearts burned for their idol gods, which are nothing like our God. How much more, then, should our hearts burn for our God! Shall we be content and satisfied with cold, lifeless service to him?
How powerfully the apostle’s exhortation should affect us: “Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Rom 12:11). It is the Lord we serve, our God, the great and glorious God. Therefore we should be fervent in spirit as we serve him.
Second, Scripture says that idolaters, those who worship false gods, “are mad upon their idols” (Jer 50:38). The hearts of God’s people should therefore pursue him so eagerly that those who are fleshly and unable to judge should regard them as madmen. Indeed, they do. Whenever the saints’ hearts are wholly intent on God, they are regarded as madmen. Festus counted Paul a madman (Acts 26:24).
We should not fear the world’s reproaches of this kind, though people despise us and think us base, vile, and out of our minds. Idolaters are mad upon their idols. Therefore, if God requires anything of us, our hearts must pursue him in it, even if the world accounts it madness. It is shameful for anyone’s heart to be more intent on his gods than ours are on our God, because there is none like him.
Third, the eagerness of idolaters’ hearts toward their gods appears in these words: “At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah,” etc. “And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried,” etc. (Jer 8:1-2).
I have often thought about this Scripture. It is exceedingly remarkable. I know no single passage in the whole book of God that brings together so many expressions to show the strength of God’s people’s devotion to him as we have here to show the strength of idolaters’ devotion to their idols: “And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven.” Notice the expressions: first, “Whom they have loved”; second, “Whom they have served”; third, “After whom they have walked”; fourth, “Whom they have sought”; fifth, “Whom they have worshipped.” All this in so few words!
Such was their hearts’ devotion to their idol gods. How much more ought these things to be said of us concerning our God, whom we have loved, whom we have served, after whom we have walked, whom we have sought, and whom we have worshiped!
Again, observe how Scripture describes people’s devotion to their idol gods through the expense they are willing to bear for them: “They shall lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god” (Isa 46:6). They do not care what it costs them to worship their idols.
What a shame it would be if we were unwilling to part with much of our possessions for the true worship of the true God! Though we should lose our possessions, if we can serve God better and more purely, we should be content. Idolaters lavish gold out of the bag upon their idols. There is none like our God, so it is shameful for them to do more for their gods than we do for ours.
Then consider what idolaters are willing to suffer for their gods. How Baal’s priests cut themselves according to their custom with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out, to show their regard for their idols (1 Kgs 18:28)! Let us therefore be willing to suffer anything to which God calls us.
And how constant they were to their idols! God therefore says, “Consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit” (Jer 2:10-11). How deeply God resents this, that idolaters do not change their gods, who are infinitely beneath him, while his people change their God, who is infinitely above them!
Again, let us beware lest anyone’s heart be more intent on his sinful desires than ours are on God. Take all the excellences in the world, and they are infinitely beneath God. How much further beneath him, then, is a sinful desire? What is such a desire compared with all the creatures in heaven and earth? Yet how people’s hearts are set upon their sinful desires! Indeed, how intent your own heart has been on wicked desires in the past!
Consider, then, how infinitely unreasonable it is that anyone’s heart, or your own, should be more intent on a base sinful desire than on the living, eternal, and infinite God. Ahab is said to have “sold himself to work wickedness” (1 Kgs 21:20). Be willing, then, to sell yourself to God, to give yourself up to him. It is said that “the hearts of the sons of men are set, and fully set to do evil” (Eccl 8:11). Do not be content with a few faint wishes and desires for God. Let your heart be set, and fully set, for him.
Again, it is said, “They do evil with both hands earnestly” (Mic 7:3). Notice: they do evil; they do it earnestly; and they do it earnestly with both hands. For shame, then, do not be sluggish in serving your God. Do what is good, do it with both your hands, and do it earnestly with all your heart.
There is one more notable Scripture showing how people’s hearts are set on evil: “The mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity” (Prov 19:28). This is an elegant expression of the Holy Spirit, a metaphor taken from the behavior of animals. Take a beast that has been kept from drinking for a long time and is exceedingly thirsty. If you bring it to water, it will thrust its head into it as though it would devour the whole river and could never be satisfied.
That is the meaning of the phrase, “The mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity.” When the wicked person comes to his sin, he is as greedy for it as the beast long kept from water is greedy for water. How infinitely more eager our hearts should be for God and his service than wicked people are, or can be, for the service of their sinful desires!
Let us conclude all this with what you find in Exodus 30:34-38. A perfume was to be made according to the apothecary’s art. But this command was given: “As for the perfume which thou shalt make, you shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord,” etc.
So I conclude this point: there is none like God, for he is above all. Therefore, when your hearts are rightly disposed toward him, perfumed and lifted up toward him, take care that they are not lifted up toward any creature in the same manner. Your service to God must correspond to his nature. There is none like him, so no one else should receive the service offered to him.
So much for the first thing by which God’s name is exalted here: “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods!”
2. Glorious in Holiness
We come now to the second expression, “glorious in holiness.” The word translated here as glorious also means magnificent or noble, and is used in that sense in many places: “You are magnificent and noble in your holiness.” Brothers and sisters, to be holy is the greatest magnificence, the greatest nobility, and the greatest elevation of spirit there can be. God himself is magnificent, and his holiness ennobles him. This displays the excellence of holiness.
Again, some translate “glorious in holiness” as “glorious in holy things”: glorious in your holy angels, glorious in your holy saints, glorious in your holy Word, glorious in your holy ordinances, and glorious in your holy worship. God is indeed very glorious in his angels, saints, Word, worship, and ordinances. But we shall take the words as you have them here: “glorious in holiness.”
To explain God’s glory in this title, three things must be done. First, I shall show you a little of what holiness in God is. Second, I shall explain how God is said to be glorious in holiness. Third, I shall show you why this title is given to God in this particular place. Why is he called glorious in holiness here rather than glorious in power? The destruction of the Egyptians and the deliverance of his people were, after all, acts of power.
1. What God’s Holiness Is
First, what is holiness in God? We understand this, as we generally understand almost everything concerning God, more by negation than otherwise: by what it is not rather than what it is. We therefore usually say that God’s holiness is that by which his nature is free from every kind of mixture, and from the least stain or filth of sin.
God is therefore called light. Light is so pure a creature, so free from any mixture of pollution, that it can be among filthy things without becoming defiled itself. In the same way, God can work with sin itself without any defilement of his nature.
But besides this negative description, if you wish to know something positively about God’s holiness, I would describe it briefly in this way: It is the infinite rightness and perfection especially of God’s will, by which he wills and works everything in a manner corresponding to the infinite excellence of his own being. God’s excellence is the highest, and therefore the rule of all excellence. His will always corresponds to his own infinite excellence and cannot vary from it in the least. His will is therefore the rule of all holiness.
Let us consider this a little by looking at the holiness of the creature. Through this we shall see something of God’s holiness. We cannot see the sun’s glory by looking directly at it, for it is too bright an object for us. But we may behold its glory through the reflection of its rays in water. Likewise, God’s holiness is too bright to be beheld in itself. We cannot directly behold his infinite purity and holiness. But by looking at the holiness of the creature, which is like a reflection of God’s holiness, a ray or beam of it, we may come to see something of his holiness.
The holiness of a creature consists in its separation from common things for a holy use, or its dedication to God in some immediate way for the exaltation of his name. The holiness of the saints consists in the separation of their spirits from all common things to God as their highest and final end. When they are enabled to act for God as their ultimate end, and to will what they do with reference to him as their final end, in a manner appropriate to him as the highest end, this is the holiness of their wills.
So it is with God’s holiness. His holiness is, as it were, God’s dedication of himself to himself. God is of himself and from himself, and he is his own final end. Therefore he gives himself to himself and wills himself as the highest and ultimate end. He thus wills everything with reference to himself as the highest and final end. This is God’s holiness.
The image of this holiness is the impression and work of grace upon the creature. When the creature is enabled to will God as the highest end, and everything else in subordination to him, it is said to be holy because God’s likeness is impressed upon it. Such is God’s holiness.
2. How God Is Glorious in Holiness
But how is God “glorious in holiness”? God is glorious in all his attributes and works. In truth, nothing in God is more glorious than anything else in him. Every attribute of God is equally glorious in itself. But in its manifestation, and according to our understanding, one thing appears more glorious than another. God is pleased to speak to us according to our understanding.
You may therefore see how the saints glory especially in God as a holy God. As they behold him in his holiness, they rejoice and glory in him exceedingly. The psalmist therefore says, “Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy” (Ps 99:3). Verse 5 says, “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy” (Ps 99:5). Again, verse 9 says, “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy” (Ps 99:9).
Thus God’s people regard his holiness as the special ground of his praise and exaltation. Indeed, the angels themselves in heaven behold God in his holiness and exalt him especially on that account. The cherubim and seraphim cry three times, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts” (Isa 6:3). You never find any of God’s attributes mentioned three times together in this way. God is infinite in power and wisdom as well as in holiness, yet you never find Scripture saying that he is “wise, wise, wise,” or “almighty, almighty, almighty.” But it says, “Holy, holy, holy,” three times together.
As the angels of heaven adore God especially for his holiness, so does God’s church, crying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty” (Rev 4:8). This shows the blessed condition of the church when, hereafter, it is more sanctified and God dwells among his people. Then they will adore him exceedingly in his holiness above any other attribute.
Indeed, God himself seems to glory in his holiness above any other attribute. When he would exalt himself in his glory and give you the highest expression of himself, he does so as the holy God: “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isa 57:15). When God would exalt himself, it is in this: “whose name is Holy.”
Likewise, when God would swear by himself, he swears by his holiness (Amos 4:2). Scripture says that when God could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. In the same way, I may say that when God could swear by no excellence above this, he swore by his holiness.
Again, God glories in heaven itself as the habitation of his holiness. Heaven is the habitation of his glory; there he reveals his glory fully. But what is that glory? Its summit is God’s holiness. “Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and thy glory” (Isa 63:15).
Indeed, God’s throne is his holiness: “God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness” (Ps 47:8). You know that kings are exalted and raised up upon their thrones. So God is exalted upon the throne of his holiness. Solomon made himself a throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold (1 Kgs 10:18). But God’s throne is a throne of holiness, of bright and shining holiness.
Again, when God rejoices in his people, he does so as they are a holy people: “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut 7:6).
Furthermore, you will find that this attribute of holiness is especially ascribed to the third person of the Trinity. God the Father is holy; the Son is the Holy One of God; but the Holy Spirit takes his name from holiness. It is very noteworthy that all three persons claim an equal share in working holiness in the creature. This work is such a part of God’s glory that wherever holiness exists, all three persons work it.
The Father is a sanctifier. In the first verse of his epistle, Jude speaks of sanctification worked by God the Father: “To them that are sanctified by God the Father” (Jude 1). Then, concerning the Son, we read, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:25-26). Christ gives himself for his church. For what purpose? Not only to bring it to heaven, but also to sanctify it.
Then, concerning the Spirit of God, we read, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11). All three persons, then, take their share in this work. It is the glorious work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
To demonstrate this still further, holiness must be God’s glory because it is the highest perfection and rightness of an intelligent, free agent. An intelligent, free agent is the highest being of all, and holiness is the rightness of that being. Therefore it must be glorious.
